Stan, I only use steel in one context. I am semi-retired and work as a River Keeper for a private estate. I get a special license to cull a certain number of Cormorants and goosanders (very similar to your mergansers)to stop them wiping out trout stocks. As goosanders are classed as ducks I am obliged to use something other than lead. Due to cost I use steel and bought a 3 inch mag. semi-auto for that purpose. I don't eat goosander as they are not palatable and I make sure I shoot them at as close a range as possible. If I blow them to bits they are dead and that is the aim to reduce numbers. All my other guns, except one, an Ithaca pump, are not suitable for use with lead. I did some experimenting some years ago with the Ithaca, which I bought for that purpose, and found that there seemed to be a narrow range of effectiveness; a slight bit too close and the duck was blasted and a slight bit farther on and it was just wounded. Other reasons I don't like steel other than the ethical reasons is that I don't fancy biting on steel shot. It's use in areas where commercial timber is grown is frowned upon because of potential damage to chain saws and I would not use it on ground game because of the fear of ricochets. It seems its only use, as far as I am concerned, is at close range against non-edible winged pest species in open areas or in non-commercial woodland. One other odd use I have for it is when I need to trim a tree branch out over the river that I can't reach by other means. It will slice branches off like a knife through butter. I just don't do so much duck shooting now. I use Bismuth but at moderate range (expensive) and Tungsten at normal lead range (very expensive). There may be health issues with Tungsten and it is now banned in Denmark. If lead is phased out then there will be a huge demand for Bismuth and that will create a shortage and the price per round will be prohibitive to those of us with normal means. Shooting game then will become the preserve of only the very wealthy few and it would only need a Socialist Government (anti hunting and shooting as well as anti wealth) and that would be voted out and banned. Gun values would plummet except for high end stuff and the Socialists would say there is no reason to own guns so would ban them. Most draconian gun legislation comes in under the Socialists (Tony Blair effectively banned target pistol shooting as soon as he got into power) and with an election in 2015 the Socialists have said that they will increase the cost of Shotgun and Firearms Certificates if they get in. If we lose lead then shooting in Britain will virtually disappear inside ten years.
I live in a part of England just about 10 miles from huge natural lead deposits. The Romans mined it extensively and it is still mined to some degree now. The rivers are fed from streams that run underground through lead veins and yet people live, work and farm on this land and I'm yet to see anyone or anything suffering from lead poisoning. Lagopus.....
