Ammo

Waterfowl Ammo: Facts, Fiction and Opinion.

The following is a combination of facts and my opinion on non-toxic shotgun waterfowl ammo.

My opinion is based on over 35 years as a waterfowl hunting guide and the facts are based on facts.

I can tell you up front that some people will disagree with my opinion, and some will disagree with the 

facts.

In past years a goose gun typically had a 36” barrel necked down to a full choke and could kill a goose 

at 100 yards, using a lead load. The plan was designed to hold a tight pattern for a long distance and 

that the lead had the energy to kill the bird. (A sabot shotgun slug can kill a deer out to 200 yards)

It was discovered that Eagles would eat the dead or crippled goose and die of lead poisoning. That 

resulted in lead shot being banned. The result was more Eagles, eating more ducks. That was good 

news for the Eagles, not so much for the ducks. It’s hard to get ahead when you are a duck.

Steel shot was the only option at the time, so 100 yards shots were no longer possible because steel 

didn’t have the energy at that distance, and steel couldn’t be choked. 10 gauge and 3 ½” 12 gauge 

became popular. That helped, but steel still didn’t have the energy and still couldn’t be choked. 

Gun manufacturers started including steel chokes with their guns. Those chokes are made of hardened 

steel so as not to wear out the barrel. Choke manufacturers started making chokes that they claimed 

could compress the steel to get a tighter pattern, they can’t. The steel pellets are enclosed in a plastic 

wad within the shell. If you try to compress the pellets, it forces them into the plastic, when or if they 

come out is anyone’s guess. Lead can be compressed because it’s a soft metal, it has more energy 

because it’s a heavy metal. Some ammo manufacturers are putting soft fillers in their shells to give the 

steel more room to get through a tighter choke. The soft fillers enable a tight choke to press the shot 

into it, giving a tighter pattern. Personally, I think it would be better to fill that space with pellets to fill 

out a wider pattern.

Let’s move on. Tungsten: heavy, hard, good penetration, can’t be compressed. Bismuth: heavy, soft, 

can turn into powder on impact (must be coated), can be choked. Steel: least expensive, comparatively 

light, can’t be compressed and has been killing birds for years. Ammo manufacturers have started 

combining different size shot in the same shell, Great idea!

The next step is patterning your gun. You can find patterning target sheets on-line at “foldemgear”, or 

many sporting goods stores. They make one with a life size picture of a duck. It has the vital areas, or 

kill zone highlighted. The outline of the duck would be of a passing shot and should include the head as 

part of the kill zone. To pattern your gun, you need to put it in a stable position. A gun rest is best, but a 

pillow or beanbag can work. Carefully line up the sites, hold the gun tight to your shoulder and gently 

pull the trigger. Use the ammo that you use when hunting and try different chokes until you reach your 

goal. I recommend starting with the most open choke and going from there. I also recommend attaching 

the target to a 4x8 sheet of 1/4’ plywood. Paper is much easier to penetrate than a duck’s feathers and 

skin. Check to see what effect your shot has on the plywood.

After you have decided on the best pattern, you need to imagine yourself in a duck blind. You see a 

duck coming into your spread, you stand up and shoulder your gun, the bird is traveling at 80mph. not 

to worry that was a Merganser, you probably didn’t want him anyway. The next one comes in at 60mph, 

that was a Mallard. Are you still sure that you want a tight pattern? You can wait for it to land, but then 

the kill zone is about the size of a quarter. Other than the head on a diver or sea duck, everything else 

that is important is underwater. You may want to consider taking advantage of a shotguns ability to 

cover a considerably wider area than a rifle. You aim a rifle, you point a shotgun. As one of the local 

guides told his clients “you need to shoot where he’s going, not where he’s been”. The biggest problem 

that I’ve seen with shooters that don’t kill the bird that they shot at isn’t the ammo’s fault, it’s that they 

missed the bird. In my opinion, many of the shooters that are buying super-duper long ranger anti-

aircraft chokes should instead be looking for a wider, more forgiving pattern and fill it with shot that 

can kill the bird at 40 yards, 20 to 30 yards is more realistic until you are consistently killing the birds 

that you aim at. Some ammo manufacturers are putting flaps on the wads so the pellets and the wad 

will separate as soon as possible after they leave the barrel, this will open the pattern, and that’s what 

most shooters need.

Something else to consider when patterning your gun. All those pellets are not arriving at the target at 

the same time. The distance between when the first pellet arrives on target and when the last one 

arrives, I call the “trail”. Extending the trail can make your leed more forgiving. The “leed” is the 

distance that you must shoot in front of a flying bird to hit it. One of the easiest ways to extend your 

trail is to shoot multi size or weight pellets. Many manufacturers are now offering multi-size loads.

One of the most asked questions I get is how far in front of the bird should I shoot? Unfortunately, that 

is impossible to answer. The leed depends on the bird’s distance, angle of approach, speed of the bird, 

speed of your ammo, height of the bird, speed and direction of the wind. With a passing bird skirting 

the decoys, try 10 feet. A big plus when shooting from a pole blind is that you are often shooting down 

at the bird, so you can see your shot hit the water. Beginners often use SWAG for their leed 

(systematical wild ass guess) and increase it from there. No one shoots in front of the bird. The best 

shots I’ve seen are by shooters that pick the place that they think the bird and the shot will meet and 

shoot there. Others feel that swinging past the bird works best.

Recommendations on ammo; if you are new at duck hunting or only hunt 2 or 3 times a year, try 3” 

4x6 steel, open or improved cylinder choke, don’t shoot at birds over 20 yards out. If you can shoot a 

round or 2 of skeet or sporting clays, it will help a lot. If you are an experienced waterfowl hunter, you 

probably already have your favorite load and distance that you feel comfortable shooting.

I feel the best all-around load is Boss 3” 3x5. Tungsten 3 or 3 1/2 “ 3x5 works well on Seaducks.

Ignore the ‘feet per second’ on the box, it’s measured at muzzle and a lot of the birds are farther out 

than that. All things being equal, the heavier loads travel slower, shoot farther and have more power 

than the lighter loads. It’s the down range speed that is important. As long as your shot is faster than the 

duck, it’s the leed that counts. On social media I have seen video of using the “Red dot” to target birds. 

If the dot is on or near the bird you have eliminated the leed. You may kill the bird that way, but it’s the 

pattern spread that overcame the leed.

If you are hunting flooded timber or goose hunting your leed maybe shooting under a descending bird. 

One of the ammo manufactures shows a pattern on the side of their box that says it’s “The average of 

five shots”. We don’t often get five shots off; it’s reloading after 3 shots that slows us down.

If you are knocking birds down, but not killing them, try a smaller shot size in Tungsten or Boss. 

Larger shot doesn’t penetrate as well as smaller shot sizes. It knocks them down but doesn’t get into the 

important stuff. 

It can take 10 rounds or more to kill cripples, we use #6 2 ¾ steel and it works well. Shooting the better 

loads at cripples can get expensive. 2 ¾ #6 does the job better on cripples than the larger shot sizes at a 

fraction of the cost.

Captain Pete Wallace

Note; Boss is discontinuing the use of Bismuth. They will be producing a new load when current 

supply runs out. They say the new load will be as good or better than Bismuth