my 12 gauges disappoints me

[turkeyrun]

on the Texas Gulf Coast 99% of the geese were harvested were snows. Other hunters we encountered using BB, 1's and even some 2s were nowhere near as successful as we were. We convinced several to convert to the Ts. Before the mandate of steel, our ammo of choice was lead 2s or 4s, those were the days. Our first year of steel, I wrote Remington accusing them of supplying the geese with Kevlar, those steel 2s weren't getting the job done past 20yrds.

Those 3 1/2 Hevi-Steels at $1.50+ per shot and the thumping endured just don't make for an enjoying hunt.

Wish I was going to Kansas with you. We have made a couple hunts locally, but the Canadas just aren't cooperating.

 

[Master Carper]

Here are some of the components of our "T" steel loads that we use for geese -

The wads we use come unslit. I cut mine with just 2 petals, following the two mold lines to keep the slits straight. Two petals also greatly minimize any chance of the steel pellets making contact with the bore...

The only hull we use for our steel loads, is Federals 2 3/4" Gold Medal...

Here are the major components of our loads:

T steel pellets "stack" very well...

Push these steel loads to 1,600+ fps. and there's no goose alive that can stand up to them. Another good thing about these 2 3/4" loads, felt recoil is comparable to 1 1/8 oz. trap loads, meaning when your hunting snow geese with an unplugged shotgun, you can easily get of 5 shots without taking your eyes off the birds and after a good days shooting, you don't come away with a bruised shoulder, no matter how much you shoot....

 

[turkeyrun]

NICE LOADS.

I am still using a stash of ACTIV wads, split as you do, unbuffered. Using ACTIV or Win 3" hulls. Was a HUGE fan of ACTIV, really hated to see them go under, but their 'radical' hull doomed them from the get-go, IMHO. I 'believe' RIO bought their equipment and copied some of the ACTIV loads, but don't find many T steel ready loads. BBB is just not the same.

 

[Master Carper]

I've never used any of the ACTIV wads but, I was a big fan of the 2 3/4" ACTIV hulls...

I use to load the 2 3/4" ACTIV hull with 1 7/8 oz. of nickel plated #7 lead shot, and these loads would literally rip a turkey's head off out to 45 yds. using a Hastings .640 extended turkey tube...

If you reload, I'll give you the recipe that I am using for my T steel loads, if you want it....

 

[turkeyrun]

Love to check out your load. Good loads are great to find, biggest problem with ACTIV was limited loads, but the ones I tried were all good, but most seemed inferior to the factory load.

Those ACTIV hulls were awesome, could reload many times without splitting or other problems, straight wall had awesome load capacity and with no brass = no rust and never an ejection issue.

Took a HUGE Tom (10 1/4" beard) at 65 yrds with an ACTIV 3" loaded with lead 4s. He had turned to run away, so I took the shot. 3 pellets completely penetrated the breast from the back, dropped in his tracks. The company and design was just ahead of it's time, had so many shooters make comments about me shooting those inferior shells with 'NO BRASS'. Funny how they wanted some shells after I had a limit of geese and they had feather clouds and nothing in the bag. One hunting buddy called them 'my Howitzers', but it took 2 years to convert him and by that time, they were disappearing.

 

[Master Carper]

When I get in from the shop later this evening, I'll list a couple of my favorite loads. I have 2 3/4" and 3" ACTIV loads as well as Federal Gold Medal in 2 3/4"...

I shot the ACTIV hull till about 3 years ago, and since I could no longer find any new or once fired ACTIV hulls, I just gave up on them and stayed with the Federal GM hulls...

Never shot the factory loads but, what you could do with good reloads, I really didn't care about them anyways. I've heard a lot of people brag about them though....

 

[Master Carper]

turkeyrun,

since we hijacked this thread, I'm gonna start a new thread....

 

[turkeyrun]

Yeah, we kinda did. OOPS.