Some while ago, my wife and I decided to do what we could to make my airgun hobby lead-free, to cut down on the lead and its by-products inside our home, as well as out in the wide, wild world, where lead pollution already is a huge problem. Since I shoot primarily with pumpers and CO2 airguns indoors, I don't have much trouble with the decision, other than the much higher cost, since finding lead free pellets suitable for indoor target shooting isn't that big a deal. Unfortunately however, that's not the case when it comes to pest control and/or hunting. On top of there just not being all that many choices when it comes lead-free pellets, they're all very light in weight, which at first blush might be seen as a big benefit. Sure, you'll get more distance and fps with lead free pellets (typically, that's what airgun manufacturers use to achieve the artifically high fps numbers they advertise, even when it means sacrificing any hope of real accuracy), but that light weight also means less whomp (fpe) on impact and penetration, if you're hunting small game or trying to eliminate pest animals, and that can be a problem. Aside from the lower energy, these faster, lower-weight pellets also can be apt to go right on through a critter, which isn't always a good thing. Yes, shot placement is always critical, especially when the goal is killing an animal as quickly and painlessly as possible, but even a great shot that goes straight through can mean a longer, drawn-out, painful death for the hapless target animal, which hopefully isn't what you're (ahem) shooting for. So, what to do? Just concentrate on perfect shot placement with lead free pellets and hope for the best, or forget your decision to be lead free altogether and go nuclear with a much heavier lead pellet for the job? A perfect head shot on something like a small rat or tiny, invasive bird species probably won't be much of a problem regardless of pellet weight, fps or total fpe, but as the size of an animal increases, so does the benefit of more impact energy, even with good shot placement. The choice of different weights and types of lead free pellets for even the most popular .177 and .22 caliber airguns already is incredibly limited, but what about bigger game? Imagine how bad things must be for medium and large game airgun hunters wanting to go lead free! So.. what lead free ammo in what caliber(s) are you using, or do you just forget even trying? What's a lead free wannabe to do? What are your thoughts on the matter?
