Steel shot

[Nevadan]

I don't know much about shotguns whether muzzleloading or cartridge but I just got a howda Hunter Pistol 20 guage. I have not been able to find any lead shot yet so I was wondering if it would damage the barrel to fire steel shot out of it?

 

[roundball]

I definitely would not...steel shot has always required special thick protective shot cups to avoid damaging the bore...and not your run of the mill shot cup, but a special thick shot cup made for use with steel shot.

 

[dbutch]

Steel shot is not a problem to shoot..You MUST ! use a protective shot cup..the steel will score your barrel if not protected. BPI--Ballistic products sell many steel shot cups.. check them out.. order some wads and have a blast. Now if you want to spend some cash there are other non-toxic shots you can order that do not need a wad.

You can also order lead shot delivered online.

if you would like to go cheap--go to the local sporting goods store..buy the cheapest trap-target loads 12 ga cut the shells open and reuse the shot from those. Good luck....Dan

 

[billd]

Ballistic Products also sells lead shot. I'd just buy that and play it safe. Why chance ruining a barrel.
Bill

 

[wittzo]

I've been shooting my MVTC .62 Howdah pistol with BB's with and without regular plastic wads (with the shock wad and over powder wad cut off) with no ill effects that I can tell, but they're not hardened steel shot, just Crosman copper plated BB's. I only use 30-40 grains of FFg Triple Seven, though with 70-80 grains of BB's. Anyone that sells shotgun loading supplies should have steel shot wads, but cut off the recoil part and use traditional over powder and fiber wads one gauge higher, 18 or 19 gauge from Ox Yoke.

 

[paulvallandigham]

WADR, those BBs made for air rifles are much Harder steel than the Steel BBs made for shotguns. You are making the same mistake that many of us made years ago trying to use the Air Rifle BBs( .177") in shotgun loads. Because we didn't SEE any evidence of damage being done to the bore after the first few shots, we thought we were OK.

The Damage is done over time, However, with repeated firing of these hard pellets in barrels made of much softer Steels. YOU WILL DAMAGE THAT HOWDAH gun in time if you continue to use these BBs, without at least using the very THICK and tough plastic wads( Available from Ballistics Productics, among others, for example) to protect the bore from the pellets.

The Steel shot sold for use in modern guns is both larger in diameter- .18"-- and softer, than the air rifle BBs you are using. However, even these pellets are NOT RECOMMENDED for use in older shotgun barrels, or in shotgun barrels not specifically Designed for shooting Steel shot! Even in the guns that have barrels designed for steel shot, you are told to use special plastic shot cups to protect the bore.

When I was preparing to hunt geese with my shotgun, using Steel Shot, I did a lot of testing of various sizes of shot, and various chokes in my barrel, to determine what size shot, and what size choke produced the best patters. I also CHECKED THE SPENT SHOT CUPS on the ground between my muzzle and the patterning board.

I found that even with the THICK plastic cups, there would be "rub holes" caused by the steel pellets pushing against the wall plastic of the cup, hard enough to completely penetrate the plastic wall. There were corresponding streaks in my barrel from these pellets rubbing against the steel. So, even the " Soft Steel" pellets are NOT soft enough! :shocked2: I ended up using Modified, and skeet 2 choke tubes in my gun, depending on steel shot size, and you could see the beginning of wear grooves in those choke tubes.

Please! If you are going to load any kind of Steel Shot in a MLer, use the proper, thick shotcups made for this kind of thing, and then also use a fine filler to fill the voids between your shot pellets in the cup, like PufLon, or Jiffy brand Corn Bread Mix. Filling the voids will help control movement of the shot pellets in the cup itself, and reduce the ability of the shot to push through the walls of the plastic cup to rub against the bore.

A final note about cost: As expensive as Steel Shot is, the other non-toxic shot types are even more expensive, so far. There is an area in Central California where Lead shot is prohibited for use in all game- a Granola State mistake that will come back to haunt what is left of that state when it goes bankrupt---- but other than that strange state, the only restrictions on hunting with lead shot were imposed years ago by the Federal Fish and Game department on shooting waterfowl. I WOULD NOT USE STEEL SHOT IN ANY GUN if I were not hunting Waterfowl, and I am trying my darnest to get that law repealed.

I lost my waterfowl hunting partner a couple of years ago, so I just don't have the desire to hunt them unless I find a new partner. But, I still have steel shot cartridges. I am very excited that there has been so much research and development work done to find a Non-toxic shot that Can be used in old guns, with more traditional chokes, and hope that as the production of these new shot types improves, that the cost will come down.

In the meanwhile, I am very happy to see that the Waterfowl have invaded the homes and neighbors of the Greenies, making a huge Mess, and Stink, and that these Anti-hunters-- raised to think that meat comes plastic wrapped---- are now demanding government( who else?) DO SOMETHING about all the Goose POOP in their lawns, and in their retention ponds. And they want the geese Humanly "Moved " to some other location, with NO UNDERSTANDING that the Geese will simply fly right back, or how much it costs to traps water fowl to remove them.

 

[wittzo]

I understand. I sure didn't know that about steel BB's, but I haven't done any research about it. I thought that BB gun barrels were made of cheap soft steels and an actual gun's barrel would be tougher, since it handled higher pressures. I've only fired a few rounds with steel BB's, a half dozen or less, so no damage was done, I guess. I did it mostly out of convenience. My son's BB's were sitting there and I didn't feel like dragging out the 20 lb box of #7 shot or wasting buckshot pellets. Now I know. I picked up a box of Jiffy Corn meal mix to use as a buffer for my shot loads in general.
Thanks for the heads up!

 

[paulvallandigham]

I know of very few places where you can even Read about the make up and differences between Steel BBs for air rifles, and Steel BBs for shotguns. Please don't think less of yourself because you didn't know. I taught Hunter-Safety courses for 25 years and picked up that information from a multiple of sources along the way. Most Air Rifle barrels are in fact made of brass- not steel at all! But, they are Not rifled, and they are large enough in diameter to allow even imperfectly shaped BBs to go down them, provided we are talking about the .177" diameter BBs. If you try to us the .180" Steel BBs, for shotguns, they stick in the brass barrels, and ruin the air rifle. I have talked to a couple of air rifle gunsmiths over the years who tell me all the work that has come to them because people make this mistake.

Even Chrome lined barrels cannot be fed a regular diet of steel shot, without using the heavy plastic shot cups made for that shot. The Chrome is harder than steel, but its merely Plating, and therefore very thin. ( I am talking 10 thousandths of a inch) And, of course, because of the nature of choke at the end of the barrel, any shot load- steel or lead-- will be going at near maximum velocity when it hits that constriction. Steel shot is Very hard on chokes.

If you consider any BP shotgun to be a short range gun- say 25-30 yds max, unless its choked, and feed it the kind of loads that will deliver your best patterns at that distance, you will find that lighter loads are the way to go.

Get a Copy of the Lyman Shotshell Reloading Manual- any edition will do--- and look up their Tables on velocity, Pellet energy, time of flight, and drop in flight. The tables list MV for the different sizes of shot, and then give declining velocities, and other data for 20, 40, and 60 yds. This is for shooters using modern guns, with choked barrels, and cartridges using smokeless powder loads. But, THE SHOT DOESN'T KNOW OR CARE WHAT KIND OF PROPELLANT IS PUSHING IT OUT THE BARREL! The data in those tables is just as good for MLers using BP, as it is for modern cartridges.

If you want to determine the velocity of any shot load you shoot with BP, wrap the shot charge up into a thick package from newspaper, or index card stock. It will sail over the Chronograph screen in front of the muzzle as a single projectile, and will not open up. But you will get a good reading for your Muzzle Velocity. Then, with that information, you can go to the Lyman tables and use them to give you an idea what is going to take place down range.

Don't even think of trying to turn a BP gun in to a 60 yd. shooter! Even with choke tubes. Market hunters used a 2 3/4 dram load of powder, with 1 1/4 oz. of #5 shot in 12 gauge MLers to shoot ducks on the water out to 50 yds, but having used that load on clay targets, I personally believe that is about its limit, even with the heavy shot.

 

[Nevadan]

Thanks for the information, just what I needed. I was finally able to find some lead shot locally so I am happy.