Steel shot vs. lead shot

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London22

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Hi all,

I'm new to shotguns and wanted to know whether you needed anything special in the way of a barrel to fire steel shot vs. lead shot. I have a remington 870 with a built in IC choke and was trying to buy some larger birdshot, which apparently at my local Canadian Tire, only came in steel.

Thanks.:confused:
 
hey,
Steel shot is the new environmental shot designed to be less taxing to the environment compared to lead. I cant say if steel would wear out a choke quicker than lead but you should have no problem with firing lead or steel in any shotgun barrel. As I said, steel was designed to lessen the impact of lead contaminaton when hunting mainly waterfowl(ducks, geese, etc).
 
I've been told that older shotguns with full chokes should not be used with steel shot. Steel does not compress like lead. Truth or not, I don't know. Steel shot or the heavy tungsten stuff is too expensive to shoot in quantity.

The other thing you might want to keep in mind with steel shot. Because it does not compress or deform it deflects and ricochets nicely. You really need to watch your background when blasting with steel.

TDC
 
Yes your 870 with IC choke will shoot steel fine, how large a shot size are you looking for?
I have seen lead up to #2 at Wally world and of course buckshot, I haven't seen much in the BB, BB etc except at gun shops.

What is your intended purpose for said shot?
 
there's no way steel would 'compress' like lead would. therefore, obviously, it would be harder on one's barrel. i remember years ago some old hunter griping about it cause it was damaging his barrel everytime he went duck hunting!?
 
Neither steel nor lead 'compress'. Lead is more easily malleable than steel and so deforms readily when it needs to, like at the forcing cone or a tight choke. Unfortunately, it also deforms under the heavy forces upon firing, adding dimples and bumps to what had been a relatively nice sphere. Upland hunters don't mind it so much, but the long-range waterfowlers don't like their lead pellets becoming even less aerodynamic and flying outside the intended pattern.

Your gun is almost certainly fine for steel, fitted with a factory choke. If you look around, you can still find larger shot sizes in lead. For crow and turkey hunters, I guess.
 
Grouse Man, sorry, but I have to disagree with your assessment of the suitability of steel shot for long range waterfowl. Steel has much less density than lead and loses velocity too rapidly to be effective at long ranges. As for the thinning of patterns due to shot deformation, I would refer you to Charles Askins 1929 book "Modern Shotguns & Loads" where he demonstrates acceptable patterns and energy with lead shot out past 65 yards. I don't know any goose hunters who wouldn't like their lead shot back. The commercial development of Heavy Shot, bismuth and tungsten based loads is an attempt to bring back the performance of lead while complying with the non - toxic requirements of the law. Steel shot only exists because there was no other commercially viable alternative to lead when the (ill conceived) non - toxic laws were introduced. The development of the 3 1/2 inch 12 gauge load speaks to the inadequacy of steel shot as a long range proposition, there would be no such shell if it were not required to accommodate steel pellets of sufficient size and quantity to approach the performance of lead.

Sharptail
 
just a couple of notes- if it's an older gun, you should check with the manufacturer to see if it's steel compatible- i think the ban was put in about 90 or so , so everything before the ban date needs to be checked most cases, a simple letter or e-mail giving your model and serial number will gain you that- some are no,and there are yes with some restictions- my 1100 vintage 75 is a yes with restictions - anything up to #2 shot- full choke
2 PATTERN THE GUN to see what kind of a pattern you get- with my full choke, 23/4 went from FULL TO WHAT I WOULD CALL A SUPER FULL - almost like a SLUG- with steel- so i have to either put on a steel comp barrel or have the choke opened up or possibly shoot a little further back
 
ELVIS56 said:
hey,
Steel shot is the new environmental shot designed to be less taxing to the environment compared to lead. I cant say if steel would wear out a choke quicker than lead but you should have no problem with firing lead or steel in any shotgun barrel. As I said, steel was designed to lessen the impact of lead contaminaton when hunting mainly waterfowl(ducks, geese, etc).
Click to expand...

I'd go slow with this one, as mentioned elsewhere, unless the barrel/choke system was manufactured for use with steel shot(since the 90's), I would measure the choke. If it is tight(full), I would have it reamed to light mod. or some such. An old barrel w/full choke and steel shot could leave you with an Elmer Fudd gun.
 
Thanks everyone. My 870 is just six months old so I think it should be okay for steel. I didn't know that the reason for using steel vs. lead was environmental. It seems to make sense.

Thanks for the info.
 
My two cents on the lead shot. As far as I can recall it always had to do with the lead poisoning of the birds as they ingested the shot much like gravel in their gizzards to crush the wheat and cereal crops they were eating. Exactly the same as when you see mallards or sharptails sitting at the side of the highway ingesting gravel to do the same thing.
It is only an issue where numerous numbers of waterfowlers have congeregated for many years and put a lot of shot into the same body of water. If we were field shooting only there would be no need for a non toxic shot requirement. ie. trap clubs and sporting clays shoot lead.
This is why upland game birds do not have a non-toxic shot requirement here in manitoba, lead is king for the ruffies, sharptails and hungarian partridges.
3 birds my lab loves to retrieve.:D
P9210354.jpg
 
quote: "If we were field shooting only there would be no need for a non toxic shot requirement."
I mostly agree, and I don't use steel for upland bird shooting, only lead. But there can be an environmental benefit to non-toxic shot even for field shooting geese. For example: A couple years after the "non-toxic shot only" rule came in for goose shooting, I switched to steel only reluctantly since we only shoot geese in farm fields around here. My son and I shot a limit of 16 greater Canadas one morning, but could only find 15. I came back at noon to look again for the one we lost, and found three eagles having a nice meal. In Saskatchewan, eagles are one of the main "clean up" species that utilize crippled and lost geese. I was glad I didn't accidentlaly kill three eagles as well as the goose that morning.
On another note, I do not wish for lead to be allowed again for waterfowl shooting. It does a good job for me and my buddies, and we shoot a LOT of waterfowl.
A Remington pump with fixed IC choke will be OK for shooting steel out of. Actually a pretty useful and versatile combination.
Lead 7-1/2's or 6's for upland birds, Steel 4's and 2's for duck, and 1's for mixed bag waterfowl, BB's for big geese. you'll do fine.
 
Longwalker said:
quote: "If we were field shooting only there would be no need for a non toxic shot requirement."
I mostly agree, and I don't use steel for upland bird shooting, only lead. But there can be an environmental benefit to non-toxic shot even for field shooting geese. For example: A couple years after the "non-toxic shot only" rule came in for goose shooting, I switched to steel only reluctantly since we only shoot geese in farm fields around here. My son and I shot a limit of 16 greater Canadas one morning, but could only find 15. I came back at noon to look again for the one we lost, and found three eagles having a nice meal. In Saskatchewan, eagles are one of the main "clean up" species that utilize crippled and lost geese. I was glad I didn't accidentlaly kill three eagles as well as the goose that morning.
On another note, I do not wish for lead to be allowed again for waterfowl shooting. It does a good job for me and my buddies, and we shoot a LOT of waterfowl.
A Remington pump with fixed IC choke will be OK for shooting steel out of. Actually a pretty useful and versatile combination.
Lead 7-1/2's or 6's for upland birds, Steel 4's and 2's for duck, and 1's for mixed bag waterfowl, BB's for big geese. you'll do fine.
Click to expand...

Good information, you seem very informed on things.

We are only allowed limits of 5 Canada geese per day in Manitoba, not eight. This sounds like something I need to introduce a motion to at the annual provincial wildlife meetings in Portage each year as a resolution from the Brandon Wildlife Association to the provincial executive. We have some input into game laws as an organization and if they can shoot that many next door, maybe we can also lobby to increase our limits here.

For chokes we are mostly shooting modifieds for everything with steel in the rems, berettas, benelli's, but in the browning golds we are shooting IC because the manual says that is equal to mod for steel. Maybe we should be shooting IC in all the guns but then if you decide to walk for upland if the goose hunt sucks, you would need to switch chokes. Interesting, I am sitting on the fence about switching to 10 gauge but the shell pricing and availability is keeping me from buying.

Greg
 
taffman said:
Good information, you seem very informed on things.

We are only allowed limits of 5 Canada geese per day in Manitoba, not eight. This sounds like something I need to introduce a motion to at the annual provincial wildlife meetings in Portage each year as a resolution from the Brandon Wildlife Association to the provincial executive. We have some input into game laws as an organization and if they can shoot that many next door, maybe we can also lobby to increase our limits here.

For chokes we are mostly shooting modifieds for everything with steel in the rems, berettas, benelli's, but in the browning golds we are shooting IC because the manual says that is equal to mod for steel. Maybe we should be shooting IC in all the guns but then if you decide to walk for upland if the goose hunt sucks, you would need to switch chokes. Interesting, I am sitting on the fence about switching to 10 gauge but the shell pricing and availability is keeping me from buying.

Greg
Click to expand...


In my Baikal I am shooting an X-Full choke for all shot size, I have yet to pattern it with the larger shot but is seems to work. In all of my other guns, I use a mod for steel, I will likely start shooting a full for #4 and #6 but not the big stuff.
 
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