I've posted about it here before, but I've been shooting nice shot through my old elsies with fabulous results. It patterns tighter than lead, and has a lot more oomph than steel. I'm swatting ducks with authority out to 50 yards with 7/8oz loads of #5. On the surface, a 7/8oz load might seem anemic, but when one considers it has more pellets than 1-1/4oz of steel #2, pattern density is less of an issue.
I'm not sure what insanely expensive is, but my reloads are $1.75/shell. The pressures are low, the recoil non-existent, and the results amazing.
Since switching to nice shot, I'm averaging 80-90% success on ducks. Thats less than 9 shots/limit. The cost of shells for a day of shooting is inconsequential.
