Tim, did/have you ever tested any of the other manufactures of plated shot such as Lawrence shot as you did Eagle? We all know Eagle shot is softest out there anyhow so for you to find their plated to be soft as well is really not much of a surprise.
I got my spill cleaned up...mostly.
This is a post from a while back:
nitro27man and jmac_cope sent me some number 4 and 5 pellets to see how hard they are.
jmac_cope sent a sample of pellets out of a Fiocchi Golden Pheasant cartridge, as well as some bagged Lawrence, and Ballistic Products pellets.
nito27man sent me some pellets out of a Remington Nitro Pheasant cartridge
Ten pellets of each type were tested, measuring the pellet diameter before crushing, and how much the pellet flattened after crushing.
Fiocchi Golden Pheasant Number 4 Nickel Plated
- Average diameter before crushing: 0.128" (this falls within the criteria for Number 4 shot)
- Average crush: 0.023"
By Neil's criteria, this corresponds to "
Medium" hardness.
Ballistic Products Bagged Number 5 Nickel Plated
- Average diameter before crushing: 0.118" (this falls within the criteria for Number 5 shot)
- Average crush: 0.022"
By Neil's criteria, this shot is "
Hard"
This Ballistic Products shot was by far the LEAST spherical. It was very inconsistently sized and there were flat spots all over on the pellets.
Lawrence Bagged Number 5 Copper Plated
- Average diameter before crushing: 0.116" (a bit small but still falls within the criteria for Number 5 shot)
- Average crush: 0.021"
By Neil's criteria, this shot is "
Hard"
Remington Nitro Pheasant Number 5 Copper Plated
- Average diameter before crushing: 0.117" (falls within the criteria for Number 5 shot)
- Average crush: 0.017"
By Neil's criteria, this shot is "
Hard"
Much harder than the other three brands tested. If I had to choose among the four, this would be the one I would choose.
Note, the Remington shot is obviously just "copper washed" since Scott sent it to me folded in a piece of cardboard which was taped shut, and the tape pulled most of the copper off the pellets so they essentially looked like lead pellets with some copper flakes stuck to them.
For the good of the sport!!!