Steel Shot

With the next few days looking to be a complete blow out i decided to take some time and contemplate what duck load i liked the best.  The first load i tried last year was the Black Cloud by the good people at Federal.  I shot my first few ducks with the Cloud, and it tore birds up.  Then i tried the Kent Fasteel.  This ammo did the job and was very affordable, but it lacked the extra punch i was looking for.  The Winchester Expert was flat out bad as i had BB sized pellets bouncing off Old squaw at 30 yards.  This current year i tried the new Remington Hypersonic #1's.  I had high hopes for this stuff with 1700FPS.  I was disappointed in it because i shot a Buffle Head  on Thanks Giving morning head on, and it needed a follow up shot, and another.  The first shot put the bird on the water with authority, but it did not do the job it needed too at 34 yards via my range finder.  Fast or not its still steel shot and should be treated as such.  I have also shot some of the Hevi-Shot loads and i have to say i really like them.  The difference is night and day when i comes to impact, and hit birds seldom go far.  The down side is that it is really expensive.  At $2.10-3.50 a shot prepare to sell the farm.  I was given Hevi-shot duck loads in #6 and another box in #2's   The 6's destroyed Birds, and the #2'  were a little over kill. 

      In conclusion i am going to stick with the Black Cloud for now.  It is affordable, patterns well, and hits hard, really hard.  Maybe next year i will cross over and buy a case of the Hevi-Shot duck loads.