
	L.P. Brezny

Non-Toxic Pheasant Loads

by L.P. Brezny

Shot size matters a whole lot.

Opening day of the South Dakota resident pheasant hunt was full of optimism. The weather was great, even though the winds were building all morning, and had reached almost gail force gusts by high noon. Our party of four hunters had rolled east from Rapid City, which was located three hours west of the real pheasant belt as it were. We had reached the large state game management area we had intended to hunt with about 30 minutes to burn before shooting time. Everyone was excited to get that first drive moving and those first roosters up and into the stiff head wind for that going away trap shooters shot.

I had hauled along a case of Enviornmetal Inc. Hevi-Steel in a 3" 1 1/8 oz load of #4 shot. These loads were second generation ammo in that Enviornmetal had redesigned this load from its first introduction in 2004. This was a fold crimp package with new wads, powder, and higher terminal ballistics. However, I was a bit concerned by the #4 pellet size as I had found these small iron balls to get quite weak very fast much beyond 40 yards down range. If these ringneck roosters were going to flush to any point much beyond say 35 yards I felt the loads could be less than effective.

At the jump off point we were not at all alone. With at least 15 or 20 other hunters deciding to take on the same section of food plot and prairie grass, I felt sure that when the show started it would be somewhat of a confused mess to say the least. While everyone was more than willing to help out in terms of not trying to hog the ground they walked on, those large numbers of hunters was an indication that only the guys with the best dogs would win this event.

At the strike of noon we started forward, and within less than a minute birds started erupting from all sides, which included both high grass and the standing corn. Being young roosters the bright sun it was difficult to identify a crossing bird on the high wind, keep track of the guy next to you, or the fellow on the sky line, and still get off an accurate shot.

As an old, and quite bright red rooster peeled past me at about shoulder high, and moving like a guided missile down wind, I spotted a slot that was a safe clear shot, and promptly emptied my right barrel on the BSA Classic 12 bore. At the shot, which I judged to be about 45 yards the rooster folded up, but only to be rolled over by a pair of black labs before I could take a step. Oh well I thought, there are more than enough to go around with this endless stream of over-head, and slide slipping targets.

Now a bit later, with five rounds dispatched and three birds on the ground, I still stood watching the onslot with an empty game vest. I was not sure if the loads were the problem, or all the dogs in the area were just beating me to the punch. We had dogs in our party, but they were occupied working retrieves for their owners. What I did decide right there and then was never to listen to anyone that says don’t bring your dog, because "we can handle anything you drop with ours". Obviously they could not handle the problem, and it was showing up in spades. Secondly, I was less sure than ever about the effectiveness of the loads. On two occasions I had reached an area well ahead of any dog only to find nothing more than feathers.

Time to regroup
After that first pass across the quarter section everyone started to thin out and go their own way. I was grateful for that, because I had spent a considerable amount of time just trying to keep from getting greased by a load of steel shot. Now it was time to set a new plan, and I was pleased to learn that we were going to hunt well away from anyone else on that piece of state managed land.

The guys with the dogs had done the best, and when the count was completed the group had connected on eight birds which put us to over half of the days limit for four hunters. On the next drive we posted blockers and two of us pushed a food plot which yielded one bird. What I was observing now was that birds that had broken legs or head shot were being recovered. However, enough birds were not recovered when hit so as to give me reason to further regard those light #4’s in a grade of shot that was only a step above standard steel as suspect. This load much like its predecessor during the testing of the first Hevi-Steel shot loads on Kansas mallards the previous winter. The new loads in the lightweight shot were not showing anything special in the bird harvesting department. In my estimation, we had shot far too many birds in taking the limit of 12 roosters home to west river South Dakota.

Test time
With the conclusion of that early season pheasant hunt it was time to get out the Perma Gel ordinance gelatin and run some 40 yard penetration tests using some of the remaining Hevi-Steel #4’s I had rolling around in my shooting vest. I was clearly upset with myself for not running those tests prior to taking the seemingly wimp load afield. However, we are not perfect, least of all gun writers, and I had goofed badly to my way of thinking. The lesson seemed clear to me that there was trouble in the works, and the Perma Gel penetration and wound channel observation with measurements would tell the story in clear ballistic gelatin detail.

Shooting by way of the BSA Classic and a full choke tube at 40 yards, I proceeded to send a round of #4 Hevi-Steel into the gel block which measured at the target face 10" X 6", and 6" deep. When I checked the gel block after firing it had received 14 pellet hits, with almost 2/3rds of them penetrating the block completely. Except for three individual pellets, all had at least cut through 5" penetration depths. The bottom line was by this test those pellets should have produced adequate penetration even when shot from back to front on going away targets.

We know that small steel shot and this Hevi-Steel is only a small jump in performance over standard steel, will not produce radial energy shock found when pellets of Bismuth, Matrix, or lead are used. This channel reflection is called "stiletto effect", and it means that all the energy related to the hard shot is driven forward and not to the side so as to produce shock to vital organs. When I had processed the birds I had taken home I had found very little damage in terms of table fair, and to my way of thinking that element only adds to the stiletto knife point theory.

Pattern work using the standard 30" circle at 40 yard produced a nice uniform pattern with an average 81% grouping. These patterns were even for the most part, and even with the full constricted Benelli installed choke in the muzzle of the BSA side by side, the tube did not develop open holes as some tubes will when using hard steel or other hard non-toxic shot types.

In terms of computer ballistics, rough data would suggest the #4 Hevi-Steel was reaching the 40 yard mark with a terminal or at target velocity of 668 f.p.s., and generating 2.24 ft / lbs. of killing energy. However, much beyond that, and I say a very few yards beyond, and these light weight pellets start to fall off in terms of speed quickly. (569 f.p.s at 50 yards.) For the most part I have never liked #4’s in steel shot, or types of shot close to steel with this shot size, and this is the basic reason why. Now, add the very high winds (40 + mph) to the equation and you have some of the reasons birds were lost even when dogs were in use. (Fringe pattern hits on cross wind shots.)

By way of comparison just running a quick check of a #2 Hevi-Steel pellet and we can see that at 40 yards terminal velocity figures jump to 751 f.p.s. with 4.7 ft / lbs of killing energy. My conclusion is to simply move to a #2 pellet, or even a BB anytime you’re gunning a non-toxic restricted area with standard steel shot, or close alternative types.

On the penetration blocks I ran a comparative test using the new and advanced Federal Cartridge soft tungsten in a #2 was shot. The results of that test were that all pellets exited completely, and the energy channels in the Perma Gel block were wider, and indicated far more radial or damage to the pellets side, thereby radiating additional energy. You can be sure that on my next trip to east river South Dakota I will be packing larger shot, and even in a larger payload package. At the least #2’s or B in Hevi-Steel, or BB’s standard iron shot loads. A heavy Winchester Supreme black bullet 1 1/4 oz BB steel seems about right. "B" (.17 cal) is the largest shot size offered by Enviornmetal Inc. in Hevi-Steel 12 gauge loads.