Hevi Steel - opinions please

[M.T. Pockets]

Most of my waterfowl hunting is done in close quarters in river bottoms or small sloughs over decoys. I'm pretty good at shot selection and seldom shoot ducks beyond 35 yards. I buy a case of cheap 3" Winchester Xperts in #3 shot every couple years and they serve me just fine under these conditions.

I'm looking for something with a little more reach to hunt mallards and geese at longer ranges. I can't get myself to buy even a box of 10 Hevi Shot, it's just out of the question at over $3 a shot.

I am considering upgrading some and was considering an all around load of Hevi Steel (made by the same mfr. as Hevi Shot) in 3" #2 shot. I'm looking to shoot to 50 yards and to increase killing efficiency over Xperts within that range.

I know some folks here shoot Hevi Shot, but does anyone have any comments on their experience with Hevi Steel ? It's not much more expensive than other higher end steel loads, but substantially cheaper than Hevi Shot.

Thanks for your insight.

[skeet]

It is marginally better than steel..Lets say by 25%. Honestly MT try some of the Remington hevi stuff. Goos rebate on it and it will do the job to 50 yds and beyond. I actually shoot less with the Hevi stuff. Use the steel for any cripples I may have...which ain't many. That expert steel is terrible stuff

[fabsroman]

I just bought a box of that Black Cloud stuff and will be trying it out.

Now, to answer the question. Haven't used Hevi Steel yet. In fact, didn't even know it existed.

Think about using Hevi Shot as your third shot in the gun and regular steel or Hevi Steel as your first two shots. That will make it seem a little less painful, and it will make you think twice about taking that third shot at $3.00 (i.e., is that bird really in range?). When I was goose hunting a lot, I would use Hevi Shot 3" shells with #2's for the first two shots and a 3.5" shell with Hevi Shot #B for the third shot. I still love that combo, but cannot find the time to reload for it and I am too cheap to buy the retail stuff. Kind of the same dillemma that you have. However, I did almost break down the other day and buy some. At the end of the day, how many boxes of shells are you going to shoot while out hunting? There are a lot of arguments to use it, but I'll stay away from them because I might just talk myself into buying a couple of boxes on the way home.

[M.T. Pockets]

The thing is I need 250 rounds. I'm heading to Saskatchewan in a couple weeks and the guide said to bring at least 250 rounds. 250 rounds of Hevi Shot would be around $800. That's out of the question.

Right now I'm thinking of getting 10 boxes of 10 Remington HD's (with the $15 rebate) and the rest something else.

He said most of the shooting is over finished birds in the decoys. I've tried the combo method of loading the shotgun, saving the best shot for last, but in all the excitement and fast shooting it always gets mixed up.

I'd like to find one load to use for everything (geese in the decoys, passing cranes and ducks over water). I'll see what develops....

Thanks for the pointers everyone.

[grayghost]

In a word...over priced. Steel does fine by me for ducks and geese. BBB on Giant Canada's, BB on Snow's, #1's on Mallards and sometimes I'll drop down to #2's over the decoys. Given a choice I'd go back to lead, but since the big "lead scam" years ago, ammo mfrs., figure they can stick it to us and we'll pay because we....what? Have no brains left due to recoil? More jive to charge more money. grayghost

[Catfish]

MT,
Afew years back I went to Heavy Shot. I only shoot geese and alway jump shoot them so I don`t get many close shots. I have never knocked 1 down with steel shot in my life. The year befor last, useing Heavy Shot, untill the last goose, I had dropped 1 more goose than shells fired. The last goose took me 3 shots so for the year I knocked down 37 geese with 38 shells. I probibly shoot more steel shot than that trying to kill geese that I had knocked down. Last year I only got 8 geese and this year I wasn`t see many befor season, where I hunt, so I didn`t even get a liscense, but next time I get a lincense I`ll probibly buy more Heavy Shot, unless they have something as good and cheaper.

[M.T. Pockets]

Well, yesterday I was in a town with a major sporting goods store and picked up a case of 3" Hevi Steel in #2 shot. 1550 fps.

I also picked up 4 boxes of 10 Remington HD in 3" #2 shot. These are 1450 fps, the fastest available in HD.

I'll be bringing with some 3 1/2" Steel BB's for mop up work and shooting snows if they're decoying well. These are also 1550 fps.

I'll let you know how things work out.

[fabsroman]

I am really interested to hear how these different loads/pellets end up working out for you. I might do some testing of my own this season. I am dying to try out this Black Cloud stuff that I have, but something tells me that it is going to be a little disappointing. Just noticed that the pics on the back of the box are a little misleading because the one showing the greater wound channel has been enlarged. Nothing like good old deception to sell things.

[M.T. Pockets]

I just got back and shot a few rounds of everything. To summarize it, I was impressed with the Hevi Steel. It is noticably better than any steel I have ever used. It has more range and kills more efficiently. We shot a lot of geese with it and the biggest difference I noticed was that there were very few birds that weren't dead in the air.

I was shooting geese with 3" #2 Hevi Steel. A couple of my buddies were shooting 3 1/2" B's. It was evident they had more range, they were killing geese dead in the air that I haven't seen since the days of lead. I just didn't shoot at birds as far as they did.

One observation, large Canada geese, those in the 12 lb. range, are much harder to kill in the air than your standard 7-8 lb. Canada and substantially harder to kill than snows & blues and specklebellies. I would suggest BB's or larger for all Canadas under all conditions, including when they want to land in your decoys. After a shot or two in the wind they can be going down and a long ways out and hard to get another round into. We shot over 30 snow geese and all but 1 or 2 were dead in the air, and this was at some long ranges. The Canadas were closer, (but still not close) and we were chasing some of them.

I shot a some ducks with the 3" #2 Hevi Shot and it had noticable more killing power than any other steel shot I've used. It killed them very dead in the air. With the standard steel loads I've used in the past I've had to chase many ducks.

I also tried some Remington HD in 3" #2 shot. I really couldn't see a noticable difference in the 3 days I was using it. I tried using the HD rounds as the third round in the gun so when a flock came in it would be my last shot, but if the first two rounds in Hevi Steel didn't get them, they were a tough shot by round #3. I'm sure the HD is great stuff, but for this hunter, I'm satisfied with Hevi Steel.

[fabsroman]

They have done a bunch of tests that show that T shot is the best shot to use on large geese. That is what I try to use if I am using steel, but the local stores don't always have it in stocks, so BBB or BB it ends up being.

I'm going to have to try out Hevi-Steel this year, but I don't think the local store has that either. Might have to take a drive up to Outdoor World just to find the stuff.

[skeet]

Seems as though ya had a great time. Some guys I know here are planning a hunt in Sask for next year. I might go myself. As far as the hevisteel I'm glad it worked out for you. Didn't shoot any black cloud did ya?? I have been shooting a few ducks with some #6 hevi shot that I had left when I moved out here. Much better than steel 4's or even steel 2's. I got set up with a guy I met out here to shoot geese. I got some of the Rem HD in BB size. It just devastates 'em. Just my opinion but after shooting over 10,000 geese I would use nothing smaller than B or BB on large(dark) geese. Snows too. And as far as using HD 2's as a third shot...nah..BB's. In steel BBB or T shot. We used a 10 ga back in Md shooting it as a backup gun when birds were leaving the rig(my gun but 3 of us used it) and the BBB or T shot out of that gun would killl birds way out there...70 yds and more. As far as lead BB's or more in 12 ga guns. I may try the hevi steel...but I really don't shoot so much that I can't afford the best which I consider to be the Rem HD...Hevi shot or the new Winchester stuff like hevi although I haven't tried it yet.

[fabsroman]

"I may try the hevi steel...but I really don't shoot so much that I can't afford the best..."

We're not all rich like you Skeet. LOL

[skeet]

Heck I don't shoot more than 250 shells or so.even at the retail prices we can probably all afford that much. Heck a good lease in Md costs 5000 bucks and up. Used to shoot a lot more when shooting steel. I also buy a box or two of the Target steel shells for cripples. Of which I have few since switching to Hevi and it's equivalent. I also have about 40 boxes of Bismuth loads for the old guns if i want to shoot waterfowl with them. Bought all of it at a closeout for 6 bucks a box. It kills almost as good as lead.

[DelDuck]

Originally posted by fabsroman
"I may try the hevi steel...but I really don't shoot so much that I can't afford the best..."

We're not all rich like you Skeet. LOL

You know how he got so rich..... he switched to gico


He also saves alot by shooting so darn good.

[skeet]

I got my insurance through another insurance company. It was cheaper than Geico. The only thing i was trying to put across the board here was that ammo is one of the cheapest parts of a hunt whether you believe it or not Heck the pair of waders you wear may cost more than the ammo you shoot in a year...even the high test stuff. Decoys and their upkeep will cost a pretty penny too. Heck at one time I had a thousand goose decoys. Awful lot of painting every year. We (three of us) set out 400 duck decoys one morning. Yep every duck in the area came to us. It was an awful lot of work just setting tham and pulling them when we were done...much less buying maintaining the anchor lines and keeping them painted. We each had 200 duck decoys and we believed in using large amounts which always seemed to work pretty well. Five of us had 8 river leases and 200 decoys each ...the price of shells was minimal when you think of all the other expences.

To give you an example of misdirected frugality...a customer was a pretty fair Sporting clays shooter...he reloaded with chilled shot which he bought from me. I kept telling him to use mag shot(better patterns) and he wouldn't. Well after a while I quit selling chilled as there was 50-75 cents difference in the price. He was annoyed and told me he might take his business elsewhere. No biggie ya know? Anyway I sold him one bag of mag shot. He came back in a couple of weeks and bought more. He averaged 5 birds per 100 more with the mag shot. Made a difference in his winning percentage(and class, of which he had very little). Penny wise...pound foolish is really true...and with waterfowl(and other game animals) I want them DRT. That is why I use and recommend hevi and the other good stuff rather than any thing else! To me good 'nuff just doesn't cut it Oh and my shooting isn't all that great anymore! I'll be back in the spring...maybe we can go shoot again. I enjoyed it the last time.