Lead Contamination at Shooting Ranges

[ROUSTABOUT]

I don't know how many days I was fishing and chomping on a lead weight like it was bubble gum.

 

[MossRoad]

I don't know how many days I was fishing and chomping on a lead weight like it was bubble gum.

Me too. That might explain some things....

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Me too. That might explain some things....

There could be something to it.

 

[Oldstuff]

I do not understand why lead shot into the ground is a problem because it was mined from the ground in the first place?

 

[ponytug]

I do not understand why lead shot into the ground is a problem because it was mined from the ground in the first place?

Lead in a mine is usually a) not near human water sources or soil for crops, and b) in a form that is isolated from the environment physically and chemically. So, lead underground is much less hazardous to humans than lead above ground, so to speak.

Lead ammunition tends to fragment when shot into solid objects like shooting range back stops, increasing the surface area, and increasing the rate at which it gets into the environment (soil and water mainly). Lead got removed from gasoline because it was toxic to humans.(Tetraethyl lead) But shotgun lead pellets poisons waterfowl, which is why using lead shot for waterfowl is mostly banned. Folks in Flint, Michigan were poisoned by the lead piping in their water system when the water source became more acid. The list goes on, but the bottom line is that lead is harmful to human health, and avoiding lead is better than having it in your food, or water, or in the paint or dust around you.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Tinhack]

The list goes on, but the bottom line is that lead is harmful to human health, and avoiding lead is better than having it in your food, or water, or in the paint or dust around you.

It's already there Sunshine. It's part of the "allowed nutrients" your government says is ok. Just like carbon dioxide, nitrogen, tetra-whatevers and more. If you're reading this, you'll get by according to your government. Live long and prosper, if you can.

 

[YanmarFever]

It's already there Sunshine. It's part of the "allowed nutrients" your government says is ok. Just like carbon dioxide, nitrogen, tetra-whatevers and more. If you're reading this, you'll get by according to your government. Live long and prosper, if you can.

Yes live longer!
The government needs you to pay lots of taxes.

 

[pennwalk]

I hadn't thought about lead mining. A couple of years ago I drove past a sportsman's club out in the country. Their shooting range was across the street up against a steep hillside. There was a guy in a white tyvec suit with a respirator on filling 55 gallon steel drums. I always wondered what was going on. I know around here people buy old sailboats for the lead keels so lead had some value.

Chris

 

[3Ts]

I like that idea, may try it. So did he cut the rubber mats in the shapes of the steel plates?

Didn't need to. The Steel plates are full size 4'x8' half inch thick plates and oriented horizontally. The rubber mats are 5' by 4' (I think, or something like that). He hung them vertically, so 2 mats for each steel plate.

As a side note: He originally had 1/4" plates up, but over several years they were deformed and bulging by several inches (see photo) which caused him to go to 1/2". The new backstop is in front of the old one so more material in the backstop.

 

[MossRoad]

When I shot indoors in the 70s, the backstops were steel at 45 degree angles down into traps. Every once in a while, some doofus would ignore the rules on maximum cartridge sizes and such, and bring in high-powered oversized firearms and dent the backstops. The dents cause back-splatter and ricochet. They'd have to close that shooting lane until they could get the area welded and ground down flat again.