HEADING WEST
It’s time to take the lead on lead!
Simon West, director of the GTA, reports on a busy month within the Gun Trade Association...
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Happy and Prosperous New Year to you all! It is the ‘Gun System’ that delivers capability. The system is made up of the shooter, the gun, its ammunition (case, propellant, ignition, projectile…), sights, supports etc. There have been many periods of change in the story of the gun system. Muzzle loading to breech loading, fl int ignition to fulminate percussion, pinfi re to centre fi re and most importantly black powder to nitro propellants. At every stage of
transition there have been different groups of shooters, some eager to get on with the next opportunity for enhanced performance and some happy to see their time out with the old systems. Even the progressive players kept their hand in the old ways. Today there is a resurgence of black powder users and there are more game shooting muzzle loading days now than I can remember in 35 years of game shooting. The last 20 years has seen a shift from traditional side by sides to over and unders; fi rst in the clay arena and now in the fi eld. Nothing rests the same for long. We are also in a period of transition
GTA director, Simon West
for projectiles. The UK moved away from lead in wildfowling over twenty years ago and from the rather blunt high-powered steel shot of the past we now see clever environmentally friendly, better performing steel cartridges being offered for an ever wider range of uses. The original move away from lead
was prompted by the evidence of lead’s impact on the wildfowl when they ingested the shot left in the mud. Today we face more evidence of lead’s effect on the human system
56 | Tackle & Guns | January 2020
and its route into the human food chain. While the risk is low to any individual, limiting lead’s effect in the environment and humans makes every sense. Where lead can be used on shooting grounds and recycled we can control its effect. Where lead is the only solution for a gun system, we must retain its use. But where there are routes for this element to enter the human food chain we should look to see what alternatives are available. If we can reduce the lead we put in human food, we should move that way. This cannot be done overnight; it will take years to develop a full suite of ammunition suitable for all guns and all fi eld scenarios. The chemistry of propellants needs investment; the manufacturing system will need an overhaul; the supply chain will need to be developed; the technical performance needs tuning and testing; the target effect needs understanding. But we are not starting from a standing start. Manufacturers have been working on this for years and we are beginning to see the arrival of some really useful steel cartridges for fi eld use. I congratulate their vision and I applaud
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