doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com RST 16 Gauge Bismuth

I thought the SecInt just lifted the ban on lead shot?

No, the Sec Int did not, he just stopped an expansion of that ban.

The non toxic rules in existence for waterfowl still stand.

Glad I reload my own Bismuth. For those who do the same it is this time of year which you can get lucky and find a few close out sales on shells or shot. I still watch on eBay for those seven pound bottles of bismuth shot that come up from time to time even though I have enough Bismuth shot on hand to last me for several more seasons.

Me, too. I even scored three bottles of about 6# each (bismuth) on an auction site last year. They were inspection samples, that had been pulled off the line at the old ASARCO plant. Three different shot sizes.

SRH

I'm glad I load my own Bismuth too. A few years ago I'd been noticing Bismuth shells in odd loads (like 3.5 inch 12 ga... not many vintage guns so chambered) sitting forever on a local retailer's shelves. They finally put the shells on sale at 30% off, and I offered to buy all they had for 70% off. They bit, and I've been cutting open shells and salvaging the bismuth for my own handloads ever since. I enjoy handloading, and now have enough Bismuth to last me the next 20 years for about the same cost as today's premium lead loads.

What you have there is 20ga load in 16ga shell. The thing to do is watch when places like Cabela's have Kent Bismuth on sale. I have posted some time ago when I seen it at $13.99 per 10 pack. That is for excellent 1oz load of #5s or 6# at about 1200fps not some "watered down" short cased load at insane price. The $13.99 is very good price when one considers that is what I payed for brown boxed Bismuth when it was sold by I think Winchester. That was nearly 20 years ago.

The Kent Bismuth at Cabela's is a 1300 fps load. Cabela's had it listed at 1200 fps on their web site. I was 5' behind the screens below. They do pattern well, but might be a bit spunky for a vintage gun.

One would have to examine guns on individual basis to determine if this cartridge is suitable for particular piece. What is see is basically cartridge equal to English game loads. Their velocity for cartridges of 65mm to 70mm hovers around 1350fps to 1450fps depending on shot weight. When we takes into consideration that they measure velocity at the muzzle not certain distance from the muzzle I would think velocities are about the same. Does that mean English game cartridges maybe to hot for vintage guns?

I'm confused here, where in this country is upland game being hunted with non toxic shot other than California?

They're a little light on payload for ducks, so are they marketing a very expensive shell for just California and Californians?

I would say Dr. Rev. Drew Hause has put us on notice about dangers of mercury and lead exposure in "leaded bores" topic. I don't know about you, but by mistake I rather swallow few pellets of "Pepto Bismol" instead of couple lead pellets.