Non-Lead Bullet Mandate in UK

[bluesako]

I'll add that @bluesako's post is a little misleading in that the EU-REACH regulations lead rifle bullets restrictions as applied in the UK only apply to field-use. Target shooting has a derogation from the regulations providing the backstop sand is deleaded at appropriate intervals.

Rimfire ammunition is also exempt across the board as are airgun pellets. Shotgun users are more badly affected as the restrictions apply to both field and target shooting and there are at present no cartridge/calibre exemptions proposed which may see the death of some antiques and less common guns such as 9mm 'garden guns' for which nobody makes non-lead shot ammunition. Even the humble, but more common, .410 shotgun may be badly affected.

thanks laurie, i was talking about using lead bullets for hunting and not for target use atb bs

 

[joshb]

But have you ever been at an indoor rifle range sitting next to an assclown firing a 338 lapua mag with a huge brake?

No, but I would be there voluntarily and could leave if I wanted. I don’t want or need to be regulated about my choices because they might be “dangerous” or “harmful”. That’s where this is headed. Any gun related activity is now a target of the Liberal gun haters.

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

Is there a question here? Sounds like a business opportunity here, become the Barnes dealer or distributer in the UK?

We have allot of quality bullet makers here in South Africa and one of the "niche markets" is a mono that perform like how Berger describes their hunting bullets, goes in 3 inches and then the front half goes of like a hand grenade. They do devastating damage on varmints and are quite accurate, allot are made form "machined brass" so also relatively cheap. Like ebb said sounds like a business opportunity here

 

[hoz53]

I saw this, yesterday. They’re coming at us from a new direction.
View attachment 1708635

Ive bin wondering all these years—this must have been wat happened 2 me

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

Ive bin wondering all these years—this must have been wat happened 2 me

Luckily im already quite restarted so no one can tell

 

[bluesako]

As I understand it, this only applies to bullets used for hunting and not target shooting on designated ranges, where non lead core bullets are generally not permitted anyway due to the danger of ricochet's.

yes i believe so, i am not a target shooter as such, i was talking about bullets used for hunting, but if theres, a danger of non lead bullets having ricochets on range,s, isnt their a danger of ricochets with non lead bullets out on someones hunting land? bs

 

[Leeman]

yes i believe so, i am not a target shooter as such, i was talking about bullets used for hunting, but if theres, a danger of non lead bullets having ricochets on range,s, isnt their a danger of ricochets with non lead bullets out on someones hunting land? bs

I would guess so, I've never used non lead bullets. I think they are not permitted on most ranges as the safety templates are all designed for lead core bullets which behave differently I would imagine either on impact or at extended ranges. I would guess (hope) most hunters are aware of their responsibilities towards knowing what is behind the animal if they miss and the bullet carries on beyond or ricochets.

 

[358WCF]

Be careful over there. Just saw this earlier today...

UK Man Arrested for Possessing Gunpowder Recipe

A UK man sentenced for possessing a gunpowder recipe raises concerns over anti-terrorism laws.

bearingarms.com

Whatever would they do with the old NRA Handloading book where they show step by step with pictures how ball powder is made?

I remember 16 y.o. me & a buddy going to the drug store & buying, sulfur, charcoal, & potassium nitrate in 1# cans for $1 each. Potassium Nitrate & sugar in equal amounts slowly melted down with model rocket fuse stuck into the mix made great smoke bombs. I think a 1/4# pretty much covered a city block on a calm day.

 

[joshb]

Be careful over there. Just saw this earlier today...

UK Man Arrested for Possessing Gunpowder Recipe

A UK man sentenced for possessing a gunpowder recipe raises concerns over anti-terrorism laws.

bearingarms.com

Whatever would they do with the old NRA Handloading book where they show step by step with pictures how ball powder is made?

I remember 16 y.o. me & a buddy going to the drug store & buying, sulfur, charcoal, & potassium nitrate in 1# cans for $1 each. Potassium Nitrate & sugar in equal amounts slowly melted down with model rocket fuse stuck into the mix made great smoke bombs. I think a 1/4# pretty much covered a city block on a calm day.

It seems they had more on this guy . Let’s not cherry pick a story that has more to it. He has a history. It’s not just the fact that he possessed a recipe.

 

[ronsatspokane]

The funny thing is that what we are doing in the process of shooting lead bullets is that we are returning the components to the land. Lead and copper. Both came from the land, they are returned to the land and in a form much easier to mine the next time around. All shooters are under appreciated conservationists.

Not to mention that all shooters are also under appreciated rocket scientists as well.

 

[M-61]

Unless ‘Le Boche’ come back of course.

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

Be careful over there. Just saw this earlier today...

UK Man Arrested for Possessing Gunpowder Recipe

A UK man sentenced for possessing a gunpowder recipe raises concerns over anti-terrorism laws.

bearingarms.com

Whatever would they do with the old NRA Handloading book where they show step by step with pictures how ball powder is made?

I remember 16 y.o. me & a buddy going to the drug store & buying, sulfur, charcoal, & potassium nitrate in 1# cans for $1 each. Potassium Nitrate & sugar in equal amounts slowly melted down with model rocket fuse stuck into the mix made great smoke bombs. I think a 1/4# pretty much covered a city block on a calm day.

I just showed my son those combos last December, the PN and sugar mixture unfortunately caught on fire on the stove when we got to impatient on the low heat. Its amazing how quickly an entire house can go dark from smoke....

 

[Tesoro]

We have allot of quality bullet makers here in South Africa and one of the "niche markets" is a mono that perform like how Berger describes their hunting bullets, goes in 3 inches and then the front half goes of like a hand grenade. They do devastating damage on varmints and are quite accurate, allot are made form "machined brass" so also relatively cheap. Like ebb said sounds like a business opportunity here

Maybe someone in UK should order some 5.9mm barrels and duplicate some 6mm bullets lathed down to 5.9mm! and all else could remain the same except for a slightly higher bc per given bullet. Might have to buy one different bushing and mandel. About it.

 

[MGYSGT]

It's almost as though the people who pass these laws actually have no idea what they are talking about.

Same in our country

 

[358WCF]

I just showed my son those combos last December, the PN and sugar mixture unfortunately caught on fire on the stove when we got to impatient on the low heat. Its amazing how quickly an entire house can go dark from smoke....

My buddy's parents weren't too impressed when we were using a bunsen burner to melt the stuff in his basement & it all went awry. "Turn on the lights," he said. "They are on," sez I. Burnt the wires above the burner & turned out the lights in the flower shop that was attached to their house. Nobody ever found out about our experiments with powdered magnesium & rocket engines. Kids...

 

[BTP]

I just showed my son those combos last December, the PN and sugar mixture unfortunately caught on fire on the stove when we got to impatient on the low heat. Its amazing how quickly an entire house can go dark from smoke....

That must have been fun explaining to the wife lol

 

[Tesoro]

Be careful over there. Just saw this earlier today...

UK Man Arrested for Possessing Gunpowder Recipe

A UK man sentenced for possessing a gunpowder recipe raises concerns over anti-terrorism laws.

bearingarms.com

Whatever would they do with the old NRA Handloading book where they show step by step with pictures how ball powder is made?

I remember 16 y.o. me & a buddy going to the drug store & buying, sulfur, charcoal, & potassium nitrate in 1# cans for $1 each. Potassium Nitrate & sugar in equal amounts slowly melted down with model rocket fuse stuck into the mix made great smoke bombs. I think a 1/4# pretty much covered a city block on a calm day.

16? My fav dog eared book at that age was 'the poor many james bond' !!

 

[ISS]

wait until the socialists running your country discover that all air gun pellets are very soft lead...

 

[Oldbloke]

They tried it here (au) but beat it for the time being. Who are they trying to save? Hunters with just half a brain don't eat lead contaminated meat.

 

[DiRTY DOG]

What’s your problem with lead free bullets?
At least I don’t have to scrape bits of lead out of the carcass.

Cost and availability.

17, 20, and 22 caliber options are fantastic for 1/2 moa varmit accuracy, like the Hornady NTX and Nosler NBT Lead Free. Price is about the same as lead Vmax or slightly more. Availability has been good recently but lead free takes a back seat in production whenever there's a shortage like during covid or military contracts.

6mm varmint options are far costlier and production is spotty. Nosler hasn't made any 55gr NBT-LF in about 5 years but it's an Excellent bullet.

22lr lead free is just terrible for accuracy, it's hard to find, and it's expensive. 17HMR is fantastic, when you can find it, Hornady 15.5gr availability is spotty.

Solid copper bullets (all calibers) are pretty expensive especially for volume shooting. Hammer Bullets has had excellent availability to their credit and they shoot fantastic, but they're not cheap. Not very good BCs for long range.



Lead bans are coming, like it or not. First it was condor zones in CA just for hunting. Then it spread to all of CA for all hunting. Soon it will be lead bans on all state and federal public lands. Then all indoor then outdoor ranges for health/safety. It's coming...