Are there any biodegradable wads available for reloaders designed for steel or TSS shot?

Only what I found are those here: https://www.claygame.co.uk/12ga-fibre-shot-cups-pd82 which can't be exported out of UK because of "ammunition component". (Idiots there)

I tried to send emails to Fiocchi and/or Baschieri & Pellagri. They advertise their green wads everywhere.
https://green-core.baschieri-pellagri.com/en/
They answered neither my emails nor web forms I filled. (Go f*/k your self Italian morons).

So are there any biodegradable steel/tss wads really available for reloaders?

Jiri

maybe from Federal.
they are making a cardboard tube for one of their loads.
they are the only ones I know of here in the states.
I haven't seen any for sale on the open market though.

The latest degradable wad from Eley for a couple of their steel game and target 12g shotshell loads is the the Pro Eco wad which "dissolves in water in 24 hours and will degrade in 30 days and breakdown in soil in 3 months".

Their steel game and target cartridges with these wads are available here in NZ but cost is a major issue, they are bloody expensive e.g. 70mm 32gr steel game ammo with the Pro Eco wads cost NZ$330 per 250 round slab whereas the same slab with plastic wads is NZ$240. Strangely the MV is dropped to 1200fps with the Eco wad compared to the 1300fps of the plastic wad load.

Similarly the steel 28gr #7.5 shot target load is NZ$220 a slab compared to the equivalent load with the plastic wad at NZ$145 per 250 round slab. Eley also use fibre and photo degradable wads in some of there ammunition.

Storage would be a problem for the Pro Eco wads, or any degradable wad for that matter, if providing these for reloaders. I imagine there would be degradation problems if the wads were not kept sealed from moist conditions before loading and also if shells not loaded carefully to ensure sealing from moisture. Degraded wads of any sort would cause major problems when shells were fired.

In reality the indestructible stable plastic wad is perfect for shotshell use whether factory or handloaded considering the conditions the ammo is used in.

My experience with the older steel shot loads is that while 1200 FPS might well break clay targets at short range, it’s a notorious crippler. You generally need to go to much larger shot to get penetration, and then you get crappy patterns. It simply performs badly.

If they can get performance up, I might be interested, but really I’m now using bismuth and have done some shooting with straight card wad/fiber wad paper hulled shells.

They are more range limited than plastic wad loads using bismuth shot (patterns are a bit more open) but they do work pretty well out to maybe 35-40 yards- good decoying waterfowl range.

My hand loaded price for these is about the same as your above noted fiber steel load, but more effective than the premium high speed steel loads sold here (using plastic components).

I’m not against the fiber steel loads, just noting that what you just described is not something I would feel ethical about shooting at game birds with. They would need to up the velocity at least 200 FPS using at least 1 Oz of #3(US)or larger steel. You might do ok with shorter distances… but I might have gave up duck hunting over the horrible performance back then as a kid if things had not gotten better- it took me more than a box of shells per bird back then… lots of lost cripples.

crbutler:

I will never use steel, I am lead and TSS guy.

Jiri

Unfortunately in this neck of the woods Bismuth and TSS are just too expensive especially if shooting a lot of birds as we usually do. My sons and I shoot a big irrigation pond for our gamebird opening weekend and over the years have shot close to 100 ducks Canada geese and black swan on the opening mornings. The bag limit for ducks where we shoot is 50 per shooter per day so there is no holding back . There is no limit on Canada geese, because they have reached pest proportions here they have been declassified as a gamebird so are not covered by Game regulation. Can be shot with any firearm or bow, anytime and any numbers.
We are using 70mm 32gm #3 steel loads at 1300-1400 fps and we have good success with these. I use the lower velocity loads in my U/O gun and usually just stick with the same in my semi on which I use a Patternmaster Black Duck choke. We use retriever dogs so anything not DRT is picked up by the dogs.