doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com ITX Shot

Is anyone familar with XTI shot?
http://www.ballisticproducts.com/products.asp?dept=370

Is it safe for our old guns?

$20.00 a pound? Ouch. And funky looking too.

I've read of good results using ITX. Ballistic Products makes great reloading components so I'm not surprised. The belted shape is because the pellets come from a mold rather than a drop tower. The belt actually provides for good aerodynamics and also provides a little cutting function on a duck's flesh. ITX has the mass of Bismuth which is a little less than lead but more than steel. The price is $1.16 an ounce or $1.45 for 1&1/4 ounce which should be more than sufficient for decoying ducks and geese. More than steel shot but less than other non-toxics.

If you have a place to waterfowl where the birds want to be then use steel. If however you are like the rest of us who have to work hard to find a place to set up our spreads then an extra 10 yards range should help in bagging those decoy-shy ducks. Add to that our commitments of work and family that limit our days in the blind to far to few. Then there are those LC Smiths, Parkers, Lefevers, M21's and other great old fowling pieces that add to the enjoyment of our hunting experiances. They of course require shot that is much softer than steel. If any of the preceding applys to you then ITX is a good option.

Another perspective is that regular good Steel is from $15-25 a box. So if I spend 30 to 35 for reloads it cost me from $10-15 to use my Super Fox for 25 shots at ducks.
UhMM Let me think.
Funky looking? Jeez they are gold, now how classy is that?

Seriously I am just concerned that they are soft enough for old doubles.

Birdawg,

Do it! Take that Super Fox into the blind where it belongs!

Every goose season my LC Smith 3" Long Range drops a couple using Kent Impact. It's the least I can do to honor its former owners and the men who made it!

Also, last season I loaded Nice Shot at 6000 PSI for use in a damascus barreled LC Smith. I shot a couple ducks with 1 ounce loads. It was well worth the price at $2 an ounce or about $2.25 for each loaded round. With the pice of ITX I'll buy that next time even though it is less dense than Nice Shot. I'll just load 1.25 oz of a size larger shot.

Mark

You can crush it with pliers and that's the poor man's test for softness in relation to to old guns.

The Kent TM is a belted sphere similar to this and it works so I don't know why ITX wouldn't do just as well.

I have a friend who used it this year on geese out of a damascus Parker 10 gauge with good results.

The 10 gauge loads that Ballistic Products has come up with so far are a little hot, I think he worked up his own. I didn't look at the 12 gauge stuff much, but there's more variety. You can call them and they'll send you the loading manual as a PDF file.


Destry