![]() The author tested these prototype shells from Jay Menefee and found them to work well on Canada geese.Īccording to Menefee, ground walnut shells are sold as a polishing compound, and they are easily available and inexpensive. Not only do the ground walnut shells function as a gas seal, but they also seem to work as buffer, and the patterns are quite good. I’ve shot enough birds with them since that they no longer surprise me. I patterned and chronographed these loads and knew they worked, but I was still amazed the first time I saw one fold a Canada at 35 yards. Through the magic of non-Newtonian physics, the ground shells act like a solid when the shell is fired. ![]() In place of a conventional wad, they contain only a layer of loose ground walnut shells. Jay Menefee, the shotshell design wizard formerly behind Polywad, loaded some unusual prototype bismuth shells for me this fall. manufacturer is currently working on a fiber-wad-and-bismuth shell. Shotshell engineer Adam Moser says Federal is working on thicker paper wads that can protect bores from larger steel pellets, and this design could be made to work with bismuth, too. These will be dove and target loads and should cost $2 to $3 more per box than the lead-and-plastic equivalent in the Federal lineup. It protects lead shot from the bore, and the bore from small steel shot. The ring cut at the base of Federal’s new paper overpowder wad will expand to form a tight gas seal in a shotgun barrel.Ī stiff paper shot collar sits on top of the basewad and holds the shot. To fix this, Federal spent an extra year developing its new shells solely to get the basewad right, developing a paper wad with a ring cut in the bottom to create a skirt that gets forced outward by expanding gases to make a tight seal. Without a good seal, you get powder blowby in the shell and inconsistent velocities. Flexible plastic wads can obturate (expand to seal) varied bore sizes in a way that conventional fiber wads could not. 729 inches, while others have gotten bigger to improve patterning. Some shotgun bore diameters have remained around. Designing a paper-wad shell isn’t just a matter of turning the clock back to the ’50s. Fiber Wadsįederal now offers a line of 12-gauge, paper-wad field/target loads comprising 6 and 7½ shot in steel and lead. Fiber, paper, walnut shells, and bioplastics degrade quickly. Plastic also takes hundreds of years to break down. Plastic has its advantages over fiber: It improves patterns, it makes an excellent overpowder gas seal for consistent performance, and it protects gun barrels from damage by hard TSS, Hevi-Shot, and large-size steel pellets. ![]() Fiber predates the plastic shot cups and shot collars that appeared in the late 1950s and early ’60s. While bioplastics are new technology, there’s nothing new about fiber wads. One surprise of this year’s SHOT Show was the increase in shells containing paper, fiber, or biodegradable-plastic wads. The technology to make waterfowl hunting greener everywhere-and quieter where it needs to be-isn’t quite ready, but it’s close. Situations like that play out across the country every season. The muzzle blasts, usually blown away by northwest winds, shook the farmhouse windows, and the alarmed landowners stopped letting people hunt. There’s a farm near me where anyone was able to get permission to field hunt-until one still, foggy day when a party shot their limit of ducks and geese in the field. While single-use plastics are a global concern, noise is a localized problem that can cost waterfowlers access. We can fight it and lose, or embrace our role as conservationists and be open to alternatives. Some clubs and preserves don’t allow plastic wads so they can keep their grounds clean. California’s Surfrider Foundation already documents wads washing up on beaches all over the world to call attention to the problem. Those wads litter the ground, and even when fired far from the ocean, they can find their way into the stomach of a sea turtle or albatross. Every wad we shoot across the landscape contains as much plastic as two grocery bags. Noise and plastic litter pose threats to duck and goose hunting. As the Lab swam out to fetch the birds, I realized I’d had my first glimpse of what might be the quieter, greener future of waterfowling. The wadding we shot into the water would be gone by tomorrow. And while there was no one around to hear the shots in very rural South Dakota, the reports from our suppressed guns weren’t as loud as the normal boom of a 12-gauge. Noticing the pop-up blind sticking out at the end of the point, bunch after bunch detoured just out of gun range.įinally, one pair of specks set their wings and sailed by too close. Learn more ›īIG CANADAS, little Canadas, snows, and specks lifted off the cornfield, streaming nonstop toward the lake to rest and get a drink. We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |