bobeyerite
New member
What is your feeling of these newer high speed shotgun shells? They now have them going up to 1500FPS. That is one fast shot shell. But are they doing you any good? What is your experience with them?----Bob
I shoot the Federal High Brass and they move at 1500fps, but like I have stated before I'll shoot Federal ammo no matter what the price tag is. I shoot #5 or #6 loads and love them. They have all the knock down power that I want.
I am and I should've clarified that my bad....The Federal high brass I shoot are more like 1350FPS. I've found that shooting # 4's works good for upping the deadbird %.
You must be talking about the PF Federal shell? $$?
Last season I was frustrated with some cheap shells (all that I could get around here, where hunting supply is generally abysmal). Sure, it may have been a bit of a cop-out for some poor dog work and poor shooting (which I am ALSO working on for '09!), but I still found that I crippled and lost my first two birds ever with it, so I vowed never to shoot the stuff again...
I considered ordering the good Federal stuff, but it's hard to get here in Canada, and the price is quite high. I have had good luck with the hardened "diamond shot" from Kent in their "Traditional Upland" load, which has now been discontinued. They have replaced it with a fast lead product. I got together with some other guys for a big order at a good price - so we each ended up with a mixed case (4/5/6) of Kent's new high-speed lead called Fast Lead. The loads that we got are 2 3/4 moving 1 3/8 oz of hardened shot at 1475 fps with 4 1/2 dram eq. I have not shot them yet, but I am optimistic that this will be a good product for me. Price ended up being 16$ Canadian per box, but that was a special deal through a good connection. I believe that retail is about 20$ Canadian per box. Cost is not an issue for me, not because I'm rich but because our pheasant densities are quite low here in Nova Scotia, so I don't go through enough shells for it to be important (compared to coffee, gas and dog food!). Anyhow, I'll report back once I pattern them and get into the season.
The reasons that I am hopeful for them (getting back to the speed question) is that I shoot MANY more waterfowl loads in a season that I do pheasant loads. The steel that I shoot is very fast, so I figure that I can imporove my success by shooting shells of similar speed for all birds. Also, like most others, most of my misses are behind, so a bit more speed will help with that. Lastly, speed helps with a bit more range (although I'm not kidding myself here into thinking that this means that I don't have to keep working with the dog and I don't expect to be taking silly long-range sky-busting shots either!).
-Croc
UGuide, not all of us are blessed to be walking around stoney point and timber lake for all our birds!!!
The scary part for me is what this new "non toxic" fad in upland game hunting will bring...I may buy a single shot to make my $2 per shell go further if that happens