Alphecca

Lead in soils at ranges: A year or two ago an article in "The American Rifleman" reviewed the research findings done on several public lands shooting areas and found that there was no lead contamination beyond the first few inches of soil. Lead really isn't very mobile in this regard.

However, the word 'lead' is one of those spine-chilling alert words for the nanny-staters just like 'mercury'. As soon as the word is pronounced be on the look out for all sorts of adverse reactions.

I'm stealing time at work, so have not read the proposed legislation, but can comment on Lead.

Lead is pretty immobile in the soil, the usual lead compounds resulting from weathering of the actual metal or sulphide ores are the Carbonate and the Sulphate. both effectively insoluble and immobile. Lead chloride is also pretty immobile.

This is one of the reasons that lead is not used as a pathfinder element in regional scale mineral exploration, it is however used when you are looking in detail, because it doesn't go far from source, even over geological time periods.

As for lead in soil, unless someone is keeping chickens or grazing cattle on the backstop of a range, there is little worry, the lead can be screened out if need be.

In some of the lead mining areas of Britain (I come from one originally, which probably explains quite a lot), municipal drinking water is drawn from old lead mine workings (Dukes level, grassington, Yorkshire. Mawston Mine, youlgrave, Derbyshire. Roughtongill mine, caldbeck, Cumbria. Meerbrook Sough, Cromford, Derbyshire. Jeffrey's Rake, Blanchland, Co. Durham are a few specific examples).

Some of the old smelting sites still give probs for cattle and chickens (due to them ingesting lead grit) but sheep are generally OK and crops are fine, if normal plants grow, the lead doesn't get into them. the abnormal plants are a range of really interesting orchids and alpine type plants that seem to seek out lead rich areas to live in.

For a really belt and braces approach, spreading phosphate and a little chloride (actually, arsenic and vanadium can substitute for the P2O5, but that is getting nerdy)which will provide the ingredients for lead chlorophosphate, ("pyromorphite") a lead mineral with virtually zero bio availability)

anyway, what i'm saying is, any lead pollution caused by shooting is locallised, presents no hazard to water or soil away from the immediat site and easily controlled and cleaned up.

Good luck killing (?poisoning)the legislation.

ps, lead poisoning is "natural causes" for next door's cat...
Keith

Cowboy to another cowboy, standing over shot-dead cattle rustler. "So, how did he die?"
"Lead poisonin'"

Jeff,
did you get cold feet on that Gore post?

Re: Washington Democrats and Hints.

Democrat legislators in Washington State have repeatedly demonstrated that they are far too stupid to take any hint subtler than a strong blow to the head with a baseball bat. A second blow would require a second bat.

Gerry N., WA State Conservative.

Out here in CA, the State Fish and Game is looking to ban all lead. The first step is to ban all lead ammunition in the range of the CA Condor as that bird's population continues to slide (despite no evidence that Condors are actually dying from lead poisoning, as opposed to habitat issues) It appears that the possibility that Condors may ingest lead from gut piles left by hunters is enough to effectuate a ban. Typical liberal solution looking for a problem, just so the government can take more control. BEWARE!

Hmm, you guys got me thinking...

Tungsten, density about 18 times that of water (lead is only about 12 times). the stuff is not inert but not particularly toxic either, It would certainly make for good long range shot loads and with gliding metal jackets, good long range bullets that require less rifling twist than the equiv weight lead bullet for that calibre(cos it's shorter).

Oops sorry, forgot, the liberals got there first and call anything harder than lead a "cop killer",cos along with a wax candle out of a muzzle loader barrel, it might penetrate body armour....

as if we all really want to shoot people...

Keith: Tungsten is already used for shot loads.

If you already knew, my apologies, but your phrasing made it sound otherwise.

(Also, the criterion in 18USC44 921 A 17 (b) is not hardness, but simply lists specific materials.

It's a stupid law, but not quite as stupid as "anything harder than lead" suggests - any alloy or material not on the list is not prohibited, and while the list has the easiest, most commonly desired metals, other options are possible.

Heck, it bans depleted uranium, but not pure uranium metal!

In fact, it would only be slightly stupid if section b) i) replaced "which may be used in a handgun" with ii)s "designed and intended for use in a handgun".

Slightly stupid because it's a pointless thing to restrict, but only slightly because, well, it's pointless. The long-range advantages of a solid tungsten bullet, for instance, aren't going to be much help in a pistol anyway.)

The largest usage of lead in the state of Vermont is car batteries. Will they make an exception for them?