#2 Steel and Geese

I am limited to shot size as I will be using my Remington 870 Wingmaster 16ga with Improved Cylinder choke. I would love to find some bismuth so I could use my Minchester Model 12 16ga Full choke.
 
Bismuth

I am in the process of making this coming falls shotgun ammo.

Bought a Mec loader, 4 bottles of bismuth BB's, 2's & 5's

The 5 shot is being loaded for my pet 16Ga LC Smith sxs shotgun.(look out ducks) The 2's and BB shot will be launched from my 12ga BSS

I got all my supplies in Canada via Will Bilozar in Alberta .. good guy to deal with.

http://www.bilozir.net/


1 thing .... Bismuth or ITX nontox shot isnt cheap........


Lucky
 
# 2 steel out of 16 ga should be good.
Its all I use for them only out of a modified choke in 12 gauge.. Patern desity is everything if the aim is good, so keep'em close.. Otherwise heavy shot if you can find it.
 
The thing to remember with steel compared to lead is speed kills not shot weight.Steel at 1200fps is a pathetic crippler.I had great luck with Black Cloud "snow goose" #2 on ducks and Hevi Metal #2 and #3 on geese over decoys.Clean kills out to 50+ yards..The Kent 1 3/8oz loads were barely suitable for barnyard pigeons.......Harold
 
#2 's are fine for geese. I 've used Black Cloud, Kent , Hevi-shot and Winchester Supremes on geese with success. I have also used Bismuth as well with awesome success, but they were BB's, but alot more $$$$$ then steel.
 
I do a good number of Canada goose hunts in the fall, as the company pays for most! Decoying early season goos in Ontario might come down with 2s, but I use 1450FPS+ BB with the 4th shot in between my pinkie to get the long ones. By mid November and into December, it is Blackcloud BB for the first two followed by a tungsten load for long distance. The birds have more down and more fat. It is hard to penetrate. BTW, I use 3/8, LM choke in my Optima Gold Sporter. I have also patterned the loads at 40 measured yards.

In Alberta, the geese are bigger. I use BBB and tungsten.

I have seen to many late season birds get away or drop 1 Km away with 2s and 1s even when decoying well. You need speed and terminal energy to knock them down.

Henry
 
I shoot my 16 s alot at water fowl. I actually prefer the #4 factory steel loads over the twos. I find a denser pattern helps with head neck shots on geese and ducks. I also handload some very fast 16 gauge steel and I have found it not alot better than the factory loads. Shoot head and neck and you will kill geese with the 16. My buddy shoots hot 16 ga steel handloads of #6. He has a post on here with the goose results...

Darryl
 
hnachaj said:
I do a good number of Canada goose hunts in the fall, as the company pays for most! Decoying early season goos in Ontario might come down with 2s, but I use 1450FPS+ BB with the 4th shot in between my pinkie to get the long ones. By mid November and into December, it is Blackcloud BB for the first two followed by a tungsten load for long distance. The birds have more down and more fat. It is hard to penetrate. BTW, I use 3/8, LM choke in my Optima Gold Sporter. I have also patterned the loads at 40 measured yards.

In Alberta, the geese are bigger. I use BBB and tungsten.

I have seen to many late season birds get away or drop 1 Km away with 2s and 1s even when decoying well. You need speed and terminal energy to knock them down.

Henry
Click to expand...

Shoost them in da face.

Im sure you already know that , and i know that it doesn't always go according to plan either :D
 
I use #2 in a 3.5" shell on geese and because a 3.5" can hold a bit more pellets than a 3", I also use #2 on ducks. It makes things simple since most of the time I hunt geese and ducks at the same time so I don't have to switch from #2 to #4 or vice versa.
 
madtrapper143 said:
I shoot my 16 s alot at water fowl. I actually prefer the #4 factory steel loads over the twos. I find a denser pattern helps with head neck shots on geese and ducks. I also handload some very fast 16 gauge steel and I have found it not alot better than the factory loads. Shoot head and neck and you will kill geese with the 16. My buddy shoots hot 16 ga steel handloads of #6. He has a post on here with the goose results...

Darryl
Click to expand...

I'm the buddy who MT143 is talking about (I think ;)) and although I only pulled the trigger on 4 geese last year, 3 were dead when I picked them up. The 4th? I hit'em in the chest and knocked him down. I don't care what you're shooting, if you hit'em in the chest and not the head...they don't die in my experience.

I find the biggest thing to do it pattern your gun and find out where it shoots. I fully intended to shoot #4's at ducks and geese, but I was lucky to hit the broad side of a barn with'em.

I guess I'm saying that #2's will work...just make sure they pattern in your gun.

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Cory
 
mbogo3 said:
The thing to remember with steel compared to lead is speed kills not shot weight.Steel at 1200fps is a pathetic crippler.I had great luck with Black Cloud "snow goose" #2 on ducks and Hevi Metal #2 and #3 on geese over decoys.Clean kills out to 50+ yards..The Kent 1 3/8oz loads were barely suitable for barnyard pigeons.......Harold
Click to expand...

I disagree....

What kills is density and penetration. Not speed, although speed helps with penetration.

You need to put enough pellets (density) into the vitals (penetration) to kill.

What enough pellets is varies on the vitals that are hit. One pellet in the brain will do it, but you will need more than that into the chest cavity.

1200 fps kills tons and tons of birds every year.

Use a choke that gives you a good pattern and a shell that has the pellet size and velocity to penetrate the type of bird you are shooting at the range you are normally shooting it at.
 
Waterfowler summed it up. #4 steel from a 16 will make a mess of a goose's head and neck. Try to put that same #4 steel through feathers, skin,fat, breast meat and bone you have a different kettle of fish. If you want to plaster geese with body shots use a 12 with T or F shot and they will get the job done. Remember though density with T's and F's suffers so a wounded body shot goose may sail off not to be recovered. I can't argue that the 16 is the ultimate goose gun BUT if you watch the distance and PRACTICE YOU WILL DO JUST FINE.
 
Waterfowler said:
I disagree....

What kills is density and penetration. Not speed, although speed helps with penetration.

You need to put enough pellets (density) into the vitals (penetration) to kill.

What enough pellets is varies on the vitals that are hit. One pellet in the brain will do it, but you will need more than that into the chest cavity.

1200 fps kills tons and tons of birds every year.

Use a choke that gives you a good pattern and a shell that has the pellet size and velocity to penetrate the type of bird you are shooting at the range you are normally shooting it at.
Click to expand...
Steel has no density compared to lead so it requires speed to penetrate does it not?Harold..Kent changed their once great loads so they aren't quality any more.Modified choke worked best.
 
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