What is the best watherfowl shell you have used ie, lead shotshells?

Have been using domestic brand but want to try something new this season!
I hunt mostly Mallards and greylags!

Regards
Ben Iceland

I have always had good luck using remingtons then winchester. I have used hand loads for so long now I don't know if I have a factory best.

I good load of number 4 lead work great.

ben join this forum good bunch off lads from uk and usa, will help you http://p067.ezboard.com/bduckandgoosehunting

Thanks for the link Chapster1

Regards
Ben Iceland

Mirage by clever in italy are a good manufacturer of waterfowl loads, dont know if you can get them in iceland though. my advice is to start reloading your own if you dont allready that is.

Never heard about Mirage. What we see commonly here are Winchester, Remington, Eley, some Federal and few other manufacturers but the US stuff is just so damn expensive!!

Might just take your advice and start reloading my shells. I have quite a expirience in rifle reloading so it should not be too difficult!

Regards
Ben
Iceland

ben can you still shoot lead ? or non toxic ?
keep in touch, and i can mail you some fast steel load data,

The best lead heavy loads I have used have been the Winchester Super-xx Magnum loads with either #4, 5's or 6's for ducks.

The best all around LEAD shot shell I've ever used was Federal Premium 1 1/2 ounces copper plated BBs. And I'm out.....DRAT. They are no longer manufactured as far as I know. I often hunted with friends, some of whom weren't too skilled with a shotgun, and would let them "shoot out" and then try to kill any cripples, which was pretty common. It was absolutely incredible how far these shells would SWAT a mallard, and, of course, they worked well on geese too.

I recognize that most hunter's think BBs are too big for ducks, but they kill them close and far. Bigger shot is better in MOST hunting situations.

I'm not familiar with the better Euro shells, I would guess the Italians make the best ammo. A good load is 1 3/8 ounce, which would be about 38 grams of nickel plated shot in anything from BBs to 4s for all types of waterfowl shooting. If they're decoying, 5s, 6s, or even 7s work well.

Reloading shotshells is easy, and much less critical than rifle reloading. I have no idea what components cost over there, but you can really save some money over here reloading premium type loads compared to similar factory shell costs.

Thanks for your replys guys!
Yes we can still use lead here and i have not heard anything about a ban here YET!

Reloading is getting more and more interesting as i think about it, especially as there is a small ammo factory in my hometown wich a good friend of mine runs and i could easily get some ceap components from him!

So where to start in reloading equipment??
Any suggestions?

Regards

get your self a set of good reloading books lyman no 4 good start
http://www.refuge.com forum
and do a sherch for shotshell reloading
loading gear here in uk http://www.claygame.co.uk
goodluck mark

Reloading is a whole issue by itself. BUT.....if you are just going to reload for hunting, you can get by with the simplest of tools......Lee used to, and I assume still does, make a hand, and I do mean hand loader for shotshells. It produces just as good a shell as any other but VERY SLOWLY. Other wise, the next step up is what is known over here as a single stage loader. That is, you have to do each step individually. It is pretty slow but with practice you should easily be able to load 50 to 100 shells per hour on one. MEC and PACIFIC are two common examples that come to mind. Again, over here, they are commonly available used and usually bring from US$25 to about US$75. They make just as good a shell, or better, as any other loader. Like all reloading, most of the quality is up to the operator assuming you have good equipment.

I agree with the above coments on winchester xx ammo, but i do feel that reloading is a mutch better option ben, A load i have used on geese Pinkfeet greylags and canadas the same types you will shoot in iceland no doubt,is In 3 inch 12 ga case Primer cx 2000. powder aliant blue dot 35 grain,Wad galandi g14 with the petals pulled off Make a wraper out of plastic sack or similar material,put 15 grain of grex buffer in the cup and then fill with 50 gram of BB shot and tap the shot down, that load works and kills those high pinkfeet you can never quite stop i have had a vast experience of reloading in wildfowling in most bores but this is one of my favourate loads and works in all temperatures briliantly.

I did talk to my friend at the factory about purcasing components from him wich will be no problem!
I can get Bofors powder and Diamond shot but i have forgot what the primers, cups and hulls are called!

Now its just time to figure out wich reloading machine to purcase. The mec looks good!

Regards

If you have a modern 3 inch or 3 1/2 inch gun, Bofors tk8 is the powder i use for non tox ammo at the moment. load 40 grain of tk8 in a 76mm case use a cx2000 primer g 14 wad again wraper and 15 grain of buffer and 52 gram of BB that would be my choice in lead loads, at the moment i load 39 grain tk8 g14 wad etc and 50gram of Impact Toungsten matrix shot in BB, i could load more powder i am sure but ITM is very soft and it paterns wildly if you go to hard on the preasure. tk8 is a very slow progressive powder and can propell charges at high speed but with very low preasures exactly what you want in heavy waterfowling loads.