Outdoor Life - Waterfowl gun RSS

Field Test: Weatherby's New SA-459 Turkey Gun

Alex Robinson — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 16:20:41 -0400

The tom and two hens crossed a recently plowed field and disappeared into the overgrown fenceline. I sat on the other side of the fence line, about 30 yards down, waiting for a chance to fill my tag. The first hen popped out of the weedy brush, quickly followed by the second hen, and the two began to forage among the short grasses. It probably took less than a minute, though it felt like an hour, before the tom poked his head out, glanced to his right and left, and then stepped into the field.

I lined up my open sights on that spot where his neck and body met, and pulled the trigger on my Weatherby SA-459 Turkey gun. The tom hit the ground head first, wings furiously pounding the air for maybe 20 seconds.

I’d filled my Wisconsin turkey tag!

New for 2012, Weatherby’s SA-459 is a gas-operated semi-auto with a tactical look to it, thanks to the trim forend and pistol grip-style buttstock. Stock and forend are finished in Mothwing® Spring Mimicry® camouflage pattern that just about disappeared into the Wisconsin spring vegetation. The barrel is 21 ¼" long, and is tipped with a removable, extended ported choke tube (Extra Full). A mil-spec Picatinny rail, LPA-style ghost ring rear sight and blade front sight with fiber optic pin are standard, as are swivel studs fore and aft.

I had three shooting/patterning sessions with my 12-gauge shotgun before I took it to the field. I must admit, though, I was initially leery of that ghost-ring rear sight and high front blade sight. Out of the box, the setup looked awkward, like it would shoot too high, and I was concerned that maybe the barrel was too short for extended range shots.

I was flat wrong! Within a few shells, I was hitting everything I aimed at — at distances ranging from 10 to 35 yards. When I got to the actual patterning, I placed between eight to 18 pellets into the kill zone at every shot, with the average pellet count in the mid-teens. (I was firing 3” Winchester Extended Range shells loaded with #4 pellets.) The O-ring sight provides an ample rear-aiming platform, and the fiber optic pin shows up wonderfully.

I really appreciate the Weatherby’s pistol grip and bolt handle. The pistol grip helps provide steady aiming and directs a good bit of the recoil into your hand and forearm. The oversized, hourglass bolt handle makes for very easy loading and unloading. I expect this will be a real plus during colder fall turkey hunting when wearing thicker gloves.

Recoil? Very minimal with 2 ¾” loads, but you can certainly feel it with the 3” loads I settled on for the actual hunting. The kick wasn’t objectionable, and with today’s heavy-duty 3” turkey shells, there’s simply no way you are going to “design out” every bit of recoil.

There’s one problem with the SA-459: the safety button is too small, and jammed into a tight place at the rear of the trigger guard. With heavier gloves, that button will take some work to find.

All in all, this is a very fine turkey hunter. It’s nifty, accurate and light — the gun weighs 6 ¾ pounds in 12-gauge, 6 ¼ pounds in 20-gauge. Suggested retail price is $699, though it is advertised for $125 less all over the Internet.

Bloomberg Anti-Gun Commercial To Air During Super Bowl

OL Editor — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:59:23 -0500

Keep the remote handy during Sunday's Super Bowl telecast because you'll want to mute the volume when Big Nanny himself--New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg--and Boston Mayor Thomas Merino share a couch and lecture unsuspecting football fans about the evils of firearms and, by extension, the dangers posed by the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Bloomberg and Menino filmed a 30-second gun-control commercial Tuesday in New York that will air in the Northeast, not nationally, during Sunday’s big game between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.

The commercial will show the two mayors sitting on a couch, wearing Giants and Patriots jerseys over their shirts and ties, ribbing each other about New York-Boston sports rivalries, pretending to watch the game, before declaring that one thing they agree on is the need for stricter federal gun control laws.

Both mayors are founding members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which is pushing for a stronger federal background check system on firearms purchases.

With billionaire Bloomberg footing the bill from pocket change, the group had no problem purchasing air time during TV's most watched event. According to TNS Media Intelligence, 30-second commercials during the Super Bowl on CBS are selling for between $2.5 million and $2.8 million.

The lecture-mercial is already drawing criticism from divergent sources, including Boston Herald columnist Michael Graham, whose Feb. 3 column noted a disconnect between the mayors' message and reality.

"The ad will reportedly talk about gun laws and the need for the presidential candidates to address the issue," Graham wrote. "What the ad most assuredly won’t talk about is gun violence itself. Because the last thing these two big-government grannies want you to know is that gun violence is plummeting, even as gun ownership has skyrocketed."

For more, go to:

Bloomberg Appears With Boston Mayor In Super Bowl Commercial Urging Gun Control

Mike Bloomberg, Tom Menino to Star in Anti-Gun Super Bowl Ad

During Super Bowl, for 30 Seconds, 2 Mayors Will Be on Same Side

Mayor Bloomberg Has His Own Super Bowl Ad This Year

NYC, Boston mayors in Super Bowl gun-control ad

Mayors wide of mark

Anti-Gun Protestors Target Starbucks for Upholding the Second Amendment

E-mail Submission — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:01:48 -0500

A nationwide boycott of Starbucks stores and its products will be launched on Valentine's Day to eliminate "the risk of guns in public places and ultimately to bring sane gun laws to the U.S."

This boycott is being called by the National Gun Victim's Action Council (NGAC), a network of 14 million gun victims, and is targeting Starbucks because it allows guns and assault weapons to be openly carried in its stores in 43 states, and concealed and carried in its stores in 49 states.

"Starbucks has the legal right to ban guns but despite having been petitioned by thousands, asked at a shareholder meeting, and a direct appeal made to their Board, Starbucks clings to this policy that puts millions of Americans at risk every day and encourages the spread of guns being carried in public," said NGAC CEO Elliot Fineman in a Jan. 23 press release circulated by the group.

Of course, such reasoning is sheer idiocy, said Seattle Guns Rights Examiner Dave Workman in a Jan. 23 Examiner.com column.

"Starbucks’ sin is that the coffee giant caters to everybody, including legally-armed citizens, whether they carry openly or concealed," Workman wrote. "Starbucks made it plain in 2010 when the Brady Campaign, assisted locally by Washington CeaseFire, that it abides by local state laws and does not discriminate against a certain class of customers. Starbucks has the legal right to serve any customer it pleases, including someone exercising his or her right to bear arms. Fineman evidently doesn’t grasp that."

For more, go to:

Starbucks' "Pro-Gun" Policy Prompts Gun Victims' Advocate Group to Launch Nationwide Boycott on Valentine's Day 2012

More DOJ embarrassment; more Starbucks stupidity; Oly hearings re-scheduled

Call for Boycott of Starbucks on Valentine's Day Over Gun Policy

Starbucks boycott: National Gun Victim's Council boycotts Starbucks on Feb 14

Where Do Romney and Santorum Stand on the 2nd Amendment?

OL Editor — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:51:52 -0500

Since the 2012 Presidential campaign began the day after Barack Obama was elected in November 2008, we've avoided discussing Republican candidates' views on the Second Amendment here on the Gun Shots blog.

There were better uses of your time and this space, especially since some candidates -- Herb Cain, Michelle Bachmann, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul -- were never more than marginal hopefuls while others, such as Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry, peaked and paled even before the primaries began.

And there was also this: Whoever gets the GOP nod will be far friendlier to the Second Amendment than the incumbent liberal seeking a second term in the White House -- a second term in which he is expected pursue an anti-gun agenda that has been simmering on the backburner since 2009.

But, alas -- and finally -- the primary season did begin on Jan. 3 with the Iowa caucuses. If results there prove prognostic, the race for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination could shape up to be a contest between former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania (even though Santorum was recently trounced in the New Hampshire primary).

As the links below indicate, there is a great deal of chatter and contention regarding where Romney and Santorum stand on defending your Second Amendment rights.

One alarming note raised by the National Association for Gun Rights Executive Director, Dudley Brown, is that neither Romney or Santorum -- nor Gingrich, for that matter -- have returned a survey seeking answers to questions important to gun owners.

Among questions the survey asks is, as President, if the candidate would: Repeal the Brady Gun Owner Registration Scheme? Oppose the UN "Small Arms Treaty"? Call for a repeal of the Lautenberg Gun Ban and the Criminal Safezones Act?

"My experience shows me that candidates who refuse to return gun rights surveys and answer important Second Amendment questions are almost always hiding something. Hiding anti-gun political views," Brown said.

Demand that Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich respond to the survey by contacting their campaign offices in your state.

Meanwhile, in the coming weeks, and especially before the GOP's Aug. 27 National Convention, we will explore each Republican hopefuls' views on the Second Amendment in depth.

For more, go to:

Rick Santorum’s Anti-Gun History

Santorum Favors Gun Control Candidates

RICK SANTORUM ON SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS

Mitt Romney - The Second Amendment

Santorum says 11th-hour robo calls falsely claim he’s anti-gun

Mitt Romney on the Second Amendment

NEWT GINGRICH Defending Second Amendment Rights

Ron Paul Iowa Team Welcomes New ‘Gun Owners for Ron Paul

Mitt Romney Gets Owned on The Second Amendment

Gear Test: The Best New Turkey Loads

Alex Robinson — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:28:49 -0500

We tested four of today's top loads to see which one you should be using this spring. Find the results of our shootout here.

December Firearms Sales Shatter Retail Records

E-mail Submission — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:38:31 -0500

Gun sales shattered records on Black Friday and that pace continued through the holiday shopping season as more than 1.5 million instant criminal background checks for firearms purchases were conducted in December, according to the FBI.

In the six days before Christmas, gun dealers submitted nearly half-a-million names for checks on criminal records and mental health issues, with 20 percent coming on Dec. 23, according to the AP. That was the second-busiest gun-buying day in history, topped only by firearm purchases on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

“The firearms industry is one that hasn’t suffered in this economy,” Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, told CNBC. “Everyone else is hurting, but not firearms.”

With another presidential election cycle under way, Pratt said 2012 could be a replay of the last election cycle. “I think the same dynamics that we saw in 2008 will come up again.” Pratt points to the fact that gun sales increased strongly after the election of President Barack Obama in 2008, continuing throughout 2009 and into 2010. After a slight dip, sales have been picking up, notably with a record day on Black Friday, which saw the largest single day of FBI background checks.

Final tallies for all of December haven't been released, but the month's gun purchases will eclipse November. As of Dec. 28, 1,534,414 names had been sent to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, The New York Times reported in an editorial.

For the first 11 months of 2011, the FBI did a record 14.6 million checks, an increase of more than 70 percent from the 8.5 million in 2003.

Kentucky led the nation, with more than two-million background checks conducted through November; double the No. 2 gun-check state, Texas. The Bluegrass State, with a population of about 4.3 million, has been tops in background checks the past five years and has the most checks of any state since 1998 -- more than 12.6 million.

For more, go to:

Total NCIS background checks by state Nov. 1998 to Nov. 2011 (pdf)

FBI's state-by-state breakdown through November (pdf)

Firearms Sales Ring in 2012 With a Bang

Retailers surprised but pleased by record gun sales

Record gun checks, sales for Christmas

Happiness is … a warm gun for Christmas

Gun sales break records before Christmas, as FBI reports gun dealers ordered 1.5M background checks in December

FBI: Gun sales up in 2011

Guns a popular Christmas gift in Idaho

Gun sales boom in Kentucky for Christmas

December Gun Sales Break Single-Month Record

All I Want For Christmas Is A Shotgun! Record Gun Sales This Christmas

Bang! Bang! We know what you got for Christmas

Obama spurring one aspect of economy?... December gun sales set all-time record

FBI data indicates gun sales in New Mexico will reach record numbers in 2011

Lock & Load

In Smith and Wesson We Trust (and it looks like Santa does, too)

Video: Death to the Angry Birds

E-mail Submission — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:53:40 -0500

To build up a stronger online community, we've been trying here at Outdoor Life to boost our presence on Facebook. With that in mind, we bring you our first Facebook exclusive video. Click the photo, become a fan and watch this Angry Bird get smoked by a 12 gauge.

Take two cutting-edge high-speed cameras, a dozen rifles, shotguns and muzzleloaders, a truck bed of ammo, a Wal-Mart shopping spree, a 200-yard shooting range, and what do you get? The first Outdoor Life/Field & Stream high-speed video shoot.

We shot .223s, .308s, broadheads and every kind of shotgun shell imaginable at steel targets, paper targets, golf balls, tennis ball and basketballs. We shot PowerBait, glitter tubes, a sleeve of paintballs, apples, and, yes, Angry Birds.

We were the pigs. The pigs had guns. The pigs won. Sort of... As you’ll see in the video (just click the image above) the plush red Angry Bird actually held up pretty well against our volley of Black Cloud No. 2 and a home-defense slug.

This trip to the range, however, wasn’t all about shooting things we thought would look cool. No, there was some editorial intent. So for the next few weeks we’re going to show you, among other things, exactly how a compound bow works and how a muzzleloader fires in super slow motion.

We couldn’t have done any of this without the help of Vision Research. They provided two Phantom high-speed cameras, the v1610 and v711, for our three-day shoot. The $100,000 v1610 captured bullet impacts at 43,400 frames per second. (Digital video and television, for comparison, usually runs around 30 frames per second.) We captured targets exploding, muzzle flash and other fun stuff in color at 19,300 frames per second with the v711.

Now, you may be wonder why sworn enemies OL and F&S are teaming up. Well, the opportunity to use such high-end cameras was so sweet niether brand could pass it up.

Special thanks to Winchester, Federal and Winchester Ammo.

Winchester Adds New Blindside Waterfowl Loads For 2012

Alex Robinson — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:20:51 -0500

When it was launched in 2011, Winchester’s Blindside steel waterfowl loads exceeded all the ammo maker’s expectations – selling a whopping three times better than the company’s initial estimates. What sets Blindside apart is the six-sided, Hex™ Steel Shot pellets stacked inside the shells which packs 15 percent more pellets in the same space versus traditional round pellets.

So for 2012, Winchester beefs up its Blindside offerings by adding #1, #3, and #5 shot to its 12 gauge offerings in 3 ½”, 3” and 2 ¾”, and introducing the 20 gauge to the Blindside mix with 3” shells available in #2 and #5 shot.

Blindside shells are made with Winchester’s Diamond Cut Wad, which is specifically designed to maximize pattern performance of the Hex shot – it can increase the kill zone by up to 25 percent. And Winchester’s Drylok Super Steel® System helps keep your powder dry in the wettest hunting conditions.

Help Us Pick The Prize for Our Next Caption Contest!

Alex Robinson — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:33:47 -0500

So Outdoor Life is part of a cool contest operated by Crown Royal, sponsor of Field & Stream’s Hook Shots show and maker of the whiskey that comes in a purple bag. The contest is called “Pass the Crown,” and it’s a variation on the Secret Santa gift exchange anyone who’s ever worked in an office is familiar with. Are you lucky enough to have never worked in an office? Then here’s how this works:

Each day from now until Dec. 15 Crown Royal is giving away a prize to a different web site to pass along to its readers. Today is Outdoor Life’s turn, but here’s the catch. Crown’s not telling us which prize they’re giving us right away. Instead, we get a clue, embroidered on one of their famous purple bags,* and we have to guess what prize the clue refers to. Based on that guess, we then get to decide whether to keep the prize in our bag or steal one of the prizes that have already been opened by a different site. Here’s a list of the prizes that have already been opened.

This is where we need your help. Do we keep our prize, or steal one from somebody else? You’ve got until 4 PM this afternoon to weigh in. Check out our clue (below), then post your best argument for keeping the prize in our bag or for stealing a specific prize from another site in the comments section here or on our Facebook post about the contest over at facebook.com/outdoorlife. If you can convince us your argument is best, we’ll go with your suggestion. If you’re not convincing enough, we’ll make the decision ourselves.

We’ll post an update here tomorrow telling you what prize was in our bag, and whether we decided to keep it or not. Keep in mind that any of the five sites who come after us can steal our gift, so don’t get too attached to whatever we end up with!

And last, of course; how will we determine which of our readers wins the prize we end up with at the end of the contest? It’ll be a caption contest, photo and date TBD. Stay tuned!

*Crown is running this contest is to get the word out about the custom-embroidered Crown bags ($9.95), and the free personalized Crown Royal bottle labels (21 and over, only) available at CrownRoyal.com. If you’ve got a Crown-lover in your family, this would make a great gift.

Waterfowlers: Benelli Ups The Ante With New Super Black Eagle II

OL Editor — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:40:41 -0500

Apparently, Benelli isn’t satisfied with the great waterfowling shotguns it already makes, as it has just released a new shotgun custom-tuned for the hard-core waterfowler—the Benelli Super Black Eagle II (SBE II) Performance Shop Waterfowl Edition. Essentially, Benelli took its already well-established SBE II and added a number of Benelli's Performance Shop enhancements.

For example, the Waterfowl Edition comes with a set of Rob Roberts Custom Triple Threat™ chokes, to give shooters a selection of choke tubes that apply specifically to waterfowl hunting at short, medium and long-range distances. Each individual gun is also test-fired with Federal Premium's Black Cloud® shotshells.

A large bolt-cocking handle, designed for run-and-gun style shooting, affords a positive purchase whenever engaging the bolt. This combined with a longer and wider bolt release lever, makes the Waterfowl Edition easier to manipulate even when wearing bulky, cold-weather gloves.

Each Waterfowl Edition's barrel is fitted with a HI VIZ Comp front sight with a variety of colored fiber optic inserts for amazingly fast target acquisition, especially in low-light conditions. The Waterfowl Edition utilizes a paracord design survival sling, which frees up your hands for setting decoys or carrying gear. In an emergency situation, the survival sling provides over 50 feet of 550-pound paracord within seconds.

As with all SBE-II’s, the Waterfowl Edition features Benelli’s ultra-reliable Inertia Driven® operating system, which has been honed and polished. The trigger group has been worked to provide a crisper let off.

MSRP, $2,899.

5 Best Shotguns for Goose Hunting

OL Editor — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 11:00:12 -0400

Apart from sea ducks, geese are the toughest waterfowl we hunt. Even the duck-sized Richardson goose is difficult, not to mention lesser and greater Canadas. Decoying geese at 20 yards can be bagged by a good shot with any gauge, but back them off in the wind or when they are just being coy, and it takes a lot more to bring them down. The five models pictured here bring enough firepower to get the job done.

Sunstein on Hunting and Animal Rights

Brian Lynn — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:01:24 -0400

In the Gun Shots blog, John Haughey, and by proxy, Alan Clemons, does a great job outlining the danger Cass Sunstein, Obama's pick to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (for which he might be confirmed as early as today), poses to hunting and how/why hunting and firearm organizations oppose his nomination.

I thought I'd take it a step farther and provide you with the source material, straight from the horse's mouth, and some of the highlights from his University of Chicago White Paper (along with some of my own comments), entitled "The Rights of Animals: A Very Short Primer".

We can build on existing law to define a simple, minimal position in favor of animal rights: The law should prevent acts of cruelty to animals.

My 2 cents: This is what makes "smart" AR folks so dangerous. Unlike the "dumb" ones (PETA), the "smart" ones (think: HSUS) work the system and establish society's first step on a slippery slope. Pass one law or use ambiguous language in a bill upon which to build a future case for your position.

If the suffering of animals matters—and every reasonable person seems to think that it does—we should be greatly troubled by these limitations. The least controversial response would be to narrow the “enforcement gap,” by allowing private suits to be brought in cases of cruelty and neglect. Reforms might be adopted with the limited purpose of stopping conduct that is already against the law, so that the law actually means, in practice, what it says on paper. Here, then, we can find a slightly less minimal understanding of animal rights. On this view, representatives of animals should be able to bring private suits to ensure that anticruelty and related laws are actually enforced.

My 2 cents: So now you build the law upon the minimal position to "prevent cruelty to animals" and jump to allowing animals to bring personal lawsuits. 1. The ambiguousness of "cruelty" opens the door to all manner of regulation; what's pampering to one person is cruelty to another 2. In theory it's absurd, in practice it's been abused and has made a mockery of the Endangered Species List. "Representatives" can and do already bring suit on behalf of animals (see Andrew McKean's blog on wolf hunting and note the list of plaintiffs).

The very idea might seem absurd. But it is simpler and more conventional than it appears. Of course any animals would be represented by human beings, just like any other litigant who lacks ordinary (human) competence; for example, the interests of children are protected by prosecutors, and also by trustees and guardians in private litigation brought on children’s behalf.

My 2 cents: Might seem absurd? It is absurd. And dangerous. Power is being given to a radical group of people upon which judicial law will be written and common sense eroded. Comparing animals to children is also a favored tactic of AR people. I like Carl Cohen's rebuttal to this approach when he writes that the test for moral judgment "is not a test to be administered to humans one by one,"but should be applied to the capacity of members of the species in general."

We might ban hunting altogether, at least if its sole purpose is human recreation. (Should animals be hunted and killed simply because people enjoy hunting and killing them? The issue might be different if hunting and killing could be justified as having important functions, such as control of populations or protection of human beings against animal violence.)

My 2 cents:And there it is. Although posed as a hypothetical ("we might"), taken in context with his other statements and writings, it's obvious Sunstein is anti-hunting. To his second point, hunting isused to control game populations and protect human beings; take a look at the number of cougar attacks in California since lion hunting was banned for proof. Additionally, his use of the word "justified" is scary in that it suggests some type of judicial sanctioning and approval/proof of populations needing control and/or human protection; upon which hunters would run into judicial precedent written in favor of animal rights/protection. Of course, targeted game species would be represented in court by humans and the whole mess is tangled in the judicial system (per the wolf debate, et al), becoming costly, time consuming and ultimately unsustainable for hunters.

In his conclusion, Sunstein makes this statement:

There is no good reason to give public officials a monopoly on enforcement; that monopoly is a recipe for continued illegality.

My 2 cents: Sunstein is advocating that the government and our legal system is ill-equipped and unable to handle the enforcement of current laws and therefore private citizens should be able to file suit on behalf animals in order to keep them safe from harm. At this point I'm going to take the AR approach: put this in terms of humans. When George W. Bush brought about the Patriot Act after 9/11, one section of it caused an outcry and was removed (and rightly, so, in my opinion). That section charged and gave individuals certain powers of state and would promote spying upon neighbors/clients, promoted false allegations and a whole string of other complications. Now, Sunstein believes we should give similar powers to the public, and by proxy aggressive, radical groups, in the interest of animal rights? That's not just a recipe for the end of hunting, but a quagmire for society in general.

After the Lead Ban

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:26 -0400

The most dramatic press release ever dropped on outdoor writers and editors began with words to the effect that never before had news of such grave consequences been issued to sportsmen. It was the early 1970s, and various studies had indicated that ingestion of lead shot pellets was causing massive die-offs of some waterfowl species. Mounting evidence that lead poisoning was killing ducks, or that lead ingestion was lowering their resistance to fatal diseases such as avian cholera, compelled the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to announce that after a specified date, lead shot would no longer be allowed for waterfowl hunting.

Winchester Arms took immediate action and initiated an in-depth research program to determine the effectiveness of what was then considered the only viable alternative to lead shot-steel. Part of Winchester's steel shot test program involved simulating flying ducks by rigging live ducks on a wire that "flew" them past a mechanically mounted and fired shotgun loaded with steel shot. The stricken ducks were examined and X-rayed. Pertinent data such as fatality ratio was then fed into a computer.

Unfortunately, the findings fell into the hands of an otherwise uninformed public relations flack in Winchester's East Coast office, who took one look at the infant data technicians were assembling to build a computer model and issued the infamous press release.

The key word in the release was "crippling." The initial data of Winchester's live duck tests showed a high incidence of ducks being crippled or living for a substantial period of time before dying. Using Winchester's bare-bones steel shot test data, one could speculate that as many ducks would be lost to crippling as were being lost to lead poisoning, or more. Thus the "crippling effect" became a rallying cry among hunters and sportsmen's organizations, who now joined an anti-steel-shot crusade in increasing numbers.

Gun Issues
Another complaint about steel shot was that Winchester's data showed that steel shot loads expanded the chokes in their test guns and that the hard shot scored the barrel walls. This news outraged lovers of fine shotguns. To be sure, steel shot did disfigure shotgun barrels. Of course, no one mentioned that such barrels could be, or perhaps already had been, ruined by using modern lead-shot magnum loads. Another often expressed fear was that if the Feds and state game agencies got away with forcing waterfowlers to use steel shot, would they make us use steel shot for upland hunting? Or even trap or skeet? Surely it would be the end of all wing-shooting.

During the 1960s, Winchester had franchised a number of shooting clubs under its banner in order to attract newcomers to wing-shooting games. To do so it offered club members the use of Winchester-owned shotguns and cheap ammo. If you looked closely at those boxes of club ammo you'd see two interesting notations: "Super Ferro" and "Use only in club-owned guns." Ferro means the shells were loaded with iron shot. The obvious reason was because iron shot was cheaper than lead. At the Winchester Gun Clubs the iron-shot-loaded ammo went unnoticed because scores at trap and skeet were essentially the same as with lead shot. (Remember this.)

Like it or not, once it became evident that steel shot or an acceptable nontoxic substitute was to become the law, ammo companies rolled up their sleeves and began to develop workable steel-shot ammo in earnest.

Initial Problems
Basically, they faced two problems. The physical problem was finding a way to protect shotgun barrels from the harder-than-lead steel pellets. Loading techniques would also have to be developed to put the maximum weight of steel shot in a shotshell casing. Since steel is lighter than lead, an ounce and a quarter of steel shot would require more space in the shell than an equal weight of lead. But by simp reducing the thickness of the wad column, there was room for more shot, and even more space could be made by using denser propellants. Combining these advances is what allows today's ammo-makers to offer 11/4 ounces of steel shot in 23/4-inch, 12-gauge shotshells and proportionally heavier charges in 3-inch and 31/2-inch ammo and heavy 10-gauge loads.

The problem of steel shot scratching shotgun bores was solved by using thicker shot cups that cushioned the shot and acted as a barrier between the shot column and barrel wall. Damage to chokes was likewise either reduced or eliminated by using thicker shot cups, plus gunmakers were now tempering new screw-in chokes specifically for steel shot. Along the way it was discovered that steel shot patterns beautifully and that less choke is needed to produce the dense patterns that waterfowlers love.

Shot Physics 101
The ballistics answer to the steel-shot problem is founded in physics and the laws of motion. Everyone remembers the fundamentals from high school. When applied to shot pellets it goes like this: If you have two spheres of equal diameter but of different weights, and set them in motion at equal velocity, the heavier sphere will retain its velocity (call it energy if you want) better than the lighter sphere. And there you have the fundamental difference between lead and steel shot.

So let's make some real ballistics comparisons between lead, which has a specific gravity (S.G.) of 11.35 and iron (steel is an alloy of iron), which has an S.G. of 7.89. The higher the specific gravity, of course, the heavier the metal. For example, gold has an S.G. of 19.32 and would make a wonderful shot.

Let's say that we fire No. 4 lead and steel-shot pellets at a muzzle velocity of 1,300 feet per second (fps). At 40 yards the lead pellet would have a remaining velocity of 747 fps and energy of 4 foot-pound (ft.-lb.). The steel shot, however, would have a remaining velocity of 627 fps and energy of 2 ft.-lb. at 40 yards-only half as much as the lead pellet. Thus, in order to make steel shot as effective as lead we have to either fire it at a higher velocity or use bigger -heavier-steel shot. Let's suppose we fire the steel shot at 1,500 fps, which yields a 40-yard velocity of 679 fps and increases energy to 2.34 ft.-lb. This obviously isn't a great improvement, so next we try larger No. 2 steel shot fired at 1,300 fps. The 40-yard velocity is now 678 fps and energy is 3.59 ft.-lb., which is getting closer to that of lead. Finally we up the velocity of the No. 2 steel shot to 1,500 fps and what we get at 40 yards is a remaining velocity of 737 fps and energy of 4.29 ft.-lb., which is virtually identical to the figures for lead shot.

Even as the performance and knowledge of steel shot progressed tremendously beyond those early Winchester tests, some problems remained apparently unsolvable. One was the high price of steel-shot ammo. Time and again I've asked ammo company officials why today's steel-shot loads are so expensive while those old Super Ferro shells sold at Winchester Gun Clubs were so cheap. Their replies usually seem sincere but remain unconvincing.

Another impenetrable barrier to universal acceptance of steel shot is a large body of remaining doubt that steel is the ultimate solution. You need only to skim through the specific gravities of various elements to find metals as heavy as, or even heavier than, lead, and thereby the right stuff to make shot from. But alas, they are either too expensive to be practical (gold for instance) or as toxic as lead or even more so.

A couple of them, though, catch the eye. Bismuth, for instance, has an S.G. of 9.75, which is between iron and lead on the weight scale, yet it's soft enough to be a barrel-friendly shot. Another eye-catcher is tungsten, with an S.G. of 19.3, which is more than half again as heavy as lead. But both have problems.

Bismuth is rather expensive to produce and convert into shot, but that hasn't prevented wealthy sportsman-publisher Bob Petersen from bringing bismuth shotshells to market.

Tungsten, one of the hardest of all metals, would be difficult to form into shot, but it offers a fascinating alternative that has been refined and exploited by Federal Cartridge Co. Federal now grinds tungsten into a fine powder and mixes it with powdered iron or steel and then molds it into shot-size pellets that are held together by a polymer. By adjusting the ratio of the tungsten-iron blend, the pellet weight (per size) is very nearly the same as lead. With Federal's tungsten-polymer shot, the weight of lead is completely duplicated. The chart on page 20 shows how they all compare, using identical-size shot launched at equal velocities.

Bismuth is rather expensive to produce and convert into shot, but that hasn't prevented wealthy sportsman-publisher Bob Petersen from bringing bismuth shotshells to market.

Harassing the Locals

outdoorlife-editor — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 20:00:00 -0400

Amassive avianpopulation shift is taking place across this country, and I don't mean"snow birds" from the Northern states moving to sunny Florida orArizona. Growing numbers of Canada geese have taken up permanent residence intowns both large and small, eschewing their ancestral journeys north eachspring. This phenomenon has changed the face of goose hunting.

SCOUT 'EM OUT

Scouting residentgeese is as easy as getting in your vehicle and following them each morning asthey leave town. Unlike seasonal geese, residents don't change their patternmuch from day to day, though they will draw migratory birds to their flocks,constantly adding to their numbers.

After first lightthey take off, heading for feeding areas two or three miles beyond city limits.It's easy enough to follow them with binoculars; I do it from the back deck ofmy home. Geese will feed until mid-morning before heading for water. There,they'll drink and spend much of the day resting until their evening flight backto town.

FIELD AMBUSH

One of the bestparts of hunting local birds is that huge decoy spreads aren't necessary; threedozen decoys will do the job quite nicely. Setting dekes in different poseswill enhance your presentation: I use one sentry or "watch" bird forevery 8 or 10 feeders. Don't face all your decoys in one direction; live birdswould be milling about in different positions, and your dekes should be,too.

Some decoys have"motion stake" supports that allow the shells to move and turn in thebreeze, providing lifelike movement. Consider adding flagging to your bag oftricks, or even a Canada goose "flyer" decoy, set on a stake withturning wings powered by a 6-volt battery.

WET AND WILD

Water sets can bejust as deadly as field sets, and provide a second gunning opportunity later inthe day. Seek out lakes and reservoirs in city and town water systems thatallow hunting, and streams and rivers that run through public land.

Float two dozendekes off sand bars, backwater eddies or pools, out of direct current and stiffwinds. Stake the third dozen at the waterline. The open area between floatersand standers creates a natural landing strip for incoming birds. Set up in thebankside brush or bring along a layout blind.

HAVE BLIND, WILLTRAVEL

Natural coversuch as brush, timber or reeds along waterways work well, but layout fieldblinds are necessary when there is no standing cover. These large,polyester-lined bags have light aluminum frames that provide shape and supportand are camouflaged to blend with the surrounding area. They set up quickly andweigh between 10 and 20 pounds. Most layout blinds have a see-through camo faceflap that lets you watch approaching birds swing in without alarming them.

SPEAK THEIRLANGUAGE

Calling geesethat already know where they're going is far easier than trying to talk a flockof migrators out of the stratosphere. But no two geese call exactly alike, andneither do any two callers or their calls. In other words, there's no perfectway to call them in. It's best to give back to the birds what you hear comingfrom them. Use a louder, more urgent call when they're at a distance, then toneit down and decrease tempo as they come in. Pick a call that's easy to blow yetoffers several tone breaks, such as the Eastern Shore Express, the Big RiverFinal Flight, the Knight & Hale Call Kit or the Canada Hammer IIPerformance. Some calls come with a video or CD to help you sharpen yourabilities.

STAY LEGAL

Because thisspecialized type of hunting can take place near freeways and housingdevelopments, knowing the laws is extremely important. I've found the generalrule to be that no shooting of any kind can be conducted within 150 yards ofany dwelling and certainly not over any public road. (In some cases you mightbe able to set up decoys and hunt within 150 yards of a public road as long asyou shoot in the opposite direction.) These regulations vary from state tostate and town to town, so check with your local conservation officer beforeyou head out.

Guns and Loads

New high-density shells are the perfect medicine

Canada geese are big birds, so hunt them with big gunsand loads. That means fully choked 12-gauge shotguns and 3- or 3½-inch shells.Whether you chose an over/under, semi-automatic or pump makes no difference, aslong as you shoot it well.

Federal's 12-gauge Premium Ultra-Shok High Densitywaterfowl loads come in 3-inch shells (1 1/8 ounces of BBs or 1 3/8 ounces of2, 4 or BBs) and 3½ inchers (1 5/8 ounces of 2, 4 or BBs). Winchester's newSupreme Elite Xtended Range Hi-Density 3-inch 12- gauge loads pack 1 3/8 ouncesof 2, 4 or B shot. The 3½-inch loads hold 1 5/8 ounces of 2, 4 or B. Remingtonoffers 10 different Wingmaster HD 3-inch shells (from 1¼ ounces of No. 6 shotup to 1¾ ounces of BBs) and two 3½ inchers: 1¾ ounces of 2s or 4s.

Year of The Mod Shotgun

outdoorlife-editor — Wed, 31 May 2006 20:00:00 -0400

Last year wascalled "the year of the Turkish invasion" because we tested three gunsmade in Turkey, one of which, a frisky little side-by-side double, danced offwith our Editor's Choice award. This year the invasion continues, with theintroduction of a pair of Turkish-made over/unders that represent opposite endsof the price scale: one costing more than $5,000; the other, less than$500.

The big news,however, is in autoloaders, with two legendary American names going toe-to-toewith spectacular new guns. The looks and engineering of both of these shotgunsare so nontraditional that they may be regarded with disdain by thesquinty-eyed traditionalist. But we might as well get used to them becauseunder their ultra-modern exteriors is some impressive engineering that willrevolutionize the way shotguns are made and the way we shoot them.

BERETTA 3901 GAUGE: 12 GA. TRIGGER PULL: 4 LB. 13 OZ. ACTION: SEMI-AUTO

Beretta'sautoloading shotguns have one of the best-proven and most reliable gas-operatedsystems in the entire gun industry. This is one of the many reasons Beretta'sautoloaders are widely used for both hunting and the full range ofwing-shooting games.

The M3901 wetested is another addition to its line of competition shotguns, but with adifferent and worthwhile twist—it's an entry-level gun for young skeet orsporting-clays shooters that "grows" along with them. Of course thereis nothing new about guns with adjustable combs, cast and length of pull, butthe 3901 starts out with an honest small-fry stock—only 12¼-inch length ofpull—that can be lengthened a half inch at a time by inserting spacers. Thecomb can likewise be adjusted so that the young shooter has the benefits of aproperly fitting stock.

The shotgun'sgrip geometry, which has a rather horizontal profile, garnered praise from thetest team for its comfort.

FINAL SCORE: F G[VG] E

Retail: $898

Performance:***

Design: ***

Price/Value:***

800-237-3882;berettausa.com

TESTERS'COMMENTS

â¿ª Functionedreliably with all ammo tried

â¿ª A gun a youngshooter can grow into

â¿ª Trigger pullsmooth and light

â¿ª Bolt-releasebutton was a bit hard to push

KIMBER MARIASO/U GAUGE: 20 GA. TRIGGER PULL: 5 LB. 15.5 OZ. ACTION: OVER/UNDER

Like the elegantlittle side-by-side double bearing the Kimber name that won last year'sEditor's Choice award, this Turkish-made over/under features gorgeous wood,rich case coloring on the receiver and quick-detachable sidelocks that areprettier on the inside than on the outside.

The chrome-linedbores add value, and the team was impressed by the innovative screw-in choketubes that fit flush with the muzzle without the usual wrench notches.

The gun was sucha joy on the skeet field, and pointed so well in our hands, that two cases of20-gauge shells quickly disappeared. Since classic styling and high-grade woodare hallmarks of Kimber guns, they invite themselves to be judged on this basisand our sample lost points on the only so-so engraving and rather carelesscheckering, which should have been better for a gun with a price tag of morethan $5,000.

The lack of aselective trigger also disappointed our test shooters, as did occasionalmisfires with a variety of ammunition.

FINAL SCORE: F G[VG] E

Retail:$5,799

Performance:***

Design: ****

Price/Value:*

800-880-2418;kimberamerica.com

TESTERS'COMMENTS

â¿ª Lovely wood

â¿ª Trigger pullwas a bit too heavy for a light gun

â¿ª Felt recoilseems too hard

â¿ª Points well butlost points on price/value

MOSSBERG SILVERRESERVE O/U GAUGE: 12 GA. TRIGGER PULL: 6 LB. 5.5 OZ. ACTION: OVER/UNDER

The Turkishinvasion continues, with Mossberg now importing a modestly priced over/underthat, like most of the other Turkish-made shotguns we've tested, is solid andfunctional.

This is about allyou could ask for in an O/U with a street price in the $500 range, but theSilver Reserve we tested was also pretty nice looking, with some engravingenhanced by gold overlays and a hand-checkered walnut stock.

Best of allthough, it proved to be a real shooter, causing our shotgun team to suggestthat the gun would be a better bargain even at a somewhat higher price if ithad autoselect ejectors rather than a simple shell lifter. This feature wouldgo nicely with its existing barrel selector.

On the skeetfield the Mossberg performed well, with one tester noting that its muzzle-heavyprofile made it very easy to swing. About the only complaint anyone had wasregarding the sticky barrel selector, which required excessive effort tomove.

FINAL SCORE: F G[VG] E

Retail: $634

Performance:***

Design: **

Price/Value:***

203-230-5300;mossberg.com

TESTERS'COMMENTS

â¿ª Functionedbeautifully

â¿ª Screw-in chokesnice touch for price

â¿ª Wish it hadauto ejectors

â¿ª A greatover/under for the money

REMINGTONCTI-105 GAUGE: 12 GA. TRIGGER PULL: 5 LB. 6.5 OZ. ACTION: SEMI-AUTO

When Remingtonintroduces a wholly new autoloading shotgun the shooting world takes notice.Its M1100 was a milestone in autoloading development, as was the earlier M48series. You might wonder how the immensely popular M1100 could be improved on,but when you see, handle and shoot the CTi (the chemical symbols for carbon andtitanium, which play big roles in the gun's construction and lightness), yourealize that Remington has taken a bold step into a brave new world of firearmsengineering.

So what'sdifferent? In a word—everything: from the distinctive carbon-fiber shell overthe receiver and carbon-fiber vent rib to the bottom loading and ejection,recoil-reduction system, smooth "roller-bearing" sear release and racystyling. This is also the first shotgun made with a titanium receiver. There isno loading/ejection port on the receiver side. Instead, you push a shell intothe magazine via the bottom port, from where it is instantly cycled into thechamber. The system takes some getting used to, as the suddenness of theoperation makes it feel like you're putting your fingers in a mousetrap, but itworks.

FINAL SCORE: F G[VG] E

Retail:$1,332

Performance:***

Design: ***

Price/Value:***

800-243-9700;remington.com

TESTERS'COMMENTS

â¿ª Recoil is verymild

â¿ª Would beexcellent for hunting and sporting clays

â¿ª Bottom ejectionworks great

â¿ª Pointsquick

â¿ª Liked the looksa lot

OUTDOOR LIFEEditor's Choice 2006

WINCHESTER SUPERX3 GAUGE: 12 GA. TRIGGER PULL: 6 LB. 8 OZ. ACTION: SEMI-AUTO

A few months backI wrote a column about Winchester's mostly failed efforts to make and market atruly successful autoloading shotgun. For the most part, my commentary wasgloomy but I ended the piece more or less upbeat: "My guess is thatWinchester's quest for a great shotgun for the 21st century is justbeginning."

The Europeanmakers of Winchesters surely hooted and poked each other in the ribs when theyread this because they were only weeks away from unveiling an all-newautoloader—the Super X3—destined to become OUTDOOR LIFE'S Editor's Choiceshotgun for 2006! Wow, talk about a turnaround in the fortunes of Winchestershotguns, and with the pall cast by the recent closing of Winchester's NewHaven plant, it couldn't have come at a better time.

The SX3 is verymuch the latest European style. The traditional checkering has been replacedwith laser-cut grooves that form geometric swirls. And the bright red letteringon the grayed receiver might be off-putting for traditionalists (like me) whopine for the Winchester of bygone days.

But when you snapit to your shoulder you feel a gun that wants to shoot. And this one reallydoes.

FINAL SCORE: F G[VG] E

Retail: $979

Performance:****

Design: ***

Price/Value:***

800-333-3288;winchesterguns.com

TESTERS'COMMENTS

â¿ª Pointed andshot well

â¿ª I liked thisgun

â¿ª Felt great toshoulder and shoot

â¿ª Nice recoilpad

â¿ª The best testedthis year

OUTDOOR LIFEGREAT BUY 2006

REMINGTON SPR453 GAUGE: 12 GA. TRIGGER PULL: 5 LB. 4 OZ. ACTION: SEMI-AUTO

Beauty is asbeauty does, it's been said, and in the hands of our shotgun test team thisno-frills autoloader from Russia took wing and became this year's Great Buyaward winner. Last year we tested one of the first of Remington's"Spartan" imports, a plain but solid over/under that earned good marks.Remington now imports these guns under the classier-sounding ISP (InternationalSporting Products) global group.

To win thishonor, a gun must not only represent a fair dollar value but also deliverperformance beyond what one would expect from a product in its price category.Or, as one of our test shooters astutely observed, "When it comes to value,performance trumps appearance every time." Not just a warmed-over design,the SPR 453 has an up-to-date tunable gas system to operate 2¾-inch to 3½-inch12-gauge shotshells. Our sample came adjusted for heavy loads, which causedsome ejection failures with the light target loads we used on the skeet field.This could have been corrected by simply resetting the gas system, but the gunswung so smoothly, we didn't want to stop shooting.

FINAL SCORE: F G[VG] E

Retail: $405

Performance:***

Design: **

Price/Value:****

800-243-9700;remington.com

TESTERS'COMMENTS

â¿ª Shot andpointed very well

â¿ª An affordablegood start for a new hunter

â¿ª I shot this gunthe best of all

â¿ª Plain to lookat but lovely in the hands

THE RATINGS Excellent: **** Very Good: *** Good: ** Fair: *

Top 5 Pumps

outdoorlife-editor — Thu, 30 Sep 2004 20:00:00 -0400

If the genteel sport of upland hunting is the yin of wing-shooting, then waterfowl hunting is most certainly the yang. Waterfowling is not a sport for wimps; it's down-and-dirty, nasty-weather, extreme bird hunting. As tough as waterfowling is on hunters, though, it's even tougher on shotguns. Rather than being transported in a sheepskin-lined leather case, a waterfowler's shotgun is likely to ride naked in a muddy canoe. It has to keep working through mud, snow, dirt and debris that would have lesser guns running back to the gunsmith. This is why pumps are so prevalent.

The pump-action might be the most popular repeating single-barrel shotgun ever developed. Pump guns keep working when other guns fail because they have a less-complicated design that depends on the hunter to power the action rather than a complex set of ports and pistons. The pump shotgun embodies the values of blue-collar America: It's dependable, hardworking and unpretentious.

The top five pumps? That's like naming the top five supermodels. I never saw one I didn't like, but based on my personal experience, here are my picks.

WINCHESTER MODEL 12

Winchester has a long history of pump shotguns that goes back to the Model 1893. That gun was replaced by the Model 1897, which was widely used out West during the last days of the frontier and gained fame as a battle gun in the trenches of World War I. Today it's again in great demand by cowboy-action shooters. Obviously it was a great shotgun design, but from a waterfowler's perspective the version that replaced it, the Model 12, is even better.

The Winchester Model 12 was introduced in 1912 and was the company's first hammerless shotgun. Through its storied history, more than 1.9 million of these takedown shotguns have been sold, and a lot of them show up on the marshes each year.

Just as the Winchester Model 70 is often called the "Rifleman's Rifle," the Model 12 might be called the "Shotgunner's Pump Gun."

REMINGTON MODEL 870

With sales of more than 9 million, the Remington Model 870 is the most successful pump shotgun of all time. Since its introduction in 1950, the 870 has likely accounted for more roast duck on the dinner table than all other pump guns combined.

In 1950, Rudy Etchen was the first to break 100 straight in registered trap doubles with a pump gun. He used one of the first twelve 870 shotguns made and went on to repeat the feat so many times that he lost count. They called him "Mr. 870," but many also called him the best all-around shotgunner in the country. Etchen shot competition with the 870 for nearly 40 years. Any gun that can take 40 years of punishment and keep firing is tough enough for duck hunting.

BENELLI NOVA Benelli made its name with high-quality, high-priced semi-automatics. The Nova was its first venture into a pump gun and "working man's" pricing. It's a stylish gun and allows lots of hunters to afford Benelli quality. I've used the Nova for geese, ducks, turkeys, upland birds and the always-elusive orange clay pigeon. Now that's versatility.

ITHACA MODEL 37 The Ithaca Model 37 pump-action shotgun was introduced in 1937. A classic pump shotgun from a classic shotgun company, the bottom-ejecting Model 37 is for many hunters the epitome of what a pump-action should be. It has a rather distinctive feel, and generations of hunters have grown up honing their shotgun skills with one.

MOSSBERG 500 What the Model 500 lacks in looks and polish, it makes up for in affordability. A budget price has let millions of hunters buy a new gun when they thought they couldn't. I bought mine while it was frozen in ice in the bottom of a canoe—giving me a good bargaining position. I cleaned the 500 thoroughly and have shot ducks with it for 20 years.

Unleaded Alternatives How today's best waterfowl loads pattern and perform

outdoorlife-editor — Fri, 31 Oct 2003 19:00:00 -0500

After testing thousands of rounds of nontoxic waterfowl ammunition, my right shoulder looked like it had been beaten with a hammer. But the pain was worth it. By testing today's best waterfowl loads, I was able to get a clear picture of how well all of these new and popular shells perform.

I tested five types of nontoxic shot in two 12-gauge autoloading guns (Beretta's A391 3.5 Xtrema and Winchester's Super X2). I shot each load through screw-in improved-cylinder, modified and full chokes at 25 and 40 yards. After firing I counted the pellet holes inside the standard 30-inch circle at 40 yards and within a proportionally reduced circle of 8.75 inches at 25 yards. The chart below lists the percentage of shot that made it into each circle.

There was one important factor that couldn't be tested for: deadliness. Manufacturers don't use set scales to tabulate how many foot-pounds of energy each pellet size needs to be deadly on ducks or geese. There are just too many variables--pellet density, size, speed, hardness--to be accounted for. There is also no industry standard for measuring the feet-per-second (fps) speed at the muzzle of waterfowl loads. The figures listed here are from manufacturers--some of them use tables from powder companies to calculate fps; others, like Federal, use computer programs that take density, velocity and shot size into account to calculate pellet energy.

This test made it clear that when buying steel loads, velocity is everything. Steel slows down faster than heavier nontoxics and therefore is considered to be a close-range alternative in many loads. As a result, you shouldn't sacrifice speed for more ounces of shot.

Increased weight, and therefore energy retention, is, of course, why we ante up for Bismuth and Hevi-Shot and Tungsten. But two other factors weigh in for all nontoxic shot types: pellet shape (some nontoxics have deformities that compromise accuracy) and price (shells that cost two dollars apiece quickly decimate budgets). Thankfully, both of these issues have been addressed with some of this season's new offerings.

HOW THEY FARED

BISMUTH

Bismuth pellets are round and contain only a few deformaties. The pellets are relatively soft, but buffers lessen pellets smashing together on firing. Some tin has been added to Bismuth pellets to make them more malleable. This has lowered the pellets' density but increased the number of pellets in each load. For instance, Bismuth lists 83 BBs in a 1 5/8-ounce load and 155 No. 4s in a 1-ounce load, yet I counted 95 BBs and 194 No. 4s, respectively.

The two shot sizes (BB and No. 4) of Bismuth in this test patterned consistently, with between 60 and 80 percent of the shot in the circles at both 25 and 40 yards. The BB size had plenty of energy for long-range shooting, but the smaller No. 4 in this test slowed down too fast for anything beyond moderate ranges. (800-759-3333; www.bismuth-notox.com)

FEDERAL OUTDOOR LIFE EDITOR'S CHOICE 2003

Because steel pellets are round and hard, they fly true. Large pellets, like BBBs, flare less from air resistance than smaller pellets. The Classic Heavy High Velocity 3-inch, 1-ounce load of BBBs put 88 percent of the pellets in the 40-yard circle when shot in the Winchester Super X2. With a cloud of large shot like that, there's little sense in shooting 3 1/2-inch shells. According to Federal, this load's foot-pounds per pellet at 40 yards is 11.76, which is more than enough for ducks or geese.

Federal's newest T-I shot is a 3-inch shell with 1 1/8 or 1 3/8 ounces of No. 5 shot. In our test, the 1 3/8-ounce load put over 150 pellets in 40-yard patterns, but with a pellet energy of only 2.96 pounds per pellet at 40 yards, the load is better suited to shots at moderate ranges. (800-322-2342; www.federalcartridge.com)

KENT CARTRIDGE

Kent Cartridge's Impact Waterfowl loads made with Tungsten Matrix shot are 95.9 percent tungsten and other malleable materials and 4.1 percent polymer. Tungsten Matrix shot is soft enough to shoot through any shotgun that accepts modern lead loads. Matrix pellets are also round and full, with only a slight belt around the middle from the forming dies, so they fly straight. The 3-inch, 1 3/4-ounce load with No. 1 shot put 80 percent of its pellets in the circle at 40 yards when shot in the Winchester Super X2. With 7.8 foot-pounds of energy per pellet at 40 yards, they should be deadly on geese at long range. The 1 3/4-ounce load of No. 5s does the same to ducks, but because pellet energy falls to 2.85 foot-pounds of energy per pellet at 40 yards, this load should be restricted to moderate ranges. (888-311-5368; www.kentgamebore.com)

REMINGTON

Remington has continued to expand its line of Hevi-Shot, a tungsten-nickel-iron alloy that is 10 percent heavier than lead. This year Premier Hevi-Shot Nitro Magnum High Velocity Waterfowl Loads have been added in 12-gauge 3- and 3 1/2-inch shells. The 3-inch load adds 125 fps over its predecessor. Its 1 1/4-ounce load of No. 4s still retains 4.5 foot-pounds of energy per pellet at 40 yards.

Remington has vastly improved Hevi-Shot pellets since it started loading them. But 20 percent or so of the pellets were teardrop-shaped or contained voids. These pellets don't fly straight, which resulted in some poor patterns. However, the dual targets showed that most of the pellets that flew true at 25 yards continued to fly straight at 40 yards. Hevi-Shot patterned tightly with full chokes in both the Winchester and Beretta guns.

Another addition to the Remington line is Sportsman Hi-Speed Steel, which has 25 to 150 fps more velocity than regular Sportsman loads. Sportsman Steel's lower price comes from the use of plain steel pellets instead of the zinc-galvanized steel loaded in Remington's Nitro-Steel shells. (800-243-9700; www.remington.com)

WINCHESTER AMMUNITION OUTDOOR LIFE GREAT BUY 2003

The Winchester Xpert Steel loads show that the 2 3/4-inch 12-gauge is still alive in the duck blind. The Xpert 1 1/8-ounce load of No. 2s held patterns of 69 to 76 percent at 40 yards. The load's muzzle velocity of 1,300 fps runs out of steam at about 35 yards (at 40 yards they have only 3.5 foot-pounds of energy), but that's plenty of reach for decoyed ducks. At just $12.80 for a box of 25, they edged out the competition for our "Best Buy" award.

For a long reach on geese, go for speed. Winchester's Supreme High Velocity Drylok Super Steel 3 1/2-inch shell launches 1 3/8 ounces of BBs or BBB at 1,450 fps. Copper-plating helps the big pellets flow through chokes. With 72 to 79 BBs in 40-yard patterns and each pellet packing 8.61 foot-pounds of energy, a goose does not have the option of flying away. Patterns with the BBB load showed 56 pellets drilled into the 40-yard circle, each with 10.64 foot-pounds of energy. (618-258-2000; www.winchester.com)

Waterfowl Loads

MANUFACTURER/MODEL Bismuth Cartridge Bismuth

Shell length/shot load/shot size 3 inch, 1 5/8 oz., BB

Muzzle velocity 1,300 fps

Foot-lb. per pellet @ 40 yards 11.8

Cost $18.79 for 10

Total number of pellets 95 pellets

Percentage of pellets in circle WINCHESTER SUPER X2 25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL 64/69/73

Percentage of pellets in circle WINCHESTER SUPER X2 40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL 43/76/69

Percentage of pellets in circle BERETTA XTREMA 25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL 61/81/69

Percentage of pellets in circle BERETTA XTREMA 40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL 64/64/63

Pattern VG

Range E

Price/Value F

Final Rating VG

Comments Bismuth added more tin this season to make its nontoxic shot more malleable.

[MANUFACTURER/MODEL] Bismuth Cartridge Bismuth

[Shell length/shot load/shot size] 2 3/4 inch, 1 oz., No. 4

[Muzzle velocity] 1,312 fps

[Foot-lb. per pellet @ 40 yards] 2.97

[Cost] $16 for 10

[Total number of pellets] 194 pellets

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [WINCHESTER SUPER X2] [25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 46/54/81

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [WINCHESTER SUPER X2] [40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 38/58/75

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [BERETTA XTREMA] [25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 69/81/79

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [BERETTA XTREMA] [40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 56/68/73

[Pattern] VG

[Range] G

[Price/Value] F

[Final Rating] G

[Comments] A slightly changed formula means more pellets now fit into each load of Bismuth.

[MANUFACTURER/MODEL] EDITOR'S CHOICE Federal Cartridge Classic Steel HHV

[Shell length/shot load/shot size] 3 inch, 1 oz., BBB

[Muzzle velocity] 1,450 fps

[Foot-lb. per pellet @ 40 yards] 11.76

[Cost] $16.95 for 25

[Total number of pellets] 77 pellets

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [WINCHESTER SUPER X2] [25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 68/55/90

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [WINCHESTER SUPER X2] [40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 52/73/88

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [BERETTA XTREMA] [25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 84/78/92

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [BERETTA XTREMA] [40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 66/86/78

[Pattern] E

[Range] E

[Price/Value] VG

[Final Rating] VG

[Comments] A combination of price and performance took our Editor's Choice award.

[MANUFACTURER/MODEL] Federal Cartridge Premium Tungsten/Iron

[Shell length/shot load/shot size] 3 inch, 1 3/8 oz., No. 5

[Muzzle velocity] 1,300 fps

[Foot-lb. per pellet @ 40 yards] 2.96

[cost] $18.95 for 10

[Total number of pellets] 230 pellets

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [WINCHESTER SUPER X2] [25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 55/65/77

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [WINCHESTER SUPER X2] [40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 45/54/68

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [BERETTA XTREMA] [25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 69/71/77

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [BERETTA XTREMA] [40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 66/67/65

[Pattern] VG

[Range] G

[Price/Value] F

[Final Rating] G

[Comments] This is a good short-to-medium range load for decoyed ducks.

[MANUFACTURER/MODEL] Kent Cartridge Tungsten Matrix

[Shell length/shot load/shot size] 3 inch, 1 3/4 oz., No. 1

[Muzzle velocity] 1,250 fps

[Foot-lb. per pellet @ 40 yards] 7.8

[Cost] $17.26 for 10

[Total number of pellets] 133 pellets

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [WINCHESTER SUPER X2] [25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 39/52/80

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [WINCHESTER SUPER X2] [40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 43/71/80

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [BERETTA XTREMA] [25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 68/77/88

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [BERETTA XTREMA] [40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 50/59/62

[Pattern] VG

[Range] E

[Price/Value] G

[Final Rating] VG

[Comments] Tungsten Matrix retains plenty of energy downrange with larger shot sizes.

[MANUFACTURER/MODEL] Kent Cartridge Tungsten Matrix

[Shell length/shot load/shot size] 2 3/4 inch, 1 1/4 oz., No. 5

[Muzzle velocity] 1,400 fps

[Foot-lb. per pellet @ 40 yards] 2.85

[Cost] $13.56 for 10

[Total number of pellets] 197 pellets

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [WINCHESTER SUPER X2] [25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 30/42/57

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [WINCHESTER SUPER X2] [40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 25/45/49

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [BERETTA XTREMA] [25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 60/70/71

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [BERETTA XTREMA] [40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 41/46/62

[Pattern] G

[Range] G

[Price/Value] VG

[Final Rating] G

[Comments] This speedy duck load is frugally priced and packs a punch to medium ranges.

[MANUFACTURER/MODEL] Remington Sportsman Hi-Speed Steel

[Shell length/shot load/shot size] 3 1/2 inch, 1 3/8 oz., BB

[Muzzle velocity] 1,550 fps

[Foot-lb. per pellet @ 40 yards] 7.5

[Cost] $15 for 25

[Total number of pellets] 99 pellets

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [WINCHESTER SUPER X2] [25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] N/A

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [WINCHESTER SUPER X2] [40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] N/A

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [BERETTA XTREMA] [25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 82/70/79

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [BERETTA XTREMA] [40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 78/79/82

[Pattern] VG

[Range] VG

[Price/Value] E

[Final Rating] VG

[Comments] Hi-Speed steel consistently patterned well with all chokes and at both ranges.

[MANUFACTURER/MODEL] Remington Premier Hevi-Shot Nitro Magnum

[Shell length/shot load/shot size] 3 inch, 1 1/4 oz., No. 4

[Muzzle velocity] 1,450 fps

[Foot-lb. per pellet @ 40 yards] 5.13

[Cost] $19 for 10

[Total number of pellets] 158 pellets

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [WINCHESTER SUPER X2] [25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 13/27/61

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [WINCHESTER SUPER X2] [40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 30/24/50

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [BERETTA XTREMA] [25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 35/47/65

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [BERETTA XTREMA] [40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 38/49/62

[Pattern] F

[Range] E

[Price/Value] G

[Final Rating] VG

[Comments] Hevi-Shot patterned fairly, but has amazing energy retention at long range.

[MANUFACTURER/MODEL] GREAT BUY Winchester Xpert Steel Loads

[Shell length/shot load/shot size] 2 3/4 inch, 1 1/8 oz., No. 2

[Muzzle velocity] 1,300 fps

[Foot-lb. per pellet @ 40 yards] 3.5

[Cost] $12.80 for 25

[Total number of pellets] 141 pellets

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [WINCHESTER SUPER X2] [25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 44/52/74

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [WINCHESTER SUPER X2] [40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 39/60/69

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [BERETTA XTREMA] [25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 64/79/84

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [BERETTA XTREMA] [40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 69/70/76

[Pattern] VG

[Range] VG

[Price/Value] E

[Final Rating] VG

[Comments] Winchester's Xpert Steel Loads are a deal worth checking out.

[MANUFACTURER/MODEL] Winchester Supreme High Velocity Drylok Super Steel

[Shell length/shot load/shot size] 3 1/2 inch, 1 3/8 oz., BB

[Muzzle velocity] 1,450 fps

[Foot-lb. per pellet @ 40 yards] 8

[Cost] $28.15 for 25

[Total number of pellets] 79 pellets

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [WINCHESTER SUPER X2] [25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] N/A

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [WINCHESTER SUPER X2] [40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] N/A

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [BERETTA XTREMA] [25 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 59/63/73

[Percentage of pellets in circle] [BERETTA XTREMA] [40 YARDS I/C / MOD. / FULL] 58/70/80

[Pattern] VG

[Range] VG

[Price/Value] G

[Final Rating] VG

[Comments] This speedy steel load is a smart money-saving choice for geese.

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