Lead contamination in meat.

[huntsman22]

If you are worried about lead in the meat, don't shoot them in the meat......

 

[Trackselk]

Interesting. I read those threads and have added some of the aluminum and titanium parts to my Montana’s, but haven’t chopped anything or had any metal milled off.

My advice is that a 6lb 308 is pretty stiff recoil, and I wouldn't want any more. If my math is right, a 5lb 6.5cm will be about the same. This comes from a scrawny dude that isn't likely to develop a flinch, but I don't want to risk it too far. Hats off to Luke and his uber light monster bore rifle. I guess you're not so worried about recoil if you adventure around big browns all the time. Me, I just carried bear spray because it was lighter...I am the captain of off topic :/

 

[GSPHUNTER]

I can't even imagine how much wild game, birds included that I ate in my lifetime that were taken with lead ammo. I'm 73 and have never had a concern or an issue because of it. I think there is more of a concern for birds of prey and scavengers than for humans. But, then I not a Dr. or a scientist, just a man who ingested a lot of game killed with lead and I'm still kicking, and very normal, I think.

 

[Andrew12gauge]

I would be fine with switching to copper, but my .25-06, that shoots everything else accurately, won’t shoot copper accurately and I can never find any to try from my .300 win mag. Until copper is more available I’ll keep shooting them with lead


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[stanginthe11s]

I personally do not put any thought into it, I have yet to find a true study that is unbiased and actually works off of facts or should I say all of the facts. solid lead is of very little concern, its when it is burned or turned to powder and ingested that it can be a problem and even at that its not significant. bullets are not made from pure lead, rather an alloy or mixture of metals. does anyone know how copper bullets are made? I don't think they use pure copper and some copper has lead and or zinc in it. as far as something dying from lead poisoning, heavy metals collect at the joints and get leached from skin on humans, and that takes extreme levels and years to happen. its more likely you get sick from the other ingredients, which can also be present in copper and brass. not saying it isn't bad, but what makes everyone believe copper ingestion isn't also bad? how many tests were done on the animals before they were killed to see if they had lead in their system already? it is a mineral, so its likely all living things already ingest it. I personally would be more worried about that bag of doritos, I don't trust anything that I cant pronounce.
I've watched thousands of animals die from lead poisoning, and every one of them tasted great. and while many tell me I'm special, I don't think its from the lead lol

 

[Pony Soldier]

I focus on bigger bullets at velocities below 2850 fps and bullets that mushroom but don't fragment. Little bullets at higher speeds equal bloodshot and fragmentation.

On top of all of that - learn to shoot. Broken bones equal meat loss. Horns are just a bonus. You need to keep your meat loss under 5 lbs. at that point your risk from lead is negligible.

 

[iseebucks]

I think most people don't realize there is lead in the primers so you are exposing yourself to lead if you breath in the smoke generated from firing any round. It is also ubiquitous in our environment so we all get exposed at some point and therefore I choose not to worry about it.

 

[duckcarver]

Interesting collection of studies, including several on human consumption

Papers/Studies — Hunting With Non-Lead

huntingwithnonlead.org

 

[stooxie]

I knew a general surgeon (who specialized in oncology) who said that there was basically no risk of lead poisoning when they would leave lead bullets lodged in GSW victims. She said that's not the kind of lead poisoning that they talk about it. The lead chromate in paint is more soluble in the human body than just straight lead.

Not that I'm going to replace my chewing gum with cast bullets, but that does give me a good measure of comfort.

-Stooxie

 

[TimberRunner]

Sometimes us 1st world'ers chase things that in the grand scheme mean nothing.

 

[Wolfshead]

I believe that the real issue is not so much what “we” adults consume, but what our little ones do.
If your child is eating wild game with any regularity then, in my opinion it should be a concern.
From what I understand, lead can have irreversible effects on kids who’ve consumed it.
So for me, that’s not a risk I’m willing to take.
I’m not doing it for me, but in the “me culture” we live in nowadays the opinions can be different.

 

[Mike D Texas]

I believe that the real issue is not so much what “we” adults consume, but what our little ones do.
If your child is eating wild game with any regularity then, in my opinion it should be a concern.
From what I understand, lead can have irreversible effects on kids who’ve consumed it.
So for me, that’s not a risk I’m willing to take.
I’m not doing it for me, but in the “me culture” we live in nowadays the opinions can be different.

Why is it any different now that in generations past? Kids have been eating meat shot with lead bullets for generations.

Sure maybe we didn’t have people telling us it was bad “back then” but maybe that’s the problem in itself.


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[Slickhill]

I don’t worry about it at all.

My Grandfathers are both still alive and in incredible shape for being 90 and 92 years old, they have both eaten literally thousands of game birds and animals killed with lead bullets and shot. My dad and mom and their siblings are in their 60s-70s, they were all raised on game and birds killed exclusively with lead shot and bullets. I have eaten game literally since I’ve had teeth, nobodyaside from myself in my family has ever heard of a mono metal bullet let alone cared enough to use one. My son has been eating almost exclusively game and birds since before age 1, 95 percent of it killed with lead shot and bullets, he is exceptionally well developed mentally and physically.

I think in our cushy society with very few imminent threats of death in our day to day lives we tend to over analyze the what ifs.

 

[Hackleback]

I havent read every post in this thread, but a couple thoughts

I have yet to find a mono/copper that shoots to my satisfaction, this includes several calibers, both factory and a few hand loads. I know others that have struggled as well, why I don't really know.

Most of the documented lead poisoning issues are with birds (and I think this is likely exaggerated as well). We mammals digest food differently than birds as we do not have crops that grind all solid objects up before entering the lower digestive tract. The few particles of lead that we might ingest for the most part are passed through our digestive systems unaltered.

Honestly, you should be far more concerned about other heavy metals that you might be consuming such as mercury (methyl mercury in fish) and arsenic (ground water in highly mineralized soils) especially if you live in the western US, as examples.

 

[PredatorSlayer]

I believe that the real issue is not so much what “we” adults consume, but what our little ones do.
If your child is eating wild game with any regularity then, in my opinion it should be a concern.
From what I understand, lead can have irreversible effects on kids who’ve consumed it.
So for me, that’s not a risk I’m willing to take.
I’m not doing it for me, but in the “me culture” we live in nowadays the opinions can be different.

This is such a dumb argument. Kids have been eating lead shot game for years, many older generations raised on it.

 

[nam1975]

I knew a general surgeon (who specialized in oncology) who said that there was basically no risk of lead poisoning when they would leave lead bullets lodged in GSW victims. She said that's not the kind of lead poisoning that they talk about it. The lead chromate in paint is more soluble in the human body than just straight lead.

Not that I'm going to replace my chewing gum with cast bullets, but that does give me a good measure of comfort.

-Stooxie

There are gsw with head shots that they leave in.