Adamantium
New member
I recently got a reloading press for shotguns (MEC 650) and with it I bought a booklet that discusses reloading steel shot. It is by Reloading Specialties Inc. and is appropriatly named "Steel Shotshell Reloading Hand Book". Anyway, what this has to do with the topic is that it has a number of tables that show steel shot at a number of different ranges. I'm going to use #2 steel shot as my example because they show it at starting velocitys of 1400, 1600 and 1800 FPS. The big numbers are FPS and the smaller ones are Ft.-LBS. Then the numbers in the () is the positive difference that the 1600 and 1800 FPS loads have over the slower 1400 FPS.
#2 Steel Shot
M.V. 1400/15.2 1600/20.0(200/4.8) 1800/25.3(400/10.1)
10 Yards 1092/9.3 1229/11.8(137/2.5) 1372/14.7(280/5.4)
20 Yards 905/6.4 989/7.6(84/1.2) 1076/9.0(171/2.6)
30 Yards 775/4.7 836/5.5(61/0.8) 895/6.2(120/1.5)
40 Yards 673/3.5 723/4.1(50/0.6) 768/4.6(95/1.1)
50 Yards 590/2.7 631/3.1(41/0.4) 668/3.5(78/0.8)
60 Yards 522/2.1 555/2.4(33/0.3) 586/2.7(64/0.6)
70 Yards 463/1.7 493/1.9(30/0.2) 518/2.1(55/0.4)
The reason I put this table up, is because I found it interesting how quickly the advantage of having extra muzzle velocity dies off (at least in my opinion). Even at 30 yards the 1800 FPS load has lost 70% of it's velocity advantage and 85% of it's energy advantage over the 1400 FPS load.
Now think about that a 3 inch 12 ga. only has about a 100 FPS lead over a 2 3/4th inch load if they both use the same payloads. I'm going by Remingtons website and using 1 1/4 oz. loads to compare. So I think it is kind of a surprise on how little you gain by going for the slightly higher velocity shell, yet a whole lot of waterfowlers that I've met generally agree that you can use 2 3/4 shells, "If you can get real close." But yet looking at it all one has to do is move to the other side of the boat you'r shooting from.
Am I way off on my conclusion? I admit I've never hunted waterfowl before, but I somehow think there is a relation to this and the lead shot I used to hunt grouse this season. And if that were all the difference between normal velocity lead and high velocity then I'd be less than impressed. What do you guys think?
Sincerely,
Adam
#2 Steel Shot
M.V. 1400/15.2 1600/20.0(200/4.8) 1800/25.3(400/10.1)
10 Yards 1092/9.3 1229/11.8(137/2.5) 1372/14.7(280/5.4)
20 Yards 905/6.4 989/7.6(84/1.2) 1076/9.0(171/2.6)
30 Yards 775/4.7 836/5.5(61/0.8) 895/6.2(120/1.5)
40 Yards 673/3.5 723/4.1(50/0.6) 768/4.6(95/1.1)
50 Yards 590/2.7 631/3.1(41/0.4) 668/3.5(78/0.8)
60 Yards 522/2.1 555/2.4(33/0.3) 586/2.7(64/0.6)
70 Yards 463/1.7 493/1.9(30/0.2) 518/2.1(55/0.4)
The reason I put this table up, is because I found it interesting how quickly the advantage of having extra muzzle velocity dies off (at least in my opinion). Even at 30 yards the 1800 FPS load has lost 70% of it's velocity advantage and 85% of it's energy advantage over the 1400 FPS load.
Now think about that a 3 inch 12 ga. only has about a 100 FPS lead over a 2 3/4th inch load if they both use the same payloads. I'm going by Remingtons website and using 1 1/4 oz. loads to compare. So I think it is kind of a surprise on how little you gain by going for the slightly higher velocity shell, yet a whole lot of waterfowlers that I've met generally agree that you can use 2 3/4 shells, "If you can get real close." But yet looking at it all one has to do is move to the other side of the boat you'r shooting from.
Am I way off on my conclusion? I admit I've never hunted waterfowl before, but I somehow think there is a relation to this and the lead shot I used to hunt grouse this season. And if that were all the difference between normal velocity lead and high velocity then I'd be less than impressed. What do you guys think?
Sincerely,
Adam