LETTERS

MELTING POINT

I believe that by replacing lead shot with steel, the environmentalists will have scored an own goal because the carbon footprint of producing steel shot will be higher.

This is because iron has a higher melting point and has to be formed into coils of different diameter wire, which is then cut into short lengths and ground in a mill to produce the spheres. Lead has a much lower melting point and has less energy-intensive processes to produce the shot. Currently all