Vote on lead shot!

[Benelli4life]

I was wondering how many people like using steel shot and would rather shoot lead at ducks. They need to go back to the old days.

[TMAC]

I dont think that will ever happen. There will be a day where the only lead we shoot might be at clay birds, heck they even consider using non tox sinkers. Dream on.

[Matt D]

I do remember the days of shooting lead at water fowl and some so the newer high density non tox come close. I too believe that we will see more hunting areas requiring non tox. At the end of the day we all might end up shooting pellets made of biodegradable corn gluten.

[birdbrooks]

I was fortunate to shoot lead ammo at ducks and geese in Minnesota and the Mississippi and Central flyways for many years...when there were a lot more of them. Nothing hit and killed as clean as a lead shot pattern. With lead, you got to know your leads on your shots with different loads at different yardages, and get confident in your ability shooting out to 40 yards. That was the rule... shoot no further than 40 yards for a clean kill. The copper plated lead was so good that you could stretch that a few more yards and get away with it.

 

Of course the 40 rule got broken a lot, especially for geese. But 40 yards made sense-- it wasn't just some number that Bob Brister and the ammo experts of the age pulled out of a hat. We knew that with the loads we had to work with--and especially the old style wads and shot cups, which weren't as good as they are now-- any shot pattern past 40 yards broke up too much for a clean kill.

 

Now the loads are faster, the shot strings are super tight and short, and there are so many different loads to choose from. It makes getting familiar with your duck gun that much harder. I suppose Hevi Shot kills just as good as lead or maybe better, but I'll never bust enough caps to get the same shooting groove on ducks with the new loads that we did back then with lead.

 

Lead kills ducks year round if they ingest it--which they did--and it was the right thing to do to listen to the waterfowl biologists and get away from it. As a fisherman I'll have to get used to non lead sinkers and jigs too. I don't like that either but there it is. The vote is no lead.

[Nomaspescado]

I vote no lead.

I am seriously considering getting into reloading steel shot for everything. I don't even like the idea any more of shooting lead at clay pigeons.

I'm not selfish enough to justify *****ing on this world at the expense of future generations.

Call me what you will..

I'm 37 and love the outdoors.

Besides hunting, I enjoy

Hiking

Trail running

Mountain biking

Camping

Fishing

Skiing

(I'm in Hawaii now)

Surfing

Swimming

Freediving

Scuba

Spearfishing

and anything else I can figure out how to do.

Nature has much to offer...Why trash it??

[IdahoDucker]

I see that kalifornia is now requiring nontoxic bullets for deer in some areas. I guess that's fine since the barnes tsx is a great bullet but it's probably an indication of what's coming to the rest of us.

I too got to hunt for several years with lead and I remember feeling sick the first couple of seasons with steel. Between the weak early steel loads and the getting used to how to shoot them I hate to think of all the crippled birds that got away across this country. Now however, steel seems to be just fine as long as you buy the stuff that is going fast enough and learn how to shoot it. I love hevi shot but my wallet doesn't.