Ammo Question

[scottrick]

Just bought my first shotgun yesterday. 870 Express 3 barrel combo, 12ga. The 28 inch barrel has a mod choke and the turkey barrel has a full choke. I saw a couple of articles on the net that said not to use steel shot with a choke tube but I wonder if they sre right since most stores have huge amounts of steel shot and not a lot of lead. I also saw an article that said lead shot gets damaged passing the choke tube which can greatly effect the shot pattern. Can anybody tell me the safest thing to use for now just to go to range and shoot at large cardboard.

 

[hunter5425]

As a rule steel should not be used in a full choked gun as it may cause a bulge in the barrel so if you use modified or improved choke tubes you should be ok. If the gun is newer the choke tubes will be labeled if they are to be used for steel and lead or lead shot only. Lead shot especially softer shot does get slightly deformed in the chokes but the effects are quite minor in most cases though harder shot ( more expensive) will usually give a bit tighter pattern.