shooting organisations threw themselves behind the British game alliance which was an organisation made up of stake holder groups such as BASC and game dealers. The goal of the BGA was to find end user markets for shot game.
The BGA identified two potential markets, export to eastern markets, and pulping for use in dog food. - I think the latter forming the main part.
The problem with pulping to make dog food is that when you mince it all up you mince the lead up which is difficult to extract and essentially there will be no market for a dog food which over the years might slowly poison your dog.
The move to steel is so that in the ideal world we can pulp and pulse the meat, float it on water and pass it through high power magnets to remove the shot, the resulting dog food then does not have to have the warning on it that your mutt might go loopy and drop dead.
Of course there are problems with steel, particularly with older guns, these problems are made worse by the fact we actually have a proof house and proof laws and different levels of proof for "high performance steel" and standard steel.
The proof house is being very cautious now saying no steel through more than 1/4 choke, gunsmiths are doing over time boring the chokes out of guns left right and centre. The thing is i remember trying some standard steel about ten years ago, i found it killed well and there was no advice about chokes as far as i can remember.
Gun owners are chopping and changing guns in, part Xing in guns that might be absolutely worthless in a year or so's time but at the same time developments and existing technologies are being found and brought in.
Whatever it is its certainly a boon for the new gun trade and to be honest we haven't found it affect second hand shop sales which we still do well on but the buzz word is definitely steel shot and half chokes, Teague's doing a roaring trade. Retail prices are always inflated, but when you look at auctions old guns have really taken a battering in value you hammer guns and the like then again its hard to find a hammer gun worth buying these days.
I wonder if we will see a change of attitudes, so far as I can see if you really like old guns and want to be one of the few who is still carrying one into the field, you would cough up the £5000 or so and have a new pair of barrels made and proof the gun for standard steel with those barrels fitted up, you can keep you Damascus barrels tucked away for the occasional shot. £5000 is a lot of money granted but when it comes to buying you a nice new gun its money that wouldn't take you very far, few will go down this route for the sake of a tired old hammer gun, but after 150 years what gun wouldn't be tired. Many many gun are being scrapped without second thought, and i think the reality is that in time this will have been seen to be an very destructive period in the gun world. because of that I think surviving examples will be more highly valued, usable examples even more so I suspect there is renewed value in guns what have been sleeved and re barrelled already because they are so much more usable than the thin pitted slightly off face gun that's "completely original"
