Steel shot safe?

Traumadoc

I have just returned home from Australia, and was wondering about using the "family" shotgun - Its a winchester 101 that we bought about 1982, it probably has not been shot in 7-8 years ,does anyone know if its safe to use "steelshot"?

Rovi

Welcome home!

According to my trusty '2005 Standard Catalog of Firearms,' the 101 was manufactured from 1963 to 1987, but screw-in chokes only came standard from 1983. As yours was bought around 1982, it probably has fixed chokes. Am I correct?

Winchester's website (http://www.winchesterguns.com) doesn't have any particular information on using steel shot in a 101, but a bit of Googling throws up some anecdotal stuff:
Basically, people are saying that you shouldn't fire steel shot through a full choke, and as the early (fixed choke) 101s usually came with one full choke barrel they recommend against using steel shot in them.
The 'steel shot + full choke = bad' thing is generally more to do with steel shot patterning tighter than lead, but apparently the 101 has pretty thin walled barrels (light weight + good handling) and people are fearful of doing damage with steel shot through the full choke.
If you have screw-in chokes or neither of your fixed chokes is 'full,' the general 'Internet Wisdom' is that steel shot is fine in a 101.
Once again, all this is anecdotal, so don't come crying to me if you end up looking like Wile E. Coyote with a 'banana peel' barrel, a blackened face, and your hair on fire!

The right thing to do would be to contact Winchester and ask them, and have a gunsmith check out the gun, especially as it's been sitting idle for years.
In the meantime, and provided the gun isn't obviously damaged or faulty, I'd stick with regular ol' lead shot.
Another environmentally friendly alternative to lead is Hevi-Shot (http://www.hevishot.com). Remington supply cartridges loaded with this stuff, although I've never seen it here in Ireland.

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Traumadoc

Thanks for that.