Switching to lead-free ammunition?
09-30-2014, 08:16 PM
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Baker City, Oregon
Posts: 10
Switching to lead-free ammunition?
Lead vs. lead-free ammunition has been a hot topic in the hunting community lately. I am curious if anyone on this forum has made the switch to lead-free ammunition? If so, what made you decide to switch?
I recently switched to lead-free ammunition. The copper Barnes bullets I shoot have worked well and I don't worry about possibly feeding my kids lead fragments in my venison now.
Just wrote a blog post about making the switch; check it out: http://www.growinghunters.com/lead-free-venison-family/
I recently switched to lead-free ammunition. The copper Barnes bullets I shoot have worked well and I don't worry about possibly feeding my kids lead fragments in my venison now.
Just wrote a blog post about making the switch; check it out: http://www.growinghunters.com/lead-free-venison-family/
10-01-2014, 03:12 AM
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Audubon & Red Rock, Penna.
Posts: 4,472
I've been using Barnes X bullets since the mid to late 1990s. I wasn't pressured into it by the far left, enviro-nuts. I just liked their performance. Still use lead sinkers.
I don't know about feeding my kids lead fragments. I don't usually serve the bloodshot, trauma for dinner. That usually gets cut out. I think you'll get a lot more lead in a pheasant breast (shotgun shot).
I don't know about feeding my kids lead fragments. I don't usually serve the bloodshot, trauma for dinner. That usually gets cut out. I think you'll get a lot more lead in a pheasant breast (shotgun shot).
10-01-2014, 07:06 PM
#3
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Baker City, Oregon
Posts: 10
I shoot Barnes as well and have had good performance from them. I made the switch based entirely on personal choice (no left wingers involved!), concerns about any possible negative impacts to my kids, and because I have seen first hand the problems lead can cause for scavengers.
10-02-2014, 10:22 AM
#4
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SW Montana
Posts: 550
I personally think most of the assault on lead is greenie hype and BS.
Like BarnesX.308 posted, I always cut out and discard any bloodshot meat. My family and I have eaten game meat shot with lead bullets almost every year since 1965 without any health issues from lead.
I started using Barnes TSX bullets in 2005 when I went on a cape buffalo hunt in Zimbabwe. There is an ongoing debate on whether to use soft point or solid bullets for buffalo, and my PH suggested that I just use a TSX bullet as they offer great expansion and deep penetration. I used a .375 RUM on that hunt and on two hunts in South Africa, and because the TSX bullets perform well and are accurate in that rifle, that is the only bullet that I have hunted with in that rifle.
In 2004 I built a .300 Weatherby, and because the TSX bullets worked good in my .375 RUM, I decided to try them in my .300 Bee. They also shot well is this rifle so I used them on a couple of Western US hunts, and they also performed well on the animals that I shot with them, including a bull elk.
In 2012 while I was preparing for another South African hunt, I could not find any .30 caliber 168 grain TSX bullets, but a local store had 168 gr TTSX bullets, so I bought a box of them. They shot slightly better than TSX bullets had, so I used them in my .300 Weatherby on that South African hunt where they performed very well. I have since used these bullets on another Montana elk hunt and a New Zealand hunt, and again they have performed very well.
I still hunt with lead cup and core bullets in my .257 Ackley and my 7 mm Rem mag, and other than waterfowl where we are required to use non lead shot, I shoot lead shot for upland game hunting.
Like BarnesX.308 posted, I always cut out and discard any bloodshot meat. My family and I have eaten game meat shot with lead bullets almost every year since 1965 without any health issues from lead.
I started using Barnes TSX bullets in 2005 when I went on a cape buffalo hunt in Zimbabwe. There is an ongoing debate on whether to use soft point or solid bullets for buffalo, and my PH suggested that I just use a TSX bullet as they offer great expansion and deep penetration. I used a .375 RUM on that hunt and on two hunts in South Africa, and because the TSX bullets perform well and are accurate in that rifle, that is the only bullet that I have hunted with in that rifle.
In 2004 I built a .300 Weatherby, and because the TSX bullets worked good in my .375 RUM, I decided to try them in my .300 Bee. They also shot well is this rifle so I used them on a couple of Western US hunts, and they also performed well on the animals that I shot with them, including a bull elk.
In 2012 while I was preparing for another South African hunt, I could not find any .30 caliber 168 grain TSX bullets, but a local store had 168 gr TTSX bullets, so I bought a box of them. They shot slightly better than TSX bullets had, so I used them in my .300 Weatherby on that South African hunt where they performed very well. I have since used these bullets on another Montana elk hunt and a New Zealand hunt, and again they have performed very well.
I still hunt with lead cup and core bullets in my .257 Ackley and my 7 mm Rem mag, and other than waterfowl where we are required to use non lead shot, I shoot lead shot for upland game hunting.
10-02-2014, 10:42 AM
#5
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,902
I've killed plenty of game for consumption with all lead bullets and shot and have never worried about heavy metal poisoning on my end. Certainly not enough to swap to lead-free bullets for that reason.
I have shot a few boxes of the Barnes bullets only as an assessment as "an accurate bullet", not because of the lead-free attribute. I had good performance from the TTSX, but my state doesn't require lead-free bullets for some half-baked hippy conspiracy, and they weren't as accurate as other pills I tried against them, so I don't use them. Nothing wrong with them, smacked a couple piggies with them and they did fine, but they weren't as accurate in my rifles as other bullets, so I went the other way. They were very accurate, but they weren't the MOST accurate pills in my rifle, I have a cousin that shoots TTSX's exclusively, and they ARE the most accurate in his rifles - VERY accurate.
I have shot a few boxes of the Barnes bullets only as an assessment as "an accurate bullet", not because of the lead-free attribute. I had good performance from the TTSX, but my state doesn't require lead-free bullets for some half-baked hippy conspiracy, and they weren't as accurate as other pills I tried against them, so I don't use them. Nothing wrong with them, smacked a couple piggies with them and they did fine, but they weren't as accurate in my rifles as other bullets, so I went the other way. They were very accurate, but they weren't the MOST accurate pills in my rifle, I have a cousin that shoots TTSX's exclusively, and they ARE the most accurate in his rifles - VERY accurate.
10-02-2014, 10:51 AM
#6
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: south eastern PA
Posts: 15,424
I have been eating game killed with lead shot and lead bullets since I had teeth. I am sure I have swallowed some lead shot, I know I have bitten into a lot of it. So has the rest of my family. Never knew anyone who got plumbism from eating game killed with lead. As a matter of principle, I will not change to lead free projectiles until the law makes me do so, there has not been one shred of evidence that lead shot and bullets is dangerous to people. I suppose f you ater a few spoonfulls of it it would harm you but I never knew anyone dumb enough to do so. I also never knew anyone dumb enough to chew lead paint off window sills and doors either. Always figured that was natures way of eliminating the stupid!
