quail steel

Toad

Toad

Active member
Anybody pursue quail in areas that are no-tox only? What are you using for shells?

I'm a 1-gun hunter, and it happens to be a 12 ga. Yeah, yeah, I know, that is already a lot of gun for a quail. Plus you add in a waterfowl load on top of that, and chasing quail with this rig seems pretty obnoxious. :confused:

The smallest shot I could buy by the box from Cabelas is 1-1/8oz of #6 Kent fasteel, 1550 fps, in a 3" shell! I went ahead and bought a box so I would have something to use, but damn, that seems like some ridiculous overkill. I mean, that's a lot of large pellets, and I imagine it patterns pretty tight...

Please recommend a product and a supplier if you know of a better alternative available by the box. I LOVE eating quail, and the idea of blowing one up makes me sick to my stomach. Thanks.
:cheers:
 
I have shot #7's through cylinder choke with success for quail. I have also (when I was in high school) shot a quail with steel 3.5" BBs and a modified choke, at quite close range. It was more of a reaction shot to the flush than anything else. We were walking out of our goose decoys in cut milo. The bird was not salvageable.
 
Calamari is right on the money !!! , I have used Kent's upland steel in 2-3/4 20 ga 5, 6,7 's

They have a nice load in 2 3/4 12 ga as well 7 shot at normal quail hunting distances just fine . Shoot between and 7/8 ounce to 1 1/8 ounce plenty of shot to fill the pattern .
 
Thanks. I'll pattern the ones I got from Cabelas too and see what's a good choke/distance.
 
f.sanchez said:
I don't want to use STEEL for ANYTHING hunting related
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All right! Good to know you don't WANT to use steel, however, you're faced with three choices in a lot of bird hunting circumstances and in Calif. soon to be all shooting circumstances involving living things. Use steel, use other non-toxic shot at $2/shell on up, or get cited. So what's it going to be?
 
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f.sanchez said:
I don't want to use STEEL for ANYTHING hunting related
Click to expand...

By the way Hevi metal shells are 50% steel shot so...

The HEVI-Metal? shotshell uses large steel shot and ballistically equivalent high-density pellets made from our own patented tungsten alloys.
 
I like the high density stuff for waterfowl, and I would try it for pheasants if I was required to use non-toxic shot. But I'm thinking tungsten is totally unnecessary for pointed quail.

I just hope the loads I bought will keep the quail nice for eating, and not blast them up too bad. It's always been easy to find very light 12ga loads in lead, but steel, not so much. :eek:
 
Toad said:
I like the high density stuff for waterfowl,
Click to expand...
Tungsten is poisonous in certain circumstances so you need to be aware of the risk. Swallowing pellets would seem to be an issue or perhaps eating meat that had pellets in it that had been stored for some time. It's not clear.

Chronic tungsten poisoning
...Tungsten was introduced in America as an environmentally-friendly alternative to lead in the manufacture of bullets for the military. In certain circumstances - eg, low pH, low oxygen concentration, the presence of iron - it can dissolve. There is a potential for leakage into soil and drinking water. Animal research suggests that long-term exposure can be carcinogenic but more research is needed to determine whether this is relevant to humans.[2]
The long-term exposure risk of embedded shrapnel containing tungsten is a cause for concern.[1]
There is some evidence that some forms of tungsten may be more toxic than others.[8]
A large American survey found that individuals with higher urinary tungsten concentrations had double the odds of reported stroke. It is hypothesised that the pathological pathway resulting from tungsten exposure may involve oxidative stress.[9]

Toad said:
always been easy to find very light 12ga loads in lead, but steel, not so much. :eek:
Click to expand...
#7 steel shells seem pretty easy to get and that's about as small as you want to go in steel anyway. Man, be careful when you eat the birds though. You can't bite down on steel like you can on lead w/o damage to your teeth...says the guy with 4 crowns specifically from busting teeth on steel.
 
We also use the #7 Winchester loads with 1 1/8 oz. of shot. Rogers' Sporting Goods usually has them on sale in the fall. Get on their email list and you'll get the sale flyer. We've tried the 6's but pretty much stuck with the 7's.
 
federal makes a target/game load in steel. 6s or 7s. I try and grab a few boxes in the offseason or early in the year.
 
I just do not like steel. It is simply not nearly as effective
as other options are. That is why I prefer the Hevishot
shells
 
Very limited experience so far but I've killed two doves, two snipe, and three quail on ten shots with my 28ga throwing federal steel 7s. I'm pretty happy with that.
 
Toad said:
Anybody pursue quail in areas that are no-tox only? What are you using for shells?

I'm a 1-gun hunter, and it happens to be a 12 ga. Yeah, yeah, I know, that is already a lot of gun for a quail. Plus you add in a waterfowl load on top of that, and chasing quail with this rig seems pretty obnoxious. :confused:

The smallest shot I could buy by the box from Cabelas is 1-1/8oz of #6 Kent fasteel, 1550 fps, in a 3" shell! I went ahead and bought a box so I would have something to use, but damn, that seems like some ridiculous overkill. I mean, that's a lot of large pellets, and I imagine it patterns pretty tight...

Please recommend a product and a supplier if you know of a better alternative available by the box. I LOVE eating quail, and the idea of blowing one up makes me sick to my stomach. Thanks.
:cheers:
Click to expand...

Toad -- For 12ga quail loads, look into getting some Winchester Xpert 1 oz loads in #7 or #6 steel. For normal bobwhite shooting over dogs a #7 load will be just fine but when they are getting up a little wild and shots get longer then the #6 steel load may be better at putting them down.

Here are a few of my pattern numbers with those loads and my gun/chokes to give you an idea of the kind of performance you might get. A CYL/IC combo would be good for over pointing dog quail shooting and a SK/M combo for wild flushing birds should be good.

Pattern results from a 12-gauge Browning Citori with 28" Invector-plus barrels using Briley flush chokes (patterns average of five, 30" post-shot scribed circle, yardage taped muzzle to target, and in-shell pellet count average of five).

30 YARDS
Xpert Steel 2 3/4" 1 oz #7 steel (437 pellets) -- CYL / 231 (53%)
Xpert Steel 2 3/4" 1 oz #6 steel (306 pellets) -- CYL / 184 (60%)

Xpert Steel 2 3/4" 1 oz #7 steel (437 pellets) -- SK / 319 (73%)
Xpert Steel 2 3/4" 1 oz #6 steel (306 pellets) -- SK / 234 (76%)

Xpert Steel 2 3/4" 1 oz #7 steel (437 pellets) -- IC / 363 (83%)
Xpert Steel 2 3/4" 1 oz #6 steel (306 pellets) -- IC / 261 (85%)

40 YARDS
Xpert Steel 2 3/4" 1 oz #7 steel (437 pellets) -- LM / 278 (64%)
Xpert Steel 2 3/4" 1 oz #6 steel (306 pellets) -- LM / 220 (72%)

Xpert Steel 2 3/4" 1 oz #7 steel (437 pellets) -- M / 286 (65%)
Xpert Steel 2 3/4" 1 oz #6 steel (306 pellets) -- M / 222 (73%)

Xpert Steel 2 3/4" 1 oz #7 steel (437 pellets) -- IM / 300 (69%)
Xpert Steel 2 3/4" 1 oz #6 steel (306 pellets) -- IM / 227 (74%)

Hope this helps, good luck.
 
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f.sanchez said:
I just do not like steel. It is simply not nearly as effective
as other options are. That is why I prefer the Hevishot
shells
Click to expand...

have seen you post repeated messages on other threads about the "all great and powerful/wonderful Hevishot"
just come right out and admit in your reply posts that you represent Hevishot in some way and quit the subtle crap
 
I keep a box of Remington Nitro Steel in my bag for places where i need steel. I cant tell the difference between lead and steel when shooting quail, pheasants, or dove in the number 7's. I shoot 7's in steel and 7.5's in lead. Both Remington nitro. The steel are about $10 a box higher if I remember right.
 
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