Waterfowl (steel shot) hunter

[mowolf]

Hello the camp!

I have a question, I am interested in getting a smooth bore or a BP shotgun for waterfowl hunting. My littel brother in Ohio tells me that it would be next to impossible to duck and goose hunt with a BPML, I want to show him he is a moron :rotf:

Any suggestions? I had a CVA Trapper, but you could not shoot steel shot with it and it had screw in chokes which I would prefer not to have, doesn't look right on a "traditional" ML.

Waya

 

[riarcher]

Been there,, done that.
Forget the steel shot.
Way too light for any practicle BP velocity in my opinion for reaching out to ducks/geese.
Go with the Bismuth shot. Much heavier, carries further and it can reach out near twice as far if you work your loads. Much kinder to your barrel too,,, but not your wallet.
Heavy-shot and matrix are nice and heavy, but terrible on the barrel unless your willing to restrict yourself to few choices in guns (like this gun and that custom barrel) or special wads,,, maybe.
Bismuth also patterns closely with lead. Work your patterns with lead first (to save expense) then finalize with bismuth.
Steel is nothing like lead on the patterning boards. Like apples to banannas!
IMHO

 

[Poor Boy]

Pedersoli makes some excellent shotguns,that have chrome lined barrels.They work well with steel shot.There not cheap.There are a few used ones around. I'd like to have another CVA Trapper.There excellent for teaching newbe MZL shotgun trap shooters. Olson

 

[Runner]

I shoot a Trapper. Mine patterns very well with lead using 3/4 powder to shot loads. With steel it is a completely different beast. I have usable BB and #5 loads worked up, but neither are really what you would want. Bismuth is likely the best option, but it is expensive. I can't seem to bring myself to spend 80$ for 7 pounds of shot. Supposedly the new steel shot cups offer much better patterns than the old ones, but you still have the issue of retained energy at realistic ranges. This spring I am going to experiment with cutting the skirts on some of the old wads I have to see if the drag effect will cause them to separate better than they do without cutting the sides. The new ones made that way are supposed to be shooting amazing patterns out of the modern guns. My best # 5 load so far is a good rabbit buster but is not good enough for any serious waterfowl work.