Page 66 - GUNS Issue n.01

AMMunItIons BAschieri & PellAgri MygrA Duck MAgnuM 12/76

Winning combination

A new lead-free cartridge designed for waterfowl hunting that is characterized by
a special structure that combines two different materials: copper and galvanized
iron. The intermediate load, progressive powder and specific wad for lead-free
cartridges give homogeneous and tight patterns even at medium-long distances

Text and photos by Marco Caimi

aterfowl hunting is practiced mainly in wetlands, where the use of
lead ammunition is forbidden almost everywhere.
W For this reason, many companies have dedicated
considerable efforts to the production of lead-free shotgun
cartridges capable of guaranteeing ballistic performance
similar to that of lead ammo. The cheapest choice is certainly
steel which, however, does not always guarantee sufficient
performance. Tungsten, bismuth and copper offer decidedly
superior performance in terms of damage and penetration,
but they have a significantly higher cost. Baschieri & Pellagri
was among the first companies that tried to find a “third
solution” capable of combining high performance and an
acceptable price point. From this idea came the new
Mygra Duck Magnum 12 gauge ammo, which
is characterized by shots made of copper and
galvanized iron. This solution is similar to
that used for another lead-free cartridge made
by Baschieri & Pellagri, the Dual Shock, which
however used only copper pellets of two different 1
sizes, characterized only by a different surface finish.
Iron and copper
As anticipated, the peculiarity of this cartridge is the choice of using pellets 1_The new Mygra Duck Magnum
by Baschieri & Pellagri is a 12
made of two different materials, arranged in two layers. The upper layer gauge lead-free cartridge made for
consists of #4 (3.1 mm diameter) copper pellets, while the lower layer waterfowl hunting.
consists of #3 (3.25 mm diameter) galvanized iron pellets. The two shots, of
different material and size, actually have a similar weight: 0.13 grams for a 2_The cartridge is loaded with 16
#4 copper shot and 0.16 grams for a #3 iron shot, a weight that is comparable grams of #4 copper pellets and 18
to that of a #5 lead shot (approximately 0.14 grams). With pellets of the grams of #3 galvanized iron pellets.
same material, placing the larger pellets in the lower layer would have been The pellets are arranged in two
layers, those made of copper at the
counterproductive, as they would have reached a higher speed, overtaking top and those made of iron at the
and scattering the smaller ones arranged above. By using materials with a bottom. The pellets practically have
different weight, the pellets in the lower layer are indeed larger, but they the same weight.
have a similar weight to those of the upper layer, so they reach similar
speeds. In this way the shot pattern remains tight and homogeneous,
improving shots taken at medium-long distances. The copper in the
upper layer, in addition, has a higher sectional density than iron, 9.1
2
against 7.8 g/cm , therefore it acts as a “pathfinder”, maintaining a
higher terminal energy. Each cartridge has 16 grams (120 shots) of
copper shots and 18 grams (123 shots) of galvanized iron shots, for a
total weight of 34 grams. The pellets are of excellent quality and we did 2

64 ammunitions_Baschieri & Pellagri Mygra Duck MagnuM 12/76