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not steel, but still "nontoxic"
- Thread starter hhughh
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Maestro
Moderator
This was the first hit for a Google search on "Bismuth shot": Precision Reloading - $120 for 7 lb. :hatsoff:
Gold is good?
Stupid Old Ford!
Stupid Old Ford!
Ballistics Products carries bismuth. Dependong on the bore of your gun you can get heavy plastic Steel Shot cups and shoot steel shot in it if that is all you can get, but steel isn't to good ballistically. But it is a LOT cheaper than Bismuth.
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Once current supplies of bismuth shot are gone, you might never see more. The company's founder died and his family is not interested in running the business--it is for sale.
Another (expensive) alternative is Nice Shot. Do a search for "Ecotungsten" and you will find it. They claim the shot is almost as soft as lead and of the same density.
Another (expensive) alternative is Nice Shot. Do a search for "Ecotungsten" and you will find it. They claim the shot is almost as soft as lead and of the same density.
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like that "green ammo", it a type of plastic with a tungsten filler, last i checked it was realy expensive especialy if u just wanted like a single bag(55lbs),a life times worth, but at like $2000usd. i work in injection molding and i had a project i wanted to do, so i ask the boss to check for me and thats what he said it was like. also i think it has just as lethal rate as lead tho
Ok, maybe I've misunderstood, and need to update my question/situation.
I'm talking about two, or maybe four shots a year....six or eight shots in a lifetime. Just a once or twice thing to say I used it for "fowling". At that rate, seven pounds of shot would last to my gggrandkids. For those few shots, would steel shot be safe in my barrel? It's the Rayl 12 gauge for the Chambers NE fowler.
Thanks again,
Hugh
I'm talking about two, or maybe four shots a year....six or eight shots in a lifetime. Just a once or twice thing to say I used it for "fowling". At that rate, seven pounds of shot would last to my gggrandkids. For those few shots, would steel shot be safe in my barrel? It's the Rayl 12 gauge for the Chambers NE fowler.
Thanks again,
Hugh
Either find a friend that shoots some of the non-toxic loads in his cartridge gun and get a few shells from him then open them up and retrieve the shot, or buy a box for yourself and do the same thing.
paulvallandigham
Passed On
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No barrel made for ML shooting is safe with steel unless it is so marked. I suspect the Chamber's gun is not marked, so you are going to have to use a plastic shotcup to protect the bore of the gun from the rubbing of the shot, steel, or other non-toxic shot. If its not as soft as lead, it will scratch and gouge your barrel over time, UNLESS you protect the barrel by using heavy plastic shotcups. You can buy good ones from Ballistic's products. If someone else is also making these components, I am not now aware of them. Perhaps someone else knows another source of heavy gauge shotcups, than Ballistics Products.
BTW. When working up a load for your ML shotgun, use regular shot in those plastic shotcups to pattern the load. Once you have a powder and load weight ratio worked out that throws a desired pattern, then you can shoot a little of that expensive non-toxic shot to see how the patterns compare.
Remember, the nice part about shooting Black powder is that it burns slower than smokeless and pushes, rather than slams, the shot forward. This deforms much less shot in the back or bottom end of the shot charge, leaving more round pellets to stay in the pattern down range. With Bismuth shot, for instance, you could expect 20% of the shot at the back of the casing to shatter in to dust and powder before the load left the barrel of the shotgun, so you had that fewer pellets traveling to the target. This is because bismuth was and is rattle brittle, and it cannot stand up to the shock of suddenly being thrust down a barrel under that kind of pressure. Buffers were put into the shot column in the casing to reduce this shattering effect, but the use of black powder actually caused a greater improvment in pellet performance than even the shot buffers. I believe that if the manufacturer had slowed down his velocity on the loaded shells, and just told people that they didn't need all that velocity at the muzzle to kill birds, more people would have bought his shotgun shells.
BTW. When working up a load for your ML shotgun, use regular shot in those plastic shotcups to pattern the load. Once you have a powder and load weight ratio worked out that throws a desired pattern, then you can shoot a little of that expensive non-toxic shot to see how the patterns compare.
Remember, the nice part about shooting Black powder is that it burns slower than smokeless and pushes, rather than slams, the shot forward. This deforms much less shot in the back or bottom end of the shot charge, leaving more round pellets to stay in the pattern down range. With Bismuth shot, for instance, you could expect 20% of the shot at the back of the casing to shatter in to dust and powder before the load left the barrel of the shotgun, so you had that fewer pellets traveling to the target. This is because bismuth was and is rattle brittle, and it cannot stand up to the shock of suddenly being thrust down a barrel under that kind of pressure. Buffers were put into the shot column in the casing to reduce this shattering effect, but the use of black powder actually caused a greater improvment in pellet performance than even the shot buffers. I believe that if the manufacturer had slowed down his velocity on the loaded shells, and just told people that they didn't need all that velocity at the muzzle to kill birds, more people would have bought his shotgun shells.
Hamourkiller
40 Cal.
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If I only wanted to fire a few shots per life time or per year, then as sugested I would buy sone non toxic shot shells and salvage the shot for your loads. "Kent Matrix" shells have a shot made from tungsten and plastic, are the same weight as chilled lead shot and are soft for all barrels. The sugestion to use regular lead shot for load developement is also a great idea and ties in with the Kent Matrix shot because of the same weight per shot size.
Good luck
Good luck
