Posted on 10/06/2006 10:30:49 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
Shooters encouraged to use nonlead bullets
Event highlights dangers to California condor
By KEVIN HOWE Herald Staff Writer
Regular or unleaded?
Big game hunters in Monterey County will get a chance to try ammunition using nonlead bullets free of charge this month, courtesy of a coalition of wildlife organizations, state and federal agencies, hunters, shooters and ammunition manufacturers.
A "Non-Lead Ammunition Shooting Event and BBQ Lunch" will be held 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 15 at the Monterey County Swiss Rifle Club on La Gloria Road, just outside Soledad.
Participants are asked to bring their own rifles and lead bullet ammunition for comparison shooting, along with adequate ear and eye protection.
While supplies last, approximately 10 rounds of nonlead ammunition will be provided by Bismuth Cartridge Company, Federal Premium Ammunition and Barnes Bullets at no cost to each shooter age 18 or over. The ammunition is for .308 Winchester, .270 Winchester, 30-'06 Springfield or .223 Remington calibers.
Lead bullets and fragments in carcasses eaten by California condors have been labeled a major source of lead poisoning for the endangered birds. That assertion was confirmed in August by scientists at the University of California-Santa Cruz, who published a study online in the journal Environmental Science & Technology that looked at lead from rifle bullets and shotgun pellets.
The UC-Santa Cruz researchers used a "fingerprinting" technique based on the unique isotope ratios found in different sources of lead. The technique enabled them to match the lead in blood samples from condors to the lead in ammunition.
The state Department of Fish and Game's current hunting regulations urge hunters in condor ranges to use unleaded ammo, pick out bullets and fragments from gut piles or other carrion left in the field, or to bury it, said Steve Martarano, department spokesman.
"If you hunt in California condor range," he said, "we're asking hunters to get the lead out."
While the department itself hasn't tested the nonlead bullets on game, Martarano said, "we know they've been in use a long time in a lot of different places. We know they work."
"We want to make sure people have firsthand experience, to understand that it's out here as an alternative," said Audries Blake, development director for the Ventana Wildlife Society in Salinas, one of the sponsors of the event and an organization long involved in reintroducing condors into the wild on the Central Coast.
Nonlead bullets made of copper, tungsten or bismuth have been used by hunters in Arizona, she said, where that state's fish and game department provides a coupon program to give hunters rebates for purchasing the ammunition.
The Ventana Wildlife Society has arranged for lunch to be prepared by Mansmith's Barbecue. Lunch is free, but donations are welcome, Blake said.
"We hope lots of people come and take advantage of it," she said. "... We want to make it a festive occasion."
One exhibitor at the event will be the Institute for Wildlife Studies in Hollister. Blake McCann, wildlife biologist for the institute, said nonlead ammunition has been used by the organization extensively and successfully for eradicating non-native species that damage the environment, notably wild pigs and other feral livestock.
"Nonlead ammo got a bad name with the introduction of steel shot" in shotguns used for duck and wildfowl hunting, he said.
The steel pellets weren't as effective on game as lead, he said, but over the years, manufacturers have come up with substitutes that are just as good, though more expensive.
"Almost everything is more expensive than lead; Barnes copper bullets are eight times more expensive than lead," he said. That's why the institute would like to see a California nonlead ammunition rebate program similar to Arizona's, McCann said, to encourage hunters to buy and use it.
Information about the California Condor Recovery Program will be available by event exhibitors, including the Institute for Wildlife Studies, Ventana Wildlife Society, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service. Other exhibitors and sponsors include the California Rifle and Pistol Association and the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute Inc.
Range management will be directed by rangemaster Edo Zamaro of the Swiss Rifle Club.
For information, call McCann at the Institute for Wildlife Studies, 630-0543, or the Ventana Wildlife Society, 455-9514.
Some folks don't like "unleaded" coffee. Same with ammo.
Think I'll switch to depleted uranium.
How about copper jacketed steel. Oh wait, that would be felony as the BATF classifies 308 Winchester as a pistol cartridge.
I use depleted uranium in my target rounds. For hunting I use lead bullets since lead bullets in a wound where the animal escapes and heals up will be encapsulated and do no further damage, whereas these other metals will cause festering wounds that never heal. Use lead if depleted uranium is not available in your region.
I use light bullets for Vampires.
It sounds like they just want people to try them. A free lunch too.
Geez, what do I do with my several thousand rounds of lead? Oh well, I can save them for the war with the muzzies coming to our area.
ROFLOL!!!
I was using enriched uranium until I packed too much ammo in one place and had an unrequested fission surplus.
That's funny, I was thinking teflon coated steel. The dreaded COP KILLER bullet, the humanity of it all.
Well, there's not enough bismuth to go around. It's more expensive, and a bit less dense, than lead - thus worse on both counts.
Fill em full of lead!!!!!
damn commie Californicators......
How about Indium?...
Nothing wrong with free ammo. When they get to .50 BMG, call me.
If the condors are not smart enough to spit out the bullets, then they deserve to die.
Bismuth is supposed to be better than lead?
I'll wait until they offer rounds for my .33 and .348 Winchesters.
RUAG Aerospace Lead-free rifle ammunition
Click the above picture for testimony of a shooter getting 1.5" groups at 200 yards with this ammo.
Good luck finding any of it. I got mine from ammoman.com when I saw it available and jumped all over it whatever he had left.
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