Patterning Day

[Art]

I haven't patterned my shotguns in years. The last time I did it was when lead was still legal for waterfowl, back in the 1970s. In those days I used the Remington Nitro Mag 2 3/4" "short magnum load" that threw 1 1/2 oz buffered no. 4 shot. This was a lethal reaper of waterfowl out to 60 yards if you could hit them that far.

Obviously the modern stuff isn't up to that so I got some 30" circle patterning targets with a life size picture of a mallard in the middle. I took my L.C. Smith and my 870. I tried a 1 1/4 oz bismuth load in my L.C. Smith first. Since the old gun was made in 1926 for the paper shells of the period I knew it patterned tighter with modern shells so I set the target at 50 yards instead of the usual 40. Both the full and modified barrels shot what amounted to full choke patterns five hits are supposed to be required to guarantee at least a couple of killing hits. The full choke barrel delivered six hits and the modified barrel five so out at 50 yards I should be good, and I never shoot that far anyhow. Steel groups very tight and for that reason a lot of folks use modified barrels when shooting steel for waterfowl. I reset the targets at 40 yards put a 1 1/4 oz load of steel 2s downrange through the full choke barrel of my 870, The result was 9 hits (very dead duck.) For grins I shot another 1 1/4 oz steel load at forty yards through my improved cylinder choke on the 870. Not satisfactory at 40 yards. Four hits and holes in the pattern that would have resulted in either an un hit bird or a non retrievable cripple.

Interestingly some of the steel pellets penetrated the 1/4 inch plywood back I use for my targets. Encouraging. Steel has come a long way. In the past 10 years I've killed ducks dead with steel at distances I know I would have been chasing them if I knocked them down.

One thing, the duck on the target is quartering in on final from left to right. My patterns were off a bit to the right, seems I can't get over leading that duck even if its still, LOL.

[Emri]

I have patterned many different shotguns and steel loads and my conclusion is that the tighter the choke, the tighter the pattern. The "steel shoots tighter" theory is probably some BS put out by gun manufacturers so they wouldn't have to warrantee bulged full choke barrels. Modern screw chokes are made for steel shot and are thicker than old fixed barrels, but I wouldn't shoot any steel through anything tighter than standard full.

I don't get to go after ducks as much as I used to so all I use now is bismuth. The extra expense per shell is worth it when you can shoot once and have a dead duck on the water rather than bring one down with steel and have to shoot 3 or more extra shells to kill it. The bismuth does as good if not better than the old standard lead loads did in making clean kills.

The last time I went all the guys were bragging about their super duper specialty steel tubes. After 5 shots and four dead ducks they asked "what kind of choke tube do you have ??" I told them I was using an IC tube ( in the woods ). They said "you can't kill ducks with an IC !!" I just pointed at my pile of ducks and didn't respond.

Good Luck this fall !!

Emri

[Art]

Thanks Emri

About the chokes....I shoot a mid 1970s vintage Remington 970 left hand for virtually all my bird hunting. When I bought the gun it was the end of the fixed choke era. So I have three barrels; the 26" improved cylinder barrel that came with the gun, a 30" full choke, and a 20" I.C. with rifled sights, these, along with the 28" modified barrel was all that was available for the left hand guns. I've found that with good loads an I.C. will do anything for me a modified choke will and is more versatile. On the rare occasions I shoot doves I use my improved cylinder barrel with AA 7 1/2 shot heavy trap loads. Kills them dead out to between 30 and 40 yards.

You are correct, over decoys, out to 30 yards, improved cylinder is just fine for ducks especially with smaller heavier shot like bismuth. If hunting over decoys only for the average shot modified chokes are probably ideal. Of course a lot of it depends on your skill level. I learned water fowl hunting from an old guide in his 70s. Back in the days of lead his gun was a .410 gauge Remington 1100. I've seen him double on geese more than once with that gun. Of course he was much better with a shotgun than me and knew the guns limitations. For waterfowl I use a 30" full choke barrel. Its had thousands of rounds of steel put through it over the last 30+ years. No bulging of the barrel at all. I use this barrel because while I hunt over decoys I also get a bunch of pass shooting opportunities. I've killed ducks dead at ranges between 35 - 45 yards with modern steel loads' taken a good many geese too back when I used to hunt them. The old loads were a different story, lots of cripples, many of which escaped. I find modern high velocity steel fine out to 40-45 yards beyond that....forget it. It does pattern tighter, at least in my gun but it has the old long fixed choke.

Where do you find bismuth shot shells??? I can't find the stuff anywhere. I have about 60 rounds of the stuff and can't even find it on line. Every now and then I do go vintage gun hunting and would love to find some more.

[Emri]

Where do you find bismuth shot shells??? I can't find the stuff anywhere. I have about 60 rounds of the stuff and can't even find it on line. Every now and then I do go vintage gun hunting and would love to find some more.

I don't know where to tell you to look. It has come and gone over the last 20 years. Started out as "The Bismuth Shot Co." they folded, Winchester picked it up and put their label on it. They dropped it and a company in TX, I believe, picked it up. A distributor of ours closed it out a few years ago and I bought all they had that I wanted, ( 2.75" & 3" #4, #5 ). All in all I bought about 20 bxs (200 rounds). I seem to recall from a magazine article that yet another company has bought the rights to bismuth, but don't recall any of the details.

For your vintage guns, DO NOT use any of the current non-steel loads like "hevy shot" or the "tungsten matrix" type stuff. That stuff is harder than steel.
You might be able to buy just shot to re-load your own, but I'm not sure. Check with a company called "Ballistic Products", they have just about everything imaginable for shotshell reloading.

Here it is...............

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/Bismuth-Shot-7-bag/productinfo/BSR/


HTH,

Emri

[Emri]

Here is another one, I don't know if it is on the "approved" list or not.

http://www.reloadingspecialtiesinc.com/Reloading_Specialties_Inc/New%21_American_Shot.html

[Art]

Thanks Emri. I only use lead or bismuth in my one and only vintage gun, steel goes in my 870. The Bismuth shot I have left over is Ely and Winchester manufacture.

[Jim in Salt Lake]

Rio makes it, I saw several places selling it when I Googled.

[PhillipM]

Rio makes it, I saw several places selling it when I Googled.

I found an 18 month old article that says Rio's parent company bought Eley Hawk.

http://www.shootingsportsman.com/bismuth-lives/

[Emri]

Rio makes it, I saw several places selling it when I Googled.

Thanks Jim !! My memory is crap nowdays. I knew someone big had picked it up, just couldn't remember who. Finding a dealer with it may be a problem though. Cabella's list only one 12ga load and it is currently on backorder only.

Here you go Art.... a list of what Rio is supposed to make. I note they don't have my favorite load which was a 3" with 1-3/8oz shot. Basically the same as the 3" Winchester load Nash Buckingham used in Ark. in his old L.C.Smith.

http://www.rioammo.com/rio_bismuth.html

If you can't find any, let me know through email and I'll see if we can get any for you. We sell a LOT of Rio lead loads during dove season.

Emri