Stars and Stripes 12ga Steel 1 Shot 1-1/8 oz – Proven 25 Round Box

Description

Stars and Stripes 12ga Steel 1 Shot is an affordable high velocity steel load for duck and goose hunters. The 3 inch hull carries 1 1/8 ounces of number 1 steel at 1500 fps, and Cheddite of Italy loads it under the Stars and Stripes label. Twenty five rounds to the box, which is a larger count than most premium waterfowl ammunition ships in.

• Where Number 1 Steel Fits
• Stars and Stripes 12ga Steel 1 Shot Specifications
• Honest Notes on Budget Steel

Where Number 1 Steel Fits

Number 1 steel sits between the number 2 most people default to and the BB size reserved for geese. It carries more energy per pellet than number 2 and still gives a workable pattern count in a 1 1/8 ounce charge, which makes it a sensible choice for big ducks, early season geese and mixed bag days when you do not know what is going to work the spread.

Steel needs to be sized up relative to lead because it is roughly a third less dense. The rough rule is two shot sizes larger, so number 1 steel behaves broadly like number 3 lead used to. If you grew up shooting lead and are picking steel sizes by habit, that conversion is the single most useful thing to remember.

At 1500 fps this is a fast 12 gauge steel waterfowl load, and speed is how budget steel makes up for the pellet count it gives away to premium shells. The pellets arrive with more energy and the lead you have to give a crossing bird is shorter. The tradeoff is recoil, which is noticeably firmer than a 1350 fps load of the same weight.

Stars and Stripes 12ga Steel 1 Shot Specifications

Cheddite has been making hulls, primers, powder and loaded shotshells in Italy since 1901. These are standard 3 inch shells requiring a 3 inch chamber and a barrel proofed for steel shot.

• Line: Stars and Stripes steel
• Gauge: 12 gauge
• Shell length: 3 inches
• Payload: 1 1/8 ounces of steel shot
• Shot size: number 1
• Muzzle velocity: 1500 fps
• Shot material: steel, non toxic
• Quantity: 25 rounds per box
• UPC: 8033343363787
• Manufacturer: Cheddite, Italy

Honest Notes on Budget Steel

Barrel proofing comes first with any steel load and doubly so at 1500 fps. Fixed choke guns built before steel became standard, and older full choke barrels in particular, can be damaged because steel pellets do not deform passing the constriction. If your shotgun is old or its history is unknown, have a gunsmith confirm it is rated for steel before shooting Stars and Stripes 12ga Steel 1 Shot.

Budget steel is budget steel and it is worth being clear about what that means. The pellets are not plated, the wads are not exotic, and patterns will generally be a little less uniform than a premium shell costing three times as much. What you get is enough performance to kill ducks cleanly inside forty yards at a price that lets you actually practise. For a lot of hunters that is the right trade.

Choke selection matters. Fast steel patterns tighter than most people expect, and improved cylinder or modified is usually the right starting point for decoying birds. Full choke with steel often produces a pattern dense in the middle and thin at the edges, which is unforgiving on birds that are not perfectly centred.

Recoil is real at this velocity. 1 1/8 ounces at 1500 fps out of a 3 inch hull kicks harder than the numbers suggest, particularly from a pump gun. Over a long morning it accumulates, and a hunter who has started flinching misses birds that a slower shell would have killed.

We also stock this shell in number 3 shot for smaller ducks and BB shot for geese. The manufacturer publishes its background on the Stripes and Stars Shells website.

Stars and Stripes 12ga Steel 1 Shot suits duck and goose hunters running 3 inch chambered guns who want volume steel at a workable price. MAG5 Firearms is a family owned FFL in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Boxes ship where state and local law allows.