Hunting with PRB in CA

[Bob McBride]

Any Cali traditional black powder hunter's out there have a workaround for the ban on hunting with lead projectiles in your State?

...besides driving across the border to hunt.... 

[Daryl]

NTX might have the answer for you, Bob.

[Bob McBride]

NTX might have the answer for you, Bob.

Thanks D. I'm helping a guy who asked the question on BPTV and I have no idea.....

[Bob McBride]

Just FYI, ballisticproducts.com carries a small line of nontoxic round balls under the ITX brand. The link is on the bottom left of their homepage. Interesting. I also discovered some folks in that gosh-forsaken State also use undersized steel ball bearings patched in leather with pretty good results....

[Daryl]

I don't know the full name of the outfit. When I Googled NTX I got cosmetics.
here it is: LOL
https://www.ballisticproducts.com/ITX-50-cal-487-non-toxic-roundball-12-balls/productinfo/TXRB50/

The sizes appear better suited for a harder ball, than when they first started making them.

[Gemmer]

https://www.rotometals.com/


Roto Metals in San Leandro has round balls made from bismuth.

[Bob McBride]

I don't know the full name of the outfit. When I Googled NTX I got cosmetics.
here it is: LOL
https://www.ballisticproducts.com/ITX-50-cal-487-non-toxic-roundball-12-balls/productinfo/TXRB50/

The sizes appear better suited for a harder ball, than when they first started making them.

Lol. I knew what you were talking about. NTX is a label of nontoxic bullets made by Hornady.....

[Bob McBride]

https://www.rotometals.com/


Roto Metals in San Leandro has round balls made from bismuth.

Interesting site. They can also custom cast, you provide the mold, except for rounds and squares, in any size and in any metal....

[Daryl]

Yes, Bob - NTX - was on my head, I guess.
Interesting about Roto-Metals casting with your moulds.

[Greg Pennell]

Dang, steel balls and leather patches?  Sounds like a recipe for disaster, on both ends of the equation. 

Some of the new copper alloy bullets designed for the in-line crowd look to be short enough per caliber, that they MIGHT stabilize in a slower twist barrel. Just have to do some
“spearminting”.

If I HAD to live in California and wanted to hunt with a traditional rifle, I’d order a barrel with a faster twist (1-28” or so) and build my rifle around those types of bullets. It would still shoot patched round balls acceptably well, with appropriate powder charges. FWIW.

Greg

[Hungry Horse]

 Cast your own, out of bar tin. It casts much like lead.
  I was told by more than one warden that unless there was something else you were doing that was illegal, they weren’t going to site anybody for shooting lead projectiles. This does not hold true for shooting shot however. And it all depends on the warden, and of course your attitude.

  Hungry Horse

[Scota4570]

Whatever you do, make sure you can show compelling evidence to the Game warden of what you are shooting.  They may or may not have a portable device to do elemental analysis of your balls.  Compelling evidence is a labeled box of bullets that are on his list of compliant products.  A home cast ball of mystery alloy may not satisfy him.  All of the round ball options are to hard for use in rifles.  The ITX 50 cal balls are too large for use with a regular patch. 

I agree that the best option is to use a fast twist barrel with one of the bullets made for modern muzzleloaders. 

Keep in mind that during most of the year we have high fire danger.  Steel balls are a bad idea from that standpoint.  Steel jacket ammo may be banned in many areas due to fire danger. 

I would get something written from DFW regarding your balls before I went hunting,  maybe an email exchange or a letter, and carry it with me.  I have been hunting in  California for 50 years.  The current crop of people at DFW are not hunters or sympathetic to hunters.  CYA!

As HH said, be nice.  That helps a bunch.

[ScottH]

On a different muzzleloading forum some years back, A fellow posted about using brass or bronze round balls.
As I recall he had a .58 caliber rifle. The only round ball readily available in brass that corresponded to similar size lead ball was one at .570 diameter. Anyway this guy had tested these brass/bronze ball in his rifle with regular patching and they shot well on targets. He shoot them into a box packed full of shredded rubber ground mulch and they didn't deform so they could be used again. He then tested them on whitetail deer and killed at least one or two, as I recall.
https://www.onlinemetals.com/en/buy/brass/0-5625-brass-ball-260-grade-200/pid/20418#available-tab

[Hungry Horse]

 California game wardens have no field device to check lead content of a bullet at this time. If the warden is determined to check the metallurgical make up of the bullet you are using they will have to retrieve the bullet from the kill, or get one from you for testing.
 I can’t imagine anybody that values their guns using iron bullets, but iron bullets wouldn’t be nearly the fire hazard some patching material, or some patch lubes, or just big fat charges of powder that don’t burn completely in the barrel, would be.

 Hungry Horse

[Scota4570]

http://www.streamsystems.com

OK, it looks like the federal boys have them, they do work in California. It doesn't matter. 
Be careful and don't get in trouble.