copper plated lead and choke

[#shooter]

I have a Mossberg 835 with the ulti-full turkey choke. The manual says to only use lead shot with it. I went to the store to get some loads to pattern I noticed there wasn’t any lead (only) shot. All I could fine was the copper plated lead. Will this damage the choke?

 

[exoduster18]

Copper-plated lead will not damage the choke so far as I know. I called Remington's customer service to verify this with them when I needed the question answered.......So, no, I don't think it will.....Anybody else have a definitive answer?

 

[kudu]

Should be just fine with plated shot, the plating helps to tighten the pattern up by not letting the lead deform as much exiting the choke. If you were to use steel shot on the Xfull choke it could damage the choke or rip it and the threads out the barrel, but any plated lead is fine.

 

[sargenv]

Actually, I read a study in one of the gun magazines, I think Handloader, where the plated shot vs a hard high antimony shot was negligible. They compared Copper plated, Nickel plated, chilled lead shot with little antimony (< 1%), and high (6%) antimony lead shot. They found that the 6% stuff was every bit as good and in some cases better than the plated shots. It seems that the base shot before plating was softer and the plating didn't really help it become harder overall. I believe that "copper plated lead shot" was initially a way to say that it was higher quality, but no one really could prove it was any better until that research article came out. It certainly is prettier to load, but apparently it doesn't work any better than high quality lead shot with a good amount of Antomony in the alloy. AA's and the Reminton STS's tend to have high quality (read high antimony, 5% or greater) hard and round lead shot as do the premium turkey and field loads as opposed to the walmart cheapies. I never really noticed all that much difference with copper #4's or 3% Antimony #4's back when lead shot was legal for waterfowl. I either hit the bird or I didn't. Since making non-toxic shot mandatory, I've used nothing but steel shot at a high velocity and have not tried any of the alternatives since they are just too expensive for me. They no doubt shoot like lead used to, but at over $1 a round, I'd rather be able to put 5 or 6 of steel downrange for the same price. I may even get lucky and get 2 or 3 birds

In an answer to the person's question, you can shoot lead and plated lead shot through your barrel. The reason they warn to only use lead is that steel or some of the other non-toxic shot can be put through no more than about a modified choke due to their inability to be compressed through tight chokes.

Vince

 

[#shooter]

Great!

Thanks for the info.