Plastic in Shotshells?

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P5 Guy

P5 Guy

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Buffered shotshells use plastic (polypropylene, polyethylene) beads to buffer the shot to improve patterns. Since the '70s lead has been banned when hunting over wetlands.
With all the ranting and raving about plastic pollution how long do shotshell reloaders and manufacturers have to find an 'environmentally friendly' shot buffer?
I've seen where reloaders use Cream of Wheat or grits as filler when loading low power ammunitions to stabilize the powder and keep the powder agains the cartridge head.
Would these be usable buffering material?
 
P5 Guy said:
Buffered shotshells use plastic (polypropylene, polyethylene) beads to buffer the shot to improve patterns. Since the '70s lead has been banned when hunting over wetlands.
With all the ranting and raving about plastic pollution how long do shotshell reloaders and manufacturers have to find an 'environmentally friendly' shot buffer?
I've seen where reloaders use Cream of Wheat or grits as filler when loading low power ammunitions to stabilize the powder and keep the powder agains the cartridge head.
Would these be usable buffering material?
Click to expand...
Sure.
Baiting and buffering.
Maybe try some wheat too.
Its cheap enough that's for certain.
 
I would be more worried about plastic wads being banned since they are more visible, used in almost all shotshells, and less than 1% use buffered shot.
 
Before long, it will be a fiber shotshell hull, with a compressed birdseed/shellac wad, and steel shot. $5 a round, with a 6 month shelf life. But, you know...environmentally friendly. Added bonus, you get to feed the birds you don't hit;)
 
Would using ground corn as buffer when shooting doves count as baiting?
 
bersaguy said:
Before long, it will be a fiber shotshell hull, with a compressed birdseed/shellac wad, and steel shot. $5 a round, with a 6 month shelf life. But, you know...environmentally friendly. Added bonus, you get to feed the birds you don't hit;)
Click to expand...

And the shot would be banned in states where baiting is illegal.
 
It seems like shotshell wads are a very small drop in a very large bucket where plastic pollution is concerned. But when it comes to banning things, people never let logic get in the way.

The concept does present an interesting challenge in materials science. What material could be used for a shotcup that works just as well, but isn’t plastic?
 
What, 60 years ago there wasn't a molecule of plastic in any shotshells. Maybe they weren't quite as efficient, but people went hunting and killed stuff. The cardboard hulls were biodegradable leaving just the brass base. If kept dry they lasted forever.

Back to the future.
 
You would need something hydrophilic. Maybe ground walnut shell? I'm sure it soaks some water but not as much as rice flour. Soapstone?
 
The little beads are probably the easiest thing to replace manufacturers could easily use paper pulp who's fibers are no longer sound enough to be made into paper, it would be recycling something that is no longer recyclable as is literally the trash of the trash so it's a win all around and should be dirt cheap
 
I'm not sure that buffered shot is the biggest issue. IMO the plastic shot cup/wad was the biggest innovation that improved patterns by protecting the shot column from the barrel. Plastic is the ideal material to make those from; light weight, strong and cheap to manufacture.

Buffered shot might be a gimmick that allows us to pay crazy prices for "premium" shells that really doesn't improve the pattern that much.
 
Jason_W said:
It seems like shotshell wads are a very small drop in a very large bucket where plastic pollution is concerned. But when it comes to banning things, people never let logic get in the way.

The concept does present an interesting challenge in materials science. What material could be used for a shotcup that works just as well, but isn’t plastic?
Click to expand...

We thought that about plastic drinking straws and then the mayor of St Pete tried to ban them?
 
Laphroaig said:
What, 60 years ago there wasn't a molecule of plastic in any shotshells. Maybe they weren't quite as efficient, but people went hunting and killed stuff. The cardboard hulls were biodegradable leaving just the brass base.
Click to expand...

And you could pick up a shotgun and ammo from Sears.

B5B5D65E-AC8D-4533-BE3F-54AF0C4F88BB.jpeg
 
I think I was around eleven or twelve when I started seeing plastic hulls. Paper hulled shells look much cooler to me.
 
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