16ga.com ~ View topic

Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 3177 Location: NCWa

I see Kent tungsten Matrix and bismuth shot listed in a recent Cabela's ad. the TM is about $3/shot while the Bismuth is $1.50. I know the TM is very good, but is it worth twice the price?

Member Joined: 15 Mar 2007 Posts: 601 Location: Virginia

It's worth it if you value the shells more than the money.

the price of hunting loads is a small fraction of the cost of hunting. I use the best ammo I can get so as to promote the success of the hunting and clean kills on the birds I hunt.Or ammunition is the wrong place to economize.

I use both. If I am hunting geese or in an area where the next shot can be at ducks or geese, I use TM. If mainly ducks, I use bismuth. Although cost is a consideration, I tend to watch auctions and sales for the TM. The new bismuth is much more reasonable than the old stuff at auction, so I just get that off the market or reload as needed.

Regards,

Chuck

Joined: 13 Oct 2015 Posts: 348

Not sure where you'd get 16ga Tungsten Matrix, Kent's website doesn't list that as a product they make anymore. Just Bismuth.

I just wrote up a long page titled "Best 20ga Goose Load", where I looked at all the various bismuth and TM and Hevi products from a ballistics standpoint. It's pertinent because it gives good range comparisons between bismuth and TM in the speeds commercially available (in 20ga.). The analysis is for geese, so I used 1000'msl, 32F, and a ballistic gel penetration of 2.25" with assumtion a 20ga hunter would be shooting them front quarter coming into the decoys.

If you can get past it being 20ga and the fact that the METRIC used to compare them is 2.25", which may not be what you're after (you didn't say), then the DIFFERENCES between various bismuth and TM payload/speed combos is relevant for any gauge. Here's the excerpt for you covering bismuth and TM:
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Both Rio and Kent are making Bismuth shot. It’s density is around 9.7 g/cm3, better than steel but not as good as Tungsten Matrix below which is around 10.7. The Kent Tungsten Matrix is the best choice if you don’t use a Hevi-Shot product above, and it’s a great one:

Kent Tungsten Matrix #3 shot 3″, 1-1/8oz loading: 53.1 yards 122 pellets
http://kentgamebore.com/products/bismuth-premium-shotshells.html#product-150

Rio bismuth with 3 shot actually American #4 shot: 24.3 yards
This would be much better if it was actually #3 shot, but reviews from folks who have bought and measured it show it strangely to be “English sized” despite being made in either Europe or America, which both use the same shot sizes.
http://www.rioammo.com/rio_bismuth.html

Kent Bismuth only comes in #5 and #6, 1oz @ 1200fps, that’s just too small, penetrating 2.25″ gel to only 17 yards or so, which any steel would do, so I’d pass on that.
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Kent 16ga bismuth is the same as the 20ga, #5/6 only, 1oz, but at 1300fps. That gives 17yds for 2.25" penetration, and 40yds for 1.5" (commonly used to represent large ducks).

Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 3177 Location: NCWa

Hevi-shot??

http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=740165&destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fproduct.jsp%3FproductId%3D706234%26type%3Dproduct

Member Joined: 24 Jan 2007 Posts: 467 Location: SC PA

There is no known source of TM reloading data of which I'm aware. You'd most likely have a long costly road ahead if you were to try loading your own.

Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 3177 Location: NCWa