doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com nickle plated shot

The shot in purpose built Helice/ZZ bird loads is normally at 3% Antimony so that it WILL deform when it hits the plastic target, particularly the witness that is made from a tougher plastic than the outer propellor. 'Splat factor' is known in that game to be good.

The Fiocchi Helice/ZZ/FITASC loads are, according to their catalogue(2007), 5% Antimonium. at 1350 fps. and 9350 P.S.I. Best, Dr. BILL

Hagen
I'm not much of a shot, average pretty well sums up my skill level. However, for the kind of shots you describe an open choked gun loaded with nearly anything will do the job. When I lived in Illinois and "hunted" planted pheasant I found an open choked .410 loaded with 3" shells and #7.5 shot worked just fine. What you need to be concerned with is the loads that'll consistently drop birds at 40+ yards.
Just my 2 cents.
Steve

Well, I have read this thread and I feel so inadequate. I guess my method of buying the cheapest shells I can find is giving me more problems than I know. Funny thing is, it seems when I make a good point, the reaction at the other end seems satisfactory. Jake

I used to load a lot of nickel plated stuff for waterfowl. Imported, made in Italy. It was quite hard, but I do not have any numbers. Ballistic Products used to sell it. My favorite was #3s - possible Nash Buckingham bias. For me, it patterned better, avg. improvement was 2% to 4%. Winchester and Remington used to custom load it for the U.S. Olympic Team.
Despite what makes sense, and what we all heard for all those years, sphericity doesn't seem to matter one whit, based on the results Hevi-Shot gets/got in all the competitions. Ever look at Hevi-Shot up close ?

In the early 1980s I patterned a lot of loads and found following. So called "magnum" shot patterned at least one full choke percentage tighter than "chilled" shot from same maker (Lawerance?), sometimes almost two choke percentages. Going to Cu-plated, magnum shot, from same maker, gave 3-5% tighter patterns at 40 yards than for same shot, unplated. In each of these comparisons, other components of load were same.

One gun was 1973 Browning Citori in 12X76 with nominal full and 1/4 choke constrictions, and loads were in both 70 and 76 mm hulls with one-peice plastic wads. Load weights were 1 1/4 and 1 3/8 oz. Other gun was 20X76 with nominal 1/2 and 1/4 chokes. Load weights were 1 1/8 oz. Both guns would go to high 80% patterns in tighter barrel and 70% or higher with open barrel, with some loads. With other loads, with soft, low quality shot, percentages could be as low as 50% from tight barrels and 30% from open barrels. Shot sizes were nominally #6, #5, #4 and #3 -- actual shot sizes were often "half-sizes, that is, #5,5, #3,5, etc.

On ducks and geese, the Cu-plated shot generally penetrated deeper, apparently because it pulled many fewer feathers into the bird.

Was somewhat surprised when, many years later, I found that Bi-Sn alloy shot, which was/is "ugly" and irregular, patterned as well as the Cu-plated shot in a 16X70 with full and 1/2 chokes and also pulled few feathers into ducks and geese.

Niklas

My buddy and I spent quite a bit of time patterning Nickel Plated shot from Ballistics products. Our main concern was improving the patterns in a 20 ga. In the hundreds of patterns we shot in years past, nothing even came close to the #6 NP shot in the 20 ga. He used it last year on pheasants in Kansas and said he had mostly dead in the air kills. That was using a .010 choke.

Actually, the pellets measure out to 6 1/2 in size and are real killers in the 20's. I use 5's with 1 1/8 loads at 1300 fps in a 12 ga. Made some chukar kills to almost 50 yards last season. It not only patterns good, but kills good also.

Lenard

Good discourse here, thanks for your question Hagen! BTW, I too think you have made a good choice for your intended purpose w/NP6's, just not too close if you intend to eat those birds;-) To continue the conversation ..

The Bornaghi 36 gr 'Helice' loads that I had were specifically marked as being 3% Antimony. I was first introduced to them by Dr. Marsala who became aware of them through shooting the world cup helice matches in Italy and serving on the same committee & being friends with Giancesare Bornaghi who is a brilliant shooter himself.

Personally, I like the Remington 'Heavy Dove' loads as well as anything I've used on helice. They are readily available in #7.5 regular lead shot and carry a 1 & 1/8oz. payload.

B&P also makes a helice load. Not positive on today's formulae, but it used to utilize a different & softer shot than their Star Rosa flyer loads.

Hevi-shot has to fly much like a teardrop once loosed as there is no other logical nor likely position. In spite of its irregular shapes, I suspect it also has slighty less drag than spherical shot in flight.

Lead shot sphericity does matter, to the extent that it has now been proven that the shot column 'turns over', i.e., the 'round' shot flying in the middle ultimately overtake and pass the shot that started out in front doing all the 'pushing' and meeting with & breaking the air's resistance much as a NASCAR drafting pass manouevre. It has also been proved that deformed shot does not fly as true, e.g., flatened/deformed shot being purpose loaded for close in or spreader loads.

Very interesting thread with a lot of good replies. The thing that catches my attention is that shot companies insist on using the term "magnum" shot to imply hardness. Magnum, of course, means large size and means absolutely nothing relative to hardness. Amazing what people will believe. I guess that's why the makers get away with such crap.

Guys, this might be slightly off topic but I'm wondering if the nickel plated shot qualifies as non-toxic? I just bought an old double and I'm not sure if it could handle steel so this is a big issue for me.