Early 2's had a problem with shattering when shot. Casting large bismuth shot is not easy I am told. Later bismuth did not have the same problem because I was told they had figured it out by then. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that kind of remark.
I like Bismuth shot but find size does matter, speed matters and you just have to pattern it to see what works in your gun. Slow Bismuth is not very good in my experience but hyper speed does not work well either. 6's work well for woodies all day long. I even had a batch of 7's that worked well in a pinch.
Now the down side of Bismuth, in my experience, was that it did not anchor geese worth a darn. I've had multiple Geese hit and fly off only to die in flight half a mile later. I've watched it happen and been forced to take my dog and walk to try to recover them. On the water most geese are out of my direct sight before then and most likely lost. So if geese are involved I go with non bismuth shot. And truth is that I can afford three bucks a shell for no more geese I am going to shoot most years.
