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Forums10
Topics40,332
Posts574,114
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Most Online32,084
Jun 14th, 2026
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Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 9,477 Likes: 15
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 9,477 Likes: 15 |
Here is the only old shotgun I own and it sees no use. I just wanted something from WWII period in my safe. [img:center]http://[/img]  When non-tox went over $20 per 10 and my inventory ran out I got rid of old shotguns. I refuse to be fleeced by ammo manufacturers loading soft non-tox shells.
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 4,120 Likes: 86
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 4,120 Likes: 86 |
Even at today's prices, ammo is still the cheapest part of any hunt.
How much can you possibly shoot with the daily limits as they are?
I suppose you sold your car too when gas hit 4 bucks.
"The price of good shotgunnery is constant practice" - Fred Kimble
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 879
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 879 |
Wouldn't we (and the ducks) be better off if we were allowed to shoot lead (less crippling) but paid steel prices for our waterfowl loads, with the incremental money being applied to preservation, acquisition and maintenance of duck habitat?
Much too simple and rational for our leaders to consider
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 14,656 Likes: 2406
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 14,656 Likes: 2406 |
Wouldn't we (and the ducks) be better off if we were allowed to shoot lead (less crippling) but paid steel prices for our waterfowl loads, with the incremental money being applied to preservation, acquisition and maintenance of duck habitat?
Much too simple and rational for our leaders to consider Nah, it ain't about the ducks anyway, it's about the "sacred" eagles, and other raptors that feed on the carcasses of crippled and lost ducks. This is a country that has gone nuts, in what it feels it needs to protect, in the last 50 years. Fifty years ago farmers shot hawks on sight. Lamb ranchers shot eagles. We had a proliferation of quail and other species whose populations are now so low you can hardly hunt them anymore. But, how about the raptors? Oh, they're back, in full force. Now, you can go out, walk the fields with your shotgun and just enjoy the beautiful outdoors. You won't shoot it much, but that's okay, 'cause you can always watch the hawks and eagles. Good grief! SRH
May God bless America and those who defend her.
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Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 3,904 Likes: 1300
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 3,904 Likes: 1300 |
I always suspected that the lead shot ban on waterfowl was the very first successful attempt at getting firearms on the road to more control. The science behind it was nothing but shallow and very shrill. There might have been a few private club locations on the Eastern Shore where lead accumulation was becoming a problem, but on average it's a total non-issue. Mining companies finally fought back enough to stop the lead-contamination battle with EPA a few years ago (like 20?), but with the closure of the last lead smelter (Doe Run) in the US of A here just last Spring, we're rapidly running out of options.
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 4,120 Likes: 86
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 4,120 Likes: 86 |
That 'last lead smelter' alarmism has been pretty much refuted.
The one closed recently was a 'primary smelter', it made metallic lead directly from ore.
That process has been on the wane in the US for a long time, mostly because of economics. It's simply cheaper to have it done overseas and let them poison themselves doing it. The process COULD be done here safely, just like any number of industrial processes that have been moved elsewhere.
It all depends on what you want to pay for lead.
Today, the price of lead has stabilized at about 95 cents a pound, give or take. The wild swings seem to be over.
The future politics of lead use are unclear. I suspect the target shooter will be able to use lead as long as the shot is recovered. The hunter... best plan for something else. This isn't a real disaster. There are suitable nontoxic alternatives that in quantities used by hunters aren't a real hardship.
The biggest problem with acceptance of nontoxic shot is that people simply don't enjoy being told what to do. I'm one of them.
As a sideline to the lead smelter misinformation, most of our lead comes from China. China is the biggest lead exporter. I've seen much blame for high lead prices heaped on the Chinese, when in fact they export much more than they use. A high percentage is also reclaimed lead, reclaimed in a domestic 'secondary smelter', of which we have several running.
"The price of good shotgunnery is constant practice" - Fred Kimble
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Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 3,904 Likes: 1300
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 3,904 Likes: 1300 |
There is something unsettling about needing to import critical components of any and all domestic ammunition manufacturing. Add that to the long list of things I find unsettling.
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Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 9,477 Likes: 15
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 9,477 Likes: 15 |
There is something unsettling about needing to import critical components of any and all domestic ammunition manufacturing. Add that to the long list of things I find unsettling. If you ever visit EU you will feel better. There you will find toothbrushes from France, Switzerland. Plastic pens from France disposable razors from Greece. Leather goods from: Italy, Germany, Romania, Poland, Spain,.....One begins to realize that things are still made in places other than China. What surprised me was that gun slings made in Germany and Sweden were not a lot more than ones made in PRC and sold here.
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