Steel Shot and the alternatives to Lead

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SteelSteel shot first came into the UK many years ago and wasthen generally regarded as much less effective than lead,as it is only around 70% as dense as lead.There have been significant improvements in steelcartridges in recent years and today’s steel cartridges area significant improvement on what we remember fromtwenty years ago.Modern steel shot cartridges are actually “soft iron” and notsteel and millions of them are made and shot in the USA,Scandinavia, Denmark and throughout Europe. However,its use in these markets is generally with plastic wads ANDmany of these cartridges are loaded to a much higherspecification than can be loaded for the UK, which operatesunder current CIP regulations. Therefore, you must be verycareful when comparing the steel shot cartridges which areavailable in Denmark, the USA and elsewhere, with thosecurrently available in the UK. Unless we have regulatorychange, we cannot use these in the UK.UK Wildfowlers have been using steel shot for years andgenerally seem to get on well with them, having adaptedtheir shooting techniques. Modern steel shot cartridgesalso now have better components than were previouslyavailable, due in particular to technical advances in thepowders being used.One of the problems with steel shot is that it must beused in a shot cup to protect the barrels from directcontact, which would otherwise cause damage. Thismeans that “felt” wads are not suitable, which they arefor lead shot cartridges. In the main these shot cups aremade of plastic, but other options are becoming available,such as Gamebore’s Precision Steel with bio-wad, Eley’sPRO ECO, as well as other materials which are currentlyunder development. However, it is fair to say that we arestill a considerable way away from having available inquantity, enough high-quality non plastic cases and wads,and almost certainly and most importantly, the quantityof high-quality steel shot which is needed to make thechange on the scale required from lead to steel shot. Forthose who yearn to revert to paper cases, sadly they arenot currently suitable for steel shot loads and may neverbe. It would therefore seem to be somewhat ironic, fortoxic lead to be replaced in some instances with pollutantplastic shot cups and cases!There is now “soft iron” shot cartridges availability in theUK which are 2½”/65mm long in 12-gauge. This is a veryrecent (and very welcome) development. At the time ofwriting, these are available from Eley but we believe arealso being developed by Gamebore and BioAmmo. Thiscould be a real game changer (no pun intended!) for usersof “old” English guns with 2½” chambers, but please readmore on this below, BEFORE you rush off and use them.Whilst modern steel (soft iron) cartridges loaded to CIP(the required UK regulations) are much better than theyused to be, they are not as effective when shooting highbirds as the equivalent lead shot cartridges. There ishope that CIP may change their current rules, so thathigher performance steel shot cartridges could be madeand be legal to use in the UK. If these were similar to thesteel shot cartridges available in America or Denmark,this would be a significant improvement.Standard steel cartridges very confusingly can be 2½”(65mm) or 2¾” (70mm) and must have a shot size of3.25mm or less. Those cartridges which are on sale in theUK now, are very effective at shooting mid height birds,as may be found on the vast majority of UK Game Shoots.The sort of traditional Pheasant shown flying out ofwoodland or Partridges over hedges, are perfectly capableof being shot using this length of steel shot cartridges.To make steel shot cartridges roughly as effective aslead, the Cartridge Manufacturers have recommendedreducing the size of the shot by two sizes. Therefore, ifyou normally shoot 6 shot lead cartridges they suggestyou shoot 4 shot steel ones.However, we at William Powell are worried that thiswill lead to numerically inferior shot patterns (but willenable a more powerful strike), which will be particularlynoticeable at range. We think that there will need to befurther research (and practice) in this area and that youshould first try going down one shot size and see howyou get on, before reducing by two pellet sizes, whenusing steel over lead.We have found that even 2½” steel shot cartridges areboth noisier and have more “kick” than theirlead equivalent.4.
Please be under no illusion that steel shot cartridgesare an exact substitution for lead ones – they arenot. They are pretty good, but not as good andparticularly when using standard ones.The second type of steel shot cartridge is HighPerformance (which have a shot size larger than3.25mm), IF your gun is suitable to use these HighPerformance cartridges, you will literally have morefirepower and this will mean when using theseHigh Performance steel shot cartridges, you willbe able to shoot longer range quarry, BUT youMUST make sure your gun is suitable to use withthis type of cartridge; most guns will not be! Pleaseread on for more details of what this involves.Please also note that in our own trials, we havefound High Performance cartridges noisy and withconsiderable “kick”. We are far from convinced thatmany people would want to shoot many of theseHigh Performance cartridges on a days shooting. Youwill need awesome ear defenders (obviously fromWilliam Powell!) and preferably either a heavy gun ora “kick-easi” type recoil pad – these are very punchycartridges indeed and even if safe, completelyunsuitable to shoot through any lightweight gun.Q.A.What are the optionsfor smaller gauges?Currently steel cartridges with non-plastic cups/wadsare not readily available in the UK for 16 bore, 28 boreor .410 guns and may never be. If you want/have toshoot steel shot in these gauges, this may involveusing plastic wads. Tungsten Matrix and Bismuthcartridges may be available for the other gauges butboth alternatives will be much more expensive thanwe have been used to when shooting lead and webelieve ALL cartridges will (probably significantly)increase in price in 2022.Before you do anything, check your gun is suitable forshooting steel shot cartridges and if it is, which onesi.e. “Standard”, “High Performance” or is not suitable atall, to use with steel shot.This absolutely essential. Last year the Proof Houseswere not stating what their recommendations were forany gun proofed before 1954 being used with any steelshot cartridges. The Birmingham Proof House is nowrecommending that all such 65mm chambered gunsshould have their chambers extended to 70mm witha long forcing cone, reduce the choke cone angle andease the chokes to less than half (* please see our noteon the following page) and then rejoint and reproof forstandard steel shot. This is very specific and is in clearcontrast to what many people, including CartridgeManufacturers and Gunsmiths have all been saying.The Proof Houses are NOT recommending if you owna pre-1954 nitro proofed gun, that you shoot ANYsteel cartridges through it, and the Birmingham ProofHouse is recommending that you do so only after youhave carried out the work they have specified above.This is VERY important as to do otherwise could bevery dangerous.Before you do anything,check your gun is suitablefor shooting steel shotcartridges and if it is,which ones.Read on5.
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Page 7 and 8: The table above illustrates ‘stan
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