Pennsylvania Game News - March 2011 - 63

closest in performance to lead shot. While we originally took the bismuth out of shotgun shells to use in our muzzleloaders, that is no longer necessary. The heavier than lead (one more proton) bismuth is now available in bulk for handloaders in convenient 7-pound containers. For information on where you can get this shot, contact the only U.S. manufacturer at bismuth-notox.com. Tungsten shot is extremely hard and requires a special, thicker type of plastic wadding. Besides the fact that it penetrates through a duck or goose without imparting the same energy as bismuth, it is difficult for muzzleloaders to use effectively. Tungsten blends such as Hevi-Shot, however, are generating a lot of attention in the field. Before you try it in your muzzleloading shotgun, check for safe loading information and plastic protecting shot cups with Hodgdon (hodgdon.com,) Ballistic Products (ballistpro@aol.com) or Precision Reloading. Practicing on clay bird targets, as well as stationary pattern papers, will teach the proper leads with all types of nontoxic shot. The lead distance with each type of nontoxic shot is different. Don’t expect steel or tungsten blends to shoot the same as lead. Patterning? Shot density? Apparently the Shawnee, Sioux, Crow and other Native American tribes didn’t worry about such things. These original Americans just placed a patched ball over the powder, followed by a bunch of birdshot, and the buck and ball load was expected to take care of whatever got in front of it. Unfortunately, today’s hunting regulations don’t allow for buck and ball loads, so hunters need to get serious about creating as tight a pattern as possible with muzzleloading shotguns. The proof of proficiency is when the feathers fly and the bird drops. Accomplishing that Fun Game answer: S U G A R.
MARCH 2011

task with a muzzleloader is just adding one more factor to the mix — fun. The art and science of “smokin a gobbler” is an advanced course in the maturation of turkey hunters. It demands more attention to details, but it returns this investment of time by putting the thrill back in the sport of making meat the old-fashioned way. Shotguns and smoothbore muskets have offered black powder hunters a real challenge. Using the same techniques as rifle hunters, a black powder or Pyrodex train of powder, wad, shot and over-shot card, a muzzleloading scattergun can offer a new thrill in hunting not only geese and turkeys, but also pheasants and other small game. Muzzleloading shotguns used to have to be cylinder bored to get the wads and cards down the barrel. This was why many old shotguns fell into disuse when breechloaders were invented. The muzzleloaders couldn’t have chokes, unless they had heavy steel barrels that could have metal removed in a process known as jug choking. Today’s muzzleloading shotguns are superior in that many have screw-in chokes. This allows the constriction chokes to be removed for loading, and then replaced to give pattern performance equal to modern effective chokes. The type of choke is determined by its ability to throw approximately 70 percent of the shot into a 30-inch circle at 40 yards. Shotgun loads are heavy, ranging from an ounce (437.5 grains) to two ounces (875 grains) of lead or steel. With that much mass in front of your powder charge, be absolutely certain to use the right granule size of powder, FFg black powder or RS Pyrodex. Never load more than the manufacturer’s safe maximum. Those thin shotgun barrels are not designed to be overloaded. Besides, fewer than six pellet hits are usually lethal on any game bird, and you have 132 pellets of No. 4s in a 1-ounce load. So shoot straight and the shotgun will do the rest.
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http://www.bismuth-notox.com http://www.hodgdon.com

Pennsylvania Game News - March 2011

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