Piers Austin Posted January 15, 2023 Report Share Posted January 15, 2023 Here’s a thought, the manufacturing process for steel (soft iron) shot is far more energy intensive than lead and will have a much bigger Carbon footprint, contributing more to climate change due to global warming. Iron has a higher melting point, has to be formed into billets and then drawn out into wire. The wire is then cut into short lengths and put through a rolling mill to form into balls. Steel shot is mostly manufactured in China using dirty coal powered energy and then transported all around the world. The impact on humanity will be more from the related natural disasters and loss of life than the over exaggerated risk of illness or any poisoning from Lead! Tell this to the environmental agencies and politicians! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enfieldspares Posted January 15, 2023 Report Share Posted January 15, 2023 I wrote this to the DEFRA consultation: Quote Nowhere has a study been done on the OTHER and yet easily ascertained environmental impact of the proposal that lead shot can be replaced by steel shot. Nowhere even though it could easily be done has anyone calculated the energy and C02 released to make iron ore into steel shot compared with the energy and C02 released to make lead ore into lead shot. Nowhere has note been made that scrap lead can easily and cheaply be made into lead shot - lead melts ad 600 degrees - compared to making scrap iron into lead shot. Additionally all current steel shot is made in the Chinese Peoples' Republic so the carbon footprint of the energy used to transport it to the UK must also be taken account of. Finally steel shot must be fired using plastic wads which...regardless of them being so called bio-degradable...are still made from plastic. Lead shot can be loaded with wads made from either plastic or fibre. Steel shot can only be loaded with wads made from plastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted January 15, 2023 Report Share Posted January 15, 2023 You would think there was an agenda at work wouldn’t you! 🤔 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harkom Posted January 15, 2023 Report Share Posted January 15, 2023 Well Said, Piers Austin. Totally logical and pure common sense. Unfortunately those parameters are not part of the activist, etc agenda.... And as for BSAC's part in this debacle....well ...you only need? to look in their latest fanzine and read between the lienes .. (No spelling mistake). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neutron619 Posted January 16, 2023 Report Share Posted January 16, 2023 10 hours ago, harkom said: Well Said, Piers Austin. Totally logical and pure common sense. Unfortunately those parameters are not part of the activist, etc agenda.... And as for BSAC's part in this debacle....well ...you only need? to look in their latest fanzine and read between the lienes .. (No spelling mistake). They published a letter of mine this month. I saw your comment above and can only apologize, since I was rather irritated to see that they'd edited out all the bits where I mentioned all the associated downsides with their push towards steel - retiring much-loved guns; death of the small-bores; suffering the ridicule of fellow-shooters for trying to do the "right" thing*; time spent shooting bits of paper rather than in the field and so on. When you actually follow the advice they're pushing, it comes with a hefty price tag in time and money, quite apart from the sentimental loss. Except for leaving in one of my comments about the absurd price of steel cartridges currently, it basically read like a "I love steel shot" essay, which definitely wasn't the thrust of the original letter. So I'm sorry - I won't bother writing next time, and it'll avoid giving them any more ammunition, so to speak. * = Right thing or not, I don't want to argue; steel or lead, I don't really care - but I'd rather be prepared in advance for the ban than pay over the odds for guns and cartridges when it comes because I have to fight with everyone else in a market even worse than this one for selling old guns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stonepark Posted January 16, 2023 Report Share Posted January 16, 2023 12 hours ago, enfieldspares said: I wrote this to the DEFRA consultation: Same here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIGHTCHOKE Posted January 16, 2023 Report Share Posted January 16, 2023 11 hours ago, Scully said: You would think there was an agenda at work wouldn’t you! 🤔 Surely not! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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