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I guess I was asleep at the wheel when this stuff can out. Know a little about "steel" shot but this other stuff is new to me and I can't find much back ground data on it. Seems Titanium is slightly heavier than lead and lethal at lead velocites while heavy shot is a little lighter than lead and requires more velocity to equal leads lethality. Have I got that right? Are shot sizes the same regardless of shot make up? Educate me.


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Steel is considerably faster than lead. It slows down soon also because of less density. I was on the bandwagon when it first came out and in some areas it was the law. So I used different loads and found steel to be effective only in a larger size BB. I was a #4 Lead fan for ducks and a #2 Lead fan for geese, but I found the best steel BB's for ducks was #BB and for Geese BBB. I have tried a lot of the newer shot sizes, but lead is my favorite and steel is second. The cost of some of the new shot turned me off when I could buy a Box of 25 lead or steel for the same price as a box of 10 Hevi-Shot. As far as lethality goes, that is a different subject altogether. Now you are into Gauge, Choke, 2-3/4", 3", 3-1/2" and most of all what kind of a hunter are you. Do you skybust Geese? Do you Arkansas Ducks in your decoys? Do you field hunt over a pointing dog or a flushing dog or no dog. All these factors add up to "Lethality"
Now I hope you will get more info from those who are more knowledgeable about Tungsten and Hevi-shot or any of the newer products. I will stick to lead where legal and steel where it's required.


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Thanks for your response.

I'm out of the duck hunting now. Haven't hunted them since non toxic became the law.(except for a single hunt about 5 years ago) Have never hunted geese. I still have an interest in shot shells and reloading. 12ga is my all around gun and although it has a three inch chamber I've only purchased one box of three inch shells and that was for turkeys.

For your interest, Dad called the decoyed ducks in and landed them. No one was allowed to shoot until the ducks were flushed.

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I believe you are referring to tungsten instead of titanium. There are many non-toxics available and I will try and give you a quick synopsis of what is available.

1. Steel, the most cost effective non-toxic shot and is quite effective within it's limitation, it loses energy fast due to the fact it is light, lighter than lead but it works well for decoying ducks. I use #3 and #4 as I shoot just decoying ducks. I'm old and hunted ducks for a number of years like nearly 30 years with lead and my goto load was 1 1/8 oz of 7 1/2's early and 5's late in the season. Steel is hard and need barrels that are steel rated or very open fixed chokes.

2. Tungsten and tungsten related alloys, Hevi Shot, ITX-13, Hevi-13, Hevi-18 and TSS, all are close to lead in weight or heavier, they hold energy very well and like steel they need special wads and powder to load and are even harder than steel and again for shotguns designed for steel, they are also very expensive but effective for pass shooting and on large geese.

3. Soft non-toxics such as Bismuth, ITX-10, Tungsten-Matrix(powdered tungsten with a polymer binder to keep it soft) they are heavier than steel and very close to lead in weight again expensive BUT unlike steel and tungsten based shot these can be fired through old shotgun with fixed chokes, thin soft steel barrels even Damascus with the appropriate loaI shoot the soft non-toxics just because of my love for old sxs shotguns, if I shot a modern shotgun steel would work fine for me.


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Yes, I meant tungsten, thank you. You've given me a much better idea of the various non toxic. Thank you for your time and effort.

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Great summary from erich.

In a modern shotgun, the #2 category of shot is where it's at. From ducks/pheasants to geese and turkeys, everything is better about Tungsten Super Shot.

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I am by no means an expert or have even used all the different flavors of the "unleaded." But being an occasional watefowler and with more and more public land allowing non-toxics only even for upland hunting, I've sorted through a few of them. In spite of the price I've settled on Kent tungsten-matrix because it's density is 10.60 gms/cc compared to lead at 11.10 so it's very close and I can rely on five decades of brain-memory, shot judgement because it flies and kills like lead as far as I can tell. Not insignificantly, I have two SxS with fixed chokes so I can use them with this shot without worry of scored or bulged barrels.

I also found Bismuth to work quite well on ducks and pheasants but would do a mental, acceptable, range-reset to 90% of what it would be with lead.

My most unpleasant memory involving early (for me anyway) then appropriate-sized, steel shot was pass shooting geese in the 90's with steel where even at 35-40 yards we saw hits and even heard hits that geese "flew through" or coasted off hundreds of yards before hitting the ground. Granted, no doubt steel shotshells have come a long ways in two decades but because of the two guns mentioned above and even in several autoloaders I refuse to use it in the gunning I do.

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" I can rely on five decades of muscle memory"

That was exactly the point I was trying to make on another thread where I got flamed pretty good. My lack of knowledge on current non toxics left me helpless to respond. I've seen non toxics advertised with MV of 1500 to 1700fps. I can't see how lead wouldn't be affected.

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I've played some with bismuth and ITX in my old guns and been well pleased with it. I tend to hunt small water with only a handful of decoys and keep my shots close, regardless of the gun and ammo choice. Bismuth 6s on close in, decoyed ducks is very effective but I haven't tried any long shots with it. I tried 6s because that season none of the suppliers had 4s or 5s in stock. I have a good supply of ITX 2s, 4s and 6s to load this year and am going to order some bismuth 4s as well. The ITX 4's really crush ducks well. I found its performance very similar to lead 4s though I know it's a bit lighter. Of course it's been 30+ years since I've fired a round of lead at waterfowl so my memory might be suspect on that. I haven't used the ITX 2s or 6s yet.

I like that either will get my old guns back in service, even if it's just for a couple of hunts. I have my Browning Sweet 16, a Lefever 12 gauge, a Thomas Bland 2 1/2" 12, an Ithaca Lewis 10 gauge 2 7/8" and my Dad's Ithaca 37 20 gauge. While I don't get each of them out every year for a hunt, it's nice to know I can grab anyone of them and put them to work in the duck blind.


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I've used Hevi-Shot (Tungsten) since about 2002. Very lethal stuff.

Having shot my first duck about 1965 or so, I have used lead, steel and now Hevi-Shot. In my experience, HS is noticeably better than same size lead, so I step down one shot size from lead. HS 6 will kill Mallards very well out to about 45yds, and when using HS 4's, it usually penetrates through Mallards at 45yds, and kills geese in excess of 50yds cleanly.

When I run out of HS, I'll try some ITX shot from Ballistic Products.

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If you decide to get back into Waterfowl hunting. Just buy a dedicated steel shot gun. then pick one load to shoot in it. I would suggest a Remington 3" 1 1/4oz load of #2 steel. Then shoot it for all waterfowl. Do not get caught up in all the BS hype about whats better. Stuff that 3" remington shell in a cheap 870 Express with a Imp Cyl Choke screwed in and kill birds. If your over big water or Pass shooting. Screw in the Modified. It is realy that simple.


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Good info in this thread! Might try jump shooting/small pond duck hunting and nice to know real life experience with loads and chokes.

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Originally Posted by baltz526
If you decide to get back into Waterfowl hunting. Just buy a dedicated steel shot gun. then pick one load to shoot in it. I would suggest a Remington 3" 1 1/4oz load of #2 steel. Then shoot it for all waterfowl. Do not get caught up in all the BS hype about whats better. Stuff that 3" remington shell in a cheap 870 Express with a Imp Cyl Choke screwed in and kill birds. If your over big water or Pass shooting. Screw in the Modified. It is realy that simple.


There's a lot of truth in the above comment. I'm big into loading various non-toxic shots from Hevi, HW15, 18g/cc Tungsten, and 19g/cc Tungsten, but when it comes to Woodies or Mallards in timber, pit blinds with big ducks or specks on the menu, or decoyed geese, the Remington 1-1/4oz #2 steel(Or similar #2 loads) will kill effectively and has been doing so successfully for decades.

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Steel works for a lot of applications, but I've been shooting various other kinds of non-toxic shot on everything from jumped ducks on creeks to pass-shooting geese for over 20 years now. If you believe steel will work as well as hard tungsten shot at all ranges, good luck.

I've also used a lot of bismuth (and similar weight/density "double-gun safe" shot) over that same time period, and have yet to detect any difference in effective range from lead shot. While bismuth is a little lighter, it makes up for it in a little more pattern density, if the weight/size of the shot charge is the same.


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I started guiding for geese in the late 80's when steel became mandatory. It was pretty poor back then- almost as poor as the shooting ability of the clients- so one learned how to decoy and call to bring birds in close. Wings out and feet stretched to land made for a big easy target at 25 yards. T and F sizes were the rage and they worked much better up close than at a distance as so many believed back then. This was with 3" 12 ga guns or a 10 ga auto. The service I worked for was given the Mossberg 835 and Federal 3.5" shells to test before it went to market but I didn't care for the recoil. At the ranges we were shooting birds, I saw no need for a larger payload. We were split down the middle on this new load, some liked it, others didn't.

I began reloading steel shortly after and was able to get some in the 1450 fps range. Loaded with 2 for ducks and BB For geese it was an improvement over factory. When Winchester came out with their Supreme line I stopped loading steel. I have found a steel 3" 12 ga load traveling 1375-1450 with a appropriate shot size will do about anything I need for waterfowl. 15 years guiding and a like time span hunting heavily for myself has me trusting these loads. In the 10 and 12 ga I am satisfied with steel as it works for me whether shooting early season teal in Iowa, snows in Canada or Texas, or giant Canada's in Rochester in December.

Much of this probably has to do with my experience with a scattergun- I have shot sporting clays competition for better than 3 decades as well as skeet and trap for longer. Not to count shooting pigeons, starlings, English sparrows, and other hunting. Put better than 10,000 rounds down range for a couple of decades and one can put the pellets where they are needed or know why just as an experienced rifleman can call his shots. It is also why I like that moderate velocity- leads look the same as with my lead target loads and recoil is not a problem. The latter can be important when laying in fields on a good day. 3+ boxes in a morning can happen if the snows cooperate.

Now, in the smaller bores there is no denying the other non-toxics rule the roost. I use steel if I have no alternative but treat it as if it is the 80s. The only exception is for doves and other small birds for which steel is adequate. I also prefer the other non-toxics in the 2 3/4" 12 ga as payload can be tight with the larger shot sizes.

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woodsmaster,

For your needs steel works fine, but in my experience even the best of today's steel loads don't work for the average guy.

That's not me, since I shoot a shotgun a lot, though far more on wild birds than clays, including pretty frequent trips to places where more wild birds, from doves to waterfowl, are shot than most American hunters can legally take.

But my profession involves providing advice to average shooters. To do that I try everything myself, and also shoot alongside average shooters a lot. My wife and I regularly try most of the available factory non-toxic loads, including steel, often in places where guides see a lot of waterfowl shot. A couple years ago we were trying several new loads, including steel, softer shot for doubles and harder shot for tougher chokes. Our guide, a guy we'd shot with before, didn't know what we were using the first morning, but after half an hour and 3-4 flocks of geese, said, "You're not shooting steel, are you?" He deduced this from the high percentage of birds that dropped dead from one shot, rather than requiring two as most steel-shooters needed--if they hit the bird on the first shot.

The other factor is that the average waterfowl hunter doesn't buy the best steel loads, and in fact wouldn't know what they are--or won't pay for them. Maybe most wouldn't do better if they bought higher-density non-toxics, but in my observation when they do, they use fewer shots to bag more birds. The cost-per-bird is higher, but the satisfaction ratio is far higher.

The reason is that smaller-size, higher-density shot results in more holes in birds, with plenty of penetration, especially beyond the range where steel's most effective, common with average hunters even if they're not "sky busters." Of course, they still have to hit the birds, but when they do the results are noticeably more sudden and certain.


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Wish we could get some depleted uranium. Compared to lead, that is some heavy stuff. About 70% greater density than lead.


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Is it non-toxic?


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There's no question that various non-toxic higher density loads are far better than steel, but it's a simple fact they're not needed to be very successful in capable hands. 12 & 10ga steel works just fine at normal ranges. If $500+ for 250rds of higher density NT are no issue, then by all means run high density. For those that may shoot 1000rds+ a season on waterfowl, it's simply not affordable and steel works just fine.

If you really want to have a ball of fun with superior performance to that of steel, check into 18g shot loaded in 28 and 20ga. For approximately the same cost of higher density waterfowl 12ga loads, one can have a much more lethal load without the high recoil.

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Soft non-toxics come into their own when you want to shoot the old timers I love duck hunting with my old hammer guns, new pumps and semi autos just don't feel right.

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Last edited by erich; 09/28/17.

After the first shot the rest are just noise.

Make mine a Minaska

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