Shotgun heavier than lead loads a thing of the past?

[derbyacresbob]

Most of the ammo manufacturers have gone out of the tungsten shotgun shell business because the price of the shot has gone up too far. If you thought Hevi-Shot Waterfowl and Dead Coyote loads were high priced a few years ago check out some of the prices now "Cabela's $44.99 for 3" 1-1/2 oz DC T shot or Waterfowl B shot.

I just heard from a few people that even Hevi-Shot is going to drop out of the Tungsten shotgun shell market. I don't know that for a fact but the high cost of tungsten may make Hevi-Shot drop out of the heavier than lead ammo business also.

I am forced to shoot lead free shot at coyotes so I have been buying tungsten loads whenever I can find a good buy on it because I don't ever want to shoot steel shot at coyotes. If you search around you can find some tungsten shotgun shells that will work great on coyotes and if you search hard enough you can find some at decent prices.

Bass Pro Shops still has the Remington HD Ultimate Home Defense 1-1/4 oz BB loads for $9.98 per box of 10 shells, THIS IS A UNBELIEVABLE BUY right now for tungsten alloy shotgun shells.

Cabela's has the Hevi-Shot 2-3/4" 1-1/4 oz B goose loads on sale for $19.98 per box of 10 shells or you can buy the 3" 1-1/2 oz B Goose loads for $44.99 per box of 10 shells. So to get 1/4 oz more shot in the Hev-Shot goose loads it costs $25.00 more per box of 10 shells. The Hevi-Shot 3" B loads are $35.00 more per box of 10 shells than the Rem UHD 2-3/4" tungsten BB loads at BPS. I don't think that extra 1/4 oz per shell is worth $3.50 more per shell!

If you do some searches there are a few places that still have the OLD Hevi-Shot prices on their ammo. I just ordered and got some Hevi-Shot B Waterfowl loads and some Dead Coyote T shot loads for $26.99 and $30.99 per box of 10 shells from Sportsman's Warehouse. That still seems pretty expensive but it is $14.00 to $18.00 per box less than some of the other places are charging now.

I lucked out about 4 weeks ago and got 15 boxes of 3" Rem Wingmaster HD Waterfowl and Predator T shot loads for a good price. There are only a few places I can find any Rem HD Predator or Waterfowl loads and they are either 10 ga or 12 ga 3-1/2" loads.

 

[LeviSS]

I just bought two boxes of Hevi-shot turkey loads. $25/5 for 3". Hevi-shot has $5 a box rebate right now, which makes it a *little* better...still crazy. I don't shoot many a year, and using hevi shot allows me to go to a #7 shot and still get good range and penetration. That's the only reason I buy it. If it goes up much more, I'll go back to lead #5's.

 

[H82Miss]

A while back I got a few boxes of Rem HD 3" BB's for $11.97/box. When I was in Vegas a couple weeks ago I stopped in Bass Pro and bought 4 boxes of the Rem UHD 2 3/4" BB for $9.97/box and I wish I would've bought more. I now have over 100 rnds of HD BB's and that should last me a while.

 

[K-22hornet.]

I just had a phone call from 'Kip' @ Bucks Run reloading supply, and he has 10lbs of Heavyweight 13 shot for sale for $189 plus shipping.

This stuff is 13.0grs per cc compared to Hevi-Shot which is 12.0grs per cc.

If you load your own, you can still get it for a reasonable price.

 

[derbyacresbob]

K-22hornet, that is a very good price at $1.18 per ounce.

At BPI right now Hevi-Shot is $229.50 per 7 pound bag, or $2.04 per ounce.

If a guy wanted to load BB loads buying the loaded Rem HD UHD shells at BPS for a $1.00 per each 1-1/4 oz shell would be much cheaper than buying the shot to reload with.