Steel shot

[waco]

Anyone know the best place to buy steel shot?

[shotman]

well none is cheap what size??? Ballistic Products has many sizes BBs may be as cheap for large stuff . Steel shot blasting is a mix to about size 7 and smaller Grainger good place or a local steel fab shop
You do know that it uses a special wad????

[Johnch]

precisionreloading (http://www.precisionreloading.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=PRE&Category_Code=NON_PLATE_STEEL_SHOT)
Probely the best prices , especaily if you buy 40 lb as they use flat rate boxs

bucks run sports You have to call in orders

Balisticproducts.com

How much do you need ?

John

[waco]

i just getting started in shot shell loading
havent bought anything yet. looking to load 3" BB for geese, and 2 for ducks
also looking for recomendations for hull and wads

[shotman]

check with the one john posted hulls are best if high brass can find them on auction arm and gun broker wads are for STEEL dont use others as they have a split that lets the steel touch the barrel
also check your gun some older ones its not recommended to use steel

[runfiverun]

the federal 3" hulls are about the best for beginners.
you have to do a study on hulls epecially 3" ones federal makes a couple of different ones with different internal volumns.
remington [at my last count] makes 5-6 different ones that look similar from the outside.
and they are now making that green-gold hull that has some excellent possibilities.
the brown fiocchi's are okay, but take a bit different approach to get good results with.
and most winchester field hulls are just a p.i.t.a. to deal with except thier black 3-1/2" one.
i generally just use federal gold medal 2-3/4" hulls but i have a good sizer for the high brass.
which you will discover soon enough is a necessity as the mec one plain sucks.
4756 and steel are the two best powders out there for high velocity steel loads right now and longshot has some possibilities.

[waco]

I was going to buy a lee shot shell press. $42 from midway. Had to beat the price.

[sargenv]

I've found that factory ammo is hard to beat these days. Most data will only get you to about 1500 fps unless you have the 10 gauge. The Kent Fast Steel claims 1560 fps but when I clocked it over my chrono, it was actually making 1604 fps on average. This year I found Winchester Xpert on sale for $110/250 at Cabela's and it is supposedly making the 1550 fps now also. 1 1/8 of 2's or 3's make effective duck and goose loads.. I have been reloading steel for over 20 years and way back when steel was only making 1350 fps it was worth it to load your own, now with the new powders that the bulk guys have, it's pretty difficult to top them.

I did notice last year that the 1560 fps Kent stuff was effective, but later in the season when I'd burned through the Kent stuff, I switched to Estate 1 1/8 2's and 3's at 1475 fps and found that load to be just as effective. I bought some of the tungsten Iron in 2's and 4's last year, but that stuff was pricey even loading it.. I loaded 1 1/8 in 2's and 4's and it was very effective when I hit game, and very expensive when I missed ($1.25/round).

My waterfowl gun is a Browning Gold Hunter 3" with a Carlson extended Improved Cylinder choke. I have used the BPI data manuals and wads since they started offering them 20+ years ago.. good stuff, but it's still hard to beat factory. Also you will likely not be able to drop steel shot through that Lee. I always counted them out using small pistol primer trays with some of the holes blocked off for a specific pellet count and corresponding weight.

[Firebricker]

When you start looking for loads the Lyman 5th edition shotshell manual has data for steel,bismuth and hevi-shot. The hull identification section is very helpful.

I just got a BPI manual for buckshot loads and it's full of good info too. If I ever start loading steel shot I will pick up BPI's manual on it as well. FB

[Johnch]

How many rounds are you going to shoot a year ?

As if less than a flat( 10 boxs ) IMO you are wasting your $$ and time

That is Unless you can luck into cheap 3" hulls Fed , Remington or Cheddite (Rio , Kent , Wolf and maybe more brands )

It is cheaper to buy a case or 2
Shoot them and save the hulls
As places like Rogers sporting goods (http://store.rogerssportinggoods.com/servlet/-strse-1116/WF140-Federal-3%22-Speed-dsh-Shok/Detail) sells 3" federal steel loads for $99.99 a flat , with free shipping

Even though I reload steel
That is about as cheap as I can load it

Another thing to think about
One of the best powders for reloading Steel shot
Is Allaint's Steel powder
Every charge HAS TO BE WEIGHTED
So unless you have a auto scale , it takes a while and is a PITA

I like the load data from Reloaders Specality , using Sam 1 wads ( Bucks Run )

I could dig you out a large flat rate box of Remington hulls
John