Thread: Whats your go to duck load

From my small amount of shooting I found the smaller shot sizes in steel punch through better some of the bigger pellets bind up in the feathers punching them out of the sky but not killing them

speed matters with steel...once load got above 1400fps our kill rates went up by huge amount...1500fps and its good stuff..... I remember telling dog off for tearing up ducks,then shot a few without dog there,and hello hello hello...whats this then??? same tear marks across the birds where a pellet has scorched its way across bird just under skin tearing path way...just like a naughty dog LOL.....sorry Buttons it wasnt you at all.

2 3/4 " #4 shot 35gms deadly

Originally Posted by Nathan F

2 3/4 " #4 shot 35gms deadly

That's what we use for 1st shot, then 3" #3 shot 36gm for next two. We can only use 3 shots here, and where I shoot is a large lagoon, so some shots get out a bit. Prefer Falcon (NZ ammo), but this year have B&P 'cos Falcon was not available in what we wanted.
Eastern F&G have kept limit low at 6 per day (+ 2 spoonies - which we usually let go). We may be chasing pheasants early and surfcasting for snapper if it has been a good breeding season as they say!

Originally Posted by country cuts

From my small amount of shooting I found the smaller shot sizes in steel punch through better some of the bigger pellets bind up in the feathers punching them out of the sky but not killing them

Interesting observation, I used some 32gr 4's a few times and they seemed to kill really well compared to my usual 35gr 3's. Could have been my shooting though.

B&P 2 3/4 32g #4s or falcon ultrasteel 2 3/4 35g #5s
Pattern density like some have said is arguably one of the most important things, if you don't have a good pattern you will get misses regardless of how good you are.

Originally Posted by Puddleduk

Interesting observation, I used some 32gr 4's a few times and they seemed to kill really well compared to my usual 35gr 3's. Could have been my shooting though.

I found it very interesting..as find big pellets go right through birds.

Always pattern my ammo with my range of chokes. And when we are talking shot size there is US and Euro sizes, gets a bit confusing but as said pattern density is the one.

Originally Posted by Puddleduk

Always pattern my ammo with my range of chokes. And when we are talking shot size there is US and Euro sizes, gets a bit confusing but as said pattern density is the one.

I have seen a few guys running 7s and 8s in steel for pond shooting.

It makes a lot of sense plus you have significantly reduced recoil which is never a bad thing

Originally Posted by country cuts

From my small amount of shooting I found the smaller shot sizes in steel punch through better some of the bigger pellets bind up in the feathers punching them out of the sky but not killing them

Several tests have been done on this (they are online somewhere), which showed that bigger pellets penetrate further than smaller ones in ballistic gel. Sorta makes sense around retained energy of the heavier shot.

Running Falcon 2 3/4” 35gram #3 shot this year (ultra steel).

1oz1/4 of lead that always worked

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