16ga.com ~ View topic

Joined: 26 Feb 2007 Posts: 190 Location: Washington State

Yesterday I ordered some 7.5 and 6 Nice Shot from Ecotungsten. Darn stuff is sure expensive, but having a viable non-tox solution for 16 and 28 gauge guns is imperative for me. Wahington State seems to be heading towards non-tox in upland hunting and steel just turns me off. I'd have to buy Steelmaster loaders and that's a bit too much at this time.

So Nice Shot is supposed to load just like lead with no need for special wads. I'm going to throw some in the MEC Sizemasters I have and see how accurate the shot bars meter the NS. I'll weigh the drops and see how true to the lead equivalent it is.

Then it will be off to the range to pattern the loads and see how they work.
Wish me luck...

Please say it ain't so about Washington turning to no tox for upland Roper. Let me know how your experiment turns out.

Joined: 03 Feb 2008 Posts: 830 Location: Adirondak Mtns

I'm not familiar with Nice shot. Is it safe in older doubles. eg. Foxes and Lefevers?? Is this a good replacement for Bismuth??

Thanks

Joe

Joined: 26 Feb 2007 Posts: 190 Location: Washington State

UDF, the latest effort is from Washington Department of Ecology, they have a "plan" to reduce “persistent, bioaccumulative toxic chemicals”.

Their "plan" is found here... http://www.ecy.wa.gov/pubs/0807009.pdf

I find their "science" flawed and their data skewed at best...you can read and decide for your self. I've contacted my legislators and only two have replied so far. One expressed "concern" but no plan of action. The other sent my e-mail to DOE so their person could counter my comments. But then I live in the "left" part of the state...what would one expect from the Democratic Socialist Party...sorry, I do digress.

Member Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 2349 Location: West MI

........Then it will be off to the range to pattern the loads and see how they work........

Hello Roper, did you ever get that Nice Shot loaded up and patterned? I'm considering going to NC and would like to hear your expeience with the stuff.
Also, I use brush wads alot (no shot cup/petals) and would like to know if this stuff is destructive with regards to barrel scrub. And if the NC leaves any residue (leading) in the barrel. Any one else have any experience with this stuff? Thanks in advance, Mike

Joined: 28 Mar 2008 Posts: 1460 Location: Eagle, Nebraska

Nice shot is the "same" as tungsten matrix and is safe in older shotguns, which is my primary use for it. I use normal wads, etc, haven't shot it enough to see any residue in barrel, but can't see where it would be worse than lead?

It patterns about the same as lead. At least with the few shots with #5 and #6 shot that I have patterned and that is out of two different guns.

I have not tried it thru charge bar, as I have only loaded about 10 at a time, and measured power and shot on scale. (like you said, expensive, I used the scale to get exact as possible to be as efficient as possible.)
I also went down from 1 oz to 7/8oz to save a little more.

Pheasant season opens this weekend, will post my "field research" results.

Member Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 451 Location: La-Tx

[quote="Hootch"

I have not tried it thru charge bar, as I have only loaded about 10 at a time, and measured power and shot on scale. (like you said, expensive, I used the scale to get exact as possible to be as efficient as possible.)
I also went down from 1 oz to 7/8oz to save a little more.

Pheasant season opens this weekend, will post my "field research" results.[/quote]

I have hundreds of plastic test tubes with caps that I set down and weigh out a 200 or so shot charges into and have ready and use a Lyman 1200 for the powder. You can load up 5 or 6 boxes of shells pretty quick that way.

Member Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 2349 Location: West MI

[quote="putz463"]........Then it will be off to the range to pattern the loads and see how they work........

Hello Roper, did you ever get that Nice Shot loaded up and patterned? I'm considering going to NC and would like to hear your expeience with the stuff.
Also, I use brush wads alot (no shot cup/petals) and would like to know if this stuff is destructive with regards to barrel scrub. And if the NC leaves any residue (leading) in the barrel. Any one else have any experience with this stuff? Thanks in advance, Mike[/quote]

I asked this same question to the folks at nice shot, this is the response;

Mike,

The particulate tungsten and iron are suspended in the tin. "Nice Shot" has not shown any signs of abrasiveness but without the wad petals it will leave a tin build up in the barrel. ( Much like lead. ) Dusting the shot with dry graphite will alleviate this problem.

Regards,
Dan Tercho
Nice Shot Inc.

Guest

Any follow-ups on this shot? How does it compare to steel and Bismuth?
Need a good nice shot pheasant load with #6. Haven't checked the low pressure board to see if any good recipes with this are up there yet.

Joined: 26 Feb 2007 Posts: 190 Location: Washington State

I'm sorry to say I still have three unopened boxes of Nice Shot sitting on my reloading bench.

I've been busy with single action handgunning and reloading. I should get off my butt soon and get back to shotshells...

Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 728

I loaded four - 1oz rounds of #5 Nice Shot with Ballistic Products SPG16 wads, Win 209 primers and 19.5 grains of Universal Clays in 2 each of Federal and Fiocchi 2-3/4" shells yesterday and plan to use them in my Remington model 11 on the skeet field Sunday as a test. I'll let you know how it goes.

Guest

Look forward to seeing the results. I have some of the shot here, need to try some recipes.

Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 728

Well Gents the results are back from shooting wobble skeet with with 1oz of #5 nice shot, BPI SG16 wads and 19.5 grains of Universal Clays powder in Federal and Fiocchi hulls. The nice shot is kind of expensive so I only loaded two rounds in each hull, but they killed clay pigeons just like the factory loads I interchanged them with. The biggest difference was the recoil which is a lot lighter than the Estate 1-1/8"oz of 7-1/2 shot 3-1/4 drams equivalent field loads (duh). The Remington model 11 cycled fine with the reloads even with the ring in the heavy load position. I know what I'll be using to scare waterfowl next year!

Guest

Thanks for the info...refreshh my memory someone, what wad can I substitute for the BPI? I have Remington and Gualandi here.

Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 728

As long as you are working from a recipe for lead that is at least 1500psi less than your design pressures you should be fine. The shot is relatively new and I have not found any published data, but the "guidance" provided by the nice shot web site states that you should expect chamber pressures 1500psi above lead shot recipes. The load I used above is one I picked from the BPI 16 gauge manual as a target load for my Remington model 11. I reduced the powder charge by stepping down 1 bushing size on my reloader to save powder and wear and tear on me and my gun. It has worked well as a lead target load and I will see next fall how it performs on ducks. I did not pattern test this load but it did "smoke" clays with an IC choke out to about 20 yards which I can assume means multiple pellet strikes at that range.

I know this load is not particularly fast, but I believe that if you keep the gun moving slower shot leaves a longer shot string and should result in more pellet strikes. As Nash Buckingham said it is the amount of energy delivered to the bird (not pellet velocity) that determines lethality. If you do the math more energy is delivered to the bird if you hit it with 5 pellets moving slightly slower than 4 pellets of the same weight moving 10% faster. The fact that steel is 25% less dense than nice shot means that nice shot pellets moving at 1125fps deliver the same energy as the same size steel shot at 1500fps. If the slower shot produces a longer shot string theory works, then one or two more nice shot pellets in a bird will be more lethal.