I used steel shot for several years, and hated its performance on ducks and geese. This past weekend I was on a duck hunt in upstate New York and had a blast (literally). I was shooting a Remington 11-87 SP 12 guage, with a comp-n-choke imp.cylinder using Hevi-shot, high velocity 6's. My 3 friends and I limited out (6 duck apiece), 2 days in a row. Thats 48 ducks total, and not a single cripple was lost. When you hit them with Hevi-shot, they just fold up and die. Expensive stuff, but worth it.