Lots of big pellets in a nasty deadly pattern. The rest doesn't really matter as far as plain ol steel goes . I pass shoot more than anything so I'm a fan of the bb or bbbs--they'll do the trick near or far. Gimme the biggest load of shot I can have and still run 1400-1500fps. From there it's about how the gun will shoot 'em. I've had success from Federal/premium, remington, kent, estate, winchester..... If you only have a 3" gun, I'd be curious to see how the hevi-metals worked for you with the increased pellet counts they have.