Types of Lead Shot

[uncle buck]

I found this info in Ballistic Products sales catalog... I have yet to determind what Magnum Lead Shot really is:   However the info is interesting about lead shot...


Chilled Lead Shot
Magnum Lead Shot
Copper  Plated Lead Shot
Nickel Plated  Lead Shot

Chilled lead is softer and more  susceptible to deformation.  For this reason  use chilled lead for spreader loads and close range sporting shots when "fliers" can actually  work to a shooters advantage.

Magnum Lead Shot would be better to choose for hunting then chilled lead shot.

Copper Plated Lead Shot The flash coating  of copper plated shot means several adantages for shotgunners.The harder pellets hold much  better pattern because they hold spherical shape. Instead of becoming misshapen and flying away, A greater number  stay  in the core of the pattern all the way to the target. Secondly , the copper plating penetrates  game better and resists gettng wadded up in feathers, increasing the odds of clean one shot kills.

Nickel Plated Lead Shot unequal in terms of penetration and energy transfer making it the ultimate lead shot for dense penetrating patterns. Nickel plated shot is recommended for all master loads.

[uncle buck]

My comments on this:

I suppose many of us that reload see bags that are annotated with Chilled Lead Shot on it.....Um are we selling ourselves short if we use this type shot for predator hunting?  Also what cheap factory loads have the Chilled lead Shot? Could it be the what they call game loads, or Sport Loads, or Duck & Phesant Loads, or Rabbit and Squirrel loads..  Loads like this might be OK for gray fox hunting were we take the shot close to the speaker when we are using the Gray Fox pup.  However it does appear that Chilled Lead Shot has no place for the Red Fox and or Coyote hunters...  looks like the Chilled Lead Shot is good for the grouse hunter, wood C O C K hunter, Rabbit Hunter...Hunters that would benefitfrom the so called Fliers that occur When using Chilled Shot... I will never use Chilled Shot again if I intend to use the ammo for Ringneck or Fox. 


What is this Magnum lead shot they speak of? Could this be the premium factory ammo like Winchester Super X High Brass or Winchester Express Loads???Or could it mean. It does appear that  Ballistic Products does sale Chilled and Magnum as two different lead shots for their customer.. So Magnum has nothing to do with using a Magnum charge of powder with chilled lead shot.



Ah so many of us use the Copper Plated Turkey loads and we do well using it for red fox...Figure it's more expensive too. So I do not feel as bad now paying for Copper Plated Turkey Loads now that I finally understand how tight the pattern is because it is Copper Plated lead....

Nickel Plated Lead.....It does appear that the Nickel Plated lead is even better then the Copper Plated Lead..  Today I ordered some Nickel Plated BB shot...Wow I can't wait to use that now for red fox instead of the Copper Plated shot.


Reloaders.....Predators Hunters.....Take Heed on this.....Might Be A Good Thing To Be A Little Picky When Reloading shotgun shells for fox and coyotes... Stay away from the Chilled Shot all together.. Stick with the Copper Plated and the Nickel Plated Lead....Might also be better to get yourself Nickel Plated lead from now on.

Factory ammo predator callers.....Um might be better to pay the price and get yourself at least the Copper Plated Lead...Federal makes some outstanding Copper Plated factory ammo.... It's buffered too!!!!!!!!
Also one might want to consider to start to relaod shotgun shells now too...If so stay away from the chilled lead shot for predator hunting...However remember how the chilled lead shot is good for Upland Game hunting....You need fliers to harvest grouse, wood c o c k and rabbits....

Now I am probably going to stick my head into a Remington catalog and see what kind of shot they use in their Nitro lead high brass or maybe somewhere in the catalog they will say what kind of shot is in their Express loads....

Remember   Gray Fox in early season...The shots are so close when they come to the gray fox pup sound...The Chilled Lead shot will work since your shots at times may even be point blank...The Flier thing might even help you should they take off 1/10 of a second before you pull the trigger.     

[CoyoteJeff]

Thanks for posting this UB . I have often wondered about what the difference was.

[uncle buck]

I received my BB and # 4 Buckshot yesterday and reloaded 35 rounds of the Nickel BB and 25 rounds of the Nickel # 4 BUCKSHOT.  Hard to use the Universal Charge Bar for BB and above.. Looks like it will accept # 3 shot...I  still used the MEC press to decap, and charge the shotgun Win AA 2 3/4 hulls with powder...Using HS-6...33 grains for BB  and 32 grains for # 4 buckshot.... I   have a Lee shot dipper and that helped to perform the the transfer of  the 1 1/4 Nickel BB shot to the hulls....I used another Lee powder dipper to insert Buffer to both the BB and the # 4 buckshot....The # 4 buckshot I weighed on my powder scale.. Just happens set just right it takes 26  pellets to make the scale arm to move to the top position.  I then just add one more buck shot pellet to the load to make it the 27 pellet.  I used the powder holder on the scale to pour the 27 buckshot pellets into the Win AA hulls...  I  then added the buffer and of course sealed the hulls using the crimping area of my MEC reloader....The data for both of the loads were obtained from Hodgdon web site.   The # 4 buckshot took the WinAA12R  the BB took the WinAA12F114.



As you know it so hard to find 10 Gauge # 4 buckshot....However if one had a MEC 10 gauge press they could reload their own Nickel plated # 4 buck shot.  Then since we only get one shot at night most times you could get yourself a cheap NEF 10 gauge single shot 10 gauge and use that for hunting....



Check IMR and the AKA Hodgdon web site for all kinds of reloading data for your rifles and shotguns.   Before entry you will have to accept the terms before it will allow you to view anything on either of the web sites...Also Win, IMR, and Hodgdon all share the same web site...So you can get info on all three types of powders and reloads there.

[uncle buck]

Here is the web link to go to the Hodgdon, IMR, and Win powder web site:

http://www.hodgdon.com/