Public service announcement.....

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Within the last few years, the antihunting groups have attempted to shut down hunting in certain areas with claims of lead poisoning for endangered species, most notably the California condor.
We know that it's not about saving condors (because there has never, EVER been a documented instance where a bird has died from eating a spent slug in a carcass), but has more to do with shutting down ALL hunting.
A lot of companies have come out with nontoxic rifle ammuntion & bullets for reloading.....Expensive ammuntion and bullets, but the option was there for those who wanted (and could afford) it.
However, traditional muzzleloaders, as usual, were left out in the cold.....no one gave any thought to saving our sport.....we were told to accept it and get on with our lives (yes, I've seen it posted on a few other websites)
Recently I received a catalog from Ballistic Products of Corcoran, MN. I have ordered things from them in the past (mostly nontoxic shot for waterfowl hunting), but since I'm not in need of anything right at the moment, I put the catalog away and forgot about it.
I ran across it this past weekend, and was surprised to see "Nontoxic round balls" listed on page 2. Seems like BP has taken up the challenge and made some round balls in various calibers to help out us traditional shooters in the nontoxic field. The calibers they have listed are as follows:

.32 cal (.312)
.45 cal (.436)
.50 cal (.487)
.50 cal (.490)
.54 cal (.524)
.62 cal (.601)

These balls are made out of the same material that they make their ITX shot out of....it's safe in older barrels, and is denser (13g/cm3)than lead. I'm thinking that will some judicious use of powder and patch, one should be able to find a good load that shoots to point of aim.
The only drawback is that the stuff is expensive; currently the .54 cal balls run $11.99/10 balls. Still, it beats the alternative of not hunting with your smokepoles ever again!
I currently hunt deer on a managed waterfowl area, and right now the regs are such that single projectile ammunition is not affected by the lead ban....but with all the whackos out there, who knows how long that will last.

Just thought I would throw this out there for anyone who might be in the position of not being able to hunt with their traditional muzzleloader due to the environmental terrorism that is going on in the courts today.

[wrenchman]

is pueter toxic i have read were early bp hunters would melt down the cups and plates and they would shoot like lead

[Mr. 16 gauge]

is pueter toxic i have read were early bp hunters would melt down the cups and plates and they would shoot like lead

Is pewter toxic? How is this for an answer: "It depends"
Pewter had been suggested as an alternative bullet material on other traditional black powder websites when all the condor hulaballo started, but there are two problems with it: 1.) the USFWS has to "approve" it as a nontoxic substance prior to it being allowed and 2.) from what I can gather on the net, 'pewter' can be made via various formulas; it consists of primarily tin, with any or some of the following metals added: lead, antimony, copper, and silver. Most pewter alloys that are considered 'nontoxic' for human use consists of eating utensils...cups, plates, forks, ect. It has been stated by others that foods with acids, such as cider, vinegar, ect in them can leach out the lead and antimony (both are dangerous heavy metals) and allow it into the body.
But remember, we are talking about a bird eating a spent round, and while I don't know much about condors, I am assuming that they are similar to vultures, and if you've seen some of the crap that vultures eat, it stands to reason that they must have some pretty powerful stomach acids to digest that stuff w/o succumbing to it. So I would suspect that any pewter would be found to be toxic to the birds unless it was a pure tin/silver mix, which would obviously be too expensive to shoot.

[GoodOlBoy]

Then you can always just go buy some moulds, cast your own, and let the rest go pack sand.... Just don't get caught with it ....

GoodOlBoy

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Then you can always just go buy some moulds, cast your own, and let the rest go pack sand.... Just don't get caught with it

Which is exactly what the antihunting fraternity wants you to do....then, when a few folks DO get caught (and they will), the door is open to ban ALL hunting in said area. They will argue in court that we can't be trusted to do the right thing, that how many folks who don't get caught are breaking the law, and, God forbid, some bird (esp. an endangered species) should die from lead poisoning (irrelevant as to from what....he could have eaten a wheel weight off the side or the road), and all it will take is for some bleeding heart, sympathetic, tree huggin' judge, and it's ALL over! I don't think this suggestion is a good idea.

[Adam Helmer]

Mr. 16 gauge,

The .45 and .54 balls seem much undersize. It would take some thick patches to fill in the windage.

Adam

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Adam,
Can't speak for the .45, but my .54 Hawken takes a .530 ball and a .010 patch; if I were to take and try these ITX balls,

.540-.524= .016.

While it wouldn't be a 'perfect' fit, I think a .015 patch might fill the bill, and those are easy to find.

....Let's hope we never are forced to find out!

Also, I'm wondering since they are denser than lead, if they are a bit undersized to make the wieghts match closer? Just a thought......

[wrenchman]

All i can say is keep it legal and fun so you wont spend more time in jail then in the field.
Thanks for the info on the pewter

[Adam Helmer]

wrenchman,

You make a very sage comment! YES, keep it legal until we can change the laws.

In my teen years, I recall a neighbor who trekked about with an old 12 gauge double hammer gun stoked with his reloads containing MARBLES as the projectiles! One day as we chatted, a crow winged by about 100 yards away. Said neighbor fired both barrels at the crow and I could see the marbles arc way out near the crow. Question: do California Condors eat marbles? LOL.

Adam