Federal High Impact Shot

The elimination of lead shot for migratory bird hunting in Canada may have contributed to solving one problem but has functionally created another. The very nature of lead shot was that it’s sectional density and the foot pounds of energy which  it delivered made it infinitely more lethal that the inexpensive steel shot that quickly hit the market to replace it. The relatively poor quality of early steel shot coupled with the hunters inexperienced in shooting steel contributed to increased numbers of crippled birds in the early days of the non-toxic shot legislation.

Much has changed since then and thankfully new premium ammunition is now available at more affordable prices that is faster and more lethal that it’s predecessor. Still steel shot cuts through a bird similar to how an arrow slices through meat.  Contemporary steel shot different with loads leaving the front end of your muzzle at up to 1500 FPS different than the nay sayers and lead die harders would suggest,  has tremendous stopping power but needs to be handled and shot differently than the traditional lead.

Having said that ammunition manufacturers have not been complacent and shot is now evolving that will bring waterfowlers’ back to the good old days of lead shot.  Ultra Shok, Heavy Shot Tungsten-iron, Bismuth and a host of other non-toxic compounds achieve a lot of the benefits and characteristics of lead shot without the environmental concerns.  It is recommended that you use the same choke configurations that you would use when shooting steel shot, however different than steel where you normally go up a size or two, with heavy shot composites you can use the same shot size that you would select for lead. 

This means that you will no longer have to second guess those borderline shots and the higher pellet density will mean more birds in the freezer the next time to you head out to the marsh.