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Why no steel shot?


hammondc

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New guy here....first shotgun. I just bought a SuperNova.

 

Why does the full choke (and I think one other) say 'no steel shot'? I thought most shells used steel now....

 

Am I just confused?

 

 

the full choke is to constricted for steel. Steel shot is harder than lead so it may blow the choke out of the barrel.

 

Modified is fine for most game. If you want a full choke that shoots steel they are many aftermarket choke available.

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the full choke is to constricted for steel. Steel shot is harder than lead so it may blow the choke out of the barrel.

 

Modified is fine for most game. If you want a full choke that shoots steel they are many aftermarket choke available.

 

Thanks. That explains it well.

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You should get to a patterning board and shoot your gun with various chokes and various lead and steel loads. You will be surprised at the results. After missing birds with steel and ranges that were easy with lead, I thought it was the difference in the loads until I patterned my new SuperSport this year with both lead and steel. Because steel does not compress in the choke as much as lead, the Modified choke patterns steel similarly to the full choke for lead loads. I have been missing birds with steel because my pattern was way too tight. I am now using an IC choke for steel and hitting a lot more birds. If the ducks are coming into the decoys, I would suggest a Cylinder or Skeet choke for steel. Try it out, you will be surprised. I would be interested to know what the constrictions are in an after market "full" choke for steel. Are they the same as lead or is it just a full choke that won't get destroyed shooting steel through it.

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hammondc:

 

I don't know why you would hunt turkey with steel. It's effective range is much less than lead. No, for turkey I would use a nasty 3.5" lead turkey load through a full choke or an after market turkey choke in my SBEII 12 ga. I have read, but not tried since the IM and full Benelli chokes are NOT recommended for steel, that a choke tighter than Modified with steel seriously deforms the pattern. The steel shot cannot compress in the choke, so the pellets jam up in the choke and start bouncing off each other disrupting the pattern.

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  • 12 years later...

I'm old school and learned a long time ago that steel shot was just not good for your steel barrel. Steel on steel will wear a barrel out quickly (compared to lead).  Anti gunners years ago decided one way to come after gun owners and shooting ranges was to claim lead shot was poisoning wetlands, the creatures that lived in those wetlands and clean water supplies. Hense, ammunition manufacturers under the threat of federal and state law suits started  the production of steel shot. Which was, in the mind of the anti gunner, another crack in amendment #2. Under the guise of a clean environment, gun owners would now be limited to a type of ammo that would  restrict the type of shot used at gun ranges and for hunting in some states. And of course the unintended consequence  of the damage steel shot does to a barrel.

 

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