How safe is it to use lead round balls while hunting?

[chorizo]

And we hunters are no exception there either.

Concur. Very few people are immune to it. But given that when I worked for the Bureau of Land Management as an Area Manager, I had to make decisions based upon facts...repeatable, verifiable and peer reviewed studies and facts, in spite of public opinion and the insane screeching of "true believers' in the media. I saw the effects of "Never let the facts get in your way" upon what happened in public lands management.

It truly was an eye-opener

Sorry, I took this down a rabbit hole. Question asked and has been answered previous to this post by others smarter than I.

 

[BS2366]

Think about how much lead fumes George Barris and Bill Hines inhaled their entire long life of building hot rods and show cars. They would have a torch, lead block, wet newspaper, and a piece of wood to shape and fill the body.

 

[Okie Hog]

i spent 20 years in US Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal and another 30 years doing the same stuff as a civilian. i've burned a few billion rounds of small arms ammunition containing lead.

Was diagnosed with lead poisoning twice, last time in the aftermath of operation Desert Storm when i was in charge of the destruction of 20,000 tons of US Army ammunition of all types, including huge quantities of lead containing small arms ammunition. At first we cleaned out the burn pits using end loaders, that's where the poisoning happened, from lead dust.

Huge doses of vitamin C took care of my lead poisoning and i'll soon be 84. Here's me at small arms a burn pit:

 

[jmull4609]

..have never heard of anyone getting lead poisoning from eating game shot with lead projectiles...

 

[chorizo]

i spent 20 years in US Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal and another 30 years doing the same stuff as a civilian. i've burned a few billion rounds of small arms ammunition containing lead.

Was diagnosed with lead poisoning twice, last time in the aftermath of operation Desert Storm when i was in charge of the destruction of 20,000 tons of US Army ammunition of all types, including huge quantities of lead containing small arms ammunition. At first we cleaned out the burn pits using end loaders, that's where the poisoning happened, from lead dust.

Huge doses of vitamin C took care of my lead poisoning and i'll soon be 84. Here's me at small arms a burn pit:

Thanks for your service. Most underappreciated. You also have a case of the zacklies. You be zackly right. Micro particles like dust and smaller is what poisons you. Large pieces pass through without consequence. That is if it isn't the hot injection there of.

 

[BS2366]

i spent 20 years in US Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal and another 30 years doing the same stuff as a civilian. i've burned a few billion rounds of small arms ammunition containing lead.

Was diagnosed with lead poisoning twice, last time in the aftermath of operation Desert Storm when i was in charge of the destruction of 20,000 tons of US Army ammunition of all types, including huge quantities of lead containing small arms ammunition. At first we cleaned out the burn pits using end loaders, that's where the poisoning happened, from lead dust.

Huge doses of vitamin C took care of my lead poisoning and i'll soon be 84. Here's me at small arms a burn pit:

My brother works for CAAA in disposal and production. He said the worst stuff they work with is what they call yellow d.

 

[Nuthatch]

Concur. Very few people are immune to it. But given that when I worked for the Bureau of Land Management as an Area Manager, I had to make decisions based upon facts...repeatable, verifiable and peer reviewed studies and facts, in spite of public opinion and the insane screeching of "true believers' in the media. I saw the effects of "Never let the facts get in your way" upon what happened in public lands management.

It truly was an eye-opener

Sorry, I took this down a rabbit hole. Question asked and has been answered previous to this post by others smarter than I.

No worries here. Like I said, I just go with my falconer friends on that one. As they talk about it, it has little to do with policy & science & everything to do with vet bills and genuine experience of extracting lead shot, fragments & fishing weights from a wild-caught bird's stomach.

 

[Greg_E]

Try powder coat if you are concerned, depending on how it distorts no lead will be exposed. What I don't know is how round ball coats. You will definitely need a no stick silicone sheet or no stick aluminum foil.

 

[64Springer]

It's not readily known, but the bear in The Revenant didn't die from bullet wounds and stabbings.

It died from lead poisoning.

 

[DuncNZ]

If you are going to use "copper" BB's , check them with a magnet , you will find they are iron or steel inside . If you have to use non toxic shot use what is known as steel shot but is actually soft iron shot ,This stuff is designed to be used in shotguns , and use a protective wad .
There is a lot of reliable information on lead ingestion on the net , Google it

 

[chorizo]

If you are going to use "copper" BB's , check them with a magnet , you will find they are iron or steel inside . If you have to use non toxic shot use what is known as steel shot but is actually soft iron shot ,This stuff is designed to be used in shotguns , and use a protective wad .
There is a lot of reliable information on lead ingestion on the net , Google it

Of course, google it. It has to be true. Just like Australia doesn't exist, because it is on the internet...Google it.

I will say again, peer reviewed, repeatable, supported by concrete and documented facts studies. Not opinion pieces one-off by Joe Schmuck the rag man

According to "google" Aussies are just a computer created persona. No decision from them about New Zealand yet.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/953382/Flat-Earth-theory-Australia-not-real-conspiracy
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/62061...thers-claim-in-their-latest-daft-declaration/

 

[oldwood]

One important thing , if hunting animals to eat using lead ammo , is never shoot your hunting buddy , or any other folks while hunting. If any shards of a lead projectile , are found in the meat , pick them out , cook the meat and eat it. No matter if you eat the meat or not , your life could last around 99 years. Lead poison is the least of worries.

 

[tenngun]

I wonder if men like Lewis & Clark, Hugh Glass, and all the thousands of men that wandered our mountains were concerned about that, I would think they would be more concerned about how to survive that day & night

Not a good example. 100% of those guys are dead. And they all ate meat from lead killed animals
Coincidence??? I think not

 

[user 48702]

I don't worry about lead shot or lead balls in or passing through game. If I was going to get lead poisoning, I would have gotten it by now, as a toddler, I cut my teeth on paint chips, daddy cast fishing sinkers on the kitchen stove, and I was at Camp Lejeune from 1978 to 1985, drinking the base water which is said to contain lead, with lead samples reading 484 parts per billion. I worry more about the dangerous levels of the carcinogens TCE, PCE, Benzene, and vinyl chloride which was in the drinking water. Other than that, I always thought the well water tasted very good.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

I underwent a procedure several years ago. The technician told me that he could see that I had buckshot in my gut and asked me if I'd been shot. I told him no I hadn't been shot, it was probably just a piece of number 7 1/2 shot from a grouse I had eaten and please, don't mention it in your report or the cops will be knocking on my door. I guess he didn't mention it since I didn't have the cops come knocking and all things will pass, as did the piece of 7 1/2 shot.

 

[waksupi]

Foolishness brought on by anti-hunters. That's how they got lead outlawed in California. That was even after the fish and game, veterinarians, and science told them that was wrong as a problem. The same tactic is being used in other states, don't fall for the propaganda.

 

[ADK Bigfoot]

I shot with the N-SSA for twelve years. Cast 5000 bullets a year for competition. Lead tested twice a year at Nationals. Never a trace. Left N-SSA and took up small bore rifle shooting; indoors, two days per week, 100 rounds a week. Three years later had elevated lead levels. When that was over, (I still shoot smallbore, but have changed conditions), I went back to black powder competition. Cast and shoot a few thousand round balls a year. Yearly lead level testing still zero. Don't eat 'em, suck on them, or eat/drink/smoke while casting and loading. No problem. Wash your hands afterward.

I have found small particles of lead in shot deer from Nosler Partition bullet noses. Never found a base, as they all passed through. Never found any residual lead chunks from a muzzleloader kill; except lead shot left in grouse from my trade gun.

Never confuse politics with science.

ADK Bigfoot

 

[Bushfire]

If you're shooting a 220 swift with a lead projectile then yeah its going to end up in many tiny pieces. A slow moving round ball, probably not.

I grew up chipping teeth on shot in rabbits and ducks as did my old man before me, and his old man before him. And we're just fine.

 

[Eterry]

Does the lead contaminate the meat? Does it leave lead powder behind? If so do i have to get rid of the area of the meat that touched the lead?
(Also sidenote is it safe to use copperhead bbs in my smoothbore? Because lead is prohibited for hunting migratory birds where i am.)

When Waterfowl hunters used lead the pellets fell in the shallow water where ducks dabble for food. They ingested the lead which some tests said caused them to die.
The federal government banned lead for migratory Waterfowl years ago.
Then recently some states took it even farther by a moratorium on lead ammo. Which caused a scramble by ammo companies to supply ammo.

As a teen I hunted with pellet rifles, always kept some greased lead pellets in my mouth while hunting. But over 45 years later I'm ok...I guess.

My dad raised me to eat what I kill. I rarely buy red meat, living off what I kill. Unless you're crunching on lead bullets I don't think you'll have an issue.
Don't believe the hype or what idiots post on YouTube.

Enjoy the sport.

 

[chorizo]

Just because the Feds ban something doesn't mean the ban is based upon fact or reality. Once something is "banned" it never makes it back, even if the banning was based upon completely false premises.