Anyone shoot heavy shot new tungsten loads?

Pretty inexpensive for tungsten about 1.50 per shell versus 3-4 dollars for heavy shot or more

I have a follow-up to that...from what I've seen on the internets 1 1/4oz load pellet count(4 shot) - STEEL 240, TUNGSTEN 169. I get that Tungsten has more knockdown b/c it's heavier, but at 1450fps, unless you're continuously shooting 40+ yrd shots(the heavier pellet would not slow as much), why would you use it? 6 shot Tungsten jumps to 281 so I guess the guys that shoot it usually go smaller in pellet size?

Yeah Thomas there gets to be a whole bunch of tricky arithmetic when it comes to non tox options. I have looked at it heavily over the last few years, both off the shelf and reloading.

It comes down to pellet count and lethal penetration. Non tox will penetrate better but give up some count. So you choke different to get the pattern where you want it.

My semi educated opinion is if you're consistently getting shots less than 35 yds it makes no difference, #4 steel will kill just fine at that range. If you're consistently shooting 35 yds+ non tox can have a real advantage in lethality, but you need to choke and pattern first to be effective and not spray pellets.

The secondary point is by the time you gear up to shoot tungsten 4's at passing ducks 60 yds away, you will absolutely annihilate anything less than 35. And to answer the question, are we talking about the new Hevi-X?

Yea. Most of our shots at 25 or less-But on those days when the birds are cutting you short for longer At 40 yards plus going away you are going to cripple a lot less birds. Plus you can shoot 4’s vs 2’s as far as knock down power.


By the way, only advantage to strait steel is price. Period. The stuff is total crap. The super high velocity a little better- but crap

Yes, new Hevi X

I should’ve been more specific on my question these tungsten loads versus heavy shot. We know they’re significantly better than steel

Go to your patterning board. Annihilate may be a bit extreme. Have shot pheasants with mod 1 3//8 loads and torn them up at 10 or less. At 25 to 35 you’ll shoot Em stone dead- but as far as tearing up the bird consistently highly doubtful

I am very against these crappy 10 buck or less loads sold to duck hunters. People buy them because they’re cheap but they are terrible shells wound a lot of waterfowl. Sure you’re going to kill ducks at 15 to 25 yards in the face come in the decoys- but we all know that those days can be few and far between


With a gravimetric density of 7.86 grams per cubic centimeter (gms/cc), steel is the lightest of the bunch, followed by bismuth, at 9.60 gms/cc; Tungsten-Iron, at 10.30; Tungsten Matrix, at 10.60; lead, at 11.10; and, the real heavyweight in the ring, Hevi-Shot, at 12 gms/cc.

I shoot Hevi Metal....not sure exactly wtf is in it, but with that Rogers rebate a few years back, they were like $18 box shipped. 3" 1 1/4 3s. I love them, granted I normally don't shoot outside of 40 yards, and that's and honest answer. Over the years I've grown to almost never shoot unless they are dam close to me. I don't know why, but I do. Now doves I'll unload a case at anything, but ducks for some reason are different to me. I will say those hevi metal, I shot twice this morning, and my barrel looked like a pinata exploded in it.

If you go practice thru out the year you will become a better shot. It seems to me year after people seem to think "that a certain shell will make you a better shot" Its duck hunting not rocket science.

I did pattern, extensively. This what happens when a mallard is at 20yds instead of 40 and you hit it square. This was 2 weeks ago

I'm with you on very against cheap crappy shells, my point was, I see no reason to shoot non tox or spend the money on premium ammunition if you shoot consistently smart shots. I haven't shot the new Hevi-X but I do shoot Heavy Metal a lot, and I understand it's basically the same material. What I've seen is the 2 shot size drop down is a little too much for anything outside 35yds (where you need it). HM 3's have the 5 shot ish sized 'heavy metal', and ducks hit with that at 45yds are sailing. If I were buying Heavy X I'd shoot 4's, which should get you out to 48yds or so pretty well, but in my experience, choking for an effective pattern of Hevi (not steel) a that distance gives you the above at 15-20 yds.

The new hevi-x are different than the hevi metal.. The hevi metal pellets are slag metal, and vary greatly in shape/size. The hevi-x is a tungsten polymer and perfectly round. However, they are significantly lighter than true hevi-shot tungsten. The hevi-x is just under 10 gm/cc, and the 3” shells are still 1 1/4 oz payloads. I haven’t cut one open but logic would lead me to believe there are fewer pellets. I shot a couple boxes of hevi-x #4 when I was hunting big water in Louisiana this year, and they shot extremely long shot strings through both of the chokes I normally hunt with, so I quit using them. They likely pattern better in something else, but wasn’t for me.

We rarely shoot outside of 20-25 yards but our lower water and blind position in a few spots has us tightening to a Mod w HM 3s- my south blinds shortest shot is about 35 yards outside dekes and gets longer quickly w no wind or poor lighted days. We shot 3 limits Canvasbacks this weekend- which decoyed great- dog retrieved all but had issues w open chokes on late birds-called shot a few seconds late. Was interested in Tungsten because 4’s Ballistic characteristics have the same knockdown power As number two’s And for the small cost above heavy metal which is what I shoot exclusively- The penetration power of tungsten versus steel is really unparallel

You can shoot crappy steel on I would say 60 to 70 percent of our shots all year long- I am just looking for more consistent killing power at 40-ish yards to 50 yards without paying four dollars a load for heavy shot.

These are amazing. Lots knock down power as anticipated. Screw in IC and let it roll. Used them today