with regard to shooting steel shot in old guns...
it is my understanding that the steel used for most shotgun barrels made prior to the mid eighties is too soft for use with steel shot. seems like the worry is that the harder steel shot will score the bore. have seen too many old guns with scored bores...have improved wads now eliminated that problem?
I'm forced to use steel for much of my upland hunting. My experience is w/loading Steel Powder, SAM1 wads, 1 oz steel, #4 shot, 11.5k, in the 1550-1600 fps range in modern shotguns. None of the recovered tapered wads had any break through or pin holes from the shot. None..and I've looked at lots of them including spent wads from factory shells. With a sensible and reduced load, I would suspect this would remove all practical risk of pin holed wads and scratched bores. So, that leaves pressure, choke constriction, forcing cones, short chambers, and possible bridging of larger shot as the only remaining enemies. All of which could be corrected by a gunsmith and proper reloading.
I bought a $300 beater LC to test out my theory. But, It turned out to be a really nice gun and I haven't had the heart to mess it up.
