Problems with lead bullets?

I have guns that have NEVER fired anything BUT lead bullets. Some well over 100 years old. Some brand new.

Lead does not wear your barrel out like jacketed bullets do. I actually had a local gunshop owner, who stocks nothing but jacketed bullets, explain, ( and with a straight face ) jacketed bullets will not lead my barrel. WHAAAT ? I looked at him like the idiot he is, and told him " I would much rather remove lead from my barrel then impacted copper ". I have not been in that store since. Over 10 years. At our local ranges we have old time armor plate back stops, and do not allow jacketed bullets whatsoever.

You can remove lead easily with a bush and solvent. Several careful passes. BUT you need an electronic gadget to remove copper. I have also used some special solvent for that purpose. And they work. You MUST be very careful and learn how to PROPERLY clean your bore to avoid unrepairable damage. But the point is lead is you friend, it is a lubricant, so does actually benefit your bore. It flows and laps in any imperfections inside the bore.

Maybe, all that lead is why many of us regularly visit this section ? ( No don't worry about lead, it is metabolized in your kidneys and passes for the most part. Just don't eat too much of it )

I wouldn't chew on them if I were you, and if you shoot indoors a lot make sure the range has exhaust fans. Other than that, shouldn't be a problem. Do wash your hands after shooting, but that's more for powder smut than any lead contamination.

In very olden days you had to clean a .22 after every use as they used a corrosive priming compound, but that was done away with at least 50 years ago. As your .22 gets dirty the mechanism will get stiffer and eventually quit functioning correctly, which is a good sign it's past time for a real cleaning.

With high power rifles using jacketed bullets you generally expect at least 5,000 rounds through a barrel before it starts to wear. With a .22 long rifle that's been cared for it will last effectively forever.

With any firearm, but especially with the .22LR you should try a lot of different brands and styles of ammunition and see which works best, ie give best function and accuracy, then buy that kind in bulk.

Honestly....there is not much chance at all of health problems from handling or shooting a lot of lead over a very long period of time.

Thousands of people shoot all their lives with no ill effects.

There may be "reports" of some people shooting a lot in enclosed and unventilated spaces who over time develop detectable amounts of lead in their blood stream. But not only is this extremely rare- even then, only a few have health issues. It just doesn't happen.

The lead used in bullets is a natural element found in our environment- its pretty stable. Only when it is super heated by hot gasses in the gun chamber does some of the lead temporarily vaporise into something that can be breathed in. But it condenses almost immediately into heavier particles and falls to the ground. If anyone is concerned about this- just wear a nose mask, but it is not necessary.

The lead that was once used in paints and gasoline (tetra-ethyl lead ) was very harmful...but it was in no way even remotely related to the type of lead used in bullets. It was a clear liquid and not a solid.

There is no fear in bullet lead....unless its being shot at you.

Do you live in California? It is the only state that this happens in, the rest of the country has no problem with it. But for some unknown reason, in California, it causes all kinds of problems, so they started making wheel weights out of bismuth and outlawed all lead bullets, thinking that they would dissolve and get in the water system,??? But they still dig up civil war bullets that weigh exactly the same as they did the day they were fired, 150 years ago, but they dissolve, yeah? When? No wonder California is broke.

Trust me you have to handle ALOT of bullets before health effects become a worry. VOpper plated well i like since they fire nicer from my experience

Lead is not plutonium. There are a zillion things better to worry about before you get to lead toxicity, and if you ever get that far down the list, you still won't have much to worry about.

1) Don't eat the bullets, and you'll be fine.

2) Don't use yourself or your children as targets, and you and your children will be fine.

3) Don't use the ammunition in any way that is not the proper use as described on the box, and you, your children, and those around you will be fine.

health effects? just don't eat them and wash your hands after use and you'll be find

effect on gun? their made for use. that's kinda like wondering if putting gas in a gas tank of your vehicle will hurt it. just clean it with a bronze brush and you'll be fine.

my dad go lead poisoning once. indoor ranges are a good place to get that plus he reloaded ALOT of ammo back then. just wash your hands after shooting and you will be fine.