What is called, and advertised as, plated shot today is almost never really plated shot, but has a micro-thin wash of copper or nickel on it. The difference is the thickness of the coating. It is very hard to find true plated shot like we had many years ago, which truly made the shot harder. It did nothing for the hardness of the lead inside, but provided an overall hardness factor above that of the lead within, due to the hardness of the plating. That increase in hardness is nearly non-existent with the shot sold today as plated shot. It is entirely possible to have harder plain lead shot, just by addition of more antimony, or by hardening processes, than from the microscopic washing with copper or nickel.
I know some pigeon shooters who swear by RST's pigeon loads of nickel "plated" shot. I have no way of knowing if it is truly plated or just washed with nickel. Never patterned them.
SRH
