doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Magnum Superposed for dedicated waterfowler???

One of the best things I've picked up on this forum was the news a few years ago that Bismuth shells were closing down and the price was going way up. I believed that tip and called Mack's Prairie Wings in Stuttgart to place an order. They said they had plenty and the price was as advertised, so I bought a slug of'em in 12 and 16 and have been shooting them up ever since in my old tight choked guns. I have a Miroku Daly with open chokes I use as my dedicated steel shot gun. The modern high speed steel 2's seem to kill just about as well as the Bismuth for me...Geo

You don't need a "Steel Shot Special." All Parker Reproductions were designed and approved for steel shot in chokes of modified or more open.
Joe

Thanks for the opinions both for and against. It is good info. I'm familiar with Browning's stance on the subject. I'm also familiar with several Belgian A-5s that have several cases of steel shoot put through them annually with no ill effects. I am also pretty familiar with the available no-tox options. I was lucky enough to be involved in some of the early bismuth testing back when I was a lad (I grew up on the Eastern Shore). It's performance was less than stellar with fractured pellets being the norm. The better steel shells of today simply perform better than the early steel AND bismuth options. Granted most of the no-tox shells are better today including bismuth but there is a place for steel when ducks or geese are within reasonable distances. And it is less than half the price of the more popular no-tox options. The safty of the O/U in the duck blind does make a bunch of sense so that will be a discussion with my shooting mate. I appreciate the experience of the shooters on this topic.

Fergus: I shoot everything from 100-year-old doubles with bismuth and tungsten-matrix to an early Benelli SBE with steel, but my favorite compromise is my A-5 Magnum with a Hastings replacement barrel, which lets me shoot hot modern steel out of a 50-year-old classic duck gun. It's all a matter of personal preference, of course, but an O/U is the last configuration I'd pick for a close-quarters duck blind or goose pit, and I like Superposeds too much to risk battering even a Magnum with steel and the kind of recoil modern steel loads generate. I'm getting fired-up just talking about it, though. The Teal season is just around the corner! Happy hunting. TT

I've had a Magnum Super for many years now. The choke is 39 thousands on each barrel. We hunt in fields, but there is no reason I wouldn't use it in a blind of any kind. These Supers were not designed for steel shot and I use Kent TM 3" #1 shells, perfectly capable of 50yd one shot dead in the air kills. The physical properties of steel have not changed in all these years, maybe the shells are better but that can't change the fact that steel is less dense than lead or some other non-tox shot. To get clean kills on Canadas I eventually worked my way up to T shot and even with that size, shots had to be under 35 yds. I have seen way to many cripples sail away on the wind to land so far away by the time you get there with a dog, they are gone. So unless steel has changed its physical properties, I won't use it.
You can pick up a Magnum Super for around $2K so it may look like an attractive option but with opening the chokes, why bother? There are plenty of O/U's designed for steel on the market.
Me, I purchased two Rem 332's for my son and myself to use Hevi-Shot with. Each cost me $1300USD, perform very well and handle any non-Toxic load.-Dick