They have been talking about totally banning lead ammo for hunting in Cali for years, even decades, and now it looks like they are finally going to do it. The NSSF says:
The California Fish and Game Commission…adopted regulations to implement a law that will ban the use of traditional lead-component ammunition for all hunting in the state by July 1, 2019. The implementation will involve multiple phases, beginning with the 2015 hunting season. What has started in California could become reality elsewhere as anti-hunting groups use the supposed harm caused by traditional ammunition as a wedge issue to further their ultimate political agenda of banning hunting across the country. Get the facts in this video.
Nothing they do out in Cali surprises me. Rather than fussing about the lead ban, I used it as an opportunity to hunt with copper bullets for the first time. Last September, I hunted the beautiful oak hills and valleys in the Central Coast near Paso Robles. Here, the use of lead bullets has already been banned for years. I packed a couple boxes of Barnes VOR-TX (all-copper bullets with a polymer tip) in .270 caliber and weighing 130 grains.
I’ll post a full review of how the Barnes bullets shot and performed for me later this week. For now this hint: I fired 2 copper bullets in the field and dropped 2 animals, including my first-ever Cali pig in the picture.
I don’t see lead bans causing problems with most hunters. Do we want/need the extra expense? No, but I’m afraid it’s coming down the road. I know waterfowl hunters have had to deal with it for years, but they keep on hunting.
Where I see lead bans causing major problems is with competition shooters, target shooters and plinkers (if ALL lead in ammo is banned). That would likely end up causing a large amount of people to drop out of high volume shooting due to the cost.
I know the ammo companies are working to find a good lead substitute that isn’t cost prohibitive. Hey Mike, perhaps some of your friends in the ammo industry could comment further? It would make a good blog subject.
Figure a lot of other states will follow this in the new few years. I’ve been using Barns VOR-TX bullets with my .270 for deer and .243 for coyotes the last few years. My wife uses them with her .308. They perform very well and am happy with how they group on the targets.