Force shift from lead bullets

Status
Not open for further replies.
Cump

Cump

Member
Joined
May 18, 2013
Messages
729
Location
Wasatch Front
I've seen a few threads on this before, but just read a foxnews article on the closing of the last US lead smelter, and the military's shift from lead bullets by 2018.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/12/1...-regulations-bans-force-switch-to-green-ammo/

Do you think this will cause an astronomical change in prices, or will a combination of forces (increased production of copper-only bullets or a different core material) limit the increase?
 
Actually, all the experts, including the local lead supplier, Sea Fab, have all said the same thing - the closure of the Doe Run primary smelter should have little to no effect on ammunition/bullet prices.
 
It's not something to worry about, as lead is one of the easiest metals to recycle. The secondary smelters supply most of the lead used in bullets, anyway, and it's almost all from recycled lead.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
There has been many threads on the plant closing. Most bullet makers get their lead elsewhere. Mostly recycled car batteries. Fear not on a shortage of lead. Now the EPA and States like California that's a different story.:uhoh: Everything will kill you there.
As to the Military is that real time or Military/Govt time?:D
 
the big problem is that nobody is using lead anymore commercially and sources for the handloader are drying up. Newspapers stopped using lynotype, now wheel weights are transitioning away from lead. What's left?
 
The Army went to tungsten bullets a number of years ago and it was a disaster. They found that the tungsten bullets on top of the ground, combined with moisture, was much more of a problem than lead ever was. You don't hear much about it, but they abandoned that project and have gone other directions, all of which will cost us, the taxpayers, much more than lead based bullets.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
What's left?
Click to expand...

Just watched a youtube video lately, a guy showing where he scrounged up some lead, from marinas to dentist office. If your dentist still uses the x-ray film, it has lead foil, old flashings around chimneys, counterbalances/ballast on sailboats. Just to list a few.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top