A primer on Steel Shot for waterfowl
How much is enough?
For pattern density, you can reference the Tom Roster non-toxic steel charts or the one I built for my own use. I prefer a few more pellets than his minimums. You can use the chart I provided, but you should pattern your gun at the range you expect that pellet to be effective or at the range you expect to shoot. For geese, I use 40 yards, and for ducks, I pattern at 35.
For energy density, I found no consolidated guide. So, I cross-referenced what live shoot data I could find from various studies and compiled that into the other picture with the stoplight chart for energy density. Energy density is a better predictor of penetration depth than velocity or ft-lbs of energy.
TLDR answers here:
Geese use #1 steel 1 1/8 oz
Ducks use #3 for a mixed bag 1 1/16 oz
Teal and Water Swatting #5
Why did I choose these as minimum loads--because these are the loads that will reasonably give me the energy density on target I want and meet the pellet count on paper while keeping recoil and cost of ammo to a minimum. The full explanation is really just in the pictures.
If you had all the money in the world and enjoyed punishment, then just shoot Boss Warchief 1 1/2 oz bismuth loads at everything: #2 for geese and #4 for ducks. Enjoy that 48 ft-lbs of recoil…
When you choose a heavier load or a bismuth shell vs a lighter load of steel, you should know what you are giving up. for example, by switching from 1 1/8 #4 steel to a 1 1/4 oz #3 steel load, I gained about an additional 5 yards of energy based on the larger pellets while I lost about 20 pellets from the shell. Assuming my gun regularly delivers 70% patterns with steel at 35 yards, and I am trying for a do-everything duck load, I am happy to drop the payload even farther to 1 1/16oz of #3 steel. Which should still yield 120 pellet strikes at 40 yards based on a 70% pattern. Any additional payload is more holes in the meat or more recoil to mess up a beautiful double.
If I were duck hunting with a 20 gauge, a 7/8 load of #3s would carry energy just as far as the same pellets in a 12 gauge, but the 20 gauge will run out of pattern density faster based on the smaller payload. The way around this with steel shot is to downsize to #4s or run a tighter choke that can keep the smaller amount of #3 shot in your pattern.
Another way to keep sub gauges in the game is to shoot higher-density shots like bismuth, heavy-12, or tungsten. My 20 gauge recommendations are 7/8 oz #4 shot for ducks and shoot bismuth #3 or better at geese.
The Big Secret to killing birds is to shoot them close. But a lot of us suck at estimating the distance to moving targets. Here are the criteria I look for to know my target is in range. I used good old Pythagorean theorem to come up with these shot cases. Triangles am I right?
My farthest decoy is around 40 yards and the kill hole is about 25 yards
Start blasting when:
A: they land at the edge of the spread and water swat them at ~40 yards
B: they commit to landing and glide below 30 degrees and inside about 1/2 of my decoys
C: they fly directly over me ~75 degrees or more straight up
In these cases, the birds are shootable. Once you have some time on the water, you will get the hang of it. Other tricks are looking for definition in color and feathers on the birds if they are close enough to see that you can probably shoot.
For Discussion:
What is the dumbest load you shot at a bird that worked out for you? --I know someone out there is throwing 3.5in BBs at teal...
References
How much energy and pattern density to kill a turkey and what does that mean for waterfowl hunting? It means we can shoot geese in the face with our duck loads if they get close enough
https://www.outdoorlife.com/hunting/turkey-load-lethality-testing/
A ballistic calculator for shot
https://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_experiments/shot-ballistics/shotgunning.html
A fancier ballistic calculator that can do more. This one can give you a theoretically effective range for a load based on energy and pattern density.
https://www.kentwildfowlers.co.uk/h...w.kentwildfowlers.co.uk/cgi-bin/ballistics.pl
"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service once conducted a test in which over 4,000 mallards were shot in a controlled environment with a variety of loads. At the end of the study, it was concluded that an energy density of 235 ft/lb./inch squared killed ducks more than 95% of the time."
https://www.themeateater.com/hunt/firearm-hunting/the-secrets-behind-the-killing-power-of-tss
Tom Roster non-toxic chart
https://gfp.sd.gov/UserDocs/nav/NontoxicShotLethality_TRoster.pdf
Randy Wakeman for his research and testing
https://randywakeman.com/shotgunhunting.htm
SHOTGUNNING the art and science by Bob Brister. It is a bit dated, but he did some of the first initial tests on shot string, and he goes into all kinds of cool stuff.
Youtube channels:
Surviving duck season
The New Hunter's Guide
- The intent of shooting a bird is for it to die, be retrievable, and not be so destroyed that we can't harvest the meat.
- We need to achieve this with pellets in vital areas: head, neck, wing bones, and heart.
- To effectively ensure those pellets arrive, we need pattern density to ensure hits and enough energy density to ensure a kill.
How much is enough?
For pattern density, you can reference the Tom Roster non-toxic steel charts or the one I built for my own use. I prefer a few more pellets than his minimums. You can use the chart I provided, but you should pattern your gun at the range you expect that pellet to be effective or at the range you expect to shoot. For geese, I use 40 yards, and for ducks, I pattern at 35.
For energy density, I found no consolidated guide. So, I cross-referenced what live shoot data I could find from various studies and compiled that into the other picture with the stoplight chart for energy density. Energy density is a better predictor of penetration depth than velocity or ft-lbs of energy.
TLDR answers here:
Geese use #1 steel 1 1/8 oz
Ducks use #3 for a mixed bag 1 1/16 oz
Teal and Water Swatting #5
Why did I choose these as minimum loads--because these are the loads that will reasonably give me the energy density on target I want and meet the pellet count on paper while keeping recoil and cost of ammo to a minimum. The full explanation is really just in the pictures.
If you had all the money in the world and enjoyed punishment, then just shoot Boss Warchief 1 1/2 oz bismuth loads at everything: #2 for geese and #4 for ducks. Enjoy that 48 ft-lbs of recoil…
When you choose a heavier load or a bismuth shell vs a lighter load of steel, you should know what you are giving up. for example, by switching from 1 1/8 #4 steel to a 1 1/4 oz #3 steel load, I gained about an additional 5 yards of energy based on the larger pellets while I lost about 20 pellets from the shell. Assuming my gun regularly delivers 70% patterns with steel at 35 yards, and I am trying for a do-everything duck load, I am happy to drop the payload even farther to 1 1/16oz of #3 steel. Which should still yield 120 pellet strikes at 40 yards based on a 70% pattern. Any additional payload is more holes in the meat or more recoil to mess up a beautiful double.
If I were duck hunting with a 20 gauge, a 7/8 load of #3s would carry energy just as far as the same pellets in a 12 gauge, but the 20 gauge will run out of pattern density faster based on the smaller payload. The way around this with steel shot is to downsize to #4s or run a tighter choke that can keep the smaller amount of #3 shot in your pattern.
Another way to keep sub gauges in the game is to shoot higher-density shots like bismuth, heavy-12, or tungsten. My 20 gauge recommendations are 7/8 oz #4 shot for ducks and shoot bismuth #3 or better at geese.
The Big Secret to killing birds is to shoot them close. But a lot of us suck at estimating the distance to moving targets. Here are the criteria I look for to know my target is in range. I used good old Pythagorean theorem to come up with these shot cases. Triangles am I right?
My farthest decoy is around 40 yards and the kill hole is about 25 yards
Start blasting when:
A: they land at the edge of the spread and water swat them at ~40 yards
B: they commit to landing and glide below 30 degrees and inside about 1/2 of my decoys
C: they fly directly over me ~75 degrees or more straight up
In these cases, the birds are shootable. Once you have some time on the water, you will get the hang of it. Other tricks are looking for definition in color and feathers on the birds if they are close enough to see that you can probably shoot.
For Discussion:
What is the dumbest load you shot at a bird that worked out for you? --I know someone out there is throwing 3.5in BBs at teal...
References
How much energy and pattern density to kill a turkey and what does that mean for waterfowl hunting? It means we can shoot geese in the face with our duck loads if they get close enough
https://www.outdoorlife.com/hunting/turkey-load-lethality-testing/
A ballistic calculator for shot
https://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_experiments/shot-ballistics/shotgunning.html
A fancier ballistic calculator that can do more. This one can give you a theoretically effective range for a load based on energy and pattern density.
https://www.kentwildfowlers.co.uk/h...w.kentwildfowlers.co.uk/cgi-bin/ballistics.pl
"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service once conducted a test in which over 4,000 mallards were shot in a controlled environment with a variety of loads. At the end of the study, it was concluded that an energy density of 235 ft/lb./inch squared killed ducks more than 95% of the time."
https://www.themeateater.com/hunt/firearm-hunting/the-secrets-behind-the-killing-power-of-tss
Tom Roster non-toxic chart
https://gfp.sd.gov/UserDocs/nav/NontoxicShotLethality_TRoster.pdf
Randy Wakeman for his research and testing
https://randywakeman.com/shotgunhunting.htm
SHOTGUNNING the art and science by Bob Brister. It is a bit dated, but he did some of the first initial tests on shot string, and he goes into all kinds of cool stuff.
Youtube channels:
Surviving duck season
The New Hunter's Guide
