Things never begin well by busting a rib, but that's what happened.
After the rib the bullet plowed through another two and a half or three feat of tough animal and slipped out between two more ribs and buried itself in the hillside somewhere weighing just about as much as when it left the barrel of my rifle.
I shoot Barnes bullets not because they're all copper but because I believe them to be the best at weight retention and for the kind of animal I hunt weight matters. The less the bullet fragments as it passes through the animal the further it will go. An exit hole is a good thing, an exit means there is a hole all the way through and the animal will die a quick death and not run far.
You don't have to use copper bullets for weight retention, there are many good varieties of copper jacketed lead bullets that have similar properties and all are designed with the idea of going all the way through. They lose very little lead on the way and also exit the animal.
So what's all the fuss about? Why the court battles with all the usual suspects and to what end. If a copper bullet works best wouldn't it be just as easy for everyone to switch to copper? No. And I'll get into the why nots below the entrails.
Of all the bullets I shoot during a year only two or three are copper. Those are the ones I'm shooting at a real animal. If those bullets people actually used to hunt with were copper, the extra cost would be minimal. Three or four more dollars a year for me, maybe the same but per day for coyotee hunters or squirrel hunters, still manageable.
Do Lead Bullets Continue To Be A Hazard After They Land? (Scientific testing for Forest Service)
So why all the hoopla? Scratch the surface of most groups apposing lead bullets and you'll usually find people who don't want any more hunting period. The Center for Biologic Diversity, HSUS, Wild Earth Gardians, Western Watersheds, and so on. The groups that have made a business model out of generating outrage, trolling for funds, and suing any and every body.
Currently in the USA no species is endangered due to the use of lead in bullets or fishing tackle. Lead bullets are not used in areas of California condors and raptor populations are on the increase across the US. Do some birds die due to lead poisoning? No doubt. You could say that elk last winter died of copper poisoning also.
Most bullets are fired at shooting ranges, and the spent bullets at those ranges don't pose a hazard to any one or thing.
Is there room for compromise? Say for instance at least weight retaining bullets for use in cartridges meant for hunting? Sure enough but to do that you first need to find environmental groups who haven't made a lifelong crusade out of apposing any and all hunting.
All discusion of lead might be moot at this point anyway.
Despite being tossed out of court again, and again, and again, litigious "environmental" groups bring nuisance suits against the Environmental Protection Agency. To forestal more litigation language is being included in a pro hunting bill that will protect lead bullets against further law suits. It will probably pass as a rider on the big farm bill coming up.
Great Video on how rimfire bullets are made. Skip up to around the 1:40 mark.