Shot Talk

In March/April I presented test results with recently marketed “designer” shotshell loads from Federal that feature non-traditional pellet shapes, rather exotic new wads, and/or mixtures of pellet sizes. These loads are available as Federal’s Black Cloud steel loads and Prairie Storm lead loads. In this installment I’ll examine three other manufacturers’ loads that compete with Federal’s.

Remington’s HyperSonic
Unlike Federal’s Black Cloud and Prairie Storm loads, Remington’s HyperSonic Steel loads contain traditional round steel pellets of uniform size, but the 12-gauge shells achieve a whopping 1,700 fps, the world’s fastest for any hunting shotshell load.
    To achieve 1,700-fps velocities with the 12-gauge loads in its HyperSonic line, Remington uses a new hotter primer coupled with a new wad called the Xelerator. (The 10-gauge and 20-gauge Hypersonic loads use all of the same components but don’t push velocities quite so high.) This wad features a small tube-shape, hollow ignition chamber attached to the bottom of the shotcup, which sits directly on top of the primer. On ignition the small powder charge in the hollow tube burns first, pushing the payload forward slightly; then the remainder of the powder ignites. Chamber pressure is thus kept down by increasing the volume for the main charge combustion, or the 1,700-fps velocity would be impossible with today’s propellants.
    Remington designed a new petal-forming feature into the Xelerator wad to overcome the proclivity of round pellets to form more-open patterns at higher velocities. Upon exiting the muzzle the petals in the wad rip apart from the bottom to the shotcup mouth—the reverse of what happens with traditional shotshell wads. The shot charge then remains in the wad farther beyond the muzzle than with traditional wads, tightening patterns downrange.
    Despite the ultra-high 1,700-fps velocity, HyperSonic Steel loads contain full shot-charge weights. Many competitive high-speed steel loads in the 1,450- to 1,650-fps velocity range contain lighter-than-standard shot-charge weights to keep pressures down. But Remington, by virtue of its new wad, can achieve 1,700 fps with full charge weights of round pellets, which also pattern well.
    Trust me that these loads are extremely lethal at distances out to 50 yards, assuming the correct pellet size is used for the bird being targeted. Many shooters also like them because the ultra-fast velocities help shorten necessary leads. All this is obtained, however, with a good deal of unavoidable recoil. As far as I’m concerned, shooting a gas-operated autoloader is almost a must when hunting with Remington’s HyperSonic Steel loads.

Environ-Metal’s HEVI-Metal
Next up among our “boutique” nontoxic loads is Environ-Metal, with its HEVI-Metal offerings. HEVI-Metal loads contain a charge of traditional 8-g/cc-density round steel pellets with a charge of tungsten-composite 12-g/cc HEVI-Shot pellets on top.
In a given HEVI-Metal load the steel pellets, which are loaded into the bottom of the shotcup, comprise two-thirds of the total shot charge. The top one-third then consists of HEVI-Shot pellets of a smaller pellet size but equal in per-pellet weight to the steel pellets loaded. For example, in a 3" 12-gauge 1G-oz HEVI-Metal load stamped “2” on the box, two-thirds of the shot charge consists of No. 2 steel pellets and one-third No. 5 HEVI-Shot pellets.
    The idea here is to increase the pellet count of the load without reducing lethality. In a traditional shotshell load the only way to increase pellet count with the same charge weight of shot is to load a smaller pellet size. But the smaller pellets retain less per-pellet energy downrange, reducing lethality. The HEVI-Metal loads increase pellet count without sacrificing per-pellet retained energy. This allows HEVI-Metal loads to contain up to 22-percent more pellets for a given shot-size and charge-weight designation. This also allows HEVI-Metal loads to sell at a lower price than Black Cloud loads.
    HEVI-Metal loads currently are available in 3-1/2" 10 gauge BBB through No. 4, 3-1/2" 12 gauge BBB through No. 4, 3" 12 gauge BBB through No. 4, and 3" 20 gauge No. 2 through No. 4. All of these loadings except 10 gauge offer the popular No. 3 (.140") steel pellets that are favored by many duck hunters.
    Based on my testing, I would say that waterfowlers can expect very nice patterns from HEVI-Metal loads out to 60 yards. Thus, HEVI-Metal fired through the right choke can deliver close-, medium- and long-range performance. Necropsies have shown that the relatively high velocities of these loads (1,350 to 1,500 fps) also give the pellets great penetration on duck and goose tissue in addition to helping some shooters with their leads.

Winchester’s Blind Side
Winchester’s Blind Side shells are the most recent introduction in the category. The load initially was available in 3-1/2" and 3" 12 gauge in two shot sizes: BB and No. 2. For 2012 a 2I" 12-gauge and a 3" 20-gauge load have been added, each with shot sizes No. 2 and No. 5.  Additional shot sizes have been added to the original 12-gauge loads as well.
    All Blind Side loads contain hex-shaped steel pellets driven at 1,400 fps, except the 20-gauge load is at 1,300 fps. To simplify, hex pellets are basically cube-shaped projectiles with the corners rounded off.
    Now on first blush a knowledgeable shotgunner might worry that such a projectile shape cannot possibly pattern well. After all, Italian-made dispersante lead pellets are cube-shaped and intended as spreader loads. But because they are loaded in Winchester’s new Blind Side wad featuring diamond-cut petals, the wad controls the tendency for the hex-shaped Blind Side projectiles to disperse as they would if contained in a traditional wad. Additionally, the hex-shaped pellets stack compactly in the wad under the normal vibration inherent in high-speed loading equipment. Winchester claims that this results in 15 percent more pellets being able to fit in each shell for any given shot size.
    To test this theory, Craig Endicott of the Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife Conservation conducted a pattern test of 3" 12-gauge Blind Side shells with No. 2 pellets (176 pellets) and 3" 12-gauge Winchester Drylok shells with No. 2 round steel (162 pellets), both at 1,400 fps. He pattern-tested them at 40 yards through Improved Cylinder, Modified and Full Remington RemChoke tubes in a Remington 870 pump with a 28" barrel. Endicott found that the Blind Side shells delivered 48-percent, 85-count patterns through the IC, versus 58-percent, 95-count patterns with the round pellets of the Drylok shells. Through the Modified tube the Blind Side shells patterned at 57 percent with an average of 100-count patterns, versus 74 percent with an average of 119-count patterns for the Drylok shells. The pattern differential was the greatest at Full choke, with the Blind Sides delivering 62-percent, 109-count patterns versus 82-percent, 133-count patterns for the Dryloks. Again, all of this was at 40 yards.
    What these results tell us is that the Blind Side loads are at their best for close- and medium-range shooting. They are decidedly not long-range loads. And to Winchester’s credit they aren’t billed as long-range loads. On each box Winchester recommends the ideal range for these loads as 10 to 40 yards.
    By the end of the 2011-’12 season I had taken a total of 58 ducks—principally mallards—with 12-gauge Blind Side No. 2s through Improved Cylinder, Modified and Full chokes. When the range was 20 to 35 yards, I experienced clean kills. My x-rays revealed a higher rate of embedded pellets than with round steel or HEVI-Shot pellets of equal weight, so the hex shape does not penetrate as well as round pellets. This is a plus for lethality at close ranges, because it reduces through-body pellet penetration.
    So there you have it. I have found that all four of the non-traditional loads tested and discussed in these columns are very effective over the ranges that their pattern densities have proven lethal. Many waterfowlers have taken to them despite the loads having generally higher prices than traditional round-pellet steel loads. Give them a try; you may be pleasantly surprised.

To correspond with Tom Roster or to order his reloading manual on buffered lead and bismuth shotshells, his HEVI-Shot reloading manual, his updated 75-page Shotgun Barrel Modification Manual or his instructional shooting DVDs, contact Tom Roster, 1190 Lynnewood Blvd., Klamath Falls, OR 97601; 541-884-2974; tomroster@charter.net.