The future of Lead

[alcvndnb]

What are your thoughts on the future of lead ammo or ammo in general?

I was listening to a recent podcast from ol' Steven Rinella and they mentioned all/most of federal's lead comes from recycled car batteries. This got me to thinking, What happens as we produce more and more LiFePO4 and produce less and less lead batteries. I'm sure other manufacturers are sourcing lead in similar ways. How will this effect the cost of lead core bullets in the next 10 years? How does it effect the cost of copper bullets if the price of lead bullets do continue to rise? Copper bullets are already 2x the cost of lead core. Will we be force by price alone to copper?

Sorry. A lot of questions here but I'm curious on what other people think and how they read the situation?

 

[Button]

Buy it cheap and stack it deep.

 

[dtrkyman]

Ammo's future is about as crazy as it gets. Who knows what will happen other than it will generally cost you way more cash!

As of now from a hunting perspective it is still quite cheap compared to everything else you "need".

 

[CorbLand]

I wouldn't be surprised to see lead ammo banned on Federal ground.

 

[Crghss]

I wouldn't be surprised to see lead ammo banned on Federal ground.

I’d agree

 

[SDHNTR]

The writing is on the wall. I made the switch a couple years ago. Yes I live in CA but I hunt out of state a lot too. 3 different out of state hunts this fall. I still transitioned all my rifles over. I don’t miss lead at all. With good mono bullets nowadays, I don’t see any advantages to lead anymore. I’d rather be first out the door than last.

 

[VernAK]

I’d agree

I expect it soon here in Alaska and 2/3 of Alaska is Federal Land.

 

[BBob]

I wouldn't be surprised to see lead ammo banned on Federal ground.

They're working on it! USFW banning on refuges.

Biden Administration Moves to Ban Lead Ammunition - Sportsmen's Alliance

Following through on their commitment to environmental radicals that it would ban lead on federal public land, today the US Fish and Wildlife Service

sportsmensalliance.org

Biden Administration Moves to Ban Lead Ammunition | Buckeye Firearms Association

Following through on their commitment to environmental radicals that it would ban lead on federal public land, today the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) released proposed regulations that begin this process on National Wildlife Refuges across the country.

www.buckeyefirearms.org

New Senate Bill Aims to Ban Use of Traditional Lead Ammunition on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Lands

The bill’s true purpose is to attack American hunters and legal, regulated hunting.

www.nrahlf.org

 

[GSPHUNTER]

I wouldn't be surprised to see lead ammo banned on Federal ground.

And many if not all States will likely ban lead in the future.

 

[HighUintas]

Yup. Contact all your reps and urge them to always vote against lead bans

 

[Desk Jockey]

Back door way to attack 2A. Ban lead = cost of all shooting goes up and firearms ownership and use goes down. FWIW the majority of Pittman Robertson funding comes from non-hunting related shooting sports. So it won’t just be the cost of ammo that creates issues when shooting sports decline So will a nice source of wildlife funding.

 

[CoStick]

be interesting to see what technology advances we could see in lead free if they were the only game.

 

[dtrkyman]

One thing that always holds true, when these talking heads we allow to run our country threaten our rights in regards to firearms it always leads to mass purchase of guns and ammo!

I used to joke with a the shop owner where I worked and would tell him I knew he secretly voted Democrat. Clinton, Obama and now Biden have made him rich!

 

[Mighty Mouse]

Lead bullets existed long before batteries. If there continues to be demand for lead bullets, sources other than recycled car batteries can be tapped.

The greater threat to lead bullets is them being banned due to environmental concerns. My gut reaction is that lead contamination from bullets seems like an overblown concern, but I need to do more research to really have an informed opinion.

 

[willfrye027]

It would suck to not be able to use high BC frangible bullets like Berger’s for long range hunting. They really are more effective at making long range hits and quickly killing what you hit.

That being said maybe it would be better if our projectiles would limit us to reasonable hunting distances.

On second thought I think a lot of guys would still be lobbing bullets way out there regardless of less effective long range bullets.

 

[SDHNTR]

Man, some of y’all really own those tin foil hats! I’ve watched 100’s of animals die to monos. They work just fine.

 

[Marble]

Lead bullets existed long before batteries. If there continues to be demand for lead bullets, sources other than recycled car batteries can be tapped.

The greater threat to lead bullets is them being banned due to environmental concerns. My gut reaction is that lead contamination from bullets seems like an overblown concern, but I need to do more research to really have an informed opinion.

I think its hard to sift through the info. It seems that whomever puts the research out has it skewed to fit whatever opinion they have. It's one of those issues that cross the politeness and thus it gets attention from some groups that shouldn't even be involved in the decisions.

I would think that after 100s of years, especially the most recent 50 years of records, some type of conclusion should be able to be reached when it comes to a correlation between eating game meat and high lead levels.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

[Mighty Mouse]

I think its hard to sift through the info. It seems that whomever puts the research out has it skewed to fit whatever opinion they have. It's one of those issues that cross the politeness and thus it gets attention from some groups that shouldn't even be involved in the decisions.

I would think that after 100s of years, especially the most recent 50 years of records, some type of conclusion should be able to be reached when it comes to a correlation between eating game meat and high lead levels.

If lead bullets get banned, it won't be out of concern over hunters ingesting them (which I'm not concerned about). The push for banning lead bullets is coming from concerns over their effects on wildlife at large (game and non-game species).

 

[Rich M]

Man, some of y’all really own those tin foil hats! I’ve watched 100’s of animals die to monos. They work just fine.

Put up some more windmills and obliterate the rest of the condors…easier way than blaming lead.

My 3006 has been shooting the same load into little holes since about 1985. Why should i change it now? 37 years later?

If they ban my cup&core ammo, i wont hunt there. It really is that simple. Some folks conform. Others don’t.

 

[Yarak]

I think lead ammo will be around a long time
Our military branches aren’t using ray guns yet