LEAD FOR PELLETS/BULLETS??? A BAD THING???

[speardafish 0]

Hi all.

 

I would like to begin a worthwhile discussion/debate.

 

I do not mean to pre-suppose or believe i am right, i'm hear to learn and get ideas and constructive discussion. I have been hunting in all forms for years and love both hunting and nature i believe it is up to people like us, who live quite close to nature to be aware of how to improve what we do.. i keep racking my brains trying to justify the use of lead as shot.

 

Right: THE OLD DEBACLE....SHOULD WE STOP USING LEAD?

 

Starting at the top of the scale we have shotguns. Crudely calculating, how much 20grams of shot in any old cartridge (please correct me those who know), in a clay pigeon ground how many millions of rounds are fired, even if its just a million thats many many kilos of lead being spread at roughly the same distance behind the general target areas. I've been in some sporting shoots where the pellets where falling back down over our heads due to the wind, literally lead rain...

 

anyway...i just think its alot of lead to be spreading round the countryside, surely it can;t be that good for the land, also consider we grow crops in many of the soils over which we shoot, especially when pigeon decoying (haven't u ever thought whether the pigeons or birds might mistake fallen shot for oilseed rape or similar seeds??)

 

I fully understand that the ballistics of lead are great, etc ,etc, its easy to melt and mould so easier to make...i see that side too, but there must be better alternatives...maybe we are at the mercy of the cartridge manufacturers in a similar way as car users have to use petrol, diesel or gas because theres nowhere to charge electric cars or otherwise...

 

but in other countries it is illegal (full stop) to use lead shot...not just over wetlands...this must suggest that there is a sufficient risk, or are they staying on the side of caution...i don;t know, it is widely know that lead is very ery toxic though...

 

which moves me to airguns and rifles...i dont think the threat is so great as there is less volume going down the barrels i think and the amount of shots taken 'might' be less...however the arguments are the same...

 

as for airguns...lead can pass through (like mercury) the pores of the skin and accumulates in your body till it reaches damagingly toxic levels...i once got some .22 pellets which every time i put one in the barrel my thumb was grey with lead, maybe they were extra soft...not sure..but i just thought, can;t be that good, considering how many pellets one fires down that range or in the garden range!!

 

anyway...these are some of my grievances...just to get the ball rowling!!!

[SportingShooter 0]

The one and only reason I need for the use of Lead shot is that it kills more efficiently than almost any other shot I've ever fired. The main exception being Hevi-Shot which is a mixture of Tungsten, Iron and Bronze.

 

I've been shooting Steel, Bismuth, Tungsten and Hevi-Shot for a few years and each time that a bird has to take a second barrel, I think to myself that it would have been dead first go with Lead.

 

We are at the mercy of Cartridge manufacturers as to what we buy, Non Toxic loads are three, four, five, six times more expensive than Lead. Which begs the question, Are they accommodating their customers needs?

 

I'll continue to use it where legal and settle for second rate elsewhere because the EU think its better to injure more than Kill.

 

Lead is naturally occurring, it is everywhere, it comes from the ground and goes back into the ground simple really.

 

Rifle's are used a great deal, think how many .22LR rounds are fired into the soil at Rabbits each year all weight 2.5 grams each? The same goes for Target ranges, I dread to think how many bullets are in the ground at Bisley or such like.

 

Lead is not P.C. because of its toxicity but it's far better. Shotguns and Rifles have been developed over time for Lead not Bismuth or Tungsten. Just another tradition to wave bye-bye to...

 

SS

[Guest hyperion]

hmmmmm

 

it takes a very long time indeed for the levels of lead absorbed through your skin to get high enough to do damage, and if you wash your hands after using lead pellets in an air gun it takes even longer!

im pretty sure you would die of old age before you die of lead poisoning!

the other thing is there really is nothing that performs as well as lead in airguns! both in the barrel and down range!

 

cheers

hyperion

 

ps i also think your average pigeon would die of being eaten before it dies of old age or lead poisoning!

yes lead is toxic but in solid form its far less toxic than you would think!

Edited February 25, 2009 by hyperion

[Malt 379]

I'd agree with SS on this one. Lead is taken from the ground, so what odds if it goes back there? Lead has been used for a very long time, and just because it's toxic, it's not fashionable.

 

What about all the mercury vapour in the energy efficient fluorescent light bulbs that we're told to use these days to save the planet? That stuff is pretty toxic too.

[Guest hyperion]

I'd agree with SS on this one. Lead is taken from the ground, so what odds if it goes back there? Lead has been used for a very long time, and just because it's toxic, it's not fashionable.

 

What about all the mercury vapour in the energy efficient fluorescent light bulbs that we're told to use these days to save the planet? That stuff is pretty toxic too.

 

wasnt there a thing on the news or in the papers about some woman who broke one of them energy efficient light bulbs and wasnt sure what to do so called the council and they shut her house off for two days while they cleaned the place up?

[Back Stabbath 1]

I love lead. I don't use a shotgun, lead is just one of my favorite substances. Its great.

[speardafish 0]

all good and fair points...i know lead comes from the ground, but so does uranium???

also just because something has been used for a long time does not at all mean that we should continue using it...to me its nothing to do with being fashionable, it just makes one think twice about things...and i agree bout the bulbs and stuff like that, alot of hipocrytes within government etc, enviro agencies who have never left their comfortable concrete jungle to know much bout the real environment....

 

i didn't think that eating a few pellets would actually kill a pigeon, just wondered if anyone had found any inside one, or if they mistake ot for seed, i'd think once it got in with its beak it would notice, maybe not...it was justa a thought...

 

also i understand bout the gunsmith side of it, guns are actually developed for lead and other stuff might damage barrels etc, but surely if a good alternative was found, it would only take a change of alloy used for barrels to sort it out...surely gunsmiths would be just as needed??

 

anyway..thanks for contributions...

Edited February 26, 2009 by speardafish

[Guest lurchers n lamps]

if you ever get shot youl be glad that lead shot is used and not steel because steel when inside you will rust and kill you but lead seals its self in