#F (.22”) – The Ayatollah of Rock ‘n Rolla
In the old days, there was this thing about shooting super
high geese with #4 buckshot. A 3” 12 ga
load can only hold something like 40 or 41 #4bk pellets, which seems like it’d
be hard to keep together past ranges where #BB lead will pass through a goose. But some guys also used piano wire, so I
guess it made sense. I wasn’t there. Anyway, in the mid 1980’s, Federal introduced
#F steel, I assume, to tickle that itch legally. Winchester followed suit a few years later. With 39 pellets to the ounce, it must have
seemed luxurious to the buckshot shooting crowd. But just like Lord Humongous, though intimidating,
#F proved to be less than effective. Even
at 1200 fps, the almost buckshot size pellet still has adequate penetration for
a goose further than most hunters can shoot, but you have to get a 100% pattern
with a 12 ga load to meet the criteria for a likely clean kill. Even in a 10 ga 1-3/4 oz load (Winchester’s)
you needed 80% in the circle. By the 1992,
Tom Roster’s Lethality Table was recommending #F not be used past 55 yards, and
within a few years, it was dropped from Federal’s and Winchester’s
catalogs. Some states have even banned
it. However, #F shot is still legal in
the state I live in, and I have a 10 pound bag of it. I really want to make it work, because what
could be cooler than shooting geese with a scoped .44 Mag while wearing a steel
hockey mask and leather speedo? I mean,
come on…
#TT (.21”) – The Shot Size that Time Forgot
Remington never loaded any #F steel in shotshells. Instead, they opted for #TT to fill the super-size
niche in their lineup. (Why not?) And at just .01” smaller the #F, it fulfills
the role about the same: charges are listed by pellet count rather than weight,
patterns are correspondingly thin, and loads tend to cripple rather than kill
despite the individual pellets’ impressive penetration. The big three dropped the out-sized shot
about the turn of the century, but oddly enough, whereas #F is still mentioned
today as a “crippler,” #TT has been so solidly dropped that most have forgotten
it ever was a thing. (Note, for example,
this language from the Wisconsin hunting regs: “Only non-toxic sizes BB, BBB, T or smaller are legal. Size F
shot is illegal in Wisconsin.”) This, obviously, makes it the coolest shot
in a steampunk sort of way.
#T (.20”) – The King of the Marginal
Steel #T’s is about as big as you can go and still have
enough pellets to make an acceptable pattern at eXtreme range. It may take a 3.5” shell and some fiddling,
but you should be able to get 55 pellets in the circle at 50 yards. However, the pellets still have juice for another
5 to 10 yards and thereby keep alive the idea of the 60 or 70 yard shot.
#BBB (.19”) – Real Ultimate Power
Graceful, powerful, like a leaf on the wind. If the Ninja is the physical manifestation of
balance, then the #BBB is the Ninja of the steel shot. A 3” 12 ga, 1-1/4 oz load at 1450 fps produces
moderate recoil and yet contains enough pellets with enough energy to achieve a
decent pattern with necessary penetration on a goose at 50 yards. Light on the shoulder, hard on the birds. Move up into the more robust loadings of the
10 ga for true domination.
#BB (.18) – Lowest Common Dominator
And if #BBB is the Ninja, then #BB would be the Steven Seagal
of steel shot: ubiquitous, uninteresting, and probably effective (I think he
once actually broke an extra’s arm or something by accident). And just as Steven has had a second mediocre career
as a musician, #BB can also double time as an eXtreme range duck load (in a
thinnish, barely adequate sort of way).
#B (.17”) – the #4 of Letter Sized Shot
For some strange
reason, #B has never been offered by a major US cartridge company (I know a few
garage based start-ups have, and EMI sold some Hevi Steel (the 9ish g/cc stuff
from the 2000’s) in #B size, but those don’t count.) But, unlike #TT (remember, it was forgotten),
#B has always been readily available to the handloader micro-market. It’s allowed us another subtle way to signal
our difference from the same-faced schlubs buying Xpert #BB’s at Cabela’s. Kind of like changing out the laces in your
Chuck Taylors with some neon ones you bought at Pacific Sunwear. Fantastic.
Unfortunately, #B kinda of sucks.
It’s right in that not so sweet décolletage between pattern density and penetration. For geese, it makes for some dense patterns,
but it runs out of steam just shy of 40 yards, so not a lot of margin for range
estimation errors (to say nothing of pass shooting). And for ducks, we get sparse patterns at the
point where its extra energy might be useful.
In other words, the worst of both worlds.
#1 (.16”) – The Iron Fist
A lot of guys try to use #1’s as goose shot, and it’s almost
as effective at that as #B. However, as
duck shot it is the ultimate. Within
certain limitations. Actually, the real
limit is on shot charge weight; you have to have at least 1.25 oz of shot and be
careful about choke in order to maintain a useful pattern at 45-50 yards and
get the full benefit of the #1 smack down.
It’s not as forgiving a shot size as #2, but somehow, it seems to kill
them more dead.
#2 (.15”) – The F150
of Steel Shot
By far the two most common steel shot sizes are #BB and #2:
one for geese, one for ducks. But if they
were required to choose just one shell for all their waterfowling, most hunters
would go with #2’s. And in fact, many do
just that. Just like #BB, it may not
shine its light brightly in all the corners of the wingshooting labyrinth, but
it comes pretty close. I’d say 85% of
the time it works every time.
#3 (.14”) – The Sportsman’s Shot Size
It’s not about the kill, but the chase—not the trophy but
the race. The true sportsman doesn’t go
into the blind just to shoot ducks. For
him, it’s the experience; reveling in the beauty of the sunrise glinting off the
water and the cupped wings. Real success
is measured by doing “it” right: decoys set just so, birds called in to the
pocket, picking the drake. And using
just enough shotshell to provide a clean kill.
Now, to hear all the talk about how close doing “it” right gets your
ducks, you’d think an improved cylinder choke and a 20 ga load of #6’s would be
just enough (or #5’s? is this there
spot?). However, you fail to realize
that the sportsman has spent his time placing decoys just so, calling birds,
and picking drakes, and hasn’t spent much time on range estimation. So just enough shotshell must cover a margin
of error of 15 yards; that means a modified choke and a 12 ga load of
#3’s. And it really isn’t a bad combo—it’s
fairly easy to get a good pattern out to where most of us can actually hit the
target, and the #3’s still have about 5 yards of effectiveness to go. In a way, that extra can be thought of as
Respect for the Ducks, which is what you want to be thinking of as you hang
your limit on the strap, and not about how awesome it is to get a limit. Because it's not about the kill, but the chase,
etc.
#4 (.13”) – The Crippler
I really want to make #4 shot work. Over the last 14 years, I’ve tried high
velocity, low velocity, heavy shot charge, light shot charge, handloaded,
factory—everything from 12 ga Remington Hypersonics to .75 oz 20 ga. I even tried duplexing with #B (which is just
funny). But it never has worked for
me. The promise of a high pellet count bringing
happiness has proven an empty one as I’ve crippled and sailed birds across three
states. My final judgement is #4’s are
best used as ballast. Or perhaps as a
way to burn up precious components on the patterning board.
#5 (.12”) -- ?
I’ve never used #5 steel, but I imagine it would have all
the unbenefits of #4’s, just more so. I’m
not really sure how to try to use #5 steel. Doves maybe?
Swatters?
#6 (.11”) – The Steel Equivalent of #7.5 Lead
All steel shot sizes are divided into three parts: those suited for geese, those suited for
ducks, and the equivalent of #7.5 lead. Back
in the early 80’s, Tom Roster made a video advocating #6 steel for large ducks
on the wing, and in the film, he piles up an impressive number of ducks at verified
long ranges with the baby pellets. Honestly,
I think it’s more a demonstration of Tom’s skill as a wingshot then the pellets
effectiveness for wingshooting. Unless
you hit the head, the pipsqueak just doesn’t have the energy to penetrate to
the vitals at typical ranges. I’ve shot
a few ducks on the wing with #6’s, and though I never lost any, I never had a
clean kill either. If you have to use
steel shot for clay targets, little birdies, or even to off a trapped
woodchuck, #6 is the shot size for you. And
just as I wouldn’t consider #7.5 lead to be a waterfowling shot size, I
wouldn’t include #6 steel on this list…. except were it not for its use as a
swatter for crippled birds. A bird on
the water requires either a lot of juice to plow through the wings, back, and
water to get into the body cavity, or a swarm of shot to hit its lollipop-sized
CNS. At 315 pellets to the ounce, #6 is
the definition of a lollipop poppin’ proposition.
Appendix A: Shot size
restrictions by state (based on what I could find on state websites as of last
time I checked—last fall?)
Twenty states have a maximum non-toxic shot size: 2 at #F,
15 at #T, 1 at #BBB, 2 at #BB. Three
states also list a separate max for tungsten and bismuth shot.
California – #T
Connecticut – #BB steel, #2 tungsten or bismuth
Colorado – #T
Delaware – #T
Georgia – #F
Hawaii sucks (no waterfowl hunting)
Idaho – #T
Illinois – #T steel, #BBB tungsten or bismuth
Kentucky – #T (and no shells longer than 3.5”, oddly)
Maryland – #T
Massachusetts – #BBB
New Jersey – #T
Oregon – #F steel, #BB tungsten or bismuth
Pennsylvania – #T
Rhode Island – #BB
Tennessee – #T
Vermont – #T
Virginia – #T
West Virginia – #T
Wisconsin – #T
The rest of us get to live free or die.
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