I always liked the rule that was in effect for a few years about the lead ban only being within what was it, 400 meters? of standing water. On dry ground, it's an unnecessary ban that contributes to far more mortally wounded birds, especially geese, that make it back to water to never get up again. First few trips with steel were astounding to us, particularly for me because I tend to shoot "cleanup" in the field. I use a 10 gauge O/U and was astonished to watch a goose hit twice with steel keep on going. I was accustomed to the instant kills that 2 1/4 oz of #2 and BB lead supplied, out to easily 70 yds. Choked full/full my O/U is actually closer to a modified and needed no alterations to handle steel. We finally resorted to physics, e=mc2. Double the velocity and the energy is quadrupled, so fasteel powder and smaller steel shot (#1 and B) at 1800 fps worked. Problem is, it's tough to shoot clays with my 12 and lead now - the practice is useless. Flight characteristics of steel is dramatically different than lead plus less retained energy per pellet meant shorter shots and a lot more work for my lab. Tried tungsten-iron, but at $4.50 a shell, like most of the nonsteel alternatives, it's hard to justify the costs and we still didn't like the results. If you reload, any modern lead alternative is far too costly.
Big steel shot is also far too damaging to the birds - blows on through and busts them up to the point they're hardly worth plucking. Remember how many flat lead pellets used to wind up against the breast bones of big geese that dropped instantly? Doesn't happen anymore - they're blown to hell, lots of bloodshot damage and big holes through the body, ventilating but not always shocking them to the ground and as mentioned, too many keep on flying.
