ITX13 vs Hevi Shot

Phil Nowack

Phil Nowack

Well-known member
Has anyone here done a comparison in the actual performance between Hevi shot (12g/cc...or the original was, but now looks to be 9.8g) and ITX 13(13g/cc)? HS is not consistently shaped... ITX is. ITX cost less... I know that the math says that ITX should hit as hard or harder that HS (when all other things are equal). Before I invest any money, or more time thinking about this, I was just wanting some real world experience. To further complicate and confuse. If the current HS Duck is really 9.8, I will ask the same question about comparing it to ITX10.

I am looking at loading 12 g in 2 3/4" or 3" with #6 ITX.... possibly #4... by my line of thinking, there would be more pellets in the pattern(if it patterns well) and harder hitting pellets than using #2 or #3.


For the smart asses out there... (you know who you are)? Please do not say it is not needed... or just spend more time at the range ? blah blah blah.. That is not the question being asked.
 
?r the smart asses out there... (you know who you are)? Please do not say it is not needed... or just spend more time at the range ? blah blah blah.. That is not the question being asked. ?

Damn beat me to it.....
 
I haven't used any of the home load stuff but i have been doing research. Id love to switch to a 20 with 1oz of the 15tungsten or 3/4oz of the TSS18 in 8-9. Would be a killer load, but that is getting expensive.


Good luck and keep us updated, id love to hear how you make out.
 
In a 12g 3" #2 Black Cloud 1 1/4 oz .. It only actually had 1.218 oz of shot. There were 69 flight stopper pellets and 110 regular steel. When I measured out 1 1/4 oz of ITX10 in #4s, I came up with 218 pellets. or.. 217 which weighed oz... to be the same as what was in the shell I took apart.
 
I remember trying to research this when Hevishot had a variety of different products out at different price points: Hevishot Duck, Hevishot Goose, Hevishot Dead Coyote, HeviMetal--maybe there were still others.

I was trying to understand the differences, and could not readily find information on the density or metal composition of the various products, so I chose not to buy it.

I just checked the website, and it still is not possible to figure out what the differences between the various products are. That and the very high price would keep me away.

I know people who load with ITX and like it.
 
What I read today was the original HS was 12 g/cc. HS Duck is 9.8g/cc The HS Goose is more dense. The Hevi X and Hevi Metal is different still. ITX is less expensive so it looks appealing. In the above hand count and weigh... 18% more pellets..... with harder hitting pellets..... hmmm... maybe I just stick with ITX not the 13....
 
My friend who loads the ITX patterned Bismuth, Hevishot and ITX, and liked the ITX best. I can't remember why.

He was mostly loading 20 ga. shells for upland to hunt on a National Wildlife Refuge that required non toxic shot, but did some duck loads, too. I had a box or two of 3" 12 ga. in #6 from him that killed ducks just fine. I never patterned them and can't remember what the load or velocity were. I'd guess 1 1/4 oz, but just guessing.
 
For what its worth; I loaded Hevi-shot for about 5 years but once the price got crazy I move back to steel. I currently load ITX - 10 for my 1938 side x side. The gun is a Francotte and basically a Belgium version of Bo-whoop and 3" 12 built on a 10 gauge frame with 10 gauge tubes. I find the ITX original 10 works great. I don't want to spent the time or money to reload for my modern auto loader or Ithaca Mag 10 and after trying many I settled on Hevi-metal brand shot shells and buy them by the flat. I never thought much of duplex loads until I shot these

Here's a batch of ITX in new 3" hulls. Due to the load height I roll crimp this load. 1.25 oz ITX at 1350 fps


View attachment itxload.jpg
 
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I never used the 13, but did have friend load me 200 rounds of the 10 a few years ago. I did 100 rounds each of 4's and 6's. It is great stuff, and all you need for ducks is 6 shot. They were 2.75. It's a lot of work, I didn't want to ask him to do it for me again or I would still be using it. Almost as good as Remington Wingmaster HD, which was the best round I ever used, including lead.
 
I do a lot of reloading for my long range rigs. SO my knowledge is limited to rifles when reloading.

Is there a tried and true ballistic program dedicated for shotguns? You said the math shows similar results which is what?

Secondly I run all my rifles through a chronograph. Once we know the actual muzzle speeds we can determine the energy down range and have data to support. I am assuming this is done for shotguns as well.

What determines how the shotguns patterns a round pellet differently from each other?? Maybe they are not round?
There is not that many variables so l would be looking at that closer before I throw in the towel.

Once the shot makes contact I don't believe there to be any variables in kill performance unless the pellets shroom out like a ballistic tip. I have seen larger shot not penetrate through the feathers but bruise the meat badly. Let me know if I'm missing something here.

can this shot be ran through a full choke?!!

Now you got me thinking...I need to start reloading for shotguns and do my testing! I like facts.
 
There are tried-and-true proven recipes for speed. Pressure is one of the big things to be concerned with in shot shell loading as I understand it. I would think that is always the case . As to what makes one pattern better or not ...oh, that is a mystery I think... to me and everyone... you only know that by testing from my experience. I am not creating a load... only using published loads from Ballistic Products.

There is a huge difference in killing a bird once a shot hits it based upon type of shot you're shooting. Size as well as density, which is determined by the composition of the pellet, makes a huge difference. It's all about kinetic energy. Steel is different from lead... both are different from the variety of non-tox products. It also depends what kind of bird you're shooting. A blue and teal will not be as resistant to any particular shot as say an Eider or a goose .
 
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I cant answer your questions, but the ITX 10 is roughly the same as lead, we killed a lot of blacks and mallards with 1 1/4 oz lead 6s and 5s, at about 1200 or so fps, with 5s better as I found that a lot of the 6s just penetrated the skin. Of course the cheap lead loads with the 6 shot wasnt hard or plated. We also didnt have choke tubes so it was usually mod or full.
I was also considering loading ITX for my double, with 2 3/4 chambers. If it was me, Id load 1 1/4oz of 4s, Id use 5s if it was available, and would expect the same, or very close , performance of the old lead loads, 6s would be fine for the smaller ducks,
Im sure the hevi stuff would be very good, but the old lead loads worked fine just as they were so I feel it would be overkill, not to mention the added expense. Hope this helps, YMMV
 
1200 is the starting number and makes sense. I will run some numbers through my rifle program and get some data later.


There seems to be a lost connection when reloading for shotguns vs rifles. Are there any precision rifle shooters on here that load for shotguns as well that could help explain this?

Also, with rifles the focus is around the wound channel. Look at the amount of blood shot after you kill a bird.

I start low on pressures and work my way up with rifles. If I can drive a bullet 300fps faster and hold accuracy I do it. This is one of the benefit of reloading.

This website is kinda of my logic to my killing.
https://www.ballisticstudies.com


This concept should cross over to shotguns. Notice how the webpage studies the wound channels, ANGLE of animal and records the yardage. If you want facts and a full understanding this method works well.


I took a range finder out this year in the marsh to understand some kill ranges. I didn't realize how far I shoot until we used the range finder.

I take the approach of changing chokes and shot sizes based on the hunt I'm doing or birds I'm shooting. What works for some might not work for others. We all hunt so different.
 
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There is a lot off documentation about energy of shot and penetration. This not new. Look at the bottom of the attachment and Ballistic Gel penetration. There is plenty of data out there.

http://shotshell.drundel.com/pelletcount.htm
 
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That chart only shows 1350 for comparison....I thought someone posted 1200fps for this heavier stuff which seems correct. Some steel shot is over the 1650 mark for example. Shoot some rounds through a chronograph and see what you are actually producing.

This seems like another topic for another day so I will leave this subject alone. Either way you go I'm sure will kill just fine.
 
No freaking reason to do that.. this a shotgun for crying out loud... I trust the published recipes as much as I do the consistency of factory loads. There are slow and fast recipes. Mine will target 1450.. Like I said.. all things the same.. and whether you believe it or not, Tungsten has far more knock down than steel... period. The real trick is not pushing it too fast and blowing out the pattern( same for any load). Either way, my question was not about HOW to reload shotgun shells.

It was performance differenced between Hevi Shot, ITX10 and ITX13.

The store bought HS will be in the 14-1500 fps range. The ITX manual as load up to 1695fps. There is a tradeoff for every benefit.
 
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Hi Phil-I forgot to mention that I have shot hevi-shot and it just didn't pattern well in my gun, so I couldn't make a judgement on it. My ITX 10 rounds were made with the specs from Ballistic Products.
 
Here is a place that does good at explaining some physics around non toxic loads

https://www.super18tungstenshot.com/patterns

Since you are looking at ITX I assume you have been through all the data on it from ballistic products.
If it were me, and I haven't done a whole lot of research, but I would go with ITX over Hevi metal. I plan on buying some in the future soon. Just got a ballistic products reloading manual for Christmas and will go through and decide what I want.

My plan is to reload most my shells so that my dove loads will be in the same speed range as my waterfowl loads. Going from shooting doves at 1100fps to ducks at 1550fps seems to make me second guess my leads. I'd like to have both around 1400-1450 so that I know my lead will be about the same between hunts.
 
I agree... I don't want to second guess based on the knowledge that I am shooting shells that are not ar the same velocity
 
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