To Yardley's point that banning lead would change the sport of sporting clays, it would not only change the guns & targets, it would change the courses. One of Marty Fischer's comments on the Foxhall situation is:
"Some have suggested that steel loads are unsafe because of pellets richocheting off of trees and coming back to the shooter. When I designed the course at Foxhall, that was taken into consideration, and no targets are presented where any trees will be shot in the normal course of fire"
Marty is one of the most respected course designers in the country, and I don't know if the "no trees" policy is a set in stone rule at all "steel only" courses he designs, but if "lead free" means "tree free" I know most of the venues and targets I like most would be ruled out. I suspect flat surfaces such as rabbit targets and pond targets might be ruled out in many cases as well.
I think of most of the courses I shoot at: Hausmans, Deep River, Homestead, Orvis Sandanona, M&M, Lehigh Valley (which also shoots at old stone buildings), Old Forge, Dover Furnace (which has rocky hillsides) my two local county courses, and most resort courses; all except possibly Pintail Point (which does have water and flat surfaces) have lots of trees, ponds and flat surfaces --- the very things that make them interesting places to shoot.
For me, trees and terrain are what make these courses most interesting to shoot, asthetically pleasing, and frankly, cooler in the summer.
If that were all gone, it would be a much less interesting sport, and I suspect in much of the country, particularly along the east coast, a much less accessible one as well.
