hunting in California

[axelp]

Not intended to be political so please do not respond politically.

Since 2008 most of the hunting zones in southern and central California have banned the use of lead for big game and predator hunting. There is recent legislation that has been proposed to extend the ban for ALL of California.

If you live in CA, you might want to check into lead-free alternatives for your muzzleloading hunting guns.
--For fast-twist rifled barrels there is always the lead free conical and sabots. There are several brands and I have heard that they work ok. I have never tried them.

--For slow-twist rifling the options are quite limited. The only product on the market that I know of is ITX lead free roundball. www.tomboboutdoors.com. I have tried these and they work, but I have not yet killed a deer with them.

I hope more products are developed for slow-twist rifling, but the market is so small...

Anyone know of any other company that is developing a lead-free roundball?

K

[drago]

I believe some have tried brass round ball, hopefully someone has a source.

[axelp]

"The Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife heard testimony in opposition from NSSF and others on AB 711, which would extend the limited condor range ban on [big game hunting with] traditional lead ammunition to the entire state. That bill passed the committee on a 9-5 vote."

[PPatch]

Check out this thread:

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=23959.0

A search under "brass balls" found a few other threads.

dp

[Kermit]

24k gold is pretty soft and quite inert. The price is on the way back down too.

[axelp]

http://www.huntfortruth.org/site/

[jamesthomas]

 California just needs that 12.5 earthquake to hit to solve all the "Problems" for the State.

[Bull Shannon]

From http://www.huntfortruth.org/site/2012/09/12/scientist-tells-the-truth-about-lead-ammunition-at-association-of-fish-and-wildlife-agencys-annual-meeting/
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina—After cancer researcher Dr. Don Saba gave his presentation to the California Fish and Game Commission on August 8, 2012, the Commission rejected a proposed expansion of the ban on the use of lead ammunition in the condor range within California, based in part on his comments.
--
--Excerpt; Lead ammunition ban proponents across the nation rely on UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz publications to support their position that lead ammunition is poisoning the California condor and other wildlife.  UC Davis researchers, Terra R. Kelly and Christine K. Johnson published two studies that purported to show that golden eagles and turkey vultures have a significantly higher blood-lead level during hunting season in comparison to the off-season, and that lead exposure in both species declined significantly after the implementation of California’s AB 821 lead ammunition ban in the condor range.  HuntforTruth.org has obtained and analyzed tens of thousands of pages of public records and data that show how the UC Davis studies are scientifically unsound.
 
Lead ban proponents also rely on a paper by UC Santa Cruz researchers Myra Finkelstein and Donald Smith.  They recently published a paper that admitted that the AB 821 ban on hunters’ lead ammunition in the condor range has had no effect on reducing condor blood-lead levels. Sep 12, 2012

[axelp]

Please do not make this a political post. I know we probably all agree about that part of the subject. I am posting to make folks aware of the issues going on in CA right now in the hopes that smarter folks than I will come up with more viable alternatives to lead that will be so close to lead in practice and performance and price, that we who live in ban zones can continue to enjoy our sport/hobby in freedom and peace.

K