Lead ammunition is no longer permitted in California. Lead shot in shotgun shells was phased out several years ago. Effective July 2019 rifle and pistol ammunition can no longer contain lead. Google it, lots of info on CDFW site and others.
Regarding cardboard wads. Long ago when I hunted doves and quail and operated the reloading press for my father, he used a plastic wad (shot cup was the term used). Shot cups are designed to create various shot patterns with different loads and different choked barrels. A choke on a barrel is how tightly the bore diameter is necked down in the last few inches of the barrel. The smaller the diameter, the tighter the pattern. Read here to learn about chokes - https://www.rem870.com/2012/05/06/shotgun-chokes-explained-cylinder-improved-cylinder-modified-full/
When lead was banned, replaced by steel (or tungsten for well-heeled shooters, $5 a shot), hunters had to re-learn how far was too far to shoot at a bird. With lead and a tight choke, I imagine a good hunter could bring down a duck at 60-70 yards (a guess by me). Steel is nowhere near as dense as lead and disperses much quicker. So a well engineered shot-cup (wad) is an important part of each round. To this day, many birds are wounded because a hunter shot as though they were using lead, while using steel, causing a lethal (much later) wound, allowing the bird to fly out of reach.
Many hunters use loads that not only have steel or tungsten pellets, but also have powder amongst the pellets to cushion the pellets during the violent trip out the barrel. As far as I know, this buffer is made of plastic (sigh). Here is one manufacturer - https://www.ballisticproducts.com/Buffers-Mica-Wad-Slick/products/72/.
Hi Jack,
Lead ammunition is no longer permitted in California. Lead shot in shotgun shells was phased out several years ago. Effective July 2019 rifle and pistol ammunition can no longer contain lead. Google it, lots of info on CDFW site and others.
Regarding cardboard wads. Long ago when I hunted doves and quail and operated the reloading press for my father, he used a plastic wad (shot cup was the term used). Shot cups are designed to create various shot patterns with different loads and different choked barrels. A choke on a barrel is how tightly the bore diameter is necked down in the last few inches of the barrel. The smaller the diameter, the tighter the pattern. Read here to learn about chokes - https://www.rem870.com/2012/05/06/shotgun-chokes-explained-cylinder-improved-cylinder-modified-full/
When lead was banned, replaced by steel (or tungsten for well-heeled shooters, $5 a shot), hunters had to re-learn how far was too far to shoot at a bird. With lead and a tight choke, I imagine a good hunter could bring down a duck at 60-70 yards (a guess by me). Steel is nowhere near as dense as lead and disperses much quicker. So a well engineered shot-cup (wad) is an important part of each round. To this day, many birds are wounded because a hunter shot as though they were using lead, while using steel, causing a lethal (much later) wound, allowing the bird to fly out of reach.
Many hunters use loads that not only have steel or tungsten pellets, but also have powder amongst the pellets to cushion the pellets during the violent trip out the barrel. As far as I know, this buffer is made of plastic (sigh). Here is one manufacturer - https://www.ballisticproducts.com/Buffers-Mica-Wad-Slick/products/72/.
Hope this helped.