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Nickle plated shot is still soft so it isn't a problem in old guns. In fact, based on what I've read, most nickel plated shot is not as hard as high-antimony hard lead shot.

Absolutely not.




I agree, and have never had it hardness tested but the nickel plated shot sold by Precision Reloading is said to be truly plated, not just nickel washed. Again, I can't verify it but my field experience with it is all I have to go on. I've used a specialty dove load in my .410s for the two seasons past now, using the PR nickel plated 8s, and they seem to kill doves better than any other commercial load I've ever tried. My old stand-by was the WW 3/4 oz. load, but with my handloads of .73 oz. of the nickeled shot I have less cripples and a higher percentage of really dead birds when they hit the ground. The PR nickeled shot is said to come from Italy and since B & P are an Italian based company I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the shot from both sources comes from the same factory in Italy.

B&P for hunting. All day every day.

With foreign ammo, always good to confirm whether they use shot which is US size or foreign size. British 6 shot, for example, runs 270/oz while American 6s are 225/oz. Brit 6s are closer to US 7s (299/OZ) than they are to US 6. To further complicate that issue, if you cut open a few factory loads, US or foreign, you may find that they don't count the way you expect them to. I don't do counts on anything smaller than 6's (or very rarely, 7's). Doing that is enough of a pain in the derriere, let alone smaller size shot.

I use B&P Comp1 in all my English guns. I really like the 7/8oz loads when I can find them.

Mike, have you ever had misfires with the Comp Ones? I have two flats that would give me light primer strikes about 20 percent of the time, with every boxlock gun I own. I've got two external hammer guns that will fire them nearly 100 percent of the time. The rims on the case heads are shaped in such a way that they sit too deeply in the chambers.

I've wondered if I got a bad lot, or something. It's definitely not the guns I'm trying to use them in.

Stan, You got a bad lot or they have thickened the rim subsequently. Over the past 2 years, I have been shooting Comp ones in about 10 different vintage English hammer guns, both internal and external hammer guns, with no misfires or rim thickness issues. They are 2 3/4" but the pressure is so low, I am not too concerned shooting them in 2 1/2" chambers. Recently, I have been shooting the ArmUsa 12ga 2 1/2" Vintage 28 gram loads available at Clays Ammo. They are the correct chamber length and the pressures are comparable to the comp ones. Pricing is good on those 2 loads. Us Non-reloaders are stuck with RST for anything below 12ga. with what I consider unfavorable pricing.

Thanks Owen. I value your opinion. I hope I can try a box or two of a later lot. I love the pressure and the shells overall, as long as they go Bang.

Isn't the point of nickel plating to make the shot slicker when passing through the bird/feathers and less about hardness? Its possible that I'm just a victim of marketing gimmicks but I thought that's what I had read.

I cannot answer that positively, but can say definitely that it improves patterns, same way copper plating does. And unless shown to be wrong I believe the plating imparts a bit of hardness that helps prevent shot from becoming quite as deformed upon setback. This bit of a harder shell is why some of us insist on true plated shot and not washed shot. The coating is just thicker when it's plated, thus imparting the hardness.

That, plus the possible increased penetration factor, would make it deadlier.