Two articles on Fiocchi establishing a primer manufacturing facility in Arkansas:
1. Italian ammo maker plans to build $41.5M factory at the Port of Little Rock, add 120 jobs
The gist of the effort is to make lead free primers, something I support. It used to be that the OSHA workplace limit for lead in the air was 80 micro grams per cubic meter. Well just take a look at how much lead if blown out in front of your face with one round of a 158 Lead bullet in a 38 Special
Each lead bullet blows 5643 micrograms of lead by itself, the primer about 402 micrograms. There is about 6000 micrograms of lead per round floating around your face, and if you happen to be an air breathing animal, you take that microscopic lead into your lungs, where it goes directly into your blood stream.
Switching to fully copper plated bullets, jacketed, full metal jacket or otherwise greatly reduces the lead contribution from the bullet. But until lead free primers come on the market, you can't do a thing about the 400 micrograms per shot of lead that goes up the tube ever shot.
I do get my blood tested for each physical and I have elevated lead levels, and it goes up during the shooting season. I asked my Doc where the stuff goes. It goes from my blood into my bones, and brain! The stuff does not leave the body, it just accumulates.
Anyway, any increase in production of primers is a good thing, and if they can make reliable, trouble free lead free primers, than that is a double good thing. I have heard some negative comments about lead free primers, but until I get my hand on a batch, I have no idea of the veracity of the claims.
2. Italian ammo maker plans to build $41.5M factory at the Port of Little Rock, add 120 jobs
Update: Fiocchi to Expand With $42M Plant at Little Rock Port
Ammunition maker Fiocchi of America on Tuesday announced that it's expanding operations in Little Rock, investing $41.5 million in a new lead-free primer manufacturing facility at the Little Rock Port.
The market for "green" primer is expanding as leaded ammunition faces increasing restrictions in the U.S. and abroad. The Biden administration is banning hunters from using leaded ammunition at multiple National Wildlife Refuges after years of research showing it causes secondary poisoning in wildlife, which contaminates food chains and harms biodiversity. Hunting groups and environmental organizations alike believe the rule, which takes effect in 2026, could eventually apply to other public lands.
Overseas, total bans have been approved or are under consideration. Denmark has made it illegal for hunters to use leaded ammunition as of April 2024, while the United Kingdom is weighing a similar rule that would take effect the same year.
As Fiocchi of America General Manager Jared Smith sees it, lead-free "is where primer manufacturing will go" and the new plant in Little Rock positions the company to lead the market. Not only will it be the only dedicated "green" primer plant in the world, it will be one of just six primer manufacturing operations in the U.S.
1. Italian ammo maker plans to build $41.5M factory at the Port of Little Rock, add 120 jobs
The gist of the effort is to make lead free primers, something I support. It used to be that the OSHA workplace limit for lead in the air was 80 micro grams per cubic meter. Well just take a look at how much lead if blown out in front of your face with one round of a 158 Lead bullet in a 38 Special
Each lead bullet blows 5643 micrograms of lead by itself, the primer about 402 micrograms. There is about 6000 micrograms of lead per round floating around your face, and if you happen to be an air breathing animal, you take that microscopic lead into your lungs, where it goes directly into your blood stream.
Switching to fully copper plated bullets, jacketed, full metal jacket or otherwise greatly reduces the lead contribution from the bullet. But until lead free primers come on the market, you can't do a thing about the 400 micrograms per shot of lead that goes up the tube ever shot.
I do get my blood tested for each physical and I have elevated lead levels, and it goes up during the shooting season. I asked my Doc where the stuff goes. It goes from my blood into my bones, and brain! The stuff does not leave the body, it just accumulates.
Anyway, any increase in production of primers is a good thing, and if they can make reliable, trouble free lead free primers, than that is a double good thing. I have heard some negative comments about lead free primers, but until I get my hand on a batch, I have no idea of the veracity of the claims.
2. Italian ammo maker plans to build $41.5M factory at the Port of Little Rock, add 120 jobs
Update: Fiocchi to Expand With $42M Plant at Little Rock Port
Ammunition maker Fiocchi of America on Tuesday announced that it's expanding operations in Little Rock, investing $41.5 million in a new lead-free primer manufacturing facility at the Little Rock Port.
The market for "green" primer is expanding as leaded ammunition faces increasing restrictions in the U.S. and abroad. The Biden administration is banning hunters from using leaded ammunition at multiple National Wildlife Refuges after years of research showing it causes secondary poisoning in wildlife, which contaminates food chains and harms biodiversity. Hunting groups and environmental organizations alike believe the rule, which takes effect in 2026, could eventually apply to other public lands.
Overseas, total bans have been approved or are under consideration. Denmark has made it illegal for hunters to use leaded ammunition as of April 2024, while the United Kingdom is weighing a similar rule that would take effect the same year.
As Fiocchi of America General Manager Jared Smith sees it, lead-free "is where primer manufacturing will go" and the new plant in Little Rock positions the company to lead the market. Not only will it be the only dedicated "green" primer plant in the world, it will be one of just six primer manufacturing operations in the U.S.
(Doc no longer thought I was nuts
