bent shot

I shot a squirrel on Saturday using 70 gr. Goex 2F and chilled #6 shot, at about 25 yards. In cleaning it I recovered a pellet which was obviously deformed. I know roundballs deform when hitting bone, but never gave much thought to what happens to shot when it does. I took some photos of it to check it out, and was surprised. I also weighed a bunch of the unfired pellets and got an average of about 1.8 grains. This used one weighed only 1.3 grains, so it shed some of its lead just like the big ones do.



Spence

Now that's interesting!

Seen that myself, where did you dig it out from Sir?

Neck bones on small game are favourite for this!

B :hatsoff:

It hit the spine.

Spence

:thumbsup:

Bob I had often wondered that myself :hmm:

I've shot thousand's of birds over the years and have found lead pellets in various states of deformation, depending on what was hit. The ones that were balled up with breast feathers were pretty round. The ones that hit thigh bones were pretty mangled.

Thanks Bob, had never thought much about pellet deformation in small game. Made me remember the old days hunting dove, quail, squirrels and rabbits. My Mom kept a special small bowl on the table. She called it the "shot bowl" and anyone who bit down on a 6 or 7&1/2 pellet during supper in the fall got to toss it in the bowl to see how many we could get in it during the different fall and winter game seasons! :wink:

ouch

My grandma did the same thing. She would put a small bowl on the table when we ate game that had been shot with a shotgun. If we ran across a piece of shot, we just put it in the bowl. She didn't save it, it was just tossed in the trash when the table was cleaned off. It was just a way to ensure that the shot didn't roll off the table and end up on the floor. If a piece of shot ended up on the floor and someone stepped on it, it could damage the linoleum.

Say, you guys obviously ate a ton of lead shot in yer day and you had normal (assuming) kids and are still kicking? Wonder why the condors are subject to birth defect and slow agonizing death from same? Maybe I can get a govt grant and study you guys (on your local ranges and in your kitchens of course) and then go drive around CA looking for condor carcasses to compare? What say? maybe $500,000.00 outta get me started? :idunno:

Bob, i would rather suspect it hit a tree limb first.

That's a possibility, of course.

Spence

Makes me wonder how "chilled" your chilled shot was. Out at 25 yards I don't recall seeing deformation like that in shot as small as #6 on snowshoe hare, ptarmigan, or even on ducks.