By John Haviland
I used to think my reloads could beat factory shotshells for price and performance. No Longer!
Photo: Pheasants are tough and hard to bring down, but 1 1/8 ounce of 7 1/2 shot or 1 ounce of 6s will do the job.
About five years ago, an executive for a company that makes reloading powders lamented that fewer shotgunners were loading their own shells because of the budget-priced factory ammunition on dealer's shelves. The skyrocketing cost of shotshell components over the last couple of years has exacerbated that situation to the point that about only one in 10 shooters at my local trap and skeet club now load their own shells.
Budget-Shotshells
On the shelves of the local mega-mart sit boxes of Federal Field & Target, Remington Sport Loads and Winchester Universal 20- and 12-gauge shells at a bargain price. These loads were introduced a few years ago to compete with inexpensive imported shells. The American-made shotshells apparently did a good job of competing because there are now far fewer imported shells on the market.
Bargain American shells used to be loaded with 3/4 ounce of 7 1/2 or 8 shot in 20 gauge and 1 ounce of the same size lead shot in 12-gauge. The shells were usually assembled with a fiber wad between the powder and shot, and a plastic wrap around the shot. Upon firing, the fiber wad often flew out of the muzzle, trailing a line of smoke. The soft chilled lead shot, unprotected from the crush of the expanding gases, grated against the walls of the bore as the shot rushed down the barrel. That deformed some of the pellets and caused them to fly wide, opening up patterns.
Still, those bargain loads performed well on quail in mesquite, ruffed grouse in alders and in 16-yard trap competition. A friend shot trap for years with the Federal Field & Target loads with 1 ounce of 8s. His scores usually ran between 22 and 24. My wife used 3/4-ounce loads of 7 1/2 shot in her 20 gauge to hunt ruffed grouse. A 20-yard shot is a long one in the creek-bottom jungles where these brown birds flush from the shadows. When her reflexes were tuned and her aim was on, those shells never let her down.
Photo: Remington's 20-gauge Sport Loads use an RXP20 Power Piston wad.
Bargain-priced shotshells have been improved significantly over the last couple of years. Shot weight in the 12 gauge has been increased to 11/8 ounces, and 7/8 ounce in the 20 gauge. The Federal, Winchester and Remington loads mentioned above use a plastic wad that incorporate a gas-sealing base, collapsible legs that cushion the shot charge against the slam of the powder gas, and a shot cup that prevents abrasion of shot in the bore.
The Federal 12-gauge Field & Target shell uses a Triple Plus wad, Remington 20-gauge Sport Loads use an RXP20 Power Piston wad and Winchester Super Speed Xtra 12-gauge shells contain a WAA12L plastic wad. These are the same wads used in the much-higher-priced Federal Gold Medal target loads, Remington Premier Target loads and Winchester AA Target loads.
The Super Speed Xtra 12 gauge is another budget-priced shell from Winchester. The Xtra shells are the same price as Winchester Universal shells on the store shelf. Instead of the extra 1/8 ounce of shot, though, the Xtra shells give 1 ounce of shot a high velocity of 1,350 feet per second at the muzzle. That velocity is about the top end for 1 ounce of lead shot from a 12-gauge 2 3/4-inch shell.
In fact, all of Federal, Remington and Winchester economy shells have had their velocities increased somewhat. When these shells were first introduced, they had a muzzle velocity of 1,150 fps with 3/4 ounce of shot in the 20 gauge and 7/8 or 1 ounce of shot in the 12. The velocity is now 1,200 fps for the 7/8-ounce loads in the 20 and 1 1/8-ounce loads in the 12.
That velocity is a good choice for target shooting and bird hunting. A round pellet is a ballistically inefficient projectile. And pellets really demonstrate that the faster a projectile is thrown, the faster it slows. A lead 7 1/2 pellet with an initial velocity of 1,330 fps slows to 930 fps at 20 yards and 715 fps at 40 yards. The same size pellet starting out 130 fps slower, at 1,200 fps, is only 65 fps behind the faster pellet at 20 yards and 25 fps slower at 40 yards.
Photo: Winchester Super Speed Xtra shells use a WAA12L plastic wad.
Of course, the faster pellet will always have a shorter time of flight at all distances. But the advantage is a few thousandths of a second at 40 yards. Lead shot is the most expensive component of a shotshell. Hard shot, which contains up to 6 percent antimony, remains round when it's fired to fly straight and produce tight patterns with a minimum number of pellets that fly wild.
The problem is, raw lead is crowding $1 a pound and antimony $3 a pound. To save a penny or two per shell (pennies add up to real money with millions of shells), these budget-priced shells use chilled or plain lead shot or lead shot containing a minimum amount of hardening antimony. On the box of its Sport Loads, Remington states the shot it loads is "extra round." Winchester states it uses "hard shot" in its Super Speed Xtra game loads, and Federal says it loads "extra-hard shot" in its Field & Target loads.
I turned to a patterning board to determine how well the shot in these various loads performed. I used a Beretta Whitewing with an improved-cylinder choke to test the Remington 20-gauge Sport Loads with 7/8 ounce of 8s. The load averaged 63 percent of its shot inside a 22-inch circle at 30 yards, which was proportionally reduced from the standard 30-inch circle at 40 yards. The load printed 83 percent in a 30-inch circle at that distance.
A Beretta 391 with a modified choke was used to pattern the 12-gauge loads. The Winchester Super Speed Xtra load of 1 ounce of 7 1/2s printed 73 percent in a 22-inch circle and 86 percent in a 30-inch circle at 30 yards. The Federal Field & Target load of 1 1/8 ounces of 8s went 70 percent in the 22-inch circle and 79 percent in the 30-inch circle. If anything, these 12-gauge patterns tell me I should use a more open improved-cylinder choke at that distance to spread the shot wider for some aiming leeway on fast-flying birds.
I hunted blue grouse last fall with the Beretta and the Winchester Super Speed Xtra loads. I did have an improved-cylinder choke in the gun. My shots were short in the forest of Douglas fir. The first ones only chopped a few branches as the grouse flushed in a racket of beating wings to glide down through the trees. I started keeping the gun pointed forward, and when a bird flushed, I quickly brought the gun the last way to my shoulder and fired. That knocked down the grouse before they could fly 5 yards.
The next day, I hunted along an open ridge with a steep drop-off on the south side of the ridge. The grouse were busy feeding on grasshoppers in the open grass and flushed at about 20 yards. They pitched off the ridge, and my shots were a hard downward swing. I took three birds with five shots.
Can't beat performance like that at any price.
Steel Loads
The price of most nontoxic shots has increased dramatically. Tungsten, for tungsten-based nontoxic shots, averages $17 a pound in truckload quantities. That price isn't likely to drop any time soon, either, because of increasing global demand and the fact China produces 85 percent of the world's tungsten.
Photo: This Federal steel load sells for less than $10 a box and knocks ducks for a loop.
The one bright spot is steel, or iron, shot. It has actually decreased in price the last few years. Federal, Remington and Winchester sell economical 12-gauge 2 3/4-inch steel loads for about $8 for a box of 25 shells, which is about a fifth the cost of other nontoxic shots.
One of my favorite duck loads is the Winchester's Xpert 12-gauge 2 3/4-inch with 1 1/8 ounces of steel 2s with a muzzle velocity of 1,400 fps. This load is just right for close shots when decoying or jump-shooting ducks, and kills teal and even big ducks like mallards. An improved-cylinder choke gives this load an even spread at 25 yards. However, erring on the side of a tighter choke for a denser pattern may be a good idea for the occasional longer shot. The rather short effective range of these shells is their only downside.
Photo: If long-range ducks are on the menu, try this inexpensive Remington Sportsman steel load.
If ducks and geese are decoy-shy and require longer shots, the only recourse is to go to a 12-gauge 3-inch load. These bigger shells are still a bargain in Federal's Speed-Shok, Remington's Sportsman Hi-Speed and Winchester's Xpert Hi-Velocity steel loads. These 3-inch shells are available with 1 1/4 ounces of steel shot at 1,400 fps. The only reason to shoot that weight, though, would be with BB pellets for geese. For ducks, stay with the 1 1/8-ounce loads for the increased velocity of 1,550 fps, because when it comes to steel shot, speed kills.
My son and I used the Remington Sportsman 3-inch loads toward the end of the duck season last year. The birds were wild, and our shots were mostly at mallards dive-bombing the creeks and sloughs, then flaring at the last moment to warily circle again. We waited patiently. When the mallards started to set in, we shot at distances to 40 yards. The fast-flying steel pellets were very effective way out there.
I used to think my reloads could beat these factory shotshells for price and performance. But no longer. A hobby reloader is at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to buying shotshell components. The price of lead shot has nearly doubled in price over the last two years. Due to the problems at mines, production of lead last year lagged behind demand by 74,000 tons. That's making it difficult to even find lead shot to buy.
Photo: Federal's Target and Field shells are inexpensive, yet contain a good wad that protects the shot.
Reloading steel waterfowl loads is even more costly. Few sporting goods stores stock steel shot and wads due to the low demand. That means you'll have to order them through the mail and pay freight. Plain steel shot cost about a third more than lead shot. Wads for steel cost at least a dime apiece because they must be thick and sturdy to protect the shotgun bore from the shot. On top of that, little reloading data is available to achieve the high velocities of steel loads that factories produce.
I just finished the math of what my reloaded shotshells cost. The bottom line indicates I will be financially further ahead to buy these economical shotshells and spend my free time shooting.