A single shot would bring down whole flocks of geese and ducks. There weren't any cripples that were able to fly away only to die a long suffering death.

But other than that not a whole lot different than today. You still had to wait until the birds were within range. But lead did reach out depending on the size of shot you were using. For waterfowl I shot mostly #2 or T shot depending on which shotgun I was using. #2's were mostly for ducks and the T's were pulled out for geese.

 

I shot 1.25 oz. #6’s for ducks and 1.25oz #4’s for Geese.
They were both swarms of death, especially the load of 6’s.
Buy a box for sometimes less than five dollars and get them from Coast to Coast, Scaggs, Kmart, Alpha Beta, Wolfs, Smiths Food King, you get the idea….
TSS is even more efficient than lead, I just won’t pay the price and prefer to work the bird or just give it a free pass if I can’t get them under 30.
Steel is deadly at the correct ranges.

 

Lead shot was such a simple killer. But back in the day those vintage shotguns were choked tighter and had smaller bores than the newer overbored shotguns of today. I remember my dad blowing up roosters with his Rem model 31. Those old model 31's and model 12's shot like rifles.

I was around 20 when my uncle got out of hunting. I bought his old Pacific 366 press and all his components from him. There was a 8lb keg of Herco powder that came with it. So the 12ga load of choice was somewhere around 27 grains of Herco 1 1/4oz of lead #6, 5 or 4's in a AA hull. Those loads would kill about anything you wanted. Reloading lead shot was so forgiving. So long as you were close to the recipe you were fine. But I was younger then lol. Lead shot and the powders then didn't seem to have the pressure spikes like the nontoxic shot of today. And back in the 80's you could get loading components almost anywhere. They were plentiful and hoarding wasn't a issue.

Here's a pic of some vintage shotshell boxes of days gone by.

 

Lead shot was such a simple killer. But back in the day those vintage shotguns were choked tighter and had smaller bores than the newer overbored shotguns of today. I remember my dad blowing up roosters with his Rem model 31. Those old model 31's and model 12's shot like rifles.

I was around 20 when my uncle got out of hunting. I bought his old Pacific 366 press and all his components from him. There was a 8lb keg of Herco powder that came with it. So the 12ga load of choice was somewhere around 27 grains of Herco 1 1/4oz of lead #6, 5 or 4's in a AA hull. Those loads would kill about anything you wanted. Reloading lead shot was so forgiving. So long as you were close to the recipe you were fine. But I was younger then lol. Lead shot and the powders then didn't seem to have the pressure spikes like the nontoxic shot of today. And back in the 80's you could get loading components almost anywhere. They were plentiful and hoarding wasn't a issue.

Here's a pic of some vintage shotshell boxes of days gone by.
View attachment 165296

Nice collection Jerry, want an 8 gauge Winchester Super X paper shell to add to your collection?

 

Jeff, it killed them graveyard dead. When I first started hunting ducks at the tender, young age of 19, I shot a Western pump 16 GA with Remington #6 Field loads. It was deadly out to 40 yards when I did my part correctly. It had a fixed FULL choke.

At age 26, I got my dream gun – an Ithaca SKB 20 GA Model 500; IC choke bottom, MOD choke top. I still have that gun and still take it out on ducks a couple times a year. I always shot 3”, #6 Remington shells on ducks and geese. Again, anything out to 40 yards was in trouble when I did my part. I had very few cripples back then; most birds were a clean miss or dead in the air.

I bought a Remington 3200 Field model (2 ¾” chamber) with MOD & FULL choles in the late 70s and started shooting buffered hand loads of #5 shot with GREX. Think Winchester XX Magnums. Those loads patterned 93%/92% at 40 yards and 78%/74% at 60 yards. Fifty-yard kills were common and my longest was a witnessed drake mallard kill going straight away at 70 paces.

When steel finally became mandatory in the Pacific Flyway, I sold 3 cases of those buffered loads to a friend in Texas that guided on a preserve near Dallas. He used them to finish off birds AFTER his 2 or 3 clients had emptied their guns and the bird was still in the air. He shot them with his Grandpa’s LC Smith SXS, choked MOD & FULL.

We’ve come a LONG way in making steel a solid 40-yard killer of ducks and geese. But they still don’t do what the lead pellets did back in the 70s and early 80s.

When I was a kid, my dad used to take me down to a goose shooting place called the ‘High Banks’ near Allegan, MI. It was pass shooting only and the most common load was 2 ¾”, 00 Buck shot with kills out to 100 yards. All it took was one of those 9 pellets to hit the head, wing, or heart and down those geese came.

Steel will never equal what lead could do, but the new tungsten 12g/cc & 18g/cc loads are way better – if you can afford to buy them. 😁

 

When non-tox loads were mandated in the States, the first year or two or so non-tox was only required in the State and Fed Waterfowl Refuges and Management areas.
You could kill birds with lead on a non government property then next day if on a government bird property you better not have that lead on you.

 

Did you work in coal-fired boilers?

 

Well heck ya if you're willing to part with it.

 

Consider one yours!
I have about 90 and am willing to share.
3oz lead slug load!

 

Good info so far everyone, thanks! I’ve often wondered how it was when I hear the marketing pitch of ammo companies stating, “xyz shells are better than lead.”

I’ve used the old hevi-shot goose and TSS and have always been impressed by what they can do. I know 2 3/4” 1 3/8oz #4 lead can absolutely crush pheasants and sharptails at extended ranges, I guess it would be no different with ducks and geese.

 

One way to me that I've used to imagine the difference is to occasionally swap out my lead shells for steel when ptarmigan hunting. It is absurd how much better the lead performs than the steel on upland, so I can easily see the same improvement for waterfowl.

But the few times I've used tss for upland it is as much better than lead, than lead is to steel. If I ever win the lottery the first sign is gonna be shooting tss for everything.

 

Lead was a slam dunk on birds. Shoot, and the bird would fall dead most the time.

I reloaded for everything in the 70's-80's. Used AA hulls, Bluedot and Unique powder, and #6 for ditch parrots and ducks. Loaded a 6/2 duplex for geese with a polimere buffer in the shot. That was one hell of a goose killing load.

Once steel was required statewide, (Juab was one of the last county's to allow lead) I sold all my decoys, boat and waterfowl crap. Only to regret that decision five years later.

 

I was still a teenager when lead was outlawed and non-toxic (steel) was required instead. I do remember lead hitting harder than steel does today, but it wasn’t the panacea or silver bullet. You still had to know how to shoot, and if you couldn’t put the patter on the bird, it still flew away.

One of my favorite memories was hunting a river in OK during a hard freeze. It was a bluebird day but ducks were using the river as it was one of the few open spots around. It was getting close to mid-day and thing had slowed down. Blue skies, no wind, absolutely calm….and then the unmistakable, raspy call of a drake mallard broke the stillness. We looked and looked and couldn’t pick him up (you know how ducks blend in with a blue sky when they’re high). After a minute or two, I finally saw him WAAAAYYY up in the stratosphere (or maybe it was just 75-80 yds). He was well outside normal range but with a 12 gauge 30” barrel with a poly choke (I don’t remember the model) and slow action, I dialed that poly to extra full, raised up and dropped that duck dead! Even in his crumpled state, it still took him forever to hit the ground with a satisfying thump. My friends just looked at me in awe and couldn’t believe I’d dropped him. Being a teenager, I just played it off as if it happened every hunt (which it didn’t), but man was it cool that day. Looking back, I honestly probably just hit him with one pellet in the head, but I prefer the scenario where the pattern (what little there was at that range) center punched him.

The one thing that was absolutely frustrating when steel came out was poor patterning and TONS of cripples. Steel just didn’t do the job very well for 5-6 years after the switch. We finally settled on some buffered 3” 3s” in Fiocchi hulls (I don’t remember powder grains, but is was 1 1/4 oz. steel) and those loads worked pretty good, but they still didn’t hit like lead. Now, if I can’t get birds inside 40 yds, I rarely pull the trigger. I’d rather see them decoy, and can’t let them do that if I’m pass shooting everything. Too expensive to blaze away with two boxes of shells for a limit of birds. I’ll let others finance the ammo companies’ retirement packages 😉

 

You still had to know how to shoot, and if you couldn’t put the patter on the bird, it still flew away.

Nothing has changed in that regard - you STILL have to put the pattern on the bird. Shooting 20,000 clay targets a year at Skeet, Trap, & Sporting Clays helps a lot in that regard.

 

It was unquestionably better, but the clowns blasting away along the dikes at Farmington Bay still missed their 150 yard barrages at a lonely shoveler flying over, it never made me a better shot, and yes, it was easier to reload.

I still have a bunch in the safe.

 

Awesome. It was awesome. I remember hunting with my dad and uncles as a kid. I also remember them cussing steel. I remember one uncle carried steel with him but rarely shot it.

I remember 3" steel shells. I also remember I think Winchester steel shells which I think were coating in plastic and a metal brass hull inside, but they looked all plastic. I thought they were so cool. Reddish pink shells.

 

Awesome. It was awesome. I remember hunting with my dad and uncles as a kid. I also remember them cussing steel. I remember one uncle carried steel with him but rarely shot it.

I remember 3" steel shells. I also remember I think Winchester steel shells which I think were coating in plastic and a metal brass hull inside, but they looked all plastic. I thought they were so cool. Reddish pink shells.

You sure those weren’t ‘Activ’ shells?
Remember when everyone thought ‘Activ’ shells were a bargain but there were only 20 in a box.

 

Some guys have mentioned reloading lead. I have a funny story about reloading (to me anyways).

Back in the mid 80's when the gsl level was still high and ducks seemed scarse. We used to go hunt Clear lake WMA. At that time you could still shoot lead down there. Back then that marsh overflowing with water. The marsh on the north end was beautiful! And hoards of ducks and geese. It was an oasis in the middle of nowhere that was beautiful. A friend and myself were down there hunting one day. Ducks were dropping in pretty good about 1/4 mile north of us. He says to me I'm going to walk over there and see what it looks like. He walks down there and bumps some ducks. He shoots and it sounds like a howitzer going off. I thought good hell that's loud. The town of Delta probably heard those shots. He hangs down there for awhile and shoots a few. When he shoots I just can't believe how loud it is. He works his way back and I ask him WTF are you shooting? He proceeds to tell me how wonderful his reloading recipe is. And how it just smokes ducks. I say hand me one of your shells. He does and it weighs like hardly anything. I'm comparing the weight of his shell to the weight of mine. He tells me his recipe is so many grains of bluedot and a ounce and a quarter of #4 lead. I tell him BS compare the weight of these two shells. He was loading on a old Pacific 155 at the time. Not the greatest press. I cut his shell open and it hardly has any pellets in it! I say to him you DA you put the charge bar in backwards!!! Your shooting a ounce and a quarter of bluedot powder and 30 grains of pellets.

He says I wondered why I was going through some much powder. Lucky he didn't blow his gun up.

 

Smaller shot size. More pellets remaining in the bird. No psychological need for 12 ga. 3.5" magnums.

 

Lead load velocities are less than steel. 1250 fps - 1550 fps. it only took me a box of steel to realize I was in front of the bird almost all the time. That's why I wasn't 7 shots to 7 birds down.

 

The Activ shells I have are 25/box:

This is all I have left of lead shot for waterfowl. Note the Federal 3" loads on the right are 1 7/8oz, for turkey:

 

The Activ shells I have are 25/box:

View attachment 165347

This is all I have left of lead shot for waterfowl. Note the Federal 3" loads on the right are 1 7/8oz, for turkey:

View attachment 165348

Lead Activs were 25/box.
The steel Activs were 20/box.
Nice collection!

 

Activ's made nice reloads. Very spacious hull and didn't rust.

 

I remember Wyoming being the last state to mandate non-toxic shot in fear of losing some Federal tax dollars. So I tried the steel. Good grief, I didn't realize how bad a shot I was until I used steel. Then there's chokes. Never paid much attention to chokes until steel. Many of my friends, my dad, quit duck hunting altogether.

After a couple of duck hunts with steel I quit waterfowling altogether. (The wife n kids were never happier.....and, geeze, I thought I was a pretty good cook.) Think I quit for 3 years before I got back into it again, teaching myself to shot ducks and geese at 25 yards, not 40. Like Mrs Goob always said: "How many %%#* ducks do you need anyway?"

I worked oil n gas when steel was mandated down in Louisiana and Texas. Before the waterfowl opener they would always have big racks and end caps of lead #6s and #4s next to the steel shot duck n goose hunt ammo displays. Oddly, the lead would sell out first. Change came slow for steel some places.

I pick up trash, empties, where I hunt ducks n geese; the river around town, the marsh around the GSL You'd be surprised how many empty lead shells are out there. I have a lot of old lead shot shells. Many of the plastic lead shells have lost their ID stamps but look just like their steel shot shell cousins. Sometimes they accidentally get mixed up with my steel shot shells. Life is good.

 

Back in the old days I'd shoot anything that flew over. Even spoonies, not knowing any better.

It's not clear to me that lead was much more lethal than modern steel loads, probably because of my master eye problem. But I'm a much better waterfowl hunter now than then. I have complete confidence in steel loads produced after 2000. But then I shoot more with a camera these days.