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Why Bismuth?
Littleton Shotmaker
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Why Bismuth?
Bismuth—
It's better for the guns, better for the hunter, better for the birds, better for the sport.
Better for the Guns
Look at your classic duck gun, whether it is a fine Ithaca, LC Smith, Fox, Purdey, or whatever strikes your fancy as the "best " waterfowler. Those barrels are made of fine steel, no doubt, but even the finest of old steels is not as hard as it needs to be for use of steel shot. Classic Double guns in particular, risk damage to chokes, ribs being popped loose, and barrel scoring. Steel shot isn't the answer for them. Even modern pump and semi-auto guns such as the Ithaca Model 37, Remington 870, Ithaca Model 51 or Remington 1100, made before the early 80's, will still suffer from a steady diet of steel.
The answer, of course, is bismuth shot. It is barrel friendly, wont hurt your finest old field companion, and still gives performance superior to steel shot in the newest gun right off your dealer's rack.
Better for the Hunter
Bismuth is better for the hunter two ways. With bismuth, the same shooting performance on the part of the hunter will produce more birds brought to bag. Bismuth loaded shells produce substantially less recoil to achieve the same down-range performance, which means a hunt can again be fun, rather than a shoulder pounding ordeal.
Because Bismuth is much more massive than soft iron (steel) shot, it retains energy much better at long range. Because of this physical fact hunters can use the "traditional" shot sizes once again in their waterfowl loads. By returning to the smaller size shot, patterns can be denser yet still achieve the same retained pellet energy. Denser, more even patterns mean more pellets on target, and an end to the frequent wounding of birds, not brought to bag. Because Bismuth is more massive, hunters can get solid downrange performance only dreamed about by steel-shot shooters.
Bismuth shooters will also see a reduction in recoil. As an example, take a standard duck load with bismuth shot, namely 1-1/4 oz. of No. 5 at 1175 feet per second. In order to match the same downrange energy and performance with steel shot, the shooter must employ a load of 1-3/8 oz. No. 3 at 1300 feet per second. In an 8 pound shotgun, the recoil of the bismuth load will be 16.44 ft-pounds of energy. The steel load will produce recoil of 24.38 ft-pounds.
The steel kicks almost 50% more than the same load of bismuth. How does your shoulder feel at the end of a day of waterfowling?
Better for the Birds
Because Bismuth has better retained energy at long range, with denser patterns than steel, crippling is reduced to a minimum. Fewer birds are wounded without being brought to bag. This is a better way for conscientious hunters to conserve a precious natural resource.
Better for the Sport
Bismuth allows the grand old guns to be placed back in service, performs better than steel, and allows birds to be bagged that might otherwise be merely crippled and lost. Overall, this is better for waterfowlers everywhere.
Bismuth is affordable
Using Hunter's Bismuth, you can reload with superior performance for as little as $0.74 for a 1-1/4 oz load.
How much extra does this improved waterfowl bagging efficiency cost? At a 6 duck daily bag limit, if you take three shots to bag one duck, that's $13.32 per day of hunt to use Hunter's Bismuth. If powder is a nickel a shot, a primer is three cents, a wad is three cents and you use once quality once-fired hulls form your favorite maker, your cost for those six ducks, total, is $15.30.
For a price comparison, use a common high-speed steel load at $12.00 for a box of 25. Your cost per shell is $0.47. If you use three shots per bird (although since steel is not as effective some folks will average more, particularly on long shots), total ammunition cost for the days hunt is $8.46.
In other words, the cost difference, $6.84, is about the cost of a reasonable central Texas hunters lunch, including coffee and tip. $6.84 is not much, in the grand scheme of things. As a plus, you may find that your ammo expenditures per bagged bird goes down using Hunter's Bismuth, compared to steel.
Forget about steel-use bismuth, and not just any Bismuth, Hunter's Bismuth, the affordable non-toxic.
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Hunter's Bismuth · 7607 Eastmark Dr., Suite 251-A · College Station, TX 77840
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