Non toxic shot

IT IS ILLEGAL TO USE LEAD SHOT TO SHOOT DUCKS, GEESE, COOT AND MOORHEN, OR TO USE LEAD SHOT BELOW THE HIGH-WATER MARK OR OVER OUR SSSI AREAS. THIS APPLIES TO ALL KWCA WILDFOWLING GROUNDS. ONLY USE LEAD LEGALLY.

Lead is a toxic substance that can harm humans, wildlife and the environment but, in particular, it can cause poisoning in waterfowl that collect spent lead pellets for use as grit in their digestive processes. It is claimed that lead can also cause poisoning in wounded waterfowl where a non fatal shot is made.

Alternatives to lead shot are now available that are not toxic to waterfowl and other wildlife. These are being introduced for waterfowl hunting around the world.
Some waterfowl species eat natural grit as an aid to digestion of food and may mistakenly collect spent lead pellets instead. These pellets can be ground down in the bird's gizzard and the lead absorbed into the bloodstream. Lead is a non-specific toxin, affecting most body systems. Ingestion is fatal in some but not all cases.
Even if lead poisoning does not kill waterfowl directly, they may become vulnerable to disease and predation or may not be able to successfully reproduce.

The International Wetlands Research Bureau (IWRB) has widely studied the lead poisoning problem in waterfowl across Europe and America and have published what are now internationally accepted indicators used to measure lead exposure and/or poisoning in waterfowl.

Much of the research that has been carried out has been on enclosed water (lakes) rather than open water (sea / estuaries) with strong tidal flows (such as our shooting areas in Kent), where the effect of Lead toxicity on wildlife and the environment will be much reduced.
All Wildfowlers share a certain frustration over the way shooting and firearm use is constantly under the microscope and appreciate how easy it is to assume that the move to non-toxic shot is part of that.
However wildfowling is an activity which relies strongly on demonstrating to the community that a very high level of morality and ethics exists among the participants.
On that basis, it would be wrong to condone any use of lead shot for wildfowling.

Let us look at an example of the ballistics of a typical steel shot cartridge
These are the theological results for a US No4 36 gram steel shot cartridge with and muzzle velocity of 1400 ft/sec.

You can see that it very quickly runs out of force and will not penetrate the breast bone of a Greylag Goose beyond 10 yards. It will however have sufficient power to penetrate a Wigeon at 45 yards, but only has sufficient pattern to kill it at 40 yards.

Why not try our Ballistic Calculator to see how your load is likely to perform?