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New Missouri Ban on Use of Lead Shot

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What shot can one use in a muzzleloading shotgun that would be legal and not hard on the gun? I don't know very much about any shot but lead for use in a muzzleloader.
 
Unlike some states, Missouri manages many thousands of acres to promote hunting opportunities. Some of those are for waterfowl, others for dove hunting - both involve assigned shooting spots for hunters. Whether it's a sunflower field mowed down for doves or flooded timber, because falling shot is concentrated, ingested expended shot is picked up by many species of birds. Because of the assigned shooting stands/blinds, over the course of season after season, expended shot is concentrated in known locations and never goes away.

Waterfowl hunting areas feature artificially flooded food plots, flooded standing corn, & timber. It's not only waterfowl exposed to lead shot while the areas are flooded, but also every other bird specie during the growing season prior to flooding. My son's a wildlife biologist, worked at Eagle Bluffs Conservation area, and explained what biologists found and why they manage the area as they do. All waterfowl areas not only have "refuge" safe areas closed to hunting during the season, but also serve as refuge areas throughout the spring and fall migrations to millions of migrating birds - everything from coots, pelicans, ducks, and geese to songbirds of many types.

As far as banning lead shot on upland areas - rabbit, squirrel, quail (as if there area any), etc. - to me, that's overkill. Wanna see dead birds? - Visit a wind farm.
 
I've had good luck using bismuth shot for ducks and geese. You can order it from several reloading suppliers. I get mine from rotometals. Nontoxic is required here for waterfowl and hunting in waterfowl management areas for other game.
 
You still are allowed to go hunting in those no lead shot hunting areas. There are over a dozen nontoxic shot alternatives that could be used in those conservation areas. Lead poisoning is as real for the wildlife we all love to hunt as it is for the muzzleloaders who do the hunting.

I do not think the problem is as bad as reported.
The driving force behind the lead bans are the same people that would like to see gun and hunting bans period. This is just another incremental step in that direction.
A friend of mine’s son is a long time conservation officer who says most of the job openings that come open for management positions in his state are filled with anti-hunting and anti-gun people, some of them right out of college.
I live not too far from a very large national forest area. In their promotional brochures there are listings of all the activities that people are invited to engage in, such as hiking, birdwatching, limited camping, horseback riding, etc.
Hunting is not one of them.
I know it is still legal to hunt any game or nuisance animals there, because I checked.
 
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You still are allowed to go hunting in those no lead shot hunting areas. There are over a dozen nontoxic shot alternatives that could be used in those conservation areas. Lead poisoning is as real for the wildlife we all love to hunt as it is for the muzzleloaders who do the hunting.

The threat of lead poisoning is greatly exaggerated.
You MIGHT make a case for ingestion by waterfowl, but that is questionable due to the fact that fewer people even hunt waterfowl as the years go by, so fewer shots are fired. The non-lead rules just add to the steady drip of increased costs and regulatory aggravation that discourage people from hunting at all and take up another hobby.
The animal rights activists and anti-gunners stumbled upon the most effective way to discourage hunting except for an outright ban.
How is a little lead shot VERY thinly scattered around on the ground a threat to quail, pheasants, rabbits, squirrels, and me?
I am 67 years old, and have never known ANYONE that ever had a case of lead poisoning.
I did read about a guy that had levels of lead that were very high, but he got it in an industrial environment.
His doctor put him on some kind of medicine, ( something that made him urinate a lot ) and his lead levels returned to a safe level in about a year.
Have you ever known anyone who got lead poisoning outside of an industrial environment?
 
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You can use steel shot if you use the power piston sabot like cups. It prevents the steel shot from touching the inside of the barrel.
 
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