Moving from lead shot to steel - the practicalities involved
Lead shot
How have other countries coped with the lead shot ban?
For advocates of lead ammunition, the arguments have become academic. The leaders of our major shooting and countryside organisations have signed a statement in support of the removal of lead — and single-use plastic — from all ammunition used for hunting game, within five years. Critics will not see this…
We need to talk about lead shot
Calls for game shooting to push ahead with finding alternatives to lead shot are growing louder, both inside and outside of the sport. Rob Yorke offers a personal view on the subject. How lead shot became popular One hundred and fifty years ago, wild meat was harvested, without the use…
Is it time to move away from lead shot to steel?
We were deep in a ditch on the Orkneys. There was a tumbling grey northern sky above us and an icy wind. The peninsula’s greylag goose population was not playing ball. They went to the right of us, they went to the left, they landed on the barley 100 yards…
Lead shot shown to be major cause of bird deaths
Spent lead shot significantly weakens the immune systems of wild birds and is a major cause of death, according to a newly released scientific paper. The paper entitled Immunotoxic effects of lead on birds was published in Science of the Total Environment. The harmful effect of spent lead shot on…
Why I’m finally giving steel ammunition a proper test this season
Biodegradable shotcups suitable for steel ammunition have been available for a while. Gamebore has some 76mm wildfowling loads with its Silver Steel Bio-Wad fibre shotcup, while Eley Hawk has recently launched a range of 70mm steel loads with its new starch-based Pro Eco shotcups. These will, they say, protect shotgun…
The EU is moving towards an outright ban on lead shot
The European Union has taken a major step towards a full ban on lead shot. Wetlands The EU has been in the process of implementing a ban on the use of lead over wetlands for some time and a move to restrict the use of lead in other environments has…
Obey law or risk losing lead
Shooters have been warned that disobeying regulations on the use of lead shot could result in further restrictions. Lead shot is banned on the foreshore in England and Wales and wetlands in Scotland and it is an offence to shoot any wildfowl or waders with lead shot at any location…
Lead faces threat of new Euro ban
The use of lead shot is once again in jeopardy as the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) considers restricting its use. Last year, before leaving office as DEFRA secretary, Elizabeth Truss MP rejected calls for a ban on lead shot by the Lead Ammunition Group, but it has now now under…
Why the shot in cartridges should be made of gold
Lead has been used for shot and bullets for centuries; not because it is ideal in all applications but because it is the best compromise. It is cheap when compared to many other metals, heavy enough to maintain velocity and energy over relatively long distances and is soft enough not…
Your cartridges are going to cost you more
Thinking of buying new cartridges to replenish your dwindling stock? If so, perhaps you should do it sooner rather than later. The rising cost of lead on the world market in 2016 forced UK cartridge makers to increase prices last month and there’s no guarantee they won’t go up again…
The end of the lead ammunition debate?
On 12 July, just before she left office as Secretary of State at DEFRA, Elizabeth Truss wrote to John Swift, chairman of the Lead Ammunition Group (LAG). She thanked him for his report but said that it “did not show that the impacts of lead ammunition were significant enough to justify changing current policy”, and that she did…
Don’t sell ‘toxic’ grouse Chris Packham tells major supermarkets
Chris Packham’s anti-grouse statement could be considered ill-timed, coming as it does in the very week that the Government has stated there there will be no ban on lead ammunition. The presenter said: “Marks and Spencer and Iceland, should you choose to sell grouse this year, I won’t be eating any…
No ban on lead ammunition
In a letter dated 12 July to John Swift, the Chair of the Lead Ammunition Group, Liz Truss MP said their report “did not show that the impacts of lead ammunition were significant enough to justify changing current policy.” There will therefore be no ban on lead ammunition. BASC have…
BASC to fight global ban on lead ammunition
BASC is fighting plans by members of a global conservation organisation to impose a worldwide ban on lead. A motion tabled ahead of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) world congress demands that lead should be replaced with “non-toxic alternatives”. Any decision on Motion 090 would not immediately…
What’s coming up in 2016 for the shooting and countryside community?
Lindsay Waddell, chairman of the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation If the past is any sort of indicator of the future, 2016 will be a busy year for the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation (NGO). The list of major issues that might alter how we go about our jobs grows ever longer by the day.…
There is “more lead in beer than game meat,” say MPs
In a debate on lead ammunition in the House of Commons last month, Rishi Sunak, Conservative MP for Richmond, commented: “The average consumer is exposed to 60 per cent more lead from their consumption of beer. Products contributing more lead to our diets than game meat include potatoes, coffee and even everyday eggs.…
Shooters dismiss claims eating game lowers IQ
Countryside organisations have hit back at claims that eating game meat can lower a child’s IQ level. The claims relating to the negative impact of lead consumption on human health were made in a recently published report detailing the findings of last year’s Oxford Lead Symposium. The section, Risks of health…
BASC strongly refutes renewed claims of lead ammunition risks
Researchers attending the Oxford Symposium on Lead ammunition have published a report stating that evidence now supports a ban. Several conclusions were drawn from the report, which used findings from studies carried out by conservation groups including the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) and the RSPB. The WWT says that…
European firearms legislation changes “could damage shooting” in Britain
Countryside organisations have warned that revisions to EU firearms legislation could lead to shooting being hamstrung by those opposed to the sport. The European Council earlier this month recommended that the European Commission revise the 1991 Firearms Directive to combat the illegal movement of firearms, and it is thought that…