Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Ithaca Featherlite question

Neighbor just ended up with his Grandad's gun. 20ga, 2.75", Mod barrel. He wants to learn to hunt with this gun. Turkeys and upland (grouse mainly). Here's the catch: he refuses to consider any lead ammo.

So, what ammo would you recommend for these applications?

That’s just stupid!

There’s no REAL data that lead poisoning does any damage to the bird population. It’s just like the fuggin Global Warming scam! Or EPA bullschitt!

It’s all a bunch of fuggin tree hugging hippie crap 😡

The Feds have made lead shot for waterfowl a no no for many years now. Many states are starting to say the same for upland game.. I have two Ithaca's both 20 gauge, older with fixed chokes. I would not run steel in either (English Ultra and a Standard) I would use hevi shot or bismuth shells.

Yep. But the OP says the GUN OWNER refuses to use lead shot! If you “choose” not to use it where it’s legal, then the gun owner is just plain stupid!

I’ve never used hevi shot or Bismuth, as I don’t hunt ducks any more. But everyone knows that the use of steel shot will destroy that fine old Ithaca.

Have to admit I got a chuckle out of that. It is what it is. The new owner of the gun is my neighbor. He's a professor of biology at the U. He won't be swayed about lead. I am offering to take him hunting, which he seems very excited about. So...
I recommended tungsten or bismuth. Mainly wondering if there were any other ideas here.

Figures. College Professors are Liberals in the making if not already one! Suprised he didn’t want to have the shotgun destroyed or turned in.

We had a yankee female Grad Student teaching a Lab class in Wildlife & Fisheries Science when I was at TAMU that was horrified that we hunted ducks & doves. She was convinced that lead shot had nearly completely wiped out the migratory bird populations in the US. We took great delight in making her time there miserable.

College professors are usually liberal, I agree. However this guy and his family are becoming more conservative by the minute. I'm more than fine with that and it's why I offered to take him hunting.

So as per my original post, what ammo would you recommend?

Good on you! That’s very kind of you. It’s mighty tough to bring anyone to our shooting sports nowadays & very commendable.

And sorry I couldn’t make a recommendation based on personal experience. My friends swear by Bismuth.

Cheers!

Can't comment about a load recommendation, but choke tubes would be a good step for him to take, if he continues to hunt. MOD is probably a little tight for grouse and a little open for turkey. Choke tubes would also allow him to expand his ammo choices into steel loads; although that wouldn't be good for turkeys, it could work for grouse and for any clay pigeons he might want to practice on. $.02.

I've had very good luck with Kent Bismuth shells on roosters and squirrels. Mule Deer states that while Bismuth is a skosh lighter than lead, it's close enough to perform similarly. Finding 2.75" non-toxic shells that'd use turkeys and are safe for the gun might take some looking. That said, my pard in ID has rolled a number of toms with 2.75" #6 lead pheasant loads.

For those of you interested, a former poster UtahLefty (a veterinarian) posted often about the effect of lead on raptors. A search would turn of those posts, which I found informative.

He needs lead with a 20 gauge. Hunted pheasants for years with 1 oz of lead 6 at 1200 feet per second. Great Load. Steel shot not worth a damn in a 20 gauge.

Just now received this email directly from Ithaca.

"Dan,
A 1969 Model 37 modified barrel in good working order should not have an issue handling steel shot. I would not go above size 4 shot as a personal guideline.

Thank you for contacting Ithaca Gun Company,
Jeremiah Logsdon
(419) 294-4113"

use hevi-shot. college professors make more than enough $ to afford it.

Well, there are enough non-toxics now to choose from though they are generally more expensive, and much more expensive.

For the uplands I’d choose bismuth which is just a little less dense than lead, so similar in flight characteristics; and for turkey, tungsten which is just slightly less dense than depleted uranium, so about 35% denser than lead. Tungsten 20 ga loads really lifts the effectiveness of that gauge for turkeys IMO.

Kent Cartridges is the only one I’m familiar with at the minute that offers the bismuth loads, while Fed offers the tungsten loads. I’ve used bismuth successfully for ducks and tungsten loads too.

But there are other non-toxic loads by other companies also and given different proprietary names. You just have to sort through the descriptions to see what kind of load they really are

EDTA: Mack’s Prairie Wings is a large waterfowl supply outlet in Arkansas that offers (or did) all kinds of non-toxic shotshell options incl Kent Cartridge products.

Agree.

The difference in cost, hevi-shot over lead, merely overhead to a tree hugger.

Ya pay to play.

DF

We've run 1000s of rounds of steel shot ammo through Ithaca "roto-forged" barrels without any problems or signs thereof on waterfowl (both 12 and 20 gauge). Plenty of hot rod loads too over 1500fps. You won't have any trouble with steel shot in that barrel.

Try Winchester 3/4 ounce #4 steel for grouse. It'll work well enough and is cheap.

Yep, there is steel..which I failed to include above. I admit to a somewhat irrational bias against steel for primarily two reasons which there might not be good reasons for anymore. In the nineties while on a pass-shoot for geese we had numerous geese at 30-40 yds get hit (we could see it and even hear it on occasion) and drop at great distance or fly through it.

Plus, I had some good shotguns at the time with fixed chokes that I was concerned about barrel damage on with steel. That said, I realize great strides have been made in the refinement and improvement of steel shotshells and there is no denying for the most part they are much cheaper than the other options.