If you're casting your own (running ball, as it is often called), you are adding to the enjoyment of the game. At least, that's what I think - you can think pretty much whatever you want.
Use common sense: wear long pants and closed toed shoes, cast out doors, and you want to upwind of the pot. I used leather gloves which are too big, so that I can snatch them off of my hands in an emergency. Of course, don't eat drink or smoke when you're casting (you probably won't have time to do this if you're running ball correctly). Eye protection is probably a good idea, and if it's warm out, you want to have a hat or a bandanna or something which will keep sweat from dripping into the pot, which will cause instant steam and a possibly very nasty splashover. I like to have a folded up towel (which stays with my casting stuff and is throw away when it's too nasty)… this is what I drop the balls on when they're coming out of the mold.
You will, of course, want to keep children and overenthusiastic pets away while you're running ball. Somewhere I read that the 'break- even' point was shooting about 1200 rounds a year, but I have the gear, it's paid for, and I've had it for over three decades, so I guess it's amortized by now. I think that running ball is great fun. It is satisfying to hit the target, and even more so when it's with a ball of my own making.
Lead is getting harder and harder to get, thanks in part to a bunch of folks who think it's bad for you (and who seem to have learned that it has to do with guns, and guns are bad, so lead is bad). Yes, if you ingest the stuff, it will hurt you … if you let your kids chew lead paint chips, it will really hurt their little developing minds. If, however, you use common sense, you will be fine.
Here's something else that will hurt you-
telling me what to do... or telling me what not to do... or otherwise trying to order me around... telling me what to eat (or not to eat) is also likely to get you moved up on the list of people whos a$$ I must eventually kick. when I get around to it.
lead is not, per se, bad for you... unless you are trapped for some inexplicable reason in the People's Republik of Californicate, in which case lead is very bad for you, all its uses are bad for you, the mere contemplation of the possession, manipulation, formation, or other use in any way or manner is bad for you, and reading this post is bad for you. the ownership of anything that goes bang is very bad for you, as is the desire to own, possess or use anything that goes bang... reading about anything that goes bang is so bad for you that is (or soon will be) strictly forbidden, as is the possession of this post in any form (if, by the way, you are stuck in the PRC, my name is John Smith, and I was never here).
enjoy running ball
