Lead ammunition to be banned for hunting and shooting in England, Scotland and Wales
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/10/lead-ammunition-ban-hunting-shooting-england-scotland-wales
Posted by FeigenbaumC
Lead ammunition to be banned for hunting and shooting in England, Scotland and Wales
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/10/lead-ammunition-ban-hunting-shooting-england-scotland-wales
Posted by FeigenbaumC
9 Comments
Seems a sensible step.
Lead weights for fishing were banned (or at least very restricted) since many years ago…
Yes, yes, yes, it won’t help the animal that is shot with a non-lead bullet but it’s still removing a source of lead from the environment.
>There is an exemption for the outdoor shooting of permitted birds and animals using small-calibre bullets
So lead will still be getting into the environment to some extent then.
>Also exempt are airguns, and ammunition used by elite athletes, the military, police and in outdoor target shooting ranges with risk management measures.
And it’s fine to shoot people with lead but not animals lol.
The ones I go to for shooting use steel bearings as lead is banned as it’s close to a water source.
Wernt small bore exempt?
177hmr, .22lr and airgun stuff?
The already diminished shooting community in the UK takes another L
Not to say the ban itself is a bad thing, just a shame we don’t have better steel ammunition to bridge the change to lead-free
Well that’s so nice for the animals, they’ll be so so pleased now…
On two side of the fence with this.
Ballistic performance with steel just does not come close to lead when it comes to killing cleanly. Steel has a lower density by about 70% compared to lead, so steel shot loses velocity and energy far more quickly. As such there is reduced range and power, so significantly less knockdown power, especially for larger game. Lead is also softer so tends to ‘pancake’ on impact, further improving its stopping ability, where steel just pierces without transferring the kinetic energy of the shot.
There are alternatives to steel which perform more like lead, but the cost is so prohibitive. Bismuth and tungsten are twice the price of steel at around £2 a shell, with steel at around £1, which is already big jump from lead at around 50p. This is just going to price people out of the sport at the lower end making it even more exclusive and unaffordable for the average countryman.
Finally, and to be honest most importantly to me, I eat a lot of game and the idea of biting down on a steel shot puts shivers down my spine. I regularly bite on a lead shot, and as it’s soft it has give and you can just spit it out like it was bone or cartalodge. I imagine my molar will shatter like glass on a steel shot. Can’t help feeling big dentistry must be partly behind this!
I fully appreciate there is an environmental trade off and that steel is non-toxic and doesn’t have the possibility poisoning wildlife like lead, but as a regular game shot and consumer of wild game I find it hard to celebrate the change.
Interestingly, lead weights were banned for fishing a long time ago.
This does seem a situation where ordinary working people have been targeted well before the the rich …
This stuff litters the fields cattle graze in and crops are grown in