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From: eburns@ADS.COM (Edward Burns)
Newsgroups: rec.hunting
Subject: Re: steel shot
Message-ID: <427@erb1.engr.wisc.edu>
Date: 23 Mar 91 14:06:10 GMT
References: <361@erb1.engr.wisc.edu> <378@erb1.engr.wisc.edu> <423@erb1.engr.wisc.edu>
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From: eburns@ADS.COM (Edward Burns)
In article <423@erb1.engr.wisc.edu> mitchell@metaphor.metaphor.com (Greg Mitchell) writes:
>From: mitchell@metaphor.metaphor.com (Greg Mitchell)
>
>Can anyone explain why steel shot produces a tighter pattern than lead ?

Steel is so hard, that when the shell is fired the pellets don't deform
under the impact.  With lead many do, and the deformed pellets don't
fly true so they don't stay in the useful area of the pattern.

This also produces something I hadn't thought about until I actually
started using steel.  Since I hunt with decoys and keep my shots 
relatively short, I almost never find a pellet in a bird.  Since they
stay round, they just go right through.  Part of this is due to the
fact that being lighter, steel flys faster until about 40 yards.

Ed