Before the meeting on the 18th, I will do the following:
I'll rig up my own "Box o' Truth" for this issue and pick up some Barnes similar bullets. We'll see what penetration does.
I will line up a series of water jugs and fire into them at 25 yards, and attempt to retrieve the bullet for expansion analysis. I'll use 10 1-gallon jugs for each test. That's about six feet of water to penetrate; I think it will be enough.
I will test the following bullets in .308:
1. Hornady 165gr BTSP
2. Remington 165gr PSP
3. Barnes 165gr TSX
4. Federal 150gr FMJ "ball"
If my test box holds up long enough, I will also test:
1. 170gr Hornady FP .30-30
2. 170gr Remington RNFP .30-30
3. 180gr S&B 7.62x54R
4. 180gr Winchester Metric 7.62x54R
5. Whatever .30-06 my buddy has on hand.
6. Whatever .223 softpoints my buddy has on hand.
7. .22LR - CCI Stingers, Minimags, Winchester Xpert 22, Federal bulk pack
8. 240gr LSWC 44 magnum handloads
9. 158gr LSWC 357 magnum handloads
10. .36 caliber ball load from 1851 Navy replica
I will weigh each recovered bullet to see how much lead has escaped the body. After all, condors aren't in the habit of eating metal-clad rocks; they eat meat. To get lead in their system, the lead will have to escape the bulk of the bullet by fragmenting into small particles and embedding these micro-particles into the meat.
Facts to be recorded include:
1. Load data for all handloads
2. Weight of each projectile before and after firing
3. Calculated loss of mass
4. Number of jugs penetrated
5. Photographic image of bullet after impact
6. Subjective opinion of how the bullet opened up
7. Diameter of bullet's expansion at widest point
I've also discovered some interesting info that anyone attending the AZGFD forum on Jan 18th (hint hint) might want to be armed with and further research as they see fit.
University of Minnestota has a California Condor research group. According to this group, the California Condors released into the Arizona wilderness are designated as experimental and non-essential.
I certainly don't support changing ammunition regulations for a bird that isn't even supposed to be here.
Especially for an experimental bird that is genetically inferior to vultures, hawks and eagles that don't have any problem with carrion piles and arguable trace amounts of lead; especially when those birds are capable of doing the same ecological "job" as the condor.
They have a pdf report here (
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/species/condor/LERSC-Report.pdf) that demonstrates MANY other options to "save" condors besides banning lead. Most hunters I've met are pretty good about covering gut piles and discarding meat around the bullet wound.
U of Minn CCLERSC said:
• Retrieve all shot animals (including coyotes, varmints and small game) from
the field, or
• Hide carcasses or gut piles by burying them, covering them with brush or
rocks, or placing them in an area inaccessible to condors on the ground, or
• Remove bullets and surrounding impacted flesh when leaving carcasses or
gut piles in the field, or
• Simply use alternative non-toxic ammunition, in which case none of the above items is needed
Of further interest is a decidedly biased group called savethecondor.com. They have a PDF here (
http://www.savethecondor.com/pdfs/contamination.pdf) that demonstrates a bias towards COPPER also!
Copper!
But they're trying to push us to use COPPER bullets!
It's not about birds, lead poisoning or tree-hugging. It's about guns, plain and simple.
Show up if you're in AZ. If you're elsewhere, keep your ear to the ground. They'll bring this junk to Utah and Nevada soon, I bet.
