Donald Davis
Member
look to get some opinions about a good type of steel shot to shot for ducks thank you
steel shot
- Thread starter Donald Davis
- Start date
Mike Bartosh
Member
Kent Faststeel
mike braden
Well-known member
Black Cloud.... Drops Ducks Like Rain
I'll triple upon John's suggestion. Pattern your gun, learn to estimate range and let the birds get in close. Shot density kills. Put a dense pattern on birds in range and it doesn't matter what brand you are shooting.
joe miller
Member
federral premium is a good clean round
we shoot it threw 4 different makes of guns and shoot good in all off them
roggers sporting goods sells 3 in for 130 a case and 3.5 in for 150 both have free shipping cant beat the price
we shoot number 3 shot for duck and 3 in and bb for geese in 3.5 in
like everyone else said get them in close and it does not matter what you shoot for shells
I like the federral because of how clean it shoots
you could shoot the speed shock for a lower cost but a much dirtier shooting shell
we shoot it threw 4 different makes of guns and shoot good in all off them
roggers sporting goods sells 3 in for 130 a case and 3.5 in for 150 both have free shipping cant beat the price
we shoot number 3 shot for duck and 3 in and bb for geese in 3.5 in
like everyone else said get them in close and it does not matter what you shoot for shells
I like the federral because of how clean it shoots
you could shoot the speed shock for a lower cost but a much dirtier shooting shell
Al Hansen
Well-known member
Donald, I hope you re-read what John Livoti had to say. It is extremely important in the sport of duck hunting. You will see things that the average duck hunter never sees in his lifetime.
Since, I, too, am recommending what he said, the only other thing I can talk about is my choice of shell which happens to be Federal 2 3/4 inch 7 shot steel Dove loads. They work like a charm when you see wings backpedaling and feet stretched out front just before landing in your decoys.
Al
The two decoys in the picture were 20 yards from me.
Since, I, too, am recommending what he said, the only other thing I can talk about is my choice of shell which happens to be Federal 2 3/4 inch 7 shot steel Dove loads. They work like a charm when you see wings backpedaling and feet stretched out front just before landing in your decoys.
Al
The two decoys in the picture were 20 yards from me.
Donald Davis
Member
I know what you guys are saying I've been hunting for a good while now I was just curious what people's favorites are
Capt. Jack Passie
Well-known member
I use Winchester XPERT The cheapest I can find 3" #4 for both Sea Ducks or Geese
Jon Zuccolo
Active member
I like the winchester expert 2 3/4 in #6 because they kill ducks out of my 20 gauge. I also now carry the 3 inch 20 gauge hevi metals in #3 incase a goose decides to have a closer look. A single shot of the hevi metal dropped a goose in my blind on the season opener. 
RC D
Active member
There was a special of buy one get one half off on Wichester Xpert at Dicks sporting goods a few years back and I bought 6 3-packs of 3.5" 2's and 3" 4's and I can't wait to use them all up and move on to something else. In the boxes I got there are a lot of irregularities in the brass and I have had trouble loading them into the chamber and issues with them getting hung up trying to eject. Yes they are cheap but I won't be buying anymore unless I have no other choices. I am going to try some Kent when these are out.
Donald-I hunt in the Delaware Bay salt marshes, and I am going to go against the grain and tell you to shoot the best stuff you can afford. I don't see a lot of 10-20 yard feet down shots. I see a lot of 20-40 yard buzz the decoys shots, and on those, the better the quality of your ammo, the less birds you hit and don't recover. For steel, I would try Federal black cloud, Winchester blind side, Remington hyper sonic, Hevi-metal, a box of each and see what you like. I am going to assume you aren't shooting 500 rounds a year, but maybe between 100 and 200, in which case the price difference is going to amount to about 100 bucks between the cheap stuff and the higher priced stuff. If you can consistently get real close in shooting then a light load will do fine, but if you get shooting like me then you want something better.
Tim Rousseau
Active member
Kent 3" #3's period. Your going to get 100 different replies from 100 different people. Shoot was your gun shoots the best and what you can afford to shoot. I love the kent though.
john townsend
Active member
Depends on the shot. In your face shots smaller shot. I have been hunting doves with 7 steel. I have dropped 5 geese with standard 7 steel target loads. I like as many pellets as possible, but you still need energy at the distance of the shot. John
Jon Yenulonis
Well-known member
I am going to offer up another take on this.
I agree wholeheartily that you need to get the birds close. That's a given.
And, there are times like John said where long shots are more the norm. Maybe higher quality, denser shot ammo would be a little more important then.
I went thru a period of time where I tried the most expensive stuff I could buy. I patterned my gun with different loads and different chokes and all different ranges. Mind Boggling stuff here.
First, some ammo would shoot real well with a certain choke at close ranges, but would fall apart at the longer shots. Others would perform just the opposite at longer ranges, and be too tight at close up, while others performed differently still. Most all however, shot well around twenty-five to thirty yards.
But the biggest problem I had with all of the fancy stuff, was I couldn't hit anything with it. I would miss over and over.
My buddy came up with a neat, albeit too simple explanation. I was thinking too much. I was always worrying about choke tubes and ranges and angles. And worse yet, everytime I shouldered my trusty firearm, subconsciously, thoughts went thru my head at every pull of the trigger- "here goes $2.75 BOOM... here goes $2.75 BOOM... here goes $2.75 BOOM, I better not miss! But I would.
I gave it all away and switched to the cheap stuff.
Instead I learned to concentrate on working the birds in a little closer, pass on the longer, borderline ranges, and have fun!
Amazing how my dead bird to shot percentages went WAY up.
By the way, my preferred "cheap load" is Winchester Expert High Speed steel. 1 1/8oz of #2's for most general waterfowl hunting.
Jon
I agree wholeheartily that you need to get the birds close. That's a given.
And, there are times like John said where long shots are more the norm. Maybe higher quality, denser shot ammo would be a little more important then.
I went thru a period of time where I tried the most expensive stuff I could buy. I patterned my gun with different loads and different chokes and all different ranges. Mind Boggling stuff here.
First, some ammo would shoot real well with a certain choke at close ranges, but would fall apart at the longer shots. Others would perform just the opposite at longer ranges, and be too tight at close up, while others performed differently still. Most all however, shot well around twenty-five to thirty yards.
But the biggest problem I had with all of the fancy stuff, was I couldn't hit anything with it. I would miss over and over.
My buddy came up with a neat, albeit too simple explanation. I was thinking too much. I was always worrying about choke tubes and ranges and angles. And worse yet, everytime I shouldered my trusty firearm, subconsciously, thoughts went thru my head at every pull of the trigger- "here goes $2.75 BOOM... here goes $2.75 BOOM... here goes $2.75 BOOM, I better not miss! But I would.
I gave it all away and switched to the cheap stuff.
Instead I learned to concentrate on working the birds in a little closer, pass on the longer, borderline ranges, and have fun!
Amazing how my dead bird to shot percentages went WAY up.
By the way, my preferred "cheap load" is Winchester Expert High Speed steel. 1 1/8oz of #2's for most general waterfowl hunting.
Jon
Chris sulkey
Member
Get em close is the best way, decreases chances of losing birds due to sky busting. Plus sky busting just educates them at times. I am teaching My son to wait till their close, I usually place one decoy out as a judge of distance then it makes it a little easier when everything happens. plus practice at the range. You can have all of the best but if you can't use it, it's worthless. Al great pics. I am hoping to this year carry the camera out to the blind and take some photos.
i have primarily switched to a 20 gauge for about 85% of my waterfowl gunning. My favorite 20 gauge load is Kent 7/8oz 4 shot at 1550fps. It is cheap($110 a case) and the shot quality is excellent-round and smooth. I believe premium/expensive steel shells such as blindside and black cloud are primarily effective at close ranges as their patterns seem to fall out much beyond that, and if you are killing ducks close, any shell will do. And when you look at the price of Black Cloud/Blindside, it is getting to be much more expensive than regular steel loads. I don't know why people would spend the extra money on that stuff. I have killed alot of mallards with 6 shot steel dove loads from 30 yards in, with the 12 gauge. I do buy some premium shells like Kent Matrix for a couple of spanish sxs's that i am reluctant to shoot steel shot through and some remington hd for the longer range 3rd shot and when shooting geese with my semi auto 20 gauge. They are expensive and i use them sparingly, but they are devastating and extend the range of the 20ga beyond 40yards for geese/ducks.
There were many times i killed a limit (4) of late season greenheads last year hunting public lands with only 4 shots shooting over both water sets and dry fields, and i am just an average shot. The key is to be still, let them work in close by allowing them to make several swings to finish and take good shots. Patience kills more ducks than any newly hyped shotshell.
There were many times i killed a limit (4) of late season greenheads last year hunting public lands with only 4 shots shooting over both water sets and dry fields, and i am just an average shot. The key is to be still, let them work in close by allowing them to make several swings to finish and take good shots. Patience kills more ducks than any newly hyped shotshell.