Squounds and Crak-Rs: you read right. Read on

Have you noticed the firearms industry is being driven by new calibers and improvements in ammunition? There's a new cartridge being introduced every month or so it seems. Same goes for shotgun pellets and slugs. "Bring it on," I say. Downrange ballistics, energy transfer and accuracy just get better every year.

The old lead shotgun pellet is evolving so quickly it's hard to say what it might look like in the next decade. First, we hardened it with the addition of up to 6 percent antimony in our high-end target shells. Next we plated it with copper or nickel to make it even harder and less liable to deform.

When we had to get the lead out and switch to steel for our waterfowling, we thought the end of the earth had come, but look what it has brought us -sensationally performing, high density, non-toxic shot types carrying names like Hevi-Shot 13, Federal Ultra-Shok High Density, Winchester Xtended Range Hi-Density, Remington Wingmaster HD.

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Within the last 12 months, the intense focus on pellet density has been replaced by advances reshaping the traditional round pellet itself.

Federal has been a leader in giving us engineered, odd shaped pellets. First was their UltraShok High Density steel pellet featuring a raised belt around its circumference. Shortly thereafter, Federal went totally radical and introduced the FliteStopper steel pellet. Looking like a little "Death Star," this wicked pellet features a raised knife-edge around its circumference while being flattened at both poles. When hitting soft tissue, it doesn't just punch a round hole on through like a spherical pellet, it shreds and cuts and creates a massive cavity as revealed by firing it into ballistic gelatin.

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Loaded by Federal under the "Blackcloud FS Steel" label, their 3" and 3-1/2" 12-gauge shells contain 40 percent FliteStopper pellets mixed with 60 percent standard steel pellets in BBB, BB and No. 2 size. Not only is this a deadly waterfowling combination, but I can attest it's "lights out" for furred varmints if they're within 50 yards of my call.

Then just when I thought the amino innovation game was quieting down, Jay Menefee, President of Polywad, called up and described what must be the most radical pellet design of all. It even beats one of my all time favorites, European cube-cut lead shot, once loaded in spreader rounds.

Squound

Named the "Squound" because it is neither round nor square, Polywad's new Squound reminds me ever so much of a Foster-type slug. As you can see from the image, the Squound has a dome-shaped nose, straight sides and ends with a dished cavity.

With its weight forward, center-of-gravity design, most of Squound pellets will fly nose first like a Foster slug. On impact, some Squounds tumble cutting large ragged cavities in soft tissue while others seem to maintain a nose-first attitude and generate extremely deep wound channels. Squounds also tend to produce a slightly more open pattern than traditional round pellets.

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The waterfowl season has long passed, but my jackrabbit-for-dog-meal hunting with the 12-gauge, 3-inch, 1-1/8 ounce, No. 3 Squound pre-production loads clocking at 1,375 fps has easily convinced me the Squound will be deadly over decoys this fall.

Gram Crak-R

Along with the pre-production Squound ammunition, Menefee sent some of Polywad's latest .410 Gram Crak-R 2-1/2" and 3" ammunition loaded with 6 and 7-1/2 shot. The Gram Crak-R shell is a buffered shot, bio-wad marvel that makes a small-gauge gun perform like a bit bigger gun.

The secret is the use of a poly-buffer combined with a craft paper shot cup. This gives you a shot load protected by the poly-buffer as well as by a bore-tiding paper shot cup. Pellet deformation is minimized, and the shot cup tends to hold the shot load together. The end result is a short shot string, producing a tight pattern with a minimum of aberrant pellets. The down range effect is to give the shooter extra killing power at greater ranges, particularly with the smaller gauges.

The .410 is notorious for deforming shot pellets. That long column of pellets squeezed down a small pipe simply guarantees a lot of pellets will be scrubbing up against the sides of the bore. Polywad's new Gram Crak-R system is designed to minimize that effect plus it's as eco-friendly a round as you'll find anywhere.

Shooting the 3", .410 Gram Crak-R loads during the late season dove hunt when the birds are educated and flying fast and high, convinced me Polywad really has something here. My little Winchester Quail Special, bored modified and full, was pulling down birds like a 28-gauge. If you shoot a .410, try this new Polywad shell. Pattern it. I think you will be pleased with its superior performance afield.

If Squounds and Gram Crak-R's aren't enough, remember Polywad is also the source for low pressure 2-1/2" shells for vintage shotguns as well as their famous Spred-R shells and QuikShok sabot slugs.

COPYRIGHT 2008 Publishers' Development Corporation
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning