Hortonium latest, International patent pending

📅  20th May 2024 | General Gun PostsHortonium

As it says in Aesop’s fable, the Crow and the Pitcher, necessity is the Mother of invention. When the ‘voluntary’ lead ban was announced many years ago now, many in the industry thought it would never happen, yet it is. We at Horton & Sons knew it was to become an inevitable conclusion, to be honest I’m surprised the industry has held onto lead for so long. Lead was banned in petrol in the 80’s and banned from electronics in the 90’s. Regardless of what you believe or think, you cannot ignore the countless and I mean countless scientific reports showing that no amount of lead exposure is safe. However, what would be the knock on ramifications of a lead ban be for our industry? In our opinion, without a credible lead alternative, it could be catastrophic to our industry and sport as a whole, from target shooting through to game shooting.

Peoples short sightedness never ceases to surprise me “I’m not bothered, it won’t affect me”, it will do, you just haven’t yet worked out how, when you do, it will be too late. Even clay shooting isn’t safe, why? Because many of the grounds that are shot on are part time grounds on farmland where plastic wads are forbidden and the bio wads aren’t welcome either, what farmer wants his livestock eating globs of bio wads? If you can no longer break a clay at your favourite club, it will affect you. I know of three grounds shutting for this very reason and with less venues available to shoot at, its not insensible to think the less people will shoot. Have gun – will travel, simply doesn’t apply to everyone.

When we embarked on our adventure a little over two years ago to find a credible lead alternative, like any adventure, we had no idea what we’d find, if anything at all. However, we’ve invented something that has efficacy and will be affordable to many. We now have international patent pending and some very exciting conversations with some of the worlds largest and notable ammunition manufacturers, one of whom has already stated that if we can ensure supply, Hortonium will supersede Bismuth shot entirely. We are now incorporated in the US as Hortonium. The first of hopefully many shot machines is being tested and fine tuned to ensure we produce the very best shot in various sizes.

No, it isn’t cheaper than lead but it will be on par with high performance steel cartridges as manufacturers won’t need silly wads or as much powder to make a Hortonium cartridge. Lead is cheaper than water, nothing will ever compete with lead on price. We still have plenty to do to get Hortonium to market in the various forms, shot, wire, ingots etc. It is however getting there and I hope that is goes someway to help our industry and sport as a result. As it stands, like most things, it is likely to appear in the US or Europe before it gets to the UK.

“If I had asked the public what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.“ – Henry Ford

Tags: ammunition, ban, hortonium, lead, shot, steel, wads

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