UNLEADED BULLETS Some love ‘em, others hate ‘em…but they work! By Craig Boddington

The fancy term is “homogeneous alloy,” but we’re primarily talking about all-copper or copper-alloy rifle bullets, absent any trace of lead. There are two primary reasons to hunt with this type of bullet: Because you have to; or because you want to.

The fancy term is “homogeneous alloy,” but we’re primarily talking about all-copper or copper-alloy rifle bullets, absent any trace of lead. There are two primary reasons to hunt with this type of bullet: Because you have to; or because you want to.

Barnes X, TSX, TTSX: The Barnes X-Bullet was the first effective copper-alloy expanding bullet. The TSX, center, added driving bands to reduce copper fouling, while the TTSX, right, added a polymer tip, which drives into the bullet upon impact to initiate expansion.
Barnes X, TSX, TTSX: The Barnes X-Bullet was the first effective copper-alloy expanding bullet. The TSX, center, added driving bands to reduce copper fouling, while the TTSX, right, added a polymer tip, which drives into the bullet upon impact to initiate expansion.

Without question, lead is a toxic metal, and lead poisoning is a serious and potentially fatal health hazard. Waterfowlers have been required to use non-toxic shot nationwide since 1991, now with multiple alternatives including alloys of bismuth, iron, tungsten, and zinc. A legal requirement to use non-lead bullets is newer and still uncommon…but that depends on where you live. Since 2007 California has banned hunting with lead bullets throughout the range of the endangered California condor. The condor, really the world’s largest vulture, is primarily a scavenger. Hard evidence is sketchy, but there is a chance a condor could ingest lead fragments or particles by eating carcasses of animals taken with lead bullets. California’s Central Coast, where I’ve lived for 25 years, is part of the so-called “condor zone.”

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