doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How does the game warden check for lead. Bismuth

I don't hunt much but this came up in a conversation with a buddy of mine. I'm sure you can use a magnet for steel but Bismuth? We have reloaded bismuth and it looks like lead.

hoJo says there is a gadget with a bunch of lights that his Tenn game wardens carry that can tell what's what?...Geo

The shell I was shooting was Hevi-shot it was not Bismuth.

I said several years back I was checked by a Federal Game Warden on a National Wildlife refuge and he had a gadget that he stuck my shell into and it had lights on it that lit up....I didn't ask the bass'turd any questions on how it worked.

For lack of a better term Bismuth is diamagnetic Unlike steel which is sucked into a strong magnet Bismuth behaves in the other direction. If you have a flat disc of Bismuth and place a strong magnet on it the magnet will seem to levitate upwards. You can check to see if shot is Bismuth by seeing if a magnetic field is repelled by it. Steel is attracted, Bismuth is repelled and lead is not effected.

So all a game warden needs is a gizmo which emits a magnetic field and see if it gets distorted to a plus direction or a minus direction. Plus is steel being attracted toward the field, minus is Bismuth being repelled in effect. The gizmo just shows lights, green for steel, red for Bismuth. If neither it could be lead or some other non tox shot. Different gizmos use different combos but they all work along these simple lines. You can use a compass to see the same thing. Steel shot will attract the needle Bismuth will make it shift 90 degrees. Kind of neat.

Regular GA wardens do not have the electronic gizmo. Most have never even heard of it. They carry a magnet. If it is attracted to the load in your shells they know it is steel. If it is not, and you claim it is Non-Tox, he will ask you for a shell and will slice it open to look at the shot and try to determine what it is. Then, he will randomly pull one more shell out of your bag himself, and do the same to it.

This was told me by a veteran, but still active, warden about three weeks ago.

SRH

Well with non tox shells going for three bucks a pop they need to buy a gizmo and save me my money. If they can't afford one they need to stop checking me. I've got an honest face.

I would just carry the box itself with you or have it in the truck to show him. Need to find a place to buy some myself now that you mention it

T3 has Rio Bismuth...Geo

There ain't a box for "These are reloads." You are going to lose a couple of them, at the very best. Hopefully, nothing worse. The game warden advised me that life might be a lot easier if my reloads were not in old lead load hulls.

SRH

Very true Stan. I have heard of the opening the crimp and taking out a pellet. Those sts shells are just good for reloading too