I have not hunted waterfowl in some years, but was living in one of the first steel shot areas ever required way back when., (SE Texas)

I am planning a trip to upstate NY this October for a partridge/black duck hunt and was thinking of using bismuth so as not to run afoul of lead shot in possession scenario at my remote campsite. Any shot size or load suggestions? 12 ga, 2 3/4 inch is my wheelhouse, Thanks!

I use 1 oz of #5 for hunting ducks out of my 2 1/2" 12ga out here on the coast works just fine over decoys. I use the same load for pheasants on non-tox areas, works just fine.

What is your gun, an older Winchester?

What difference does it make? It appears he doesn't want to shoot steel, the most cost effective and works just fine for decoying ducks and pats a forest ranges. So we have to assume that he needs soft non-toxics, sxs, older o/u or older pump/semi-auto.

If it is a modern gun is steel safe he would be asking about steel or steel alternatives such as Heavy-13, or TSS or a plethora of other hard non-toxics.

I've used an ounce of #7 and #6 bismuth for grouse with good results. For ducks it was an ounce and a quarter of #4 I found to be perfect for all but distant pass shooting. For that 1 3/8- 1 5/8 oz of #2 worked well.

No,I meant, what is your gun, erich, that it uses 2 1/2 inch rounds? But your guess is right, I have an older 12 ga 870 and don't want to use steel..

My favorite waterfowl shotgun is an older Husqvarna 51.





And I do get out with an old Manufrance Robust



Now that I'm moving away from the coastal salt marshes I have a couple of little 16ga sxs in 2.5" that will see time in the marsh but I use 3/4 oz of ITX 6's in them. I do use the ITX 6's at 7/8 oz in the 12's also.

those are cools SxS guns. What are the drop at heel measurements? any cast on them?

Sure, Bismuth will work. I would pick Tungsten Matrix though if you want to go non tox - it's denser than bismuth and should be safe for what you want to shoot. A 2 3/4" 1 1/4oz #5 load would be deadly on the ducks but maybe bit overkill on the pats.

Does the tungsten matrix kill better than the bismuth? I had used some of the bismuth a number of years ago and would like to take a older, full choke M37 out duck hunting this season

I run Bismuth for waterfowl in my muzzle loaders and vintage cartridge guns with black powder and in my modern hammer 12 with brass cases and Blue Dot.
Great to get the old and replica guns shooting in the fall! ">)


Cat

I've been using Bismuth #2's for nigh onto 15 years here in Maryland. 1 1/8oz., 1200fps- knocks geese ass-over-tailfeathers. Main gun- LC Smith Longrange, 32" full and fuller. Over dekes or pass shooting, but I do have an advantage in that geese are so plentiful (up until now) that we can pick and choose our shots. Still, that little bitty 1 1/8oz. shot charge more than holds its own with the guys shooting their fancy 3" autoloaders and massive loads of steel. The secret is the dense patterns from those tightly choked barrels, and the ability to put the shot right where it needs to go. Heck we have two guys in our club on the Eastern Shore who use nothing but 20's and 28's + bismuth and they are a couple of killer dillers too.

Take some loads of that nature to NY for waterfowl, and some 7/8-1oz.loads of 7 1/2's for grouse and go with confidence.

For what it is worth, I would far rather bite into a bismuth pellet than steel or the harder Tungsten matrix shot. Crowns are expensive.

What hull, Powder, primer and wad for your 1/8 oz 1200 FPS load. I have heard longshot works well while years ago when were able to load lead for waterfowl used Blue Dot and Ballistics Products over powder wad and BPS wad split 2 petals.

And cost even more!

Yep!

I have been shooting Bismuth in gauges from 28 to 10 since the late 1990s, and have never been able to tell any difference in "killing power" from lead shot, when using the same size and shot charge. This may be because while Bismuth is a little lighter that lead, the same shot-charge holds more pellets.

I have been using Bismuth since it hit the market. I will never go back to steel of any kind.

I still have a bunch packed away in ammo cans. It was the only thing I could find in #6. I also have a bunch of the Kent tungsten polymer. Great stuff that I could shoot out of the Ithaca 37 that I had at the time.