One of the blogs I read almost daily (except on weekends) is the Gun Nuts blog from Field and Stream. The blog features a trade-off between Dave Petzal on rifles, and Phil Bourjailly on shotguns. They generally keep this division, although there’s an occasional cross-over and then handguns fall into the middle somewhere… but that’s neither here nor there.
I enjoy the blog because the writing is excellent (and Petzal is a hilariously curmudgeonly writer), and because the information is generally fresh and valid. From time to time it gets a little more technical than I care for, but I read it anyway… the writing is that good. They don’t spend a lot of time rehashing press releases or writing short blurbs with a link to another site’s story (which is essentially what I’m about to do… d’oh!).
At any rate, the reason this comes up today is because yesterday (Tuesday), Bourjailly did another piece on non-toxic shotshells. In this case, he was looking at the Hevi-Shot ammo for small-bore shotguns (28ga. and .410). It’s a tiny, niche market, but for those who do enjoy shooting the smaller stuff, I thought the info was pretty good and worth a read. If you fall into that group, I strongly recommend giving it a read.
This topic and review is also relevant because bird hunting seasons are pretty much upon us. Early teal season swept the southern states, and resident goose seasons are open in many places. The first dove seasons are a month old and even closed in some places. Upland birds are open or opening across the country as well, with October already rustling the curtains in the wings. And with these seasons come new restrictions on the use of lead ammunition… a challenge many hunters haven’t had to face before. It’s great to find information from reputable sources, like Bourjailly, and to hear the first-hand reports.
Personally, I can’t offer a lot of perspective on the topic because I am still using lead on the rare occasion that I hunt upland birds and doves. This isn’t likely to change in the near future, as I’ve probably got two cases of ammo to work through before I worry about restocking. I’ll make the decision to switch or not when that time comes.
I also hunt waterfowl so seldom these days that I can’t offer a ton of info there, either. I do have nothing but good stuff to say about Bismuth, which is what I shoot mostly from my old side-by-side (Hevi-Shot is too hard for the old barrels), but it is expensive. If I hunted waterfowl as much as I used to, I’m pretty sure I’d have to stick with steel… simply from a fiscal perspective.
Anyway, check out Bourjailly’s post. Good stuff, Maynard.
