Best of Non-Lead Pellets?
- Thread starter mathisfunzy
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My cows do not have grazing access to my range area for exactly that reason. It's also one of the reasons I went to the all copper Barnes bullets for hunting.
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Coated lead will still poison any bird that picks up the pellet. To be safe, the pellet needs to be constructed out of a non poison metal like copper, tin, etc not just plated. The slug in the photo was from a 45acp, 230gr FMJ. It was taken out of the gizzard of a turkey I was processing. No only is the base exposing lead to the digestive system of the bird, but the front of the bullet had it's copper jacket worn away by the gizzard. Lead poisoning is a real concern when shooting around poultry and livestock.
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As I recall it, the lead that was added to gasoline was tetra-ethyl lead
Tetraethyllead - Wikipedia
Was there enough lead in the tanks to explain high lead levels in the ground and fuel if it leaked? If the fuel had the average lead amount of 0.4 grams per liter, and say the fuel tank was 500 gallons, then a full tank would have 500gal * 3.8gal/liter * 0.4 g/liter = 760 grams. 2.2 pounds per 1000 grams gives us around 1.7 pounds of lead. On the high end, the half-lethal-dose LD50 of this stuff is around 30 milligrams per kilogram, so that 760 grams (750,000 milligrams) is enough to kill half of 25,333 kilograms of animal (56 thousand pounds or 28 tons). Sure, not all that lead will be eaten by animals, and maybe the tanks weren't full, but you can see it could be a big problem.
Can lead pellets, coated lead pellets, copper jacketed lead ammo, etc., can that lead be as hazardous? It is often quoted that elemental lead (lead metal) isn't readily absorbed and thus isn't a problem. That it isn't readily aborbed may be true, as long as it stays in the metalic form, but if you've ever found a bullet in the field, it is usually at least oxidized on the outside (chalky white coating), no? Lead oxide is more readily absorbed. As was pointed out earlier, birds like to eat rocks of pellet to bullet size, and grind them with food in their gizzards. Lead bits then move to the stomach, where acid (hydrochloric) can react with even elemental lead to make lead chloride, which is now absorbable. Coating lead pellets does help protect your exposure when you're handling it, but once that lead gets into the wild, it is still a lead hazard to anything that eats it.
So... it's complicated. But what is clear over a couple millenia of using lead is that it is toxic and best to not let it get loose. Maybe try to shoot into where you can collect the lead afterwards? Or if you have the money, shoot non-lead ammo and think a whole lot less about it.
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As a relevant aside, Veritasium has a fascinating story on tetra-ethyl lead:
"The Man Who Accidentally Killed The Most People In History"
"The Man Who Accidentally Killed The Most People In History"
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In San Francisco they had a shooting range on the shore of Lake Merced since 1930. When they closed it in the early 2000's it cost the city $10 million to clean up all the lead contamination and in 1994 they banned lead ammo at that range. I think in some areas when selling real estate, you have to disclose to the buyer any known hazards. I wonder if having a small range could be an issue when selling due to potential lead contamination. Best practice would be to collect as much of the lead when shooting or use non lead pellets if you ever plan on selling your property in the future.
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So far, I'm really liking the Predator GTO 22s. They still give me a pass through at 35 yards on Starlings with MOS accuracy; minute of Starling that is.
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1,080fps on high setting, 825fps on low
I'm running them all on the low setting for starlings. Slightly more accurate on the low setting, and more shots in between charging.
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