The case for / against nickle shot.

[x101airborne]

Well, I can say that this is MY experience and my results are my own, but wanted to make yall aware of a better mouse trap.

I have just completed 4 evenings of hunting doves near ponds over mojo dove decoys. I have shot 3 boxes of winchester heavy 7 1/2's, 4 boxes of Rio Texas heavy dove 6's, and 5 boxes of my nickle plated 8's 7/8 oz, over a heavy dose of 700X in AA hulls.
There is no comparason. None at all. With the winchesters, I was so disappointed, it was unreal. It did not pattern worth a crud in any of the 3 shotguns I tried. Pure bunk and I will not be buying another box.
My Remmy 870 liked the Rio load ok, but the auto didn't like it at all. I still got feathers off lots of doves, but did not down them. AND it kicked like a danged mule. I am going to be sore for a week. Oh, and it was DIRTY!! Looking down the barrel actually made me feel bad for the shotgun. The same shotgun that I have carried into the marsh, used for a walking stick when I broke my ankle, has almost no bluing left on it anywhere, The barrel that I have whacked ducks heads on till it looks "antiqued" and so on. I felt bad for the gun.
On to the nickle loads. HOLY COW!!!!! I went from shooting around 30% to OVER 70%!!!!!!!! There is no comparason, the nickle shot was so much better in pattern and performance. It was actually boring how well it killed. I had to pick and choose shots so I didn't limit out too quick!!! All the guys watching me could not believe how well I was doing and are now making me out to be some kind of dove sniper.
Point is, I know it is twice as expensive as magnum shot. But when you kill more than twice as many birds, it comes out in my math. My range has increased by about 25%, the lethality is so much more, and I dont have all those danged feathers in my meat. My mentor will read this and know I am saying everything that he told me, but danged iffn it aint the truth!
If you fellas who bird hunt anything havent tried nickle shot, dont miss out on a good thing.

[geargnasher]

Excellent! sounds like a ringing endorsement to me.

Gear

[runfiverun]

it proves that those bargain shells are using the cheapest components they can find/make.
no quality wads and soft lead shot.='s poor patterns with holes and flyers contributing to weak thin patterns.
and then adding a little more powder to the mix to really mess things up.
looks like good marketing to me [low cost magnumized bulk ammo yeaaahh... get two they are cheap and you'll need them]

copper plated shot works very well also.
and you now know why target shot has 5-6% antimony in it.
try a box of remington sts handicap 7-1/2 loads [the gold hulls], they are what i use for grouse,doves,rabbits,pheasants. etc
and the hulls are the best for reloading.

[popper]

12 or 20? I found the WWbox heavy 7 1/2 to be better than the Rem, fewer jams due to bad case heads (alum). But that is just on clays. I do wing a lot lately instead of good busts, sometimes left, sometimes right. 2 mossbergs. Maybe it is the ammo instead of me, dropped from 90% to 80%. That stuff does lead pretty bad. I clean it out with a couple sabot slugs - easier than scrubbing.

[runfiverun]

if you have any leading in a shotgun bbl it is because of the wad or lack of a wad [yeah they still do this]
i used to shoot around 20-k rounds of registered targets a year [and at least that many more for fun]
the only thing i ever cleaned from a bbl was some wad fouling and that was generally from the choke area.

[tomme boy]

Medium velocity an hard shot do wonders. Along with actually patterning the load a few times to prove it. Choke tubes also make a difference.

[shooter93]

Doves figure out to around 45.56 a pound....but fun to shoot AT.

[runfiverun]

much like sniping grouse with 35.00 for 50 bullets plus powder and primer.
i figure each one costs about a buck and if you hit a little lower than the head they cost 2.00 per breast.
makes for some careful aiming...

[btroj]

After shooting many turkeys with copper plated lead I tried a few with hefi-shot.
It is like what was described here. Hits so much harder it isn't even a fair contest.

With shotgun shells you do get what you pay for. Yes the hefi-shot loads are expensive but I only shoot a few each spring. Cheap enough for me.

I would never criticize a guy for shooting ammo that works! The results speak for themselves.

[x101airborne]

I couldn't resist. We went out yesterday again and I took my wife, dad, and a friend of the family. The doves werent thick like they were, but still good numbers. Dad and our friend did more chatting than hunting, but that is ok too. The missus did really well. She shot 7, I shot 8 and dad and our friend got 9 total. Good hunting all around. I was still using the nickle shot, Courtney was using moderate loads of #6 magnum shot and dad's team were both using factory loads. One thing is I think I was over-leading them a bit. Distance shots were easy for me, but I missed a lot close up. Courtney had a wounded runner that she got and whacked the head over the barrel of her gun. She laid it on the tailgate and after 20 minutes, it got up and flew away!! I need to buy her a bird bag.

[NSP64]

x101, have you weighed any nickle then compared it to other shot?

[x101airborne]

No I have not. I loaded everything by volume.

Took my mom out today for her first dove hunt ever. She shot two on the wing and swatted one in the decoys. I couldn't be prouder. She was using my #6 magnum shot loads in a mossberg 500 ported barrel and synthetic stock with a dead mule recoil reducer and 26 inch barrel with a mod choke. Mom asked how to shoot em, and I just told her to put the bead on the beak. She was having a blast. She shot at some that were over 100 yards away, but I just giggled. She was having fun and getting excited and that is what it is all about.

[lcclower]

I used to shoot geese with 1 3/8 oz nickel plated #2 shot, Federal trap wads, 3" plastic hulls and an unreasonable amount of Blue Dot, 1350 fps more or less.
Same load with plain magnum shot, not so good.
IIRC a 25# bag of copper or nickel shot was about twice the price of 100# of 7 1/2.

[fecmech]

Reading about some serious dove shooters who go to South America and shoot thousands of doves each year I remember a little factoid from the articles. For long range dove shooting they used #9 shot. The reason being that doves are easy to kill, not too easy to hit. You might just try a box of AA or STS #9 skeet loads in your dove hunting and see how they work out. A fellow that shoots a couple thousand doves each year might just have something there.

[x101airborne]

Reading about some serious dove shooters who go to South America and shoot thousands of doves each year I remember a little factoid from the articles. For long range dove shooting they used #9 shot. The reason being that doves are easy to kill, not too easy to hit. You might just try a box of AA or STS #9 skeet loads in your dove hunting and see how they work out. A fellow that shoots a couple thousand doves each year might just have something there.

That is true. And may work in the field. I will give anything a fair shake.

[Moondawg]

Back in a long ago day while stationed in Germany. I started shooting trap. Tried some some Italian 12 ga trap loads, with nickle plated shot. The stuff was awesome, it busted birds and made even me look like I knew what I was doing. I shot nothing but that ammo the rest of my tour. It was fairly inexpensive at the base Rod & Gun Club. I have been a fan of nickle shot ever since.