Heavy X shotshells

[DavidL]

I'm curious if anyone has used the HeavyX shotshells and how the shot size compares with steel.  The tungston supposed to be much denser than steel, so I was wondering if you can use size 2 for geese and 4 for ducks or if you have to size up like for steel.  The website says you can shoot smaller shot that steel, but I wanted to see if anyone is actually doing it.  Do they work as advertised?

[h2ofowlr]

You can use smaller shot!  It’s only as good as the shooter!  If your on, your on.  The misses just hurt more due to the cost.  It smacks them dead with good shooting.  Also hits harder further out.  If you have your lead dialed in your good to go.  I could see it more as an advantage hunting snows where longer shots are made.

[EWUeagles]

I shoot 2's for geese and 4's for ducks with using cheap ammo...

[birddogdad]

density is crazy for Tungsten.

steel density is like 9, bismuth 11, lead 12 and tungsten 18+. this means (indirectly) that you can shoot 9's in tungsten and its like shooting 4's in lead....  problem is if you decide to jump off the tungsten cliff i priced it at about 180$ for a pure 7# bag at 180$, alloy bags are maybe 30$ less and are density around 14, (still excellent). at 1 1/8oz loads, that is about 14 rounds per lb or about 100 rounds for that in just shot, also special wads ect.... spendy to say the least. Some reload companies are gaining ground on this and will provide load data with purchase of shot. Note the shot bars wont measure and you would have to scale them out. If you are a goose guy, this to me, would be the way to go and would perform better than a factory heavy shot round.

[lghtnquik]

Almost all of that is wrong fyi. Here's the real deal:
Steel- 7.8g/cc cheap
Bismuth- 9.6 $15/lb
HeviX- 9.7 only comes loaded
Tungsten Matrix- 10.6 only comes loaded
Lead- 11 cheap
HeviShot- 12 $25/lb
HW13-13 $23/lb
HW15- 15 $32/lb
TSS- 18 $55/lb

For handloading the current cost of Bismuth is a great way to go. You increase pellet counts and knockdown i.e. #5 bis hits and kills like #3 steel but you get a 31% increase in pellets 199 vs 152 per oz. rotometals.com is the source. Their bis is great because they use US pellet sizing where as some like Rio were using Euro sizing which is almost a size smaller #5 actually equaled #6.

Oh and to answer your question I've been less than impressed with HeviX. I'd buy Kent bismuth all day instead.

density is crazy for Tungsten.

steel density is like 9, bismuth 11, lead 12 and tungsten 18+. this means (indirectly) that you can shoot 9's in tungsten and its like shooting 4's in lead....  problem is if you decide to jump off the tungsten cliff i priced it at about 180$ for a pure 7# bag at 180$, alloy bags are maybe 30$ less and are density around 14, (still excellent). at 1 1/8oz loads, that is about 14 rounds per lb or about 100 rounds for that in just shot, also special wads ect.... spendy to say the least. Some reload companies are gaining ground on this and will provide load data with purchase of shot. Note the shot bars wont measure and you would have to scale them out. If you are a goose guy, this to me, would be the way to go and would perform better than a factory heavy shot round.

[birddogdad]

 

the focus i had was toward pure tungsten comparison  nothing alloy related, my numbers are close enough for the discussion 2mm TSS (or 9's ) will hit like 4's lead when you do the dumb down math (density 2 / density 1) * shot size density 2 = shot size of density 1. Though TSS shows 18-18,5, pure Tungsten is 19.3. For sure smaller shot = more/ increase in pattern density my point was at that $$ much a pound  for tungsten, who really wants to use it? A pound is a pound, how many loads can you create with a pound of shot? answer - not enough to make it close to worth shooting. So the alloys are cheaper,  pure tungsten is from a impact and density perspective unbeatable, just impractical from a price point. the only inaccurate item i put in was 7# vs 3 for weight of TSS for cost.. happy fingers... maybe in future, prices will lower but doubtful.

[syoungs]

Took a honker at 60+ yards using 3" bb shot heavy x a week or so ago. Hit it like a freight train.
I think its cost prohibitive for me to shoot heavy x at ducks, though I may buy a box of #4 just to see how well it works.

I'm leaning towards rolling my own rounds for next year, still expensive though.

[huntingfool7]

If you roll your own tungsten loads, you'll be loading better shot than Hevi X.  All other loose tungsten shot is denser. Best thing about Hevi is the name, everything that they actually produce is hype. 

As lghtnquik stated above the density is about the same as bismuth.  You can get that from Rotometals for $15.00/lb.