Steel Shot???

M

MissouriSlim

New member
I recently purchased 20 boxes of steel shotgun shells really cheap. I was wondering how effective or ineffective they would be for predator hunting? They are all 3" and 3 1/2" shells varying from #4 to T. I hunt usually in mostly wooded areas. How quickly does steel lose energy compared to lead?
 
I've shot 2 coyotes with steel #1's while duck hunting, distance was about 40 yards, both coyotes took 3 shots, both of them got away.

On the other hand I've shot coyotes with lead BB's & dead coyote at 50 yards & it killed them on the spot.

Personally, I would save the steel for ducks.
 
Pattern your gun & know your distances.

AIM FOR THE HEAD!!!! Know your point of aim vs. impact.

For instance, the center of the pattern in my 1100 shoots 6"-8" low at 40 yards.

Calculate your own Killing distances by putting up a 1/4" piece of plywood, all you need is a 16"x16" or 12"x12". Question you need to answer, is what distances will "x" size shot shoot a hole through the 1/4" plywood. I guarantee you that your skull is not as hard as that 1/4" piece of plywood.

It would be my guess that the T shot would be simply fantastic out to 40 yards with the right tight choke.

You are going to have to choke your chicken and find out!

Chances are if you learn your limitations, it will make you a better hunter.

It should be a lot of fun in patterning your shotgun. Start your patterning off at 35 yards on penetration on the 1/4" plywood. Put some kind of aiming point on the piece of plywood and shoot from some kind of rest so that you are not wobbling all over the place. It is humbling when you miss the target when you are shooting a shotgun. As the # of shots fired increases, your aim gets worse because that shotgun is beating hell out of you, turning your shoulder GREEN OUCH!!
 
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No matter the pattern I cannot recommend steel for coyotes...

Penetration and performance is very poor...



Many years ago, when steel shot was first required for waterfowling, I did a test with some steel handloads using BBB shot and some lead handloads using lead BB's with my 10ga. The steel loads were running about 1500 fps. at the muzzle, while the lead was probably running in the neighborhood of about 1250 fps.

The target was a sheet of corrugated steel at about 40 yards. The upshot of the test was that the high speed steel BBB's bounced off, leaving large dents, while most of the slower lead BB's blew right on through.

Recently, I got to see some computer generated data on the energy generated by large steel shot, and it appears that steel BBB's at about 1550 fps. have about the same energy at 50 yards as do lead 2's at about 1300 fps. At the same range, steel T's at the same 1550 fps. have the about the same energy as lead BB's at about 1300 fps.

The problems with using steel are twofold. The first is that when you use the steel pellets which are big enough to hold their energy down range, they are so few in most loads that the patterns are too thin to be usable on a land animal at those longer ranges. And, secondly, due to the low density of steel, the energy drops off so fast that they quickly become much less effective than lead as the range increases beyond 40 or 50 yards.

Of course, that's not to say that you can't use steel shot to kill predators, but it's a poor second choice to lead or the heavier than lead alternatives.
 
steel shot isn't good for anything in my opinion! Lee

that the truth /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif
 
We started using steel for ducks around 1980 and saw little difference and had no complaints. I will say that we hunted ducks with 1 1/8 oz 7 1/2's early and the same load with 5's late in the season. All our shooting was and is over decoys and the transition to #4 steel was a piece of cake.

As for steel on preds just stay with in the effective range of steel. Since I started using a decoy and remote caller I have little need for a shotgun on preds. You can set up your shots much easier and don't have coyotes homing on you.

AWS
 
Hey guys thanks for all the great info. It confirmed my suspicions. Like I said I bought it super cheap so it is not a big loss.

So I guess my next question is: "Who wants to by some steel shot? CHEAP!"


HA!
 
The waterfowl shooters will want it, if the price is right. Steel shot shell prices have been going up at the rate of 10 - 15 percent per year, and just took another jump. Some are expecting another price increase this Fall.
 
With the prices of NON toxic loads going up I may someday have to go to steel. I do still have almost case of Hevi Shot and a case and a half of hevi steel. Once they are gone I will have to go to steel unless the market gets back in line.

Get together what you got and post in the classifieds. I'm sure there's plenty of waterfowlers who don't have a stock pile of non toxic sitting around.
 
Steel shot on coyotes? NAH! Dump it out and let your kids pick it up with a magnet.


Dave

I have dumped coyotes at a (stepped off) 65 yards with Dead Coyote Loads (T shot) from my Benelli.
 
Remember what I said, do the 1/4" plywood test, it will teach you volumes.

If you have 20 boxes of the stuff, might as well shoot up some stuff!
 
Been thinking about this the past couple of days and suprise it's at the top of the list when I open the forum up.

Steel shot kills very well on ducks and upland birds if you don't shoot at things beyond the effective range of the load your using. It's not uncommon for us to kill every duck we shoot at on a hunt. One year my father in law killed 23 ducks with one box of shells. We hunt nothing but public lands but we look for the places the ducks want to be. We learned to call and place decoys so the ducks just drop in.

Same thing with preds if your load of T's or BBB's will effectivly kill coyotes at 35 yds don't shoot beyond that. Don't sit there and whine about lead, IT'S GONE learn to use what you have. You won't kill ANYTHING if you hang up your guns and bemoan the loss of lead.

Quite afew years ago Winchester made some AA shot shells with #7 steel and the were quite effective at 16yd trap. I shot up 5 box testing them.

PICT0004.jpg

The Duck Machine edit:(works good for getting into areas for calling coyotes)
AWS
 
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Your outboard has ears!

Second, third or whatever that steel ain't worth a hoot. Heck, it's hard enough to kill a duck with it, much less a coyote.
 
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