28 gauge waterfowl load help

[Tenntrapper]

As I'm not much the waterfowler, I'm not very familiar with the various shot types. I'm finding steel, bismuth, and tungston waterfowl loads for the 28g. I'm wanting to use my new 28 for Woodies. Any suggestions on which shot type to start with...what works good? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Southern Sportsman]

In order of quality/effectiveness (and price) they are:

1. Tungsten - great but pricey
2. Bismuth - good. A little expensive, but less than tungsten.
3. Steel - serviceable, but not the best, especially in a small gauge gun.

If you're shooting ducks at 20-30 yards, steel will kill them. Due to cost, I've never shot anything but steel except the few times I wanted to kill one with my .410. Then I've used tungsten.

If you expect a fair amout of shooting, I would use steel 4 shot. A 3/4 oz load will give you roughly 140 pellets, which is enough. But range will be limited because 4 shot is small for steel.

If you just plan to shoot a handful of times, I would go with bismuth 5s or 6s. 1 oz of 5s will give you just over 200 pellets. In terms of range and effectiveness, bismuth is about like shooting lead.

With tungsten, a 28 gauge will out perform a 12 gauge loaded with steel. But for me, the cost of tungsten ($35-$40 / box) would be too high for shooting woodies.

 

[younggun308]

A lot more limited in what shot sizes will pattern well than say, a 20 gauge. But I would think a 28 should work good for woodies in woodie habitat if you run #6's. Anything bigger than a woodie needs to be pretty darn close. They make bismuth loads for this, too.

 

[rukiddin]

If you're willing to spend the money, tss is a 28 gauge will outperform any 12 gauge. I don't care if you're talking wood ducks or big geese. I load tss and pretty much shoot my 28's exclusively. 3/4 oz or 1oz of 8-1/2's or 9's will smash anything with feathers.
With that said, I know a lot of 28 guys who have used the BOSS shells this year and it's performing very well on waterfowl. Im a tss diehard but I really want to try the BOSS shells. They're a copper plated bismuth. They're pricey but still cheaper than tss.