I grew up playing in lead as a child and sucking on mercury as well in my teeth.

I would carry around my pellet gun all day on the farm shooting sparrows, swallows, blackbirds and gophers. My hands would be saturated with lead from the pellets and would be shiny and gray. My fingers which I used to load each pellet were opaque.

Anyways, was very dumb in school concerning concentration. I don't know if it was the lead or the mercury but specialists said years later I have lots of both in my brain, lungs, ribs and heart.

Considering the way things are going, I wouldn't be too surprised if a person is not able to buy a lead bullet in 10 years.

The folks at Barnes are really doing a wise thing in developing and perfecting the mono-metal projectile. They will be laughing in the future.

only time will tell...
but if it comes to that, it will be a sad day for those of us who doesn't trust these modern monos.

but the worst thing is that the 6.5x55 will be banned from big game hunting in Norway, Sweden and maybe some other countries.

I may not be as old as you AR, but even way back, I remember my father always washing his hands after casting, talking about not getting lead in your mouth. It is a shame that you have heavy metal poisoning, truly, but that isn't any more a reason to ban the stuff than to ban gasoline, liquid plumber, or WD-40. Parents need to understand what their kids are into, keep them away from poison and teach them good habits. If instead the gov't just decides to take it from us, I have my doubts it will be because of "health issues." Lead is the heaviest thing we have that's easy to make into bullet shape. Mono's require special equipment, owned and operated by specialized companies. Guaranteed as soon as they ban lead bullets they'll start tightening their grip on bullet makers, to the point of ID'ing each bullet run. Don't think I'm kidding.
I'd much, much rather deal with teaching my kids about handling lead.....

quote:

Originally posted by Bwana-be:
I may not be as old as you AR, but even way back, I remember my father always washing his hands after casting, talking about not getting lead in your mouth. It is a shame that you have heavy metal poisoning, truly, but that isn't any more a reason to ban the stuff than to ban gasoline, liquid plumber, or WD-40. Parents need to understand what their kids are into, keep them away from poison and teach them good habits. If instead the gov't just decides to take it from us, I have my doubts it will be because of "health issues." Lead is the heaviest thing we have that's easy to make into bullet shape. Mono's require special equipment, owned and operated by specialized companies. Guaranteed as soon as they ban lead bullets they'll start tightening their grip on bullet makers, to the point of ID'ing each bullet run. Don't think I'm kidding.
I'd much, much rather deal with teaching my kids about handling lead.....

+1

Kalifornia already has banned lead; other states are also considering it as well.

quote:

Originally posted by ar corey:
I grew up playing in lead as a child and sucking on mercury as well in my teeth.

I would carry around my pellet gun all day on the farm shooting sparrows, swallows, blackbirds and gophers. My hands would be saturated with lead from the pellets and would be shiny and gray. My fingers which I used to load each pellet were opaque.

Anyways, was very dumb in school concerning concentration. I don't know if it was the lead or the mercury but specialists said years later I have lots of both in my brain, lungs, ribs and heart.

I had a sick sibling growing up -- leukemia. We lived out in the sticks. My parents were pretty much taking care of sis and entertained myself. I kept lead air gun pellets in my mouth a lot. Not talking about 10 instances, but 5 hours a day during the summer for 7-8 years after school shooting at things. made for faster reloads. Worried the crap out of me when my wife was pregnant that there would be some birth defects. My little girl is sharp as a tack, thank goodness. I remember coming home with the silver fingers and pretending to wash my hands before dinner. I was young and did not know any better. I am careful now. It still worries me. Never had any lead levels checked. I was a self made hunter and my parents never even knew, as far as I know, that what I was fooling with was even made out of lead.

I played with mercury when I was gowning up, cleaned parts and guns with leaded gasoline, and carried lead pellets in my mouth when I was a child. My lead level at age 47 is 5 mcg/dL with less than 10 being the safe limit. I managed to make it through college and even get hired as an airline pilot. Will it eventually give me cancer or kill me? Only time will tell...

quote:

Originally posted by 390ish:

We lived out in the sticks. Not talking about 10 instances, but 5 hours a day during the summer for 7-8 years after school shooting at things. made for faster reloads.

Yup, you know what I am talking about. Hot summer time, chores are done like cutting grass or feeding cows, and the rest of the day is spent carrying around a pellet gun shooting anything possible. Can't even begin to think how many times I cracked that barrel and fed a pellet into it. I had 2 older brothers but they were into sports. They were either playing catch or glued to the TV watching a football or baseball game. I hated that, I just wanted to hunt, hunt, hunt. When my family would leave to go to town I would sneak out the .22 and just shoot it over and over when I was very young. Days when my Dad would bring out his rifle to scare away a stray dog or show a neighbor, I was in heaven.

I noticed early on that stalking sparrows was something you had to do looking at the ground. The moment you made eye contact with them, gone! Darn!

quote:

I remember coming home with the silver fingers and pretending to wash my hands before dinner. I was young and did not know any better.

Yup, hang out in the bathroom for a while pretending to do things I didn't want to do. I would go an entire summer between school without brushing my teeth once. Once school time returned, brushing teeth before the bus was something that had to be done. I was like that rowdy but explorative young kid off the old yeller movie. The young one.

quote:

I am careful now. It still worries me. Never had any lead levels checked. I was a self made hunter and my parents never even knew, as far as I know, that what I was fooling with was even made out of lead.

I wouldn't be worried anymore. I have been studying toxicology for a few years now and your liver, kidneys and immune system are constantly excreting metals like this.