Bird shot and wadding

[ronblack]

OK so I am going goose hunting soon and I have been laughed at, called crazy, and gotten a lot of strange looks. This is the first time I am trying this with a smooth bore. I have been trying to find out what wadding might be best for a .75 cal musket and I have been having a lot of trouble finding non toxic shot, that is not in shells. So if anyone can point me in the right direction or give me advice it would be greatly apreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Black Jack (aka Ron)

 

[roundball]

If you're going bare bore with no protective shot cup, my pattern testing with Ecotungsten (Niceshot) showed it to be outstanding.

Its pricey, but the good news is since its a direct substitute for lead, (6s for 6s, 5s for 5s, 4s for 4s, etc) you can do your pattern testing with regular lead #4's for example, then just run a couple of pattern insurance shots with the more expensive Niceshot and go hunting.

But if you're going to use a heavy protective shot cup, then you could use steel or ITX pellets...although lighter than lead or niceshot, they're a less expensive on the surface but you'll burn a lot of them up pattern testing.

 

[dbutch]

Ron..Welcome to the forum..Google Ballistic products inc..they have steel and other Non-toxic shot..There is Hevi-shot..Nice shot and Bismuth..Warning....use a protective shot cup in your bore.
some of the steel shot is harder than your smoothie.
Have taken geese with steel....Nice-shot and Hevi-shot.

First goose with a flintlock

 

[lonehunter]

Nice bird, Dan! :hatsoff:

 

[Lorne Johnson]

Ballistic Products hasn't carried bismuth for while. (Good supplier though.)

Precision reloading has both Bismuth and Nice Shot.

 

[Jason Lewis]

bismuth is also cheaper than nice shot too. it patterns just as nice as lead shot and you don't have to use a shot cup. i use the #4's for pheasant and ducks on some state ground, btw, you are not nuts, but a better shot than modern shot shell shuckers, it only takes you one shot to get the job done. :thumbsup:

 

[Jason Lewis]

oh, .75 is an 11ga, you can get your wads from circle fly.

 

[ronblack]

Thanks everyone. I have had a hard time finding nontoxic shot, and let me tell you deciphering the differences has been a pain.

Ron

 

[Eterry]

Dan, your my HERO! I cant seem to ever connect with the first shot, and I'm using a 3" 12 gauge semi-auto. Way to go.

Eterry

 

[BrownBear]

Thanks everyone. I have had a hard time finding nontoxic shot, and let me tell you deciphering the differences has been a pain.

Ron

I haven't got around to using my Bess for waterfowl yet, but for close to 20 years before we had to switch away from lead, I used a NA double 12 not only for waterfowl, but also for ptarmigan, snowshoe hare and even a few pheasant hunts. Never a prob, and in fact I kept the second barrel in reserve in case I needed a "quick reload" for a followup shot.

I let that double go before alternatives emerged, simply because I couldn't shoot steel through it. But a lot of shooting with steel and later alternates in cartridge guns taught me one thing. You not only need larger steel to the job, you need high velocity.

I point that out, because high velocity just doesn't come down the pike with black powder. Good patterning and excellent game performance with lead comes down around 1,000 fps. But any time I've shot steel loads down in the 1,200 fps range, crippling went through the roof. I won't even shoot a steel load these days that's less than 1,400 fps and I'll go to lighter payloads in favor of more velocity.

I'd go for the densest alternative you can get, because I'm convinced you'll need it for best killing at the low velocities of a ML. As I head back into ML waterfowl hunting myself, that's the path I'm taking.