WaterfowlForum.Net

FYI you all, I am a bit of a shotshell nerd, I own two different shotshell ballistics software and am happy to share data if any of you want insight as to the effectiveness of different loads in different situations, speed versus payload etc. I will spare you my opinion of what's the right combo and give you raw data without a flaming, just let me know

Jehler, thanks for sharing the info. Do you have a copy of Toasty's Ballistic Data and where did you get it. I have Lowery's but Toasty's is more complete. Probablly will buy it next month. Ned S

Jehler how effective would Winchester expert 12g 3" #4's be with 20mph wind at 35-40 yards be.

20 mph less effective if the wind was in your face than if the wind was at your back. (sorry, couldn't resist)

Ned S wrote:Jehler, thanks for sharing the info. Do you have a copy of Toasty's Ballistic Data and where did you get it. I have Lowery's but Toasty's is more complete. Probablly will buy it next month. Ned S

I do Ned, I have lowreys and kpy, I'll find a link for where to order and post it up later. Lowreys has some more things like recoil and what not but toasty's is a lot easier to use and compare loads with quickly.

Hello Reloaders , I go by 3200 man on other forums , so I need to introduce myself to you guys .
I 've been hunting Waterfowl for 54 years here in the Central Valley of Calif. , with trips the last 10 years up in Canada and down in Mexico . I have been reloading shot shells for some 35 years for
hunting and clay target shooting . I shoot competitive Sporting Clays and Trap in the off season ,when there is NO hunting to be had .

In the last 3 or 4 months while visiting other forums , I could see where , reloading Steelshot would give me a better load to hunt with , so I invested in the equipment to test what I'd be loading
and check the difference of my store bought loads . So , I'm new to what will work best in a load for me . I'm having fun with my new Chrony F 1 and I have loaded a few steel loads with the help of
fellas that were so kind to help me along . I'm HOOKED , but still need some guidence along the way and I hope I can find it here .

Thanks for having Me on the forum

Larry

3200 Man wrote:Hello Reloaders , I go by 3200 man on other forums , so I need to introduce myself to you guys .
I 've been hunting Waterfowl for 54 years here in the Central Valley of Calif. , with trips the last 10 years up in Canada and down in Mexico . I have been reloading shot shells for some 35 years for
hunting and clay target shooting . I shoot competitive Sporting Clays and Trap in the off season ,when there is NO hunting to be had .

In the last 3 or 4 months while visiting other forums , I could see where , reloading Steelshot would give me a better load to hunt with , so I invested in the equipment to test what I'd be loading
and check the difference of my store bought loads . So , I'm new to what will work best in a load for me . I'm having fun with my new Chrony F 1 and I have loaded a few steel loads with the help of
fellas that were so kind to help me along . I'm HOOKED , but still need some guidence along the way and I hope I can find it here .

Thanks for having Me on the forum

Larry

we have that chrony F1, has been a great chronograph for us. I have only been reloading for 5 years Larry but have gone ass over tea kettle crazy with it, have a lot of fun playing with different loads and have had a lot of great instruction from the guys on this forum as well as others. i load 20, 16 and 12 gauge and have patterned a great deal of steel as well as heavy shot. with your experience your not gonna have any issues, takes a bit to get the crimps down good for the steel loads, most of them are quite full and the wads aren't to forgiving. have you loaded any yet? what you have for manuals and components?

I've got ALL kinds of primers REM ,WIN ( Blue Box) ,Fed ,RIO and Cheddites with SAM 1's , VP65 and Mec wads in 2 3/4" and 3" , A Steel powder , 800x , 4756 and STS/ Nitro 27 , WIN ,FED GM ,RIO ,
Estates and about 400 2 3/4" Active /Eclipes Hulls .
I've loaded the STS's with Win 209 , 34 grs A Steel ,Sam 1 with 1 oz and 7/8 oz ( with cork wad) . These turned out really good and I did get to kill some Ducks with this load up in Oregon on the openner .
I didn't really care for the 1 oz of 3's with 153 pellets , it put tomany holes in my birds , so I switched to the 7/8 oz and they worked better . I had also loaded some of these with 35 grs A Steel , 1 oz of 2's
with 124 pellets , I was able to reach out to 45 yds on some Mallards and kill them dead in the air . I'm really happy with this load ,so far !
Now , I'm playing with the straight walled hulls . By having a little more steelshot ( bigger pellets ) in a load , I will be more comfortable as I've always shot 1's ( store bought ) for the last 6 years .
I load with 2 Mec 600 jrs , one for 2 3/4" and the other ,well , I hope to set it up for 3" , I'm just not there YET !

I have The LS , RSI and the Status of Steel manuals

Larry

The most important ingredient, what gun, chokes are you shooting? Ned S

Ned ,

I shoot different guns , I like all of them . With the 30" Maxus 3" and the Browning Gold 3 1/2" 28" seeing more action than the rest , I guess ! I do like hunting with the Tekny 391 , but it's my Sporting
gun and a little to pretty to drag it around in the mud , But , I do at times ! The Maxus has a .740 barrel , the Gold .738 and the Beretta .728 with the 30" Opitma barrel and a 26" Optima Plus barrel
that's Backbored 1 1/4" out to .733 from a .728 barrel bore size .

Larry

I forgot to say what chokes I like shooting in these guns , in the Brownings the Brileys seem to pattern the best . I like shooting tighter chokes than most , the .025 ( IM ) is my favorite . While shooting the Beretta , I like the Carlsons chokes . The .014 (LM ) and the .022 ( MOD ) pattern really will for 2 differant types of ranges over decoys, some inside 30 yds and others close to 40 yds .

All these chokes are Extended chokes

Larry

Some of the hunters in Calif are using 7/8 oz of 5's at around 1700 fps, LS loads, and killing ducks out to 40 yds. At sea level and 32F they are good to 46 yds, Ideal for over decoy shooting. I personnaly like steel 4's in an IC extended choke which are good to 45 yds and 50 yds with an extended Mod choke.. Ned S

I know what you're saying Ned , I know some fellas shooting the fast 4's . The only thing is , I see in their birds there is alot of holes . Last year I shot with one of these fellas and Boy did he put on a show
for me , every bird he shot was puffed in the air , most all the shots were inside 30 yds and with the LM choke he was useing , it worked really well !

I normally like to take a shot at 30 to 35 yds , taking one bird at a time out of the flock . In the pass , I've relied on 1 1/16 oz of 1's to do the job but , now I'm going with 7/8 oz of 3's and it seems to
do a good job . With 134 pellets in the load , I've got more pattern density and with the added velosity they have worked really well for me this season ,SO FAR !

Being New to Steelshot Reloading , I'm searching for a load that fits my needs and I would appreciate any Help !

Larry

Sounds like you found it. I use an extended IC choke with 7/8 oz of 4's or 1 oz of 3's, generally the 3's the 3 rd shot. Ned

i like the 1 1/4 loads for most of our hunting (divers and sea ducks) I load 3's, 2's, 1's and b's at 1505 fps average and carry different chokes with me when we hunt. when the wind picks up or the birds are more wary i go up in shot size and choke accordingly. i do load a few 1 oz load of 4's for bufflehead but i don't like my patterns with anything over 1600 fps. In my benelli the lbc wads have outperformed everything else.

Hey Thanks Jehler and Ned , you fellas are full of info and I appreciate it . I hunt the Grasslands of Central Calif. , so Mallards , Sprig and Teal are my go to Ducks . We also hunt alot of Specks in
my area ( Club ) . So , a little horsepower in my loads is prefered as I've been loading some of the STS loads with 7/8 oz of 3's and 2's . I findly recieved my order of Fed Gold Metals , so I have loaded
RSI 65 in them , just to see if that's what I want to shoot , they are loaded in 1 's and 2's steelshot . I will findout how they do with a Briley LM (.014 ) and a Carlsons Mod. (.022 ) this Wed. on our 3rd
day of the season .

3200 man

Ned S

OK just a little run-down on what I'm experiencing . I find the 7/8 oz of 3's are great for my decoying birds , they will put the hammer on them out to 40+ yds , inside of 30 yds it's a puff of feathers
and a dead bird , but to-many holes . I went with 2's in this load also , it does a better job with less holes in the birds , but doesn't pattern as good with holes big enough for a Teal to get through . I had
more crips with this load . I also loaded some RSI 65's , Now We're Talking , this load with the Briley LM in my Maxus and Gold with 2's is a far shooting shell . At 35 to 45+ yds it works really well , with
birds folding-up like a rag . This load will be my late season go to load with 2's and 1's . The local Mallard I've been shooting are not as feathered -up as the Northern birds I'll see later in the year ,so the
bigger shot size will do better .

3200

Ordered Toasty's Balllistic Program from Precision Reloading after talking to Toasty. It's suppost to be here this week. Ned S

Hey 3200, I was having the same issue with farmed pheasants... too much shot. And the #2's acted like cannonballs at high speed and just shattered and pulverized bones... ugly.

Seems like at up to 30 yds, you could just 'bout shoot their beak off and then, have the pattern density for your third shot on a going-away bird.

So,, after a season, what results and conclusions have you had?


(p.s..... Hi Ned, hope all is well!)