
	L.P. Brezny

Hevi-Steel - It is New, Low Cost, and Effective

by L.P. Brezny

With the exception of some of the more common iron, or as we know it steel shot, non-toxic shotshell ammunition designed as an advanced pellet system is not what anyone would call a bargain. Poly plastic bonded types of shot are costly to make, as are the tungsten iron shot products that shoot well, but cost up to $ 2.00 per round. As we move into the fall of 2004 there will be one difference at the ammunition counter of some outlets, and that change will be a new type of shotshell called Hevi-Steel. If you do any amount of waterfowl hunting or even upland shooting in some restricted areas here in South Dakota you are quite aware that Hevi-Shot has taken the game of non-toxic shotgunning by storm over the past several years. Now Environmetal, the company that developed Hevi-Shot, has come up with a second advanced non-toxic shot type, but at a greatly reduced cost to the hunter.

Hevi-Steel is also a heavy metal tungsten based product, but it uses less of the costly heavy metal and is made by way of a very low cost production process. Add the two elements of the production process together and the hunter comes out the winner in terms of how hard he is being hit in the wallet. Hevi-Steel will sell for about $186.00 hard earned bucks per case of 250 rounds. And, those rounds will come in a real old time 25 round shotshell box.

Now, with a new advanced shotshell or what I call designer loads selling for what a high end box of steel sells for today anyone can be in the driver’s seat when they are trying to upgrade non-toxic ballistics in terms of hitting game harder with less rounds fired in the process. During the first week of September, while hunting with Knock'm Down Productions at Clark South Dakota, and under the wing of the folks at Oak Tree Lodge & Kennels, I got a chance first hand to drops some early season Canada geese with the new shot as produced in a B .17 cal size pellet.

The ammo used in this test was the new 3 inch 12 gauge 1 1/8 oz Hevi-Steel package, and it was loaded to a muzzle velocity of 1450 f.p.s. Being a very hard pellet and in fact the same hardness as barrel steel this shot is "floated" in poly bead buffer that amounts of a massive 40 grain charge. Floating the shot in this way allows the pellets to be cushioned during the setback of firing, and also stay away from the wad wall reducing any chance of the pellets cutting the wad and contacting the bore itself.

This new ammo was designed and developed by Polywad Inc and outfit run by Jay Menefee out of Macon, Georgia. Jay is a sharp ballistics head and came up with a way to drive this new shot that the folks at Enviornmetal were not even sure could work out as a production product during its early stages of development. Well, it works judging by my testing that has taken place over the past five months in handloads and paper targets at my Black Hills range, and with the culmination of test events taking place this past month at Clark, South Dakota.

Hunting at Oak Tree the first of September 2004 were members of the press, pro staff hunters representing Knock'm Down Production, and myself with the new loads in hand. As a group, the hunters were very willing to give the loads a try, and as such when anything went down it would be the result of the new Hevi-Steel’s payload.

Hevi-Steel retains a balance of tungsten iron and common iron making it a pellet with a density about half way between steel shot and lead (9.16 density). I'm rough here in terms of exact pellet weight / density because our information to date is still in the development stage. However, the fact is Hevi-Steel at least on paper was shown to crush even big geese in a pellet size of B .17 cal to 60 yards, and even run up some added energy beyond that point, if necessary. As to all that information coming into the realm of actual hard facts, a few minutes after first light a grain field at Clark, South Dakota was about to give up some answers.

Geese On the Deck

With our backs against a bright blazing sun, and a hot wet wind to our backs three giant Canada's came lumbering in so low that their bellies almost touched the bright yellow cut stems of wheat that covered our field. As the trio closed to under 40 yards, Matt Gindorff, pro staffer and short reed goose caller, gave the order to "take'm”. At the call the first goose hit the deck as if it had been hit by a French 75 mm round, but the remaining pair were pulling for clean air and away from the spread, now falling away on the wind. Again, more shots and a second bird rolled over in mid air and dropped like a wet sack of grain into the wheat stubble. I was watching the last goose as it put about 55 or 60 yards between the gun muzzles and itself. Now my Beretta Xtrema 3.5 that contained a tight shooting Rhino extended choke tube took over and at the shot the final bird also headed for the ground.

The first goose had been totally destroyed and was camp meat in a creative dish presented by our camp chef. The second bird that had been hit by Matt was a great example of a solid working range regarding the .17 caliber Hevi-Steel pellet as three projectiles had entered the birds left side, and while one stopped at the breast bone two others had entered the vitals and had produced massive hemorrhage and shock to the subject. In other words, the load killed the goose. The final longer range bird offered little information saved for the fact that anything less then a broken wing and that bird would have most likely been lost as a cripple. It was the wing break that allowed the recovery of the bird as a body hit had only produced some limited penetration, and in no way would the pellet ever have gotten to the bird’s vitals.

Over the next day in almost unbearable heat and high winds we continued to shoot early morning birds giving up the hunt by 9:00 a.m. due to building almost 100 degree temperatures, but the fact remains that it was established on that first test hunt that Hevi-Steel works, and works well if you can keep your shots at or near goose decoy ranges all of the time (under 60 yards).s

Thanks to the staff at Knock'm Down Production and their counterpart "Adventures" program, and with the required help of Oak Tree Kennels that offers some of the very best upland hunting in South Dakota bar none, I was able to get shot on birds at the very first possible date that the waterfowl hunting season was launched in this western state. As to the future of Hevi-Steel I believe it is a slam dunk in terms of it becoming one of the top choices among waterfowlers due to the affordable price, its retained energy is positive, and the bottom line is that it kills waterfowl dead in the decoys.

Hard Data Hevi-Steel

Ballistics / Pattern
Muzzle Velocity at test: 1400 f.p.s.
Density 9.16-19.
Shot size at test. .17 caliber "B".
Test Shotgun: Benelli Nova 3.5" chamber. Choke Seminole "Pass".
Target pattern - 30" circle at 40 yards. Measurement by % in circle.
Test Load Factory 1 1/8 oz 3" B Hevi-Steel.
Production roll crimp.

Range Yds	Velocity	Energy ft/lbs	Lead in feet - 45 mph crossing target
0	1400	0.0000	0.0
30 yds	885	12.1	5.8
50 yds	700	7.8	10.9
60 yds	630	5.3	14.5
65 yds	599	3.8	15.8

Pattern Test:
Three target average: 84% 40 yards. 30" circle.

As we can see by the hard ballistic data this load will run out of steam at 65 yards and thereby return less then positive performance results on geese. Smaller targets are still within the range limit of B Hevi- Steel, but geese are at its long end regarding harvesting ability.

As for more information about this very new and different product stay tuned, as I have a list of events this Fall that will include test shooting the new Hevi-Steel in shot sizes from #6 through B .17 cal on both ducks and geese.