Oregon Trail Bullets

sonora said:

I know Oregon Trail Bullets has stellar reputation for a quality product. I was viewing their website and noticed they do not offer coated bullets. Why?

Click to expand...

One could guess they did a cost profit analysis and it did not pay to offer additional products

sonora said:

I know Oregon Trail Bullets has stellar reputation for a quality product. I was viewing their website and noticed they do not offer coated bullets. Why?

Click to expand...

Ask them.

missouri bullets does offer them!

I have used thousands of their bullets. No leading or other issues. I guess they don’t feel they have to jump on the coated bullet bandwagon when they already have a great product.

I like OT bullets, I just got an order from them a month or so ago. Chances are, he's selling every bullet he makes, already, so why add cost and complexity?

sonora said:

One reason I like coated bullets it cuts or completely eliminates the users exposure to toxic lead.

Click to expand...

You do realize that most of lead exposure shooters experience comes from lead in primer, not from handling or shooting lead bullets or FMJ with exposed lead base?

sonora said:

A business needs to grow and be competitive. Shortsightednes can be costly in the long-term.

Click to expand...

Well the current market appetite is insatiable so maybe when the demand is not what it is now that may be true. Are they going to slow down or change an operation that sells as fast as they can create product. Timing is everything.

then wear gloves.

murf

sonora said:

Yes. The effects of lead exposure are cumulative. I know about primers and they are indeed a source of lead exposure. I accept that. But whatever I can to minimize that exposure I will pursue.

Click to expand...

We have discussed the sources of lead exposure and what causes blood lead level to rise (And the two are not the same) in depth in this thread and I myself have experienced blood lead level increase to the point where my doctor had to report me to Public Health Department (Which I worked for at the time as a Licensing & Certification surveyor) for monitoring and tracking - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ealth-information.307170/page-12#post-9625420

If you want to be sure where the sources of lead exposure are, buy yourself a 3M lead test kit to test/assess different areas of the house - https://www.amazon.com/3M-717834209102DUPE-LeadCheck-Swabs-8-Pack/dp/B008BK15PU

After working with my doctor closely for 3 months, these were my findings and now my blood lead level is back to normal and I still handle bare lubed lead bullets and shoot them regularly:

• Most of the lead intake likely came from breathing in lead dust from indoor range floor while picking up spent brass and processing spent brass at home dry tumbling. Lead was tested to be everywhere where spent brass processing was done including arms/clothes after shooting (Think wherever gun powder residue would go, so will lead dust).

• Not shooting at indoor range had the biggest impact on lowering my blood lead level while I continued to handle and reload bare lubed lead bullets (Since then I now only shoot outdoors). Here's CDC's report on indoor ranges and blood lead level - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ealth-information.307170/page-10#post-9616073

  ... this [CDC] report document serious lead exposure from indoor firing ranges ... The findings in this report also suggest that firing range customers and family members of firing range employees, in addition to employees themselves, can be exposed to hazardous amounts of lead.

  Click to expand...

• Even though I processed spent brass outdoors under covered patio, I wore 3M half face respirator with appropriate filters for lead dust when processing spent brass - https://www.amazon.com/3M-Piece-P-1...X24CNCXW21G&psc=1&refRID=YN3AFE12TX24CNCXW21G

• I minimized my intake of canned foods that were suspect of containing lead and reduced eating shrimp/clam/oyster dishes

• Other steps I took to minimize lead exposure were:
  • Washing hands after handling spent brass, lead bullets or shooting
  • Changing out of clothes/shoes that were used for shooting before entering the house
  • Keeping sorting of spent range brass outside of house as I previously sorted indoors

sonora said:

One reason I like coated bullets it cuts or completely eliminates the users exposure to toxic lead ... The health of myself but my importantly my wife and children.

Click to expand...

If you really want to protect the health of your family, addressing sources of greatest lead exposure should be priority. If you are not addressing lead exposure from shooting, collecting spent range brass or sorting/processing spent brass then using coated bullet vs lead bullets is moot as lead exposure from other sources would overshadow.

Be safe.

murf said:

then wear gloves.

Click to expand...

During my lead level abatement period, I chose not to wear nitrile gloves for processing/reloading of lead bullets. Talking to my doctor, we discussed how lead enters the body and unless lead is dissolved in carrier solution that could be absorbed through skin, solid lead dust would not be absorbed through skin. My doctor was more concerned with lead dust that was breathed into the lungs.

I used copper scrubbing strands wrapped around old bore brush to remove any leading in the barrel (which was rare) but If you are using solvents/chemicals to dissolve leading in the barrel, I would recommend wearing gloves and respirator/well ventilated outdoors if producing lead vapor.

And I am happy to report that even though I did not wear gloves, my blood lead level dropped to normal and still do not use gloves for reloading/processing spent brass. Prior to my retirement last year, I did stock up rather large quantifies of jacketed and plated bullets for me to reload into retirement years and over 1000 pounds of lead to cast lead bullets for powder coating and casting fishing weights/lures (Yes, I will be doing that outdoors with large fan blowing behind me).

Is there an association between Oregon Trail and Rim Rocks Bullets? Not that i care because the quality/count was fine and it was what i ordered but am curious. I ordered from Rim Rock and one of the boxes of bullets was labeled Oregon Trail. Each of the respective box labels list the same address in Polson, MT

typhun said:

Is there an association between Oregon Trail and Rim Rocks Bullets?

Click to expand...

Yup, looks like they are one and the same showing same address but different phone numbers.

Rim Rock Bullets, Inc. - https://rimrockbullets.com/xcart/contact-us.html
35675 Minesinger Trail
Polson, MT 59860 USA
PHONE: (406) 883-1899

Oregon Trail Bullets - https://oregontrailbullets.com/xcart/contact-us.html
35675 Minesinger Trail
Polson Montana 59860
PHONE: (406) 883-0741

Yep Rim Rock bought Oregon Trail sometime last year.

As noted above Oregon Trail Bullets was bought out. I was in their production facility in Baker City shortly before it happened. Rim Rock also produces a quality product.