Steel shot question

[Blammer]

Need some suggestions, didn't know where to put this.

It's been a LONG time since I duck hunted. Last time I hunted you could still use lead shot.

I have a Rem 1100 20ga 3" mag full choke.
Do I have to worry about shooting steel shot through it?

I know NOTHING about shotguns and steel shot so any words of wisdom are welcome.

I load for trap and skeet, standard lead shot.

I bought two boxes of steel shot for hunting.

I would like to load my own for duck hunting after seeing the prices!

suggestions on what components to use and where to get steel shot?

plus what size steel shot is good.

now that I think about it I totally didn't even look at what size shot I bought.

[Mauser48]

What year is the 1100? It might not be rated for steel shot. If it isn't you can just replace the barrel.

[quilbilly]

I have been using my 20 ga SxS for duck hunting for almost 40 years and it does not have the xchg choke tubes, just full and modified. Ducks have been falling out of the sky with #2 or #3 steels ever since steel shot has been required. I haven't seen any problems at all using the 3" magnums even though writers wrote of bulging and other problems for years. Even the biggest bull pintail drakes seem to fall out of the sky without problem and I don't get very many "steel shot cripples" but the bald eagles (aka fish buzzards) around here get to them very quickly anyway. Just keep your shots under 45-50 yards. Geese never come to my bays so that isn't an issue but if they did, I might switch to my 12 ga and either BB or BBB shot. Can't help you with the reloading part. I would suggest you just get a box or two of #2 steels and go hunting then see what happens. You may find your patterns are pretty tight at ranges under 20 yards so don't go "sluicing" birds at close range.

[tomme boy]

It will be fine. Use the fastest speed you can get. With steel shot, speed kills. IMO, 20 ga is only used for early season small ducks. Once the ducks start to get fat, and the feathers thicker, it is not enough. Unless ALL shots are 20 yds or less. 2's or 3's for shot.

Skip the loading your own unless you just have to do it. Not worth the time or expense. You won't be able to match the speeds either.

[quilbilly]

It will be fine. Use the fastest speed you can get. With steel shot, speed kills. IMO, 20 ga is only used for early season small ducks. Once the ducks start to get fat, and the feathers thicker, it is not enough. Unless ALL shots are 20 yds or less. 2's or 3's for shot.

Skip the loading your own unless you just have to do it. Not worth the time or expense. You won't be able to match the speeds either.
I agree with skipping the reloading part but my experience with 20 ga. and #2 steels has been far different over our bays all season for the last few decades. Our bays are populated by mallards, widgeon, and pintails that primarily come down from Alaska and stay here clear into January unless it gets cold enough to freeze our saltwater fjords (happens once every couple years) so our birds may not need the heavy feathers. After such a freeze bluebills take over making things a lot tougher since I can't fit enough decoys into a kayak.

[Blammer]

got my shotgun around 1986 or so...

mostly looking to shoot mallards.

so #2 and #3 is good?

[tomme boy]

I like 3's. 1450 fps or faster.

[triggerhappy243]

Blammer, if you are hunting in n.c. Your 20 is plenty of gun. I have a friend who hunts canada geese with his 20. #2 shot is good enough. I shoot federal or remington. Avoid the winchester expert stuff. The full choke is too much choke for ducks over decoys. I would find a barrel with changeable chokes and shoot modified for pass shooting and imp for shots over decoys up close. Search rogers sporting goods on line. Their steel shot is sold by the case.... Free shipping, much cheaper than walmart too. And forget about reloading steel. I don't and won't reload steel. No savings.

[Blammer]

headed south to hunt ducks in GA, box I picked up says 5 shot on it. 2-3/4" shells

back when I last hunted with my Dad .... #4 and #6 were good for ducks, #2 were better for geese. (lead of course)

when the non toxic shot first came out, there were reports that the game was inedible because of all the 'fragmentation' of the shot inside the birds. I shall presume this issue is resolved now with what ever shot I buy?

[Blammer]

trigger happy, aim for the head with full choke that close. :) :)

[tonyjones]

Check out ballisticproducts.com. They sell a loading manual dedicated to steel shot: "Status of Steel". They also sell shot, wads, cases, powder, primers, etc.

Keep in mind that steel shot is about 2/3 as dense as lead. One oz. of steel #4 will have about 1/3 more pellets than 1 oz. of lead #4. Reduce your shot charge accordingly and increase velocity as much as safe chamber pressures will allow.

With steel shot use one or two sizes larger than you would with lead. In a 20 ga, I personally would not use anything larger than #4. Use the most open choke available to you; skeet or I/C. Also, I would not shoot steel shot through anything tighter than modified choke. Steel shot has demonstrated an ability to damage full chokes. Use choke tube lube on the threads of your choke tubes. Do not use wads designed for lead shot.

Good luck,

TJ

[OnHoPr]

Depends on a lot of circumstances. Use the 5s that you have now, but I would definitely pattern them if you are going to spend money on license and gas. If you are going to shoot a lot then you may want to think about reloading. But, just for the a few trips to the marsh each year just buy them. For the 20 ga I would stick to the most weight fastest load above 1400 fps in the 3" shell in #4s to start with . You will find that even though you see a few blood spots on the breast feathers from time to time a lot of them still have shot in the wing or head neck area to drop in the deeks, especially when the full winter plumage is on. As for barrels and load matching for good patterns, IIRC isn't it Wukspi's signature line that says "forget about all you know about jacketed, cast is a whole new ball game", or something along those lines. Just like rifles with jacketed or cast it can get finicky and a lot of testing to get good patterning performance that will knock them in the water consistently. Different manufactures loads may shoot different in each individual gun. It is possible that the steel may ding the inside of that barrel, but if you are just going to shoot a few times this season it should be fine. If you want to keep the barrel decent for aesthetics and clays, then think about a barrel with screw in chokes. But, then depending on the cost of the barrel you may just be able to pick a decent beater 12 ga for knocking around in the boat and marsh. You should or it may be best if you, no matter what gun, barrel, choke, load combination you have on hand put up a couple pieces of big paper sheets about 35 yds away and see how it patterns before going into the marsh. Precision Reloading also has quite a bit of steel and specialty components.

[M-Tecs]

For 20 gauge I recommend one of the heavy type shotshells or high velocity factory steel. When is comes to steel loading the factory high velocity stuff cannot be equaled by reloaders. Cost is the second factor. Steel components are expensive. Reloading steel is not cost effective. In the past I have loaded steel, bismuth and heavy shot.

Rogers Sports generally has the best prices. Some has free shipping. http://www.rogerssportinggoods.com/

For steel components try http://www.ballisticproducts.com/

If your Rem 1100 20ga 3" mag full choke is older and not rated for steel shooting steel may start to open the choke. If it's not rated for steel bismouth is an option. I believe Rio is the only one currently making it. http://www.rioammo.com/rio_bismuth.html

For shot size I shoot a 12 3 1/2" so my 20 gauge exprience is limited. For big geese I use BBB and for ducks I use 2's or 3's. For pheasant with steel I use 5's for early season and for late season I switch to a load of two 4's followed by 3's for the last shot.

I recommend the Remington HyperSonic https://www.rogerssportinggoods.com/ammunition/remington-steel/remington-hypersonic-steel-20-gauge-3-ammunition.html

Rogers has it for $199 a case with free shipping and Remingtion is giving a $50 rebate.

[tomme boy]

Like I said earlier. The full choke is fine. The wads in the steel shot today are way more advanced than the first gen steel. Thats were the old wives tale of scratching your barrel came from.

I have shot 20 ga for a lot of years. I only use it for early season for little ducks. If you can keep your shots within 20 yds it will work for bigger ducks. Unless you are an exceptional shot, kip the 20 ga.

I would never use a 20 for geese unless I was using hevi-shot

[M-Tecs]

Straight from Remington https://support.remington.com/General_Information/Can_I_use_steel_shot_in_my_shotgun_barrel%3F

Can I use steel shot in my shotgun barrel?

We do not recommend the use of steel shot through any barrel manufactured before 1963 or through any barrel having a fixed Full choke. Anything larger would not perform well out of a fixed full choke and could open up your muzzle over time.
If you have barrels manufactured after 1963, with fixed Modified or Improved Cylinder chokes, you may shoot up to size #2 steel shot. The use of steel shot larger than size #2 is only recommended in modern barrels with the Rem Choke system.

If you have the Rem Choke system, you may shoot any size steel through the Improved Cylinder and Modified choke tubes. The Full choke tube must state "For Steel or Lead" to be capable of handling steel shot.

[Harter66]

Kent ,PMC ,and Blue Steel all use the very same components sold by Ballistic products .

An 1 1/16 Oz of #1 or B in a CSD 118 runs 1470 fps in a Fiochi 2 3/4 in low base with a W209 and 4756.
That load served me well out to 50 yd on even big ducks, honkers get wrecked under 50 yd as well . I've been shooting it since 95' in a BPS special steel field bbl and Boito O/U with a tight Mod over a Imp Cyl.

Shot bigger B have a tendency to ball up in the feathers and not penetrate well .
Go up 1 shot size or 2 from whatever you would use in lead but make sure you choose a load of at least 1400 fps .

I had an 1100 magnum for a little while . It would short stroke in the cold with "light" 1 1/8 oz 3" loads because the pressures in the newer loads are much lower in some loads than others .

In store bought I prefer Kent Fasteel. PMC works well until the temps go under 28-30 degrees. The Blue Steel is working well so far (I bought a case last yr at $7/box).

The Fiochi primed cases through BP are a great value the Fiochi primers are equal to W209 . The CSD series wads are cost effective but are unslit ,handy if you want to extend pattern range . The shot is the killer, I scrounged all I could many years ago at post season sales . Everything was $16-20/box then ,anything under $10-11/box isn't worth the time for me to load it anymore.

[tomme boy]

No way are you killing geese and ducks at 50 yds with a 20 ga. You should not be shooting that far anyway. Lets talk about all the ones you wounded at that range that you never even thought you hit.

I'd like to see your pattern even at 40 yds with that 20

[runfiverun]

mass and speed are your friends.
back when steel shot loads first come out I switched to a 20 ga for a while because they offered faster loads.
once I got up to speed reloading steel shot I found that the 12 ga 3" loads still ruled the roost out there [after trying the 10 ga and 3-1/2" 12 ga etc.]

for the 20 ga with a full choke I would look at #3 or #4 shot to increase the pellet count and speed is a priority.
if you can get a load around 1500 fps then #4 would make a good load out to @ 40 yds or so and have a dense pattern.
if you are stuck with a slower [1300 fps or so] load then the larger shot size helps.


now the bad part.
the tighter choke doesn't help because steel shot shoots a tighter pattern to begin with. [usually one choke tighter patterns]
if you use a too large shot size the tight choke can actually blow the pattern open or even damage the barrel.
steel shot is hard and can bridge in a tighter choke.
something to be aware of.
and why you don't want to use #2 or bigger shot in the smaller barrels, unless paired with a more open choke.

[triggerhappy243]

No way are you killing geese and ducks at 50 yds with a 20 ga. You should not be shooting that far anyway. Lets talk about all the ones you wounded at that range that you never even thought you hit.

I'd like to see your pattern even at 40 yds with that 20

tommy boy, who are you referring to?

[Harter66]

I missed or overlooked the 20 ga reference.

My BPS put 105 of 117 #B inside 27 " at 40 yd.
The OU throws 12 and 16 " at 25yd.

I had a Ithaca 66 3" 20 ga many years ago . Federal 3/4 oz 2 1/2 inch and 1oz 3" was all that was available. The fixed modified choke with steel was good for about an inch per yard . I shot 2s and 4s and it was a matter of groceries so patterns were pretty low priority. I would venture 125 2s in 48" at 40 yd .

[Blammer]

ok so the #5 shot at 1400 fps I have should be ok in my full choke?

because if I read this right #2 has BIGGER sized shot than #5

[M-Tecs]

Per Remington no. They do not recommend any steel shot out of the fix full choke guns. The reality is unlike some of the double and early Browning A5's the worst that will happen is your full choke will open some. Some of the double and A5's would bulge in font of the choke.

[Fishman]

I'll back Harter66 on his reload assessment. I shot a very similar load of b's in the mid 90's that killed Canada's out to 50 yds no problem. He is right on the money.

Steel 5's should be limited to 25 yds or less. Better be an excellent shot with that full choke. Steel 5's might not penetrate a big mallard from the front even at 20 yds. They really are a poor choice in my opinion.

A far better plan would be a modified choke and a 3" 7/8 oz or 1 oz loads of 2's or 3's. Which is what others have said. If you are set on the full choke at least get some 3's or even 4's. Huge difference between 4's and 5's.

[deep creek]

steel is a lot faster than lead don't over lead!

[Blammer]

I'm an excellent shot! Just ask me! :)

well guess I'll just have to shoot the small ones and make sure they are close. :)

[quilbilly]

I have found that #5's, while excellent on teal and snipe (yes, I do hunt snipe), are too small for the larger ducks. I prefer #3's but so rarely see them in stores, I use #2's because all the local stores have those. I stock up on shells after the season closes and they are all clearance priced which may be why I don't get many #3's.

[Blammer]

currently there is no other option other than full choke. My barrel does not have choke tubes. Way back when, choke tubes were not a common option as they are today.

[tomme boy]

Don't go over #3 and it will be fine. We been shooting steel in A5's and Rem clones and 870 with no ribs since steel came out. The only time I ever heard of someone having a problem was when they had some mud or snow get packed in the barrel.