Most families that hunt for meat, including mine, are not wealthy. We are not talking about sport hunters, we are talking about subsistence hunting. It's still very common in large swathes of America. Just looking around for the lowest prices possible, the cost of steel shot is more than double the cost of lead shot for #3 shells (commonly used for waterfowl). For #00 shells (used for deer and medium game) it's more than three times as expensive. Ammo costs add up quick, as you need to practice with the same shells you hunt with.

Working in tech, I can afford to buy higher quality and more expensive things, and the ammunition I use is no exception. But for many people it's not really within their budget. Lead is cheap, it's one of the main reason its used to make projectiles in the first place.

There are some practical problems:

1) Steel core ammunition is illegal for use in handguns since its armor piercing. Banning lead without relaxing rules on steel would create legal problems. And in some states steel core is illegal in all types of firearms.

2) Steel is more likely to spark if it hits a rock, for this reason it's banned in ranges out west and National Forest/BLM areas due to the risk of forest fire

3) Ammunition is out of stock everywhere and it would would definitely cause shortages and price people out of the market. There are millions of people who need ammunition not only for hunting but pest control, wilderness self-defense, and so on.

4) Someone more knowledgeable than me may argue this but it may not be as humane in some cases, since lead is designed to tumble and fracture killing the animal instantly while steel is more likely to go right through a target.

You only use one round to harvest an animal, but that round can be preceded by tens or hundreds of rounds at the range, much of which should be with the same load and bullet.

It's not just cost - steel and copper bullets expand less, so animals harvested with them can be wounded for longer periods before dying, which many hunters see as unethical.

> Hunting is so expensive anyways. What's a few more bucks? Pun not intended

This is not a true statement. I started hunting with a $115 shotgun and a $35 license which in turn provided my 1 deer, dozens of rabbits and countless ducks. If I were to take just the deer into consideration compared to lets say the price of pork at $2.99 / Lb. ( not to mention the cost of beef ) One hundred pounds of pork would cost me $299. The deer cost me $150 and I get to keep the gun. No I didn't need a truck, I walked out the door and into the woods. Yes I had to buy ammo but it lasted several seasons and I got to use the gun for the rest of my life.

My junior and senior year in school hunting provided all the protein for my family.

Of course, just likely anything else, you can make hunting as expensive as you would like it to be.