I think eventuallybismuth shot for reloading will make an appearance here in the U.S....until that time, the only options for those who wish to do it the 'traditional' way, i.e. no plastic shotcups, will have to use econoshot and (possibly) ITX....both are expensive, but that's all that's available right now.
IMHO, people who shoot traditional muzzleloaders should stay away from both steel shot and tungsten loads. The reason for staying away from steel is that while you can push steel out of a muzzleloader, I don't think you can do it fast enough with BP or substitutes to be fast enough to kill cleanly accept at the closest ranges. As for hevishot: after reloading it a few times, all I can say is that modern plastic loads require a great deal of manupulation by the handloader in order to protect the barrel from pin holes in the thick, plastic wads. I have shot hevishot using published data from Ballistic products and have used teflon wrappers inside the plastic shot cups and buffers and have still had problems with the shot pushing through the wads.....I don't know how a muzzleloader can get a better result dropping the stuff just down a barrel and ramming an overshot wad on top of it....but to each his own.
As for Hunter's bismuth: if they don't intend to sell to the individual, then they need to quit marketing their products to individuals....notice how they sell they're product as being better for the gun, birds, ect. on their main page. :shake: I'm tired of every search I do trying to find new sources of bismuth ending up in this place. :barf:
