CIH(Ret) repliedBecause of its greater density, lead shot will pack a beter punch than steel shot. If you have to use steel shot, you will need to go a size or two larger than you would use for lead shot.

No, you won't get lead poisoning from eating an occasional piece of lead shot. If that were the case, you would have a long history of hunters dying from eating meat that had been shot with lead shot or bullets. Lead has been used as gun projectile material for hundreds of years without a history of lead poisoning from it. This fear of getting lead poisoning from eating meat that has been shot with lead shot is a crock of crap that is being promoted by such anti-hunting groups as PETA and others of their ilk. It is just that, it is a crock of lies.

riverrat15666 repliedBoth will kill the turkey. The lead pellets will not give you poisoning in the turkey. Some environmentalists don't want you to miss the turkey and the lead shot corrodes in the ground and kills everyone.

Right

Steel shot is better for your GUN. Cleaner.

zealous l repliedPersonally i go for steel shot, lead breaks apart therefore tearing moreof the flesh and ruining it, you would have to eat an awful lot of lead to get lead poisoning, lead is lighter so it may go farther but i still would prefer steel.

d20rolls repliedSteel is cleaner...

gizzard girl repliedBeedsarefun is 100% right about everything... but some states are switching to steel shot for turkey as well as waterfowl & you may not be able to use lead legally in your state.

beedsarefunak repliedI would use lead. Lead weighs more per size a #2 lead weighs more than a #2 steel of course. So with more weight it has more retained energy. When they went to steel shot for waterfowl I saw an immediate difference. Number 4 shot steel just didn’t drop ducks like the #4 lead did. I had more cripples and fly aways. Inspecting the steel shot penetration in birds, small game and ballistic gel, it was clear it didn’t penetrate as well as lead.

As far as it poisoning the meat, lol, I ate all sorts of game shot with lead shot since I was a baby over half a century ago and it hasn’t harmed me or any of my family or kin. And I would much rather find a soft lead shot in the meat with my teeth than a hard steel shot!

Steel shot is hard on the gun. I have seen a few shotguns with scoring inside the barrel from steel shot.
Steel shot can’t be used in full chokes and X-full turkey chokes can be dangerous shooting steel shot in. Steel doesn’t compress like lead.
Steel rusts, I have seen the whole steel shot load turn into a solid mass of rust in shells that weren’t sealed well.

So there ya go, a few reasons why I don’t like steel shot. I use heavy shot for waterfowl now but steel never gets fired in any of my guns.