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Copper vs Lead bullets… Are you poisoning your game meat?

Posted by on 08/04/2018 in hunting | Leave a comment

Copper vs Lead bullets for hunting … Are you poisoning your game meat?

So I decided to go down this rabbit hole hoping I could find some definitive answers to my questions:

copper bullets vs lead bullets for hunting

  1. Does shooting game with lead bullets really increase your Blood lead levels?
  2. Are there ways to process game to minimize your risk?
  3. What alternatives are there to lead bullets ?
  4. Do non lead bullets reduce the life of your barrel faster?
  5. Are non lead bullets as effective?

This is what I found out about lead in game meat:

Originally it was thought that blood lead levels (BLL) of 5 micrograms per deciliter was acceptable and would not cause any adverse affects in adults. But now there are many researchers that claim any amount of lead in the blood could cause problems. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the UK Food Standards Agency, and even the Centers for Disease Control warn that  blood lead levels (BLL) even lower than 5 micrograms per deciliter are a matter of serious concern

This is what I found out about Copper Vs Lead Bullets:

Lead Bullet fragments in game meat

Copper bullets cost more ( I’m not a big shooter so big deal)

Copper bullets retain their weight very well but don’t have the same ” punch” as a lead bullet because lead is much denser (negative)

Copper bullets can be made as accurate and with the same or higher BC than a lead bullet (Plus)

Copper bullets have a higher tendency to penetrate further which could be a good thing on larger game but on smaller game it will just blow through damaging more meat and risking low shock value and not a quick clean kill. ( negative)

Copper Bullets can wear out a barrel faster ( negativo)

I wasn’t sure I was getting the right info on copper bullets vs lead bullets for hunting:

So we did some digging and found DRGO Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership and had Dr. Sean Brodale on the podcast with us to discuss the affects of  (BLL) Blood lead levels listen to my podcast Now on Copper vs Lead bullets… Are you poisoning your game meat?

 

Here is my podcast I did with Dr Bordale