New hunting loads from HEVI-Shot

Most of Canada is in the middle of hunting season right now … and for many Canadian hunters, their local ammunition counter is looking pretty empty. But, even as supply chain issues in North America might mean ammo shortages, the ammo industry in the US continues to develop new rounds for smacking down winged and four-legged prey.

HEVI-Shot makes hunting ammunition loaded with non-toxic, heavier-than-steel pellets. With environmental groups first pushing lead shot out of usage for waterfowl hunting, and now starting to do the same with upland hunting in some North American regions, HEVI-Shot's pellets retain the downrange energy that many hunters want, but find missing with steel shot.

HEVI-Shot initially targeted customers hunting ducks and geese, but for 2021, there's a new HEVI-Hammer Dove series. These cartridges use pellets with a steel core, and an exterior coating of tungsten. Currently, there's a 3-inch 12 gauge offering, pushing a 1-ounce load at 1,350 feet-per-second. There's also a 3-inch 20 gauge load, pushing a .75-ounce load at 1,325 fps. Both the 20 gauge and 12 gauge load are stoked with #7 shot. HEVI-Shot says its design should allow hunters to "go down a size" in shot; in other words, if you shot #6 before, now you should be able to get the same hitting power with HEVI-Shot's #7 load, with better pattern density to boot.

There's also a new HEVI-Hammer Upland offering, which is much the same as the Dove loads, but with heavier #3 pellets, for larger birds such as pheasants. These cartridges are available for 12 gauge and 20 gauge shotguns with 3-inch chambers. The 12 gauge loads push 1-3/8 ounces or 1-1/8 ounces of shot at 1350 fps; the 20 gauge loads push 1 ounce or 7/8 ounce of shot at 1325 fps.

HEVI-Shot also announced HEVI-XII, a new non-toxic offering for waterfowl hunters. HEVI-Shot offers 3-inch HEVI-XII loads for 12, 20 and 28 gauges. You can find #2, #4 and #6 shot loads for 12 gauge, and #4 and #6 loads for 20 gauge and 28 gauge. HEVI-Shot says the new tungsten-based HEVI-XII pellets are so dense that hunters can drop three pellet sizes for the same downrange power. The new ammunition comes in loads ranging from 7/8 ounce to 1 1/4 ounce.

So far, we haven't seen either offered in Canada yet; if you want some, best plan on waiting 'til 2022. Take a look at HEVI-Shot's catalogue and let your dealer know what you want. Get ready to pay: MSRP for the HEVI-XII shells is about two bucks around in the States. In Canada? Expect to pay a lot more.