As published in “Shooting Illustrated“ December 2008
Hunting in California’s condor recovery range is limited to lead-free bullets. Fortunately, handgun hunters have “green” alternatives readily available.
No one said it signaled the end of the world; they said it would be worse. Since I’m not much of a duck hunter, I didn’t get emotionally involved, but my recollection is that both hunters and non-hunters had the same ultimate objective; they wanted a healthy population of ducks. Despite the controversy, duck populations are as healthy as ever and duck hunting continues to thrive.
Today in California, some similar legislation has been passed, and emotional arguments much like those heard during the lead shot ban are raging across the state. Simply stated, in the California condor corridor, all ammunition used for hunting must be lead free. For those who aren’t familiar with the California condor, the bird feeds on the carcasses of dead animals, and many of the birds are allegedly dying of lead poisoning caused by ingesting lead bullets or cores located in the gut piles of animals killed by hunters. Since central California has many wild pigs that are hunted year round, the cause of these deaths has been blamed on the bullets contained in their remains. This same section of California is also highly populated with ground squirrels, and these little creatures draw a great deal of attention each year from citizens wielding rimfire rifles and pistols. Since shooting ground squirrels requires a California hunting license, the ban of ammunition containing lead also applies to the pursuit of these rodents. I have no wish to get into a debate on the merits of this ban, but having spent some wonderful days hunting various ranches in this area, I was curious to see if this signaled the “end of the world” in terms of hunting central California. Besides, it doesn’t take much of an excuse for me to schedule a visit to Don Geivet, vice president of Operations at the incredible Tejon Ranch—a haven for big-game animals of all kinds that’s located at the south end of the Condor corridor. The ranch is also the first location where the lead ban was put into effect. I was also interested in the impact this legislation would have on handgun hunting.
Some of my handgun-hunting buddies believe there is no substitute for a heavy, hard-cast, big-bore, lead bullet when hunting tough and potentially dangerous big game. While you might not think of pigs being dangerous or big, the really large boars can grow to a few hundred pounds and carry an extremely thick layer of gristle plate around their shoulders and rib cage. Fragile, fast-expanding, smaller-bore handgun ammunition is not the right medicine for these guys. And while most pigs will try to run away, there’s the occasional animal that will come at you, particularly if it’s wounded. I’ve only had it happen once, and unfortunately for the boar, the two of us were carrying Freedom Arms .454s with full-house loads. It slid to its death a mere 6 to 10 feet in front of us—a breathtaking sight! But at something less than 200 pounds of body weight, it, like most pigs taken by hunters, did not require a heavy, solid slug to put it down. On the other hand, anything with minimal authority probably would have resulted in some cuts and slashes on either me or my partner. Something tough and lead-free is required. The answer is not only simple, it’s been around for quite some time.
Barnes manufactures solid-copper bullets for pistol calibers from .357 Mag. up through the mighty .500 S&W Mag., and while I would not personally use a .357 Mag. to hunt wild boar, I’d be happy with any of the other magnum calibers, beginning with the .41 Mag., stoked with Barnes X bullets. Each X bullet is made with some slots cut in the nose of the bullet. Upon impacting an animal, the nose of the bullet peels back in six petals along these cuts. Each bullet is designed to peel back at specific velocities, depending on the caliber. Most of my handgun hunting with Barnes bullets has been with the .44 Mag., and the two bullets available in this caliber are designed to open at a minimum velocity of 1,050 fps. Final expanded diameter of the bullet depends on how fast it is traveling when it enters the animal. The petals on either the 200- or 225-grain .44 Mag. bullet entering an animal at 1,300 fps will peel back nearly parallel to the bullet’s body, resulting in greater penetration than the same bullet would have at 1,050 fps. At either velocity, the wound cavity is larger (sometimes quite massive) near the bullet’s entry point than further along the path of penetration. It takes a tough, extremely well made bullet to perform with this kind of consistency.
Non-handloaders fear not! Barnes bullets are available in loaded ammunition from both Cor-Bon and Federal. Federal handgun-hunting ammo with Barnes bullets range from the .357 Mag. to .500 S&W Mag., with one load offered in each caliber. Cor-Bon’s smallest caliber is the .44 Mag., but there are multiple loads in several of the calibers including a +P hunting load for the .45 Colt. Cor-Bon’s ammo generates 1,200 fps muzzle velocity with the .45 Colt +P and ranges up to 1,825 fps with the .460 S&W Mag. Federal’s trajectory tables show that when all calibers are sighted in for 25 yards, the smallest bullet drop at 100 yards is 2 inches for the .460 while the 225-grain .44 Mag. round drops just under 7 inches. Last year in Australia, I shot four pigs (three boars and one sovi) using the 225-grain .44 Mag. load in a Smith & Wesson Model 629 with an 8V»-inch barrel. All pigs were inside 60 yards, and all but one dropped in its tracks. As you would expect, the one failure was the result of poor shot placement. A follow-up shot did finish the job. Big-bore, big-boar handgun hunters need have no concerns complying with the new regulations while hunting the Condor corridor.
I was really more concerned with having acceptable ammo for the corridor’s squirrel population. As it turned out, this problem has been half solved in a sense because CCI is making .22 Mag. lead-free (or Green) ammunition. I have two revolvers chambered for .22 Mag. and took both up to Tejon. They did an admirable job nailing several ground squirrels, even though it was late in
the season and the critters were quite spooky. In my experience, the .22 Mag. seems to be a more decisive killer than the .22 LR, and that’s the good news. The bad news is .22 Mag. ammo is more expensive than .22 LR, but then the cost of ammunition has increased dramatically in the last year. As the deep-thinking philosophers say, “It is what it is,” and it’s still a cheaper solution than centerfire ammo.
As of now, I know of no plans to make green .22 LR ammunition. It doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but it’s not in the works yet. I think .22 Mag. has always been a bit of a specialty niche product, just as hunting in those areas within the Condor corridor is a specialty niche market.
I’ve avoided getting into the condor issue, but there are a couple of things that puzzle me. First, did the studies show lead bullets in the carcasses of small rodents contributed to any condor deaths? If not, why is lead-free rimfire ammo being mandated? Secondly, if the issue is lead in gut piles resulting from hunting, why is there a ban on lead ammo for target shooting on the various ranches affected? On Tejon, no lead ammo is allowed on the ranch, period. The only rationale I can think of is a total ban is easier to enforce than a partial ban. I suspect the government bodies involved have dictated this policy, and I heard from more than one source that the implementation of the lead-free policies were handled more like a Mafia-style offer than a civilized dialog between two parties interested in wildlife conservation. The good news is big-game and small-game hunting are alive and well at the Tejon and other ranches throughout California. You might have to buy a new pistol, but you have legally compliant choices available in both factory and hand-loaded ammunition. And getting to buy a new handgun is always good news.
Special thanks to friend and fellow handgun hunter Brian Pearce for his introduction to the Handgun Section of the new “Barnes Reloading Manual Number 4.” If you plan to reload with Barnes bullets, get the Barnes manual and read the entire handgun section including Pearce’s introduction. Load data cannot be interchanged between all-copper Barnes bullets and traditional jacketed lead-core bullets of the same weight.’!?
Dick Williams 