My partner used the hevi steel 4's, while I did hevi shot 4's.
The hevi shot outperformed it by a mile. Honestly, I didn't see much difference with the hevi steel than I did from when I / or he shot straight steel. Recoil with the 3" HSteel was considerably more than the 2 3/4 HShot.
Along the lines of what you said Matt.... due to the volume of shells shot, I'll be going back to steel. It was a good year hevi shot wise, but it'll have to be a one year deal. BTW: What gun shop are you using these days??