A different shotgun question.

[MrWhippy]

dont be shoooting skeet on your farm! youll get so much lead built up then with a little acid rain it will leech into the water table!

David Schultz

I'm pretty sure there are steel pellet target shells now that aren't much more than lead pellet shells.

 

[samandmax]

I have a slug gun that a blind man could hit a saucer at 100 yards. You can try it out and use it if you like. We cant live that far apart, just let me know.

 

[vtsnowedin]

I'm pretty sure there are steel pellet target shells now that aren't much more than lead pellet shells.

People sure are concerned with lead pollution today but it is a matter of concentration. Hunters afield will never salt a field with enough lead shot to make a difference but duck hunters who shoot from the same blind locations season after season put enough shot on the bottom of shallow marsh areas for water fowl to pick up toxic doses while feeding. Even worse are shooting ranges where literally thousands of rounds are shot from the same firing line each year. I've heard of ranges that stripped the topsoil off their impact area and processed it and got several drums full of shot to be recycled into new ammo.
I wouldn't be worried about a few practice sessions with lead target loads over my land but would switch to non toxic steel of bismuth shot if I was going to do it on the same ground all season. Might be better practice to use what your hunting with anyway.

 

[coobie]

In my part of the world, deer can be hunted only with shotgun slug or muzzleloader. I'm more inclined to shotgun. Any favorites for the expressed purpose of firing a slug at a hunk of meat?

These are both 3 shot bolt actions(fully rifled barrels) that I hunt deer with in lower Michigan,savage 220F 20 ga. with 3 inch federal barnes expander sabots,next up browning A-bolt 12 ga.use 2 /34 lightfield or hornaday sst 2 3/4 sabots.Both are dead nuts accurate out to 150 yards.coobie.

 

[davethegundoctor]

Just doing a little skeet shooting on someones farm will not harm anything. If it was a Club with 500 shooter maybe over time. After all lead come from the ground to start with.

David Pidgeon
New Haven, Vermont

 

[tc18ny]

As stated already, the H&R Ultra Slug Hunter is a nice, economical shotgun. I sold my old Ithaca 16 gauge last year and bought one of these in 20 gauge and added a nice bushnell red dot. It's accurate as all get out with the right sabot. Mine likes hornady SST's. It's made to shoot sabots and sabots only. It comes stock with a heavy barrell (machined from a 12 gauge blank). The price is right on these guns but you can only really use it for deer. I took a nice doe last year from across a gully, about 100 to 120 yards. Only needed the one shot and she dropped where she stood. I'll end up with another shotgun for birdshot only.

 

[whistlepig]

I have a H&R Ultra Slug. It's the most accurate slug gun that I have ever shot. I also have an Ithaca Deerslayer II. The Ithaca Deerslayer II is my favorite. The Ultra Slug is very heavy. The Deerslayer is a sweeter handling gun.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Even worse are shooting ranges where literally thousands of rounds are shot from the same firing line each year. I've heard of ranges that stripped the topsoil off their impact area and processed it and got several drums full of shot to be recycled into new ammo.

My club recycled 40,000 lbs. of lead from the trap range a couple years ago. That's about a 10 year buildup. We lime the range to keep the lead locked up. Lead oxide is not soluble in an alkaline environment.

 

[whistlepig]

My range mines the lead also. They don't strip the topsoil. They strain it. These folks know what they are doing.

 

[MrWhippy]

This is excellent input! I'm hoping to handle and fire some of these shotguns over the next few months and find something that's comfortable, shoots well for me and straight forward for servicing.