My great uncle talked about that when I was a kid. Said at the time Field and Stream published some research to the effect that a very large quantity of shot would have to be injested in a relatively short period of time to cause lead poisoning. He postulated that it was just to price out the average duck hunter.
In the early days of steel, we got way better patterns with IC than even modified. When lead goes through a choke, the pellets conform to each other. When steel goes through the choke, they crash against each other and don’t deform. When they finally clear the barrel they kind of explode going every which direction.
I pretty consistently used IC in my 12 ga with better results than modified. I usually use the 20 for quail and doves so I guess I never patterned any steel in it. Do you mostly use a 1 oz load or less?
7/8oz or 1oz, just depends on what I find on sale lol
Steel shot SUX. It has improved SLIGHTLY in the last 40 years, but not much.
When my son first started duck hunting at 9yo, with me. 20ga steel shot was PITIFUL. the only shells I would buy in 20 ga, were #3 in 3" magnum. Used in 870 with 23" IC, they patterned well and he was able to get some birds.
He was thrilled when he could finally use a 12 ga and 3" 1s for duck and BB or T (preferred) on geese.
When my son first started duck hunting at 9yo, with me. 20ga steel shot was PITIFUL. the only shells I would buy in 20 ga, were #3 in 3" magnum. Used in 870 with 23" IC, they patterned well and he was able to get some birds.
He was thrilled when he could finally use a 12 ga and 3" 1s for duck and BB or T (preferred) on geese.
That's exactly my predicament. One boy can probably run 3", the other probably isn't quite ready so I would prefer to keep him on 2 3/4". I might try to find some 2s or 3s. Thank you all for the help.
I had son on a skeet range, shooting 3/4 oz dove loads, to get used to the pump and hitting targets.
Duck season, heavy clothes, excitement and steel being lighter than lead. He shot the 3" and didn't know they were different.
#7 steel would be like throwing handfulls of sand at those armour plated kamikazies. #2 & #4 would be a lot better.
Keep the 7's for teal or finisher shots on the water. Aim under the duck on the water, this is to get the shot to ricochet off the water surface and bounce into the ducks head. That sluch shot gets em' stopped. Steel #7's aren't worth a fiddle knocking big ducks down. I think your on the right track looking for some #2's or #4's for primary shooting. The other side is to look for some bismuth, but it's pricey!
I actually did a research paper a bunch of years ago when I was in school about steel shot (because I hated it!!). What I found out was we kill approximately the same number of waterfowl every year with both steel and lead shot. Lead shot kills some by lead poisoning, and we cripple/kill the same amount with steel. The end result was the birds of prey feeding on the lead poisoned ducks would transfer to the birds of prey and either kill them, worst case, or weaken the shell of their eggs and the eggs would crush in the nest, slowing reproduction. End result was fewer birds of prey, that's what makes us shoot steel.
I actually did a research paper a bunch of years ago when I was in school about steel shot (because I hated it!!). What I found out was we kill approximately the same number of waterfowl every year with both steel and lead shot. Lead shot kills some by lead poisoning, and we cripple/kill the same amount with steel. The end result was the birds of prey feeding on the lead poisoned ducks would transfer to the birds of prey and either kill them, worst case, or weaken the shell of their eggs and the eggs would crush in the nest, slowing reproduction. End result was fewer birds of prey, that's what makes us shoot steel.
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