Thread: Speed kills?

I patterned a Browning gold fusion.

Just for curiosity I compared the paddock load for lead to water load for steel.

Falcon sp36 4s for lead over land and falcon ultra steel 35gr 3's

At 40y with a modified choke. The steel albeit being one shot size bigger had holes all through the pattern. The lead for paddock shooting however had no such issues and patterned beautifully.

The steel patterned a bit higher POI. The lead was softer recoil and It didn't recoil as much despite being 1gram heavier.
It was a comparison of sort but I've heard that there's no advantage to steel if it's going beyond a certain fps for Killing power ?(if someone could clarify that ).


My go to steel loading is falcon ultra steel 4s. They seem to work really well. I'd be keen to try some soft steel at some stage if anyone has insight to soft steel loads??

2 3/4” #3 shot for me these days. Don’t bother with anything bigger. When I miss it’s because I missed or they were too far.

I have kind of settled on Eley VIP Hyperspeed 31g #4 for pond shooting. 1620 fps apparently.