doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Solution to nontox for vintage sxs

When steel comes to prime pheasant hunting areas, or to the southern dove fields - we'll see if this isn't a dead subject in the future.
When states have hotbed places like Madison Wisconsin, and Iowa City Iowa under their skin- the end maybe near for more than just lead shot in the corn fields.
I'd watch what you say about dead subjects you might be fretting about in the next couple of years!

Maybe they should ban lead shot in urban areas...along with booze, cigerettes, cigars...homeless people.

The people that come up with these ideas should be banned...I bet most of these Scientific studies are funded by Democrats.

Some corn fed states are run by their liberal college campus.
Madison and Iowa City are the cross dressing capitals of the midwest.

Ed, since you weren't around when lead was banned, then you probably don't know the history of steel. Steel when it was first available to hunters is not the same as the steel loads you shoot today. They have improved significantly--but they still are not the ballistic equal of lead. You still need to shoot steel 4's to get the same energy as with lead 6's--which means you end up with fewer pellets in equivalent loads. But early steel loads bulged chokes, scored barrels, etc. There were indeed died in the wool waterfowlers who saw bad things happen to their classic Model 12's, A5's, and Browning Superposeds, and basically said "To hell with it!" Today, we have better steel loads, and we know enough not to shoot them in older guns with both tight chokes and thinner barrels. And we have barrel-friendly alternatives for the old guns--although, unfortunately, they happen to be very expensive. And they're getting even more expensive, while steel has gotten cheaper.

Brent, I agree with you. Banning lead for dove hunting may be justified, especially on public areas with a lot of shot fall. Going beyond that . . . I'm afraid they're going to have to show me a whole lot more proof where other upland birds are concerned. And they're going to have to explain the whole eagle recovery phenomenon too.

I have changed my opinion. Lead is bad for the ecosystem, ban it all and do it now. S-can your classic doubles, Model 12's and the like, they are useless relics of a bygone era that many of us are foolishly trying to hang on to. The solution is to buy yourself a brand spanking new 870 or the like and cases of cheap steel shot, hold your hunting shots to 30 yards less and always hit them in the neck and head (there are videos available to demonstrate this can be done). I promise if you follow these instructions you'll know your doing something BIG for the environment and you'll go to bed every night knowing you did something really good and still having fun to boot. Your classic guns will turn out to be a poor investment but just like stocks and bonds some win and some lose. Suck it up, take it like a man and move on.

My latest effort in sarcasm is brought to you courtesy of Ed Gagne and to a lesser extent BrentD

My doubles will always be good investments, come no-lead or high water, because my guns are for my pleasure in hunting and I have my priorities in order.

Old classic doubles i doubt will lose value because you cant shoot them. From the auctions ive seen on the internet the guns that have the highest asking prices are the ones that are "unfired". Millions of collectibles are useless but not worthless. If your looking at your doubles as pure investments with the sole intent of selling and making money then you shouldnt be shooting them for risk of depreciating their value.

Like Mr. Brown said steel today is alot different from the first steel loads and i would think better then the first steel. If you havent shot new steel recently, maybe its not as bad as you say it is.

When was the last time you took a brand new to you gun out hunting and hit everything you shot at in the first ten rounds. A double is a very differnt shooting platform then the pump thats fitted to me.

Im trying out hevi shot in my gun, the first trial was terrible. Probably similar to your first try at steel. Im going to keep testing it out and see how it goes. If i dont like it i wont shoot it. Maybe in the next ten years there will be steel or something else that is safe to use in doubles for non hunting purposes, all im saying is it wouldnt hurt the ammo companies to start shifting from production of inbetween varmint and rifle calibers to efficient and cost effective production of non tox. You say there are no metals equal to lead, who says it has to be metal.

Im done with this.