You may be right Highdesertwolf, as far as short range work goes. But we all know, as you have pointed out, that steel looses it's down range effect quick because of the lack of density. I was wondering how many pellets are in a typical 3" steel BB, BBB, T, and F shell? Any idea!! I know that a 3" 4 buck has 41 pellets. The reason I am wondering is if there are fewer pellets in a 3" steel compared to the 4 buck, would there really be a noticable difference in effective pattern.
By the way, I went looking for the number of pellets in the steel shells, and happen to find that if you go to Remington web page they have a close out on 3" steel shells in the 2, BB, and BBB with max. dram., 1 1/4oz. load, rated at 1425fps priced at $7.15 a box. Sounds like a good deal. These are Estate Cartridges!
a typical 12ga. 3 inch shell with T's has approx. 62 pellets I couldnt tell you for the smaller size shot. And I have never seen F in a 3 inch shell only in 3.5 inch 12 and 10 ga. shells but if I had to guess id say around 40 to 45 pellets in a 3 inch shell, F shot is just a hair smaller then #4 buck. asfar as pattern there might be a noticeable difference in shot string density, would also depend on the choke and range. as for the deal on shells thats not half bad gonna check it out.