Northwest Sportsman – August 2019

134 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2019 | nwsportsmanmag.com

HUNTING

S

o where do I stand on the subject

of nontoxic (nonlead) shotshells for

the hunting of both migratory and

nonmigratory birds?

With a broad brush, it’s like this. Ducks

and geese require nontoxics nationwide.

Doves? Depends on where you hunt. Some

state wildlife areas and many, if not all,

federal refuges and waterfowl production

areas require nontoxic ammunition for both

migratory fowl and upland bird hunting.

Grouse? Not so much. I’m sure there are

some places in the nation where grouse

hunters must comply; however, and here

we’re talking forest grouse, I can’t think of

any restrictions on ammo for them.

That all said, I made the switch to

nontoxics across the board years ago. If

what I’m hunting has feathers, I’m using a

nontoxic. Do you have to? In some cases,

yes; some cases, no. Am I looking for a pat

on the back? No, but I do know this. One,

nontoxics are undeniably less harmful

than is lead when it comes to pellets being

ingested either by primary feeding, e.g

ducks, or secondary feeding, as in the case

of an eagle that eats a dove, pigeon or

grouse containing lead pellets.

And two, modern nontoxics offer

excellent on-target performance and, in

many instances, don’t cost an arm and

a leg. Yes, some do, but many don’t cost

any more than does a lead equivalent. So

without further ado, here’s a brief review of

2019’s nontoxic options for migratory fowl,

doves, and grouse.

WATERFOWL: Each year, another handful

of manufacturers enter the fray in terms of

nontoxic waterfowl ammunition, and 2019

is no different. Migra (migraammunitions

.com) is a new one on me, offering duplex

loads of stacked – not mixed – steel or

steel/tungsten blends. New, too, to the

arena is Boss Shotshells (bossshotshells

.com), with their proprietary copper-plated

bismuth. Hevi-Shot (hevishot.com) comes

out with a novel Longer Range bismuth/

steel mix, while Kent’s (kentgamebore.com)

popular Fasteel has been updated with the

introduction of a zinc-plated 2.0 version.

Federal’s Black Cloud Flex, Winchester

Xpert, and Browning’s BXD, which, by the

way, is now available in 16-gauge, are all

back on the shelves for ’19.

The nice thing? The price. Oh, yeah,

you can pay $4 to $6 per shell for some

of the fancier stuff, especially when you

start thinking 3.5-inch 12-gauge, but –

and regain your composure here – there’s

some really good, really affordable duck

and goose ammunition out there now.

Remington reintroduces their blue hulls in

a high velocity 12-gauge steel format for

$14 a box (25 rounds). Winchester Xpert is

under $20/box, and if you look around, you

can find it for $10 to 12 a box. Kent’s Fasteel

falls in that same range. Hevi-Shot’s Hevi-

Metal, which I dearly love, and Hevi-Steel

• same story. It’s good, and it’s affordable.
  Not cheap, but affordable.

DOVES, PIGEONS AND FOREST GROUSE:

Steel size 7s. One-and-an-eighth-ounce

Winchester Xpert steel size 7s. It’s all I’ve

used for years now for doves, pigeons,

snipe, rails, grouse and early teal, if it’s a sure

bet that teal will be my only customers. It’s

deadly effective, patterns tremendously

well, carries a high pellet count and,

typically, high pattern density, thanks

to roughly 470 pellets per ounce, and

functions reliably, or at least that’s been

my experience, in most semiautomatics.

And it always works in the Mossberg Silver

Reserve O/U I pack into the dove field.

And the clincher? Winchester Xpert

steel 7s can be had for from $75 to $85

a case. That’s 250 rounds, or, for me, a

good afternoon in the dove field. This

price is usually within $5 to $8 either way

of comparable lead loads, but what seals

the deal for me is the performance of the

steel #7s.

True, there are other nontoxic

alternatives suitable for doves, pigeons

and forest grouse. Hevi-Shot offers their

Hevi-Shot Pheasant and Hevi-Teal (steel),

both in size 6 shot. The company’s new

bismuth shotshells can be had in a size

6 format, too. Likewise, Kent Cartridge

sports a size 6 option in their new Bismuth

Upland loads.

The common denominator with these,

however, is cost, which is considerably

more than the $7.50 to $8 per box for the

Xpert steel. And because dove hunting is

often – hopefully – a high-volume type of

shooting experience, the Benjamins can

pile up rather quickly.

That said, and perhaps conversely,

grouse hunting typically isn’t a high-

volume shooting activity. That, and more

than a handful of grouse hunters, myself

very much included, are prone to carrying

older guns, vintage pieces like my Old

Man’s 1952 Winchester Model 24 16-gauge

or my Uncle Neal’s Fox 20. I’m not inclined

to shoot steel, even modern steel, out of a

67-year-old SxS. So for grouse, I do turn to

a bismuth or a Hevi-Shot Classic Doubles;

something that performs well, which both

do, yet is nice to the older metal in these

fixed-choke shotguns. –MDJ

WHY I WENT

NONTOXIC

FOR ALL BIRD

HUNTING

Nontoxic shot has been required for

waterfowl since 1991, but author MD

Johnson says he long ago made the

switch to shells sans lead for all birds

that he hunts. (JULIA JOHNSON)