My experience in the US with steel shot has been on waterfowl. Steel doesn't deform like lead so it patterns tighter in less restrictive chokes. Speed is your friend with steel. The commercial loads over here go for payload over speed, which is backwards thinking for steel. I'd recommend reloading, but idk what that looks like there. But Ballistic Products has load data for 1oz loads in a 3" 12ga that'll go 1600+fps. That has been able to kill a goose at 50 yards with steel #1s. So up shot size or speed for penetration

as you said it would be nice to see the results with a different choke cheers and keep the films coming pete

You really should try steel with tighter chokes, as steel does not always perform best with skeet, in fact in my experience it performs the same as other materials, with tighter chokes giving tighter patterns. The eley 32g 3's are in fact 4's. Eley have re-labelled their latest production batch to address this. Gamebore dark storm 32g 3's are not a standard steel cartridge - the 3's exceed CIP max

I've been using steel a couple of years now and like it , mostly Eley eco for my 20 bore. I usually use imp cyl in my 12 bore F3 for steel. I've also used Gamebore Super Steel and Bioammo for clay shooting as well.

How times have changed, don't shoot anymore because of health issues. At the age of fifteen I could walk through the village with my camo jacket on, cartridge belt around my waist and shotgun broke over my arm walking too my permissions! Try that today. My dad will be turning in his grave at the thought of eco cartridges. No I'm not ancient, sixty seven. Sorry for waffling on. Always look forward to your videos. Cheers.

On one of my local clay shoots, part of which is over marshland and a river, I have been using Gamebore Super Steel 7.5 (plastic wad) for about three years. When I am on song, so to speak, I find that these kill as well as lead. I do however use Improved Cylinder and Modified, finding Skeet too open. I do not shoot at living targets though, so cannot vouch for the killing power. When I show my companions that I am using steel, they are genuinely amazed!

Always love your videos. I’m not sure on the advice of skeet (assume approximately 005” constriction) for the ranges you’re looking at. Based on old world thinking, I could see someone recommending stepping down a couple of chokes sizes from what your use too when using lead. From personal experience, having used soft-iron shot for several decades, start with a light modified (ie. 0.015” Constriction choke and go from up or down from there. Personally, I think you’ll find the Light Modified will closely replicate the patterning performance of your current chokes and ammunition performance.👍

Great vid, I have often thought of testing this. Would be interesting to see how a tighter choke grouped compared to the skeet. I would like to know how digweed was breaking those clays at 130 yards. I think I could stand a clay up at that distance and wouldn’t touch it. I wonder what that pattern test looks like at 50yds.

So far I've only tried the Ely ecowad in 5 shot when crow shooting and wasn't impressed swapped back to Clear Pigeon and normal service resumed.👍👍

Great stuff, ive started using gamebore super steel on clays and find them to be great.

Great video on testing steel shot. for me the best pellet out there when we have to shoot non toxic its TSS no9s I started loading my own shell last year and its out of this world when it comes to penetration and pattern. I shot 20gram in my 28 bore and the patterns out to 40m are fantastic i have an average of 200 pellets in a 30" dia circle. If you compare my lead shell no5s 21gram which has 165 pellets my average pattern at 40m was 75 pellets so you can see that TSS gives me an extra 125 pellets. Or a 60% increase in pattern. so this year im just using TSS. Im hoping to get some vids out there Regards Alan Robinson

Hi mate great video very interesting would like to see it through a tighter choke same distance maybe a half choke👍🏼

In belgium we shoot with steel and we use 1/4 and 1/2 chokes for hunting.

i drove 5 hours to go down to Coombe farm earlier on in the year! great shop

Good video as always. I would like to see No. 3 super steel through quarter choke shot alongside No. 5 lead through three quarter choke at 40 and 50 yards, and a penetration comparison.

newbie here. Isnt 3 shot always "high performance", I thought you were shooing size 3 shot? thanks

I'd be putting Modified ( haven't got 3/8 choke yet) in the top barrel and try that for 50 yard shots. Great video BTW!

Nice to see someone doing it right pattan cards very good and 40 yards is about right well done young man

Would’ve been nice to shoot the lead ones as comparison, just a thought

I use hull 27g 7s super fast steel, modified choke.. Pigeon decoing brilliant killing cartridge even at 50 yards

Is your gun proofed for HP steel with the Fleur de Lys logo?

Excelentes lances de cazerias amigos buenos cartuchos

You should try shooting them through a 1/2 choke, much tighter pattern and much more even. I've been shooting steel for the last 6 years and I really like it, I haven't noticed a lack in knock down power or range, I've found the hull steel game extra 28grm 4s to be the best all rounded for me and the hull solway steel 36grm 1s for the geese! 👌 I've really been enjoying your videos, keep them coming! 😁👍

Hi Rob, marcus from NL again , a pity that you did not receive my first reaction on your video. To cut a long story short, we, here in the NL we have a very long history in using leadshot alternatives , in 1993 it was compulsary to use a lead alternative for all our game shooting, that is 30 years ago, so you can imagine that it is no use for you all in the uk to invent the wheel again, over these last 30 years me and some of my friends have tried all sorts of combinations with differt brands , different choke combination etc etc. And although it sounds not possible , as steel is 30 percent lighter than lead , i can assurre you that steel is just as good as lead at all distances, as you can imagine it is not possible to prove this in this reaction to your video, so for a start i can recomend a steel cartridge from gamebore super steel HV nr 5 1400 ft per second, it is with a plastic wad , no biowad i know but it is a start for you and your followers to try this cartridge first, and see what they think of it, use it with half choke both barrels, in a gun with inside barrel diameter of 18.6 or 18.7 , older guns which have 18.4 inside dia you can you can use quarter choke , this cartridge kills up to 40 yards high and 60 yards wide no problem, with excelent pentration , and is still very soft to the shoulder. If you want more info on this subject i can send you a much bigger mail with all the info you want , but i will send it through my computer to your e mail adress, please let me know if you want to receive more info, okay ? Bye for now Marcus

It would be fun to see, how the cartridges performed in af 1/2 choke. 1/2 choke is the maximum constriction advised for steel - at least here in Denmark.

Imagine if that was a jackdaw or a partridge. Not many pellets hitting them at the longer yards. Great vid as always

Thanks for the video, i think we need more straight forward no nonsense testing like this now steel is becoming more prevalent. How about some more testing with imp/cyl or mod chokes with various shot sizes? just a thought. Well done.👍

Thanks for this.Personally think you are right on the money as far as performance goes within the parameters of recommended ballistics.The patterns show a good grouping for the choke used which with lead would be a forgone conclusion.in terms of a clean kill.Chokes may marginally increase the velocity but not enough to be significant shooting quality birds consistently beyond 40yds with reasonable loads.

Morning rob, more additionel info about the gamebore cartridge i mentioned in yesterday comment. Please look on fields sport channel andy crow shooting pigeons with steel on test: Gamebore steel . As this video is 8 years old they have changed the cardboard box and the print on the cartidge it self over the years but it is the same cartridge i mentioned yesterday, although he says in the video he would not like to use them all the time he shoots 42 pigeons with 47 shots , an average most people can only dream of

What length chamber does your blaser have?

Shoot the same pattern plates with lead so you can see the difference maybe?

We found that a bit of choke helps steel in the field to deliver that much needed punch especially on wildfowl. USA sell plenty of after market chokes that can do even more with steel than standard factory chokes. The biggest factor is shooter competency. Too much faffing about killing at 50-60 yards when we need to be consistent at half that distance!

I’ll save you some time Steel Suck’s in a 12ga you loose at least 10 yards range ! Been shooting it for Waterfowl for over 35 years and still pheasant hunt with lead in the USA. For Waterfowl I use Light Mod most of the time for Decoying Ducks. Anyone who says Steel works as Good as Lead does not know what they are talking about !

First, lead has been banned in The Netherlands since 1996. Second, most use ¼ and 1/2 choke in bottom and upper barrel respectively hunting without any problem using steel. On the range I use 3/8 in both barrels for sporting/parcours and skeet in both for skeet (obviously…).

Keep those patterns and when and keep them in the shop and when people ask they can see it for them selfs

Hi Rob, At 4:42 and 7:40, you mention that the cartridges you're shooting are standard steel. Others have mentioned/asked in the comments here, but any steel cartridge with shot size 3 is classed as high performance. I assume your F3 is superior proofed for high performance steel, but just wanted to say that other folks watching this might go and shoot shot size 3 (thinking they are standard steel) in a non-steel proofed gun and end up with ring bulges?

Another argument for the use of a "nice" semiautomatic. Load two HP steel. Job done. I'm never going to buy off on an "etiquette" argument or safety argument. You can be just as unsafe with a break action as an auto. I'm quite surprised by the patterns with skeet out to 50 yards. Thanks for sharing.

The Eley is very good and the gamebore but I don’t like using the Hull ones are the hydro wads don’t degrade for decades so I’m led to believe

Quater choke propably whould have done the job id say skeet is abit open

I have no trouble with steel, shot hundreds of geese and ducks and never thought lead would have benefitted. The issue I’ve been having is the new wadding. Got some dark storms with the quad core bio wad or whatever it’s called and the mess they left my barrels in was disgusting. I had to put a few rounds of lead through because wire brushing simply wasn’t removing the residue

Don't know why you did not use imp cyl for the 50yd shots-or even the others- as when we have GOT to use non toxic shot not many game shooters are going to get their expensive guns bored to this extreme.

You should have used the IC choke, it works perfect for steel. I used SKT & IC with steel shot for skeet and sporting, the IC choke is MUCH better.

Hi rob, marcus here from the netherlands, i have made a comment on this video last week, but i can not find it with the other reactions from other vieuwers, nor your comment of what i had to say about this issue , did you receive this comment of mine or have i done something wrong in sending it to you, if you have not received i will send you a new one , bye for now

Good video boyo is worth mentioning a pattern plate will only portray a 2 dimensional pattern when the reality is it’s more or a cloud. But time well spent

No one shoots skeet In Denmark while hunting. And we have only been allowed to hunt with steel for many years. No problems what so ever. Time to move on to the future you Brits..😂

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