Steel Shot in Parkers

[Ed Blake]

The response to using steel in classic doubles may be as simple as opening up chokes, which many do anyhow. Personally, I think we have a long way to go before it gets to that (keeping fingers crossed).

[Bruce Day]

That's the message I also draw from the Roster article. I've heard that some gun clubs are going to steel shot, and some have for years. If we are to believe some of the gun poster messages, which may be overexcited and overheated, there are many so called environmental organizations pushing for lead bans. People may be forced to deal with the steel shot issue sooner or later despite being almost violently opposed to even thinking about it.

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Bruce Day

That's the message I also draw from the Roster article. I've heard that some gun clubs are going to steel shot, and some have for years. If we are to believe some of the gun poster messages, which may be overexcited and overheated, there are many so called environmental organizations pushing for lead bans. People may be forced to deal with the steel shot issue sooner or later despite being almost violently opposed to even thinking about it.

Those who are attempting such bans on lead are doing so based on emotion - not science.
After we had the lead shot reclaimed from our trap fileds two years ago, for which my club was paid $65,000- we had the soil beneath the trap fields tested for lead contamination... and there was none. There is no clay in the ground beneath the trap fields which would support the arguement that any contamination would have run off of the surface. Samples were taken 1 foot and three feet beneath the surface and the trap fields have been there for nearly forty years.. One would expect that in the Northeast where there is generally more acid rainfall that there would be lots of lead contamination in places like shooting ranges but that seems not to be the case.

[J.B. Books]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

Those who are attempting such bans on lead are doing so based on emotion - not science.

Based on emotion not science, the foundation of liberal political policies.

[Bruce Day]

...and many other policies and actions, not confined to liberal politics.

We had a similar experience at out local gun club, but the movement toward lead ban continues, if we are to believe the sometimes reactionary gun rags and blogs. Hard to know the truth of what is happening.

[Ed Blake]

Where we live in Virginia there is an abundance of relics from both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. After a heavy rain a few years back a number of mini balls came to the surface of my vegetable garden. They have a heavy coating of white oxidation which I have been told prevents the leaching of the lead into the soil. To me this supports other observations that trap ranges mined of spent shot have no evidence of lead contamination in the soil. The determining factor in the use of lead is its general toxicity, notwithstanding the evidence that lead shot is not a soil contaminant. IMO

[John Davis]

I certainly don't know the answer to the steel shot in vintage guns question, but it does seem to be very much like the Damascus barrel query. For many years it was taken as gospel that modern shells should never pass through a Damascus barreled gun. (Just read the warning label on a box of shells.) And consequently Damascus guns were relegated to the status of "wall hanger." Then along comes Sherman Bell and the world changed. Although there are those who still shrink from shooting their "wall hangers", many now believe that using a little common sense and being mindful of your PSI means you can once again enjoy these oldest of Parkers in the field and on the course. Is it possible that the same may hold true for steel shot? Again, I don't know the answer but I do know that everything changes and I'm willing to keep an open mind.

[ch]

How do they get rid of the lead? Scoop up the top inch of dirt and hall it off?

[Bruce Day]

Hello Calvin. I've seen them do that. They do in fact use a scraper and take off the top 2-3 " , then run everything through a series of screen shaker tables. An active gun club can have maybe $100,000 or more of recovered lead and make a share of $50,000.

[Dean Romig]

Frankly, after just reading Tom's article and once again reading through a lot of stuff we've read before or surmised to be true, the only tangible thing I found was in his last paragraph...
"The difinitive answer must come from the gun or choke-tube manufacturer...

...and if the manufacturer doesn't exist any more, good luck."