B&P Ammo

airmedic1

airmedic1

Active member
Recently on this forum I read some nasty comments about the B&P shells. I replied that I thought they were rubbish so...........
I spent the last few days in Kansas hunting wild roosters and quail with my AYA 453 12b. I used the B&P High Pheasant 2.5" with 1 OZ of #6 shot and managed to kill my limit. On two days I shot 4 roosters with 6 shots. The first day I killed two rooster and three quail with 8 shots.
I don't think that I would have done any better with Prairie Storm or any of the other premium ammo.
There is nothing wrong with the B&P ammo, I think it's pretty good stuff!! Pics to follow.
 
I just did some pattern testing of the #5 and #6 MB Long Range shells, they performed very well up to 40 yards with a 30 inch circle. They also had as many hits at 40 yards as Prairie Storm loads using a modified choke. Definitely the lowest recoil of any high brass pheasant load I have seen. Look forward to trying a box in the field in the future.
 
I've been looking into buying some also for my 28ga sxs. The 15/16th oz loads @1300fps should keep my 28 in the pheasant fields all year, my 20ga will be very disappointed next season if they pattern well.:D
 
Iv'e been using the HIgh Pheasant with great success all year long. I swithched to 12b when I broke the stock on my Merkel 1620.
I have a buddy that shoots the Federal pheasant loads at 1450 fps. I'm using the 1 oz loads at 1180 fps, we kill the same amount of pheasants and I do it cheaper with less recoil.
 
Here is their website: http://bandpusa.com/
Other than buying it directly from them it is hard to find locally is the only thing I have found unfortunately. They do have free shipping on cases which is a good deal.
 
The High Pheasant 2.5" load is for an English game gun I think.
 
I'm not questioning the quality of the B&P shells but I do question their use when there are equal loads, at the same or better prices, that are readily available from Federal, Remington and Winchester. I realize B&P does make some loads for old guns that require a 2 1/2" shell in 12 ga. or 2 5/8" in 16 ga. But for standard 2 3/4" I see no advantage. Maybe someone can shed some light on this. Am I missing something? :confused:
 
Dakotazeb said:
I'm not questioning the quality of the B&P shells but I do question their use when there are equal loads, at the same or better prices, that are readily available from Federal, Remington and Winchester. I realize B&P does make some loads for old guns that require a 2 1/2" shell in 12 ga. or 2 5/8" in 16 ga. But for standard 2 3/4" I see no advantage. Maybe someone can shed some light on this. Am I missing something? :confused:
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I agree that any quality load from those companies you mentioned will readily kill any pheasant if you put the gun in the right place. There's no magic bullets. (sorry);)

The reasons I shoot B&P exclusively is because I've taken the time to evaluate the best loads from most of the major manufacturers & found these to rank near the top in consistency of shot size & hardness. (Federals were also very good)

I have the enviable position of being asked to shoot birds almost every weekend for a pro spaniel trainer so I go through a lot of shells in a year. If I buy 3 flats at a time, B&P has a 10% discount. A box of 1 1/4 oz. nickle plated, 5% antimony shells cost me $10.80 (no tax) and they're delivered to my door.

Quite often the pro asks me to ride a bird out as far as I can in order to challenge the dog he's training so I often take shots on pen raised pheasants that I'd never take on wild birds and the B&P's will drop them if I do my part.

After about 3 yrs shooting these loads exclusively, I've killed a lot of ridiculously long birds which gives me confidence in my shell/choke set up.

So basically, "if it ain't broke....."
 
I personally l like the light recoil and the fact that I can successfully kill with a 2.5" 1oz shell when others need a 3" 1 1/2 oz to get the same results. The $8 a box price doesn't hurt either. I haven't seen HIGH QUALITY Winchester or Federal for $8 a box for a long time! !!
 
Nimrod said:
I agree that any quality load from those companies you mentioned will readily kill any pheasant if you put the gun in the right place. There's no magic bullets. (sorry);)

The reasons I shoot B&P exclusively is because I've taken the time to evaluate the best loads from most of the major manufacturers & found these to rank near the top in consistency of shot size & hardness. (Federals were also very good)

I have the enviable position of being asked to shoot birds almost every weekend for a pro spaniel trainer so I go through a lot of shells in a year. If I buy 3 flats at a time, B&P has a 10% discount. A box of 1 1/4 oz. nickle plated, 5% antimony shells cost me $10.80 (no tax) and they're delivered to my door.

Quite often the pro asks me to ride a bird out as far as I can in order to challenge the dog he's training so I often take shots on pen raised pheasants that I'd never take on wild birds and the B&P's will drop them if I do my part.

After about 3 yrs shooting these loads exclusively, I've killed a lot of ridiculously long birds which gives me confidence in my shell/choke set up.

So basically, "if it ain't broke....."
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Nimrod,
Thanks for posting this, was good info.
B&P claims using Nickel plating it reduces feather draw. Would you agree with that just curious?
 
Bird Buster said:
Nimrod,
Thanks for posting this, was good info.
B&P claims using Nickel plating it reduces feather draw. Would you agree with that just curious?
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I've read that too. I will say that the vast majority of pellets (#5s) shoot all the way through the bird. Those that don't usually are found pressed up against the skin.

There are a couple other things to mention about these shells though. I think the case lip must be a little thinner than some American shells because I know a couple guys who have had trouble with them in their O/Us that had sloppy ejectors. The other think you'll notice is that the shell boxes are very flimsy. I've noticed this on other European/English shells as well.
 
Nimrod said:
I've read that too. I will say that the vast majority of pellets (#5s) shoot all the way through the bird. Those that don't usually are found pressed up against the skin.

There are a couple other things to mention about these shells though. I think the case lip must be a little thinner than some American shells because I know a couple guys who have had trouble with them in their O/Us that had sloppy ejectors. The other think you'll notice is that the shell boxes are very flimsy. I've noticed this on other European/English shells as well.
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I think the theory behind nickel plating drawing less feathers is because of the slickness or smoothness of the plating not the hardness of the shot. Basically the nickel plating is done over magnum shot so hardness probably wouldn't change much anyway.
 
birdshooter said:
I think the theory behind nickel plating drawing less feathers is because of the slickness or smoothness of the plating not the hardness of the shot. Basically the nickel plating is done over magnum shot so hardness probably wouldn't change much anyway.
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That is definitely the concept they are referring to. I will be shooting some of these this weekend and will report back my findings. I have seen some bad feather draw issues with typical lead loads from the regular manufacturers.
 
There is both an advantage in penetration, and feather draw, in both nickel and copper "plated" shot. The rub comes in that there is precious little plated nickel shot available, and NO copper plated shot currently manufactured, since Winchester did away with theirs. Fiochi "golden pheasant", I believe is actually plated, and I'm sure there are others, but all copper currently, and most nickel is "washed", with either metal, and thus becomes a marketing tool, trading on the good name of performance years past, without duplicating the quality, or performance.
 
tmrichardson said:
I think I have heard that they are very dirty loads too--or perhaps I mistaking them for RST's?

I wouldn't claim that 2 1/2" shells are the equivalent of 3" in any loading--but they do the job if you shoot straight. Good stuff for the recoil sensitive. If you like lots of shot or high velocity for the shot in the load I don't think you can find it in such loads however--whereas with Fiocchi/Win/Rem/Federal you can.
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Yes, you're likely mistaking them for RSTs. RSTs are indeed filthy, not that it bothers me. B&P not so much.
 
Regardless of the quality or whatever, why would you shoot B&P shells that are made in Itally when there are as good, or better, shells made right here in the USA and offered at basically the same price and readily available.

I try to buy American made products when possible. Not always the case but I at least try.
 
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