Let me put provide some background here. I stopped hunting just as steel shot was introduced. Yeah, I know that was soon after the invention of gun powder... 😉😉😉 Back then steel was horrible and the conventional wisdom was "NFW!!!"
OK, fast forward to today. My varmint gun is a .410 and I live right on the water in a high eagle population area. After dropping a varmint I often "bury them at sea" or just let the stay where they dropped if I kill them far enough from the house to not worry about the stench of decay. However, I'm starting to have a guilt trip about using lead to shoot hated varmints, usually porcupines. I picked up some 3" tungsten loads back in the spring, but the price is horrid, we're talking $5.50 a round.
Today was the first day I had to fire this load at a BIG porcupine. Granted, my 1st 2 shots were from behind the critter because of the "lay of the land" and where Porky was up in the tree. I hit him both times by virtue of the jolt he made, but it still didn't fall. At least the second shot caused him to turn around so I had a clean head shot for the 3rd, fatal shot.
Needless to say, I wasn't impressed with the performance of the tungsten. Up to today it never took more than 2 shots to drop these suckers with lead, and it was rare that I had to even use a second shot, usually only when the initial shot had to be taken from a less than perfect position.
So, being the cheap SOB that I am, I'm looking to save a few bucks on non-toxic loads and the most inexpensive is steel. Therefore the following questions:
- Is steel's dropping power the same or better than tungsten? I wouldn't dare ask if it's close to lead...
- Would I be better off going to bismuth, which still costs a fortune?
- Are the current steel loads as damaging to barrels as the original offerings? Granted, my .410 is a cheapo single shot gun that I never clean so I'm not that concerned, but figured I had to ask...
- Any other wisdom you can impart?
R7
