For medium grade duck loads- Heavymetal, BC, or Blindside?

Let's keep discussion to these 3 loads

BC. It's like shooting blue box out of a patternmaster.

Bricks fly crooked

Heavymetal is shaped like snowmen and has birdseed in the shell

None of the above

I like heavy metal. My uncle buys me and my brothers a couple boxes each for Christmas every year. But I have no problem with the cheaper shells I use. I would have to use more than just a couple boxes to see if the heavy metal really makes a difference. I've tried BC and BS but again not enough to tell if it really made a difference.

I used to shoot Kent fast-steel but switched to Hevi-Metal a few years ago and can tell a big difference on folded ducks at further range. Also, I notice a difference in knock down power on windy days.

All I know is Hevi-Metal 3 1/2 BB's can smoke geese at a pretty far distance

I've never used them for ducks. I'm ready to get my hands on those and see what they got.

Steel is overrated. #6 lead works best.

Now that I've used them for a few years, it's going to be hard for me to switch to something else.

That's good to hear. I don't mind spending a little extra for a good product.

I don't buy in to it. Find something you shoot well with and consistently. Don't change it. Something within your budget.
Practice, gun fit and patterning with choke and cartridge choice are way overlooked due to cartridge choice these days IMHO. Far to easy to place blame for a cripple on not enough stopping power than it is a bad shot.
Not saying more sense shot and velocity doesn't help, but I've killed 100s of duck with "off brand" 2 3/4" 4s.

Those three only....HeavyMetal....Disclaimer - I haven't tried BC close range but the regular BC is to tight of a pattern for how I hunt.

Don't start trying to bring common sense to this forum.

I have shot Kents for the last several years, but I am going to give Hevi-Metal a shot this year. I will shoot through one case of the Hevi-Metal, and if it doesn't perform any better than the Kent's, I will switch right back. I figure the best way me to determine if the more expensive loads make a difference is to try it myself and see.

^^^^^^ This is my thinking ^^^^^^

Rio blue steel and rio bismuth

Fiocchi

#2 or 4 back when for pass shoot geese...
we took a lot of geese in the rice country when they were thick, stupid and pre no-tox...

Blindside patterns the best out of my gun, benelli nova, and is readily available where I am at.

I hear blind side does too much damage in birds but I've never used it myself.

I used a box of blind side 5's last year, really really open patterns. I shoot IC out of a maxus. Like I put more 2's in a 30 inch circle at 30 yds (fed blue box) than the 5's at the same distance. Hell I think more 2's were in the circle than 5's hit the board

There's just some things that I don't understand.

You are comparing Kents and Hevi-Metal.

You are going to shoot a case of Hevi-Metal to see if you like it or not.

How do you determine if you like it?

Some days people can go out and shoot 100%, and other days they can't hit a thing. What do you blame there?

Let's say you shoot 100% on day 1 with the Kents, and day 2 you miss everything with the hevi-metal.

Day 3 you shoot 100% with the hevi metal, and day 4 you miss everything with the kents.

How do you determine what's best then?

Without putting a pattern on the board, I just don't see how people can say what shell is best.

I don't know what made you jump to the conclusion that I hadn't patterned the shells, but I already patterned both or I wouldn't be hunting with them.

I'm not going to be counting how many birds I hit or miss, as that would only show how well the loads pattern, or how I am shooting on a given day.

I'm going to see if IMO the Hevi-Metal has more killing power than the Kents. I'm really just going to look for how many birds I cripple and have to finish off, or hit but they keep flying. If I feel like I am folding more birds, I'll stick with heavy metals. If I feel like it is performing the same as the Kents, I'll switch back to Kents after I finish the case of Hevi-Metal. Is it going to be completely qualitative and biased? Heck yeah, but I think it's the best way for me to decide it the shells are worth it for me personally.

I'm not going to be alternating hunts with each load, I'm going to shoot Hevi-Metal on every hunt until I shoot through a case, and then evaluate what I thought of it. I will be comparing my results to the past several years that I have shot Kents.

Sorry that you can't understand, but I don't think it's that difficult of a concept to grasp.