Lead free ammo?1

This forum is for discussion of general issues regarding Concealed Carry in your everyday life. This forum is not intended to be political or for discussing legislation.

Moderators: Chuck, Mustang380gal, Coordinators, Moderators

Post Reply
anjlinastone
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2022 7:02 am

Lead free ammo?1

Post by anjlinastone »

Any of you folks have experience shooting “lead free” ammo out of autos? I’m talking total metal jacket lead rounds or non-lead bullets with lead free primers. I have previously used Winchester Winclean 38 special and it worked fine and ran clean but it’s normal bullet weight and revolvers generally eat everything fine. For 9mm what I mostly see available is American Eagle 70 grain. I always shoot 22lr at the range in addition to center fire so I know I’m covered in lead and act accordingly afterwards but it’s nice to reduce your exposure somewhat.
User avatar
JustaShooter
OFCC Coordinator
OFCC Coordinator
Posts: 5800
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2013 3:08 pm
Location: Akron/Canton Area

Re: Lead free ammo?1

Post by JustaShooter »

No personal experience, but I've not heard of any issues either.

And, I notice this is your first post so welcome to the OFCC forums!
Christian, Husband, Father
NRA Life Member
NRA Certified Range Safety Officer
NRA Certified Pistol & Rifle Instructor

Want to become more active with OFCC and help fight for your rights? Click Here!
User avatar
Sevens
OFCC Patron Member
OFCC Patron Member
Posts: 7526
Joined: Thu May 07, 2009 8:30 am
Location: Far East Side of CBus

Re: Lead free ammo?1

Post by Sevens »

Sorry, I cannot help you with lead free ammo/primer experience, but I do have some opinions on lead exposure.

I think it's helpful to talk about the WORST chances of exposure (as it relates to guns and shooting) and from my view, if you try to keep those in check, the rest sorts itself out nicely.

First is that lead exposure and poisoning is far more dangerous for children, and worse the younger that they are. Lead exposure attacks developing brains and is less a threat to us adults.

Secondly, airborne lead and lead that you breathe is much more a threat than handling pieces of lead. And with that, exposure to airborne lead is more likely or prevalent on indoor gun ranges than it can possibly be outside, so exposure is immediately related to how well the air handling and ventilation at your indoor range is designed and executed. And if you are an occasional or even somewhat routine visitor to an indoor range, your exposure may very well not be all that dangerous. (if you work as an RSO and you are literally on the range for many hours a week, that can be a different story.)

You can also expose yourself to lead nastiness if you are a handloader, especially when it comes to cleaning brass and working with dry cleaning (tumbling) media. Lead styphnate in the spent primer can come out as a dust, so you'll want to avoid breathing in the stuff when you are cleaning brass.

When handling lead, don't eat, pick your nose, rub your eyes and don't smoke. Wash hands thoroughly and handling lead, ammo, bullets, grime from dirty guns... these are not serious health risks.

It's my position that ammo that specifically avoids lead for the select purpose of "health" is, well, silly and wholly unnecessary.
I like to swap brass... and I'm looking for .32 H&R Mag, .327 Fed Mag, .380 Auto and 10mm. If you have some and would like to swap for something else, send me a note!
Post Reply