This is probably a waste of bandwidth and it's too long, but another perspective to consider.
I shoot mostly lead despite being an ecosystem scientist, and am at least competent as one. I believe there are effects on birds of prey at varied spatiotemporal scales and potential health concerns for people.
P1: There are nearly infinite things I can do every day to lessen my impact on the environment as a whole, wildlife included. I can recycle, drive a more fuel efficient vehicle, drive less, look closely at where my clothing is sourced, live in a smaller home, buy less electronic gadgets, turn off light switches, unplug unused chargers, never use disposable utensils and plates, don't use plastic bags, hunt with copper bullets and it goes on. There are truly a limited number of measure I can gear up for before I just don't care anymore. Some of you are probably better humans than I am and get energized by each one of those things when you do them; but at some point I have other things to worry about, and copper bullets just aren't that high on the list. Same goes for my health: I could never drink alcohol again, exercise every day, give up caffeine, quit eating any sugar, eat only organic vegetables, take all the right vitamins, sleep more, watch less TV, floss more, wash raspberries before I eat them, ensure there is zero lead residue in my meat, etc. It's a balance of priorities and choices.
P2: I have several barrels worth of bullets on hand that I've proven to myself to be effective at killing animals at ranges short and long, and are also a joy to shoot long range on steel. On average they outperform copper ballistically by quite a bit. There is room for technology to close the gap to a great extent, or maybe entirely some day. When I invest days/bullets/powder/barrel life into being proficient with a bullet I don't want to shoot a different bullet when I go hunting. I learn how they slip the wind, how consistent they are at distance, and over time how they've performed on game. That's worth a lot to me.
I could develop copper hunting loads for all of my family's rifles in addition to what I've already cooked up, and mostly use lead at the range and on steel. I am doing that for my kids .243 right now in fact. What I don't like is the assumption that somebody else knows how much value P2 has for me, and why can't I stop being an ignorant, backwards sportsman. To be clear that's not the tone of most posters here, but it's the vibe I get at trade shows/wildlife events and the movement in general. If you deliver information to people like they're lesser, they won't care if you're right.
My point is there is something between "copper only" and "stubborn rednecks who hate science". In order for me to move to copper for all my hunting rifles I will need to see the performance on paper and game for myself, so that I'm comfortable saying I'm 100% as effective with that configuration. That might happen in two years or ten or never, we will see. Priorities and choices.
https://www.lazoo.org/condorla1720/
Off to salvage reality. Though it's been fun reading and posting away. Haha!
