As we have had to use steel shot for some time in England, could some one tell me how to obtain an open pattern ,suitable for shooting at 25 to 30 yards max,as steel seems to be very tight patterned at this range.Would having a rifled choke open the pattern or would it throw a pattern with a large gap in the middle?

My impression is that the very high velocity loads (v>1500 fps) tend to blow patterns. I used a few of these last year and was not impressed with their long range performance. But I have not gotten around to patterning any. Also recoil can be a bit much in a light gun. With smaller shot (#4-#3's) these may be just the ticket for 30 yard birds.
C.G.B.

I have tried 1500fps loads that is all that seems to be available in the shot sizes you sugested it seems no different, I am shooting widgeon at night so the range is not great,the recoil is heavy off most steel loads, do you think that a slower velocity might work?

Pintail;
First off, welcome to the forums! Good to have friends from the U.K. drop in from time to time!

Secondly, you didn't mention what choke you are shooting your shells through....do you have a fixed choke, or do you have one of the more modern guns with a screw-in choke system? If you have a fixed choke, the only thing I can suggest is to try different loads.....steel, but it's very nature, will pattern tight. I have not had the problems with blown patterns with High velocity loads (my handloads are running 1500+ fps); I have found that the culprit is more often too tight a choke. I have experimented with different choke tubes, and it really is a crap shoot....some open choke tubes actually throw tighter patterns than the more constricted tubes. You really need to spend time patterning your gun to see what it's doing.
As for a rifled tube: my experience with rifling and shot leads me to believe that this is a practice best avoided. You won't get patterns, and if you are lucky, you might get clusters!
Good luck and good hunting!

Mr 16 Gauge
The chokes in my gun are true cyl in the right and about 8 thou in the left,I have tied most of the available loads to no avail, steel seems to set off fast but loose velocity just as quickly,it,s my thought that it,s the wad that has to be used to protect the barrels that is the culprit what I could do with is some form of spreader cartridge (dispersant).
Bismuth gives good results but is far to expensive,I can,t make head nor tail of tungsten matrix,Bismuth seems to give good results in the 8 bore &4 bore plus it don,t damage the barrels of a good engish gun!

Use open chokes. Cylinder and other less than 1/4choke. Go down in shots sice and load. This is what I do when I shoot small game with my shotgun.

Johan

Pintail;
After doing a little research in some of my handloading books, it appears you do not have ENOUGH choke to open your patterns! I know; that sounds paradoxical...bear with me while I try and explain.

As you know, steel is very hard compared to lead. The reason you get more open patterns with lead is because the shot deforms somewhat on firing and is no longer perfectly "round"....air acts on it and forces it off course. This is one reason why some shooters use "soft" shot to open patterns in tightly choked guns, and nickle or copper plated shot in open choked guns to tighten patterns.
Steel is unique, and the rules of lead DO NOT APPLY; in order to open steel patterns (which, btw, is an unusual request from a waterfowler....usually they are complaining that patterns are too open) we need to do a few different things. Remember that toy that was 4 steel balls on a rack, held by string? You picked up one end and let it drop, and the ball on the other end would travel upward as the energy was transfered through the other balls? Well, steel pellets behave similarly. In order to get the pellets to move "outward", you have to apply some type of force (such as squeezing it through a choke constriction)to get the pellets to "move" and open the pattern. Apparently, there is little transfer with your cylinder chokes, and the wad is protecting the shot quite well since there is no constriction of the wad. Since there is nothing we can do about the fixed choke, here are a few other suggestions you might want to try:

-if the gun has a 3" chamber, try using a 2 3/4" shell....the gap to the forcing cone may cause enough of a disturbance to get a more open pattern.

-if you can find someone who handloads steel, and has a wad splitter, you might see if adding more petals to the wad, causing it to open quicker, might help open your patterns.

-you might try using larger shot and smaller payloads...this might not open the pattern, but will have fewer pellets to deal with in a tighter pattern when you do connect.

Sorry, but that's the best I can come up with right now....if I find out anything more, I'll post it. Good luck and good hunting.

There is alot of information on steel shot reloading on the forums of www.waterfowler.com
They seem to specialize in fast steel reloads and really know their stuff. I have loaded some steel, but not patterned them too much.

Pintail,
Check your local reloading supplies store to see if they have "spreader post". They are added on top of the wad and are simply a flat piece of plastic with a post sticking up into the shot charge. They are used with lead shotshells and really work..... they might work for steel too.

Mr. 16 Gauge,
My experience with steel shot has been that the tighter the choke, the tighter the pattern.

My experience with steel shot for ducks is that the shells that shoot about 1300 feet per second have the best pattern. This is in a 12ga with a modified choke and 2 3/4" shells.