Worth the hype or a gimmick?

Worth it, if you want an alternative to steel. All I shoot in my 16, 28 or 410 duck hunting. Great shells!

Personally, with a 12ga I have no problem killing ducks with steel inside 30-35 yards.

I have 2 cases of boss shells, a case of #4 and a case of #5. I have yet to shoot it.

If I was shooting a subgauge, I would probably shoot it or some other non toxic steel alternative like tss or hevi 12.

So in 12ga, I dont think its really needed.

I haven’t shot a 12 gauge in years. With that being said, I have shot lots of Boss out of my 28 and it is very effective. I can’t imagine how much of a punch it would pack out of a 12. I think there is an argument to be made that you’d spend the same amount on steel and boss at the end of the year due to crippling ducks with steel (follow up shots, lost birds, etc.). Hell any decent steel shot is $200/case nowadays.

I’ve not kill just a ton of ducks in my life but I’ve noticed maybe 1 out of 5 birds is stone dead with steel. The other 4 range from completely disabled but still alive to me having to shoot them swimming across water.

I had decent luck with Kent Fasteel in both 12 and 20 gauge, but don’t mind spending a bit more for a better shell

We love it, just mailed some to Maine for our sea duck hunt in late Dec, works well in 16 and 20g

Been shooting it the last three years since I bought a couple cases awhile back. It won’t make you a better shot, or you wont kill more ducks, per se. Generally speaking, I have noticed a reduction in cripples and more punch at longer shots >30 yds. Is it worth it for the guy that duck hunts 3-4x a year over decoys at 20-25 yds or less? In my opinion, it is not.

Me, I am that guy !

I’ll shoot a 30-40 yard duck that flairs up out of the spread though. Those are the ones that 9 out of 10 times are still alive

You might consider pattering your gun and/or switching choke tubes. With a decent pattern, any 12ga steel load should be able to fold up ducks at 40 yards.

This!

Yes. Just look at weight and density. The closer to lead the better, only thing better then lead is pure tungsten. But there is also diminishing return, I wouldn’t spend money on tungsten for above 28 ga. I use bismuth, you get more pellets per weight, where as steel it’s opposite

I have no use for steel unless it’s only thing I can find.

I use boss in both 20ga and 12ga

Worth it!

If you reload.............gimmick. If not, then it's better than most production ammo from what I've seen for waterfowl.



partially true.......anything over the density of lead is better for waterfowl. ITX, Hevishot, tungsten, etc.

It is not worth the added expense for me. I shoot cheap #2 steel and limit my shots to 40-45 yards. Most are 20-35 yards. 6-8 shells for 6 birds is usually what it takes with my 20 guage. I don’t lose birds but I do hunt with a dog. If you shoot further than that or don’t have a dog you might be able to justify the expense.

Put me in this camp. I swapped to a RR T3 from my Beretta stock choke and the improvement was crazy

What is a RR T3 choke?

Another steel safe choke with their preset constriction

Yes, a choke made by Rob Robert’s. T3 is the long range. Costs about 2 boxes of Boss shells ($80 total) and imo it really has made a difference for me.

Not worth it for me. I shoot Remington, Estate or whatever is cheaper in a 3 inch #4 pellet. I just don't reach out further than the ability of the weapon/load combo. I prefer to wait until their feet are about to touch the decoys and hammer them dead. I also tell every one to stop shooting more than one bird at a time. Kill the ones that go down bur are still alive to swim off. Unless the dog is really knowledgeable of the bay, you can flat work them chasing cripples. 1 foot waves can hide a duck from the dog when he is swimming after a cripple. Redheads can flat out outsmart and outswim a dog. So its just better for me to pass on the longer shots and get them good. It makes the hunt last longer and way less stressful than chasing cripples.

On another note. I might have to compare the prices of ammo to the cost of a citation hunting with 7.5 shot dove loads. Prior to 1983 steel mandate I killed geese with lead #5 and ducks with lead 7.5 left over dove loads. $200 dollar fine vs a $220 case of steel makes you go hmmmm!

Best choke made in my opinion! Shoot T3's in both my 20 and 12. And will go down to a T2 for Teal.

If I had money to blow I might buy them.

For all yall rob roberts fans. I recommend yall having him extend your forcing cone.

I wasn't really a believer on the extended forcing cone, read a bunch up on it, and didn't think it would make any noticeable difference. After all, if it did, why wouldn't every shotgun manufacturer do it.

Needless to say, I had rob roberts extend the cone. I was really impressed by the way it killed birds last year. I dont think there is any metric or before and after test to perform. All I can say is i shot and killed birds very cleanly with steel last season.

What is the density? I imagine if someone shot mostly steel and they switch it will seem like an improvement. But if you've shot a lot of hevishot, heavyweight, or TSS, you will probably be underwhelmed.

The shells only work if you’re wearing Sitka. Otherwise it’s a lost cause

Thus why I said nothing beats tungsten. It’s 18 g/cc therefore it is over 2x the g/cc of steel. But not everyone can buy 200lbs at a time overseas to make it cost effective

Lead is 11.3 g/cc and hevi shot12 is very similar at a density of 12g/cc, but it’s almost as expensive as tss due to it being a watered down “Tungsten” based alloy. Heavyweight is just tungsten also

Copper plated Bismuth is roughly 22-24% denser then Steel.

Only an individual can justify price difference between bismuth, hevishot(tungsten alloy) and straight TSS. Hevi-12 is 2x the price of bismuth, and bismuth is 1.5x of steel.

So to answer TX85 question yes for the performance difference over steel and the slight price increase compared double the price for Hevi-shot or TSS…. yes it’s worth it. The next argument would be is the price increase in Hevi and TTS worth it over Bismuth in my opinion not in a gauge bigger then 28.