Hevi-Shot Turkey Loads

[Major2hook]

Up in Vermont the snows have melted and Turkey season is on.
Over the past several years I have been attempting to develop a load that will pattern well with my TVA fowler.
Being a open bore, the ranges have to be kept to about 25 yards. A few weeks ago I was re-reading an article in my Ducks unlimited Magazine discussing Hevi-shot. It is a non toxic waterfowl pellet developed to satisfy federal regulations and to get "lead like" terminal impact on ducks/Geese. After reading the article I remembered that I had bought a box of 20ga Hevi-shot for my ithaca pump to use for jump shooting but the opportunity never came up. I went through the duck hunting boxes and retrieved the box and cut out the shot and wads.

My load is 90gr 2FG and the 1 1/4 hevi-shot using the plactic wad from the shell. I put a thin over powder wad and a felt fiber over that, after that the components from the shell topped by an over shot card. I did n't get a chance to pattern the load formally but my ad hoc tests ( shooting a couple of charges at a mud bank) seemed to show that this load patterns really tight! The shot by the way looks pretty strange. The're all lumpy and seem to be stuck together is some cases...but they fly together tighter than the #6 copper plated lead I've been using.

Maybe this will help someone bring home a gobbler.

Good luck

Jim Ross

 

[musketman]

Sounds like a real thumper... :thumbsup:

 

[ffffg]

really tight may be an understatement.. loads tested into a mud bank will give poor tecknical data on telling what is happening.. when you put the over shot card on the pettals of the plastic cup it could have been folded.. or maybe very hard shot exposed to a very expensive gun.. when these plastic cups hit the end of the bore with slow velocity, some wont open but turn, some will open, some will stick together as a mass and etc, etc.. many advocate shot cups, but i have been against plastic shot cups from the get go in black powder guns. paper cups done right,fine... the very hard cups used in steel and im guessing heavy shot are the worst offenders.. they may open better than steel cups that are traveling up to 1500 ft per second upon exit of the muzzel, but one must test thier load for at least 5 rounds before it passes any hunting test.. dave..

 

[The Baron]

Watch that Hevi-Shot - it's very hard stuff and maybe hard on your barrel if not properly contained in the shot cup. Hevi-Shot's big selling point is long range punch, but for the ranges that a BP shotgun should be employed (certainly less than 40 yards), the Hevi-Shot offers no practical advantage.:imo:

As for stiff shot cups and low velocities, I have some first hand experience. I patterned a bit and then shot two turkeys this spring with my 12ga. T/C New Englander, 90gr. FFg with 1 3/8oz. lead #4 in a steel shot cup with overshot card. I got good patterns as the shot must accelerate ahead of the cup, but the cup definitely doesn't open up. I shot my first turkey at 27 paces, and picked up the unopened shot cup right next to the bird. I may have actually hit him with it!

 

[swank]

Jim,
Regarding your use of hevi-shot I just wanted to throw out a few experiences/ observations. I

 

[fatboy]

I would not recomend the use of Hevi shot in older guns if you do some research I belive you will find Bismuth the only lead replacement for waterfoul in older guns . In black powder guns cant say it will hurt the barrel if it is a non choked tube you maybe just be fine with it using the proper plastic shot cup, just using a paper paper shot cup you could have problem with grooves worn in your barrel. :m2c: :imo: :results:

 

[Rebel]

I was told by Navy Arms that it is safe to use even Steel shot in a cylinder bore barrel with a plastic Steel Shot Cup. Have fired a lot of it through my Navy Arms double barrel with those cups, and there is absolutely No sign of any damage to the bores.

 

[fatboy]

Yea Rebel I figured as long as the smooth bore of your choice doesnt have a choke or not much of one and you use the correct plastic shot cup you ought to be ok . My concern is having a barrel made of a lesser quality steel and someone trying to shoot the Heavy Shot w/o a shot cup and or a tight choke

 

[Joel/Calgary]

I don

 

[fatboy]

Hey Joel do know if you can buy the tungsten-polymer composite pellets to reload black powder shot shells or use in our smooth bores ? If so who and where? thanks

 

[Rebel]

I use steel shot in my Navy Arms double barrel with cyl. bores. Have fired a lot of it through the gun and there is absolutely no sign of bore damage. I do use the special heavy plastic Steel Shotcups though. Navy Arms told me it was safe to use Steel in one of their cylnder bore guns with the shotcup.

 

[Joel/Calgary]

I haven't been looking recently, but last fall & winter I was, and I monitored a fair bit of traffic on some of the shotgun boards. At the time, Kent tungsten Matrix was the only tungsten/polmer composite shot available loose, and it was only available in the UK, not in North America. This was not expected to change soon, but I've been hoping.

In the mean time, I broke down and got a bottle of #4 bismuth ($urk$) for waterfowling and used equivalent weights of HARD lead #5 for load development for it. FWIW, for cost reasons, I'm still trying to develop a steel-shot cartridge for speed-loading a "swatter" round, where pattern density is more important than body penetration.

Sorry I can't help more,
Joel

 

[fatboy]

Hey Joel thanks I'll try to keep my eye's open maybe it will be offered over here soon . Any how I dont waterfoul hunt that much but I did take some ducks with the #4 bismuth. Mallards dropped properly they were about 30yds out . Want to try this some more again thanks :front:

 

[No Deer]

Hey Joel do know if you can buy the tungsten-polymer composite pellets to reload black powder shot shells or use in our smooth bores

I don't know if it the same as the composites you are asking about, but I got some loose Hevi-shot from Cabella's a couple of years ago. Is more expensive than bismuth. I got my first turkey with it a couple of years ago.

 

[Joel/Calgary]

I don't know if it the same as the composites you are asking about, but I got some loose Hevi-shot from Cabella's a couple of years ago. Is more expensive than bismuth.

No, the Heavishot and most of the other tunsten-containing shot are solid metal alloys. The "tungsten-polymer" composite shot are made of very fine metal particles held together by some plastic. Kent's "Impact Tungsten Matrix" is the only one I'm aware of being made at the present. I vaguely recall someone else tried making shot of this type, but I can't recall any details.

On bismuth shot, there has been an interesting development most folks haven't heard about. An outfit called "Hunter's Bismuth" (http://www.huntersbismuth.com) caters to those trying to save money by making their own shot with the Littleton shotmaker. In addiition to ingots of bismuth, tin, and 95/5 Bi/Sn alloy, they offer an "easy-to-pour spherical pellet" form of the 95/5 alloy in sizes corresponding to shot sizes #3-#7.5. "Because of certain patent considerations, we do not offer these pellets to the public as shot, even though they certainly look and act like the very finest highest quality non-toxic shot." (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). They are US$66.50 for a 7lb jug, comppared to US$54.50 for 7lb in ingot form, or US$84.85 for genuine Bismuth No-Tox