Pheasant loads

[charliepete2]

I reload my own. I use Win AA's with 1 1/4 oz of high antimony hard 5's, Win 209 Primer, 32 grains of Longshot powder, and Rem SP12 wads. At 1400 fps its knocks the snot out of the birds. Much faster leads to bad patterns. It's what I've settled on after two years of experimentation.

In the past I've shelled out for both nickle and copper plated shot. In my estimation they make no difference in lethality. That's a group consensus with my buddies after shooting 8 flats of nickle and copper plated shells at wild birds for two years, and then switching to just high antimony hard shot for the last year. Lawerence brand copper plated shot is a joke. It's just a copper wash and it's not evenly distributed. The nickle shot from Ballistic Products is plated and even, but the base lead is low anitmony and is very soft. If you are looking for even patterns and better penetraion, it's hard to beat plain old hard shot. As a bonus it's lots cheaper.

[gspman]

Yup, it ain't the plating that matters as much as the hardness of the shot. Usually (but not always) plated shot is extra hard shot. Less deformation = more pellets in the pattern = better pattern = deader birds.

[charliepete2]

GSPMAN...if you could point me to any plated shot that has high antimony lead shot as a base I'd appreciate. Lawerence copper is just a wash and not plating, and every other plated shot I've come across doesn't stand up to regular high antimony shot in a crush test. In a non scientific fashion you can easily feel the difference with a pliers.

[gspman]

Well I haven't done any tests per se, but supposedly Winchester, Federal and Fiocchi use hard shot for their plated loads. I really like Fiocchi Golden Pheasant 1 3/8 oz. #5's or #6's.

I'm not a reloader so I couldn't tell you who makes good plated shot for reloading. I'd call Ballistic Products in Corcoran, MN and see what they might recommend.

Personally I think the plating is a bit of a gimmic. The important part is the high antimony shot.

[charliepete2]

Ballistic Products sells lawerence brand copper and some imported nickle. Both aren't worth the extra cash. The nickle plated stuff from ballistic products is just plated low antimony shot. It's nowhere near as hard as even regular chilled shot.

[almostthere!]

I also use steel shots all the time. Never know when you might end up at one of those federal lands requiring non-toxic loads. Plus, I do not like lead tinted game meat.

I use steel BB's for all my huntings. Grouse, BB's. Woodcock, BB's. Pheasants, BB's. Ducks, BB's and BBB's. Do I miss? Sometimes. Do I get my limits? Most of the time. Do I worry about not finding a shot in the birds? Nope, not one bit. And that is priceless.

I would go with hevy, nontoxic shots, but I can not afford them, yet.

[walleyesucker]

Hubercita, where do you get the SP12 wads at?

[charliepete2]

Typically I pick them up from Ballistic Products in Corcoran, they also do mail order from their catalogs and HSOforum. I think I've also bought them at the Frontiersman in St. Louis Park, but I'd call them first because they are kind of hit and miss on stocking components. I'd suggest verifying any recipe you get from Joe Shmoe to a legitimate source. The recipe I'm talking about can be found on Hogdons HSOforum. It's definitely a good load.

[walleyesucker]

Hubercita, thanks for the info, I checked it out looking for a similar recipe with a different wad.