Posted on 12/02/2013 8:38:22 AM PST by bigbob
Because of heightened EPA regulations, Doe Run Company's Herculaneum lead smelter in Herculaneum, Missouri—the last U.S. smelter of its kind—is closing its doors on December 31, 2013.
Once this happens, the lead for traditional ammunition will have to be imported, thus driving up the price for bullets, shotgun shells, etc.
The Herculaneum smelter has been operating in the same location since 1892. And according to the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), "it is the only smelter in the United States which can produce lead bullion from raw lead ore," so once it closes, the only lead smelters left in the nation will be ones that recycle lead from existing items "such as lead acid batteries or spent ammunition components."
Herculaneum's product is the type of lead used to make components for traditional lead ammunition, and once the smelter closes, such lead and/or ammunition components will have to be imported into the U.S. Ammunition prices are expected to rise, reflecting import costs.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
This is why everyone should have a stash of at least 1000 rounds of ever caliber ammunition they have guns for.
I hear you Laz but I don’t buy it. There’s a finite amount of lead in circulation and if you restrict the supply to recycled lead from ammo, batteries, etc plus whatever we have to import, it just stands to reason that it will drive up ammo prices. If nothing else, imports are very easy for the gummint to manipulate.
Not many years ago restaurants had to pay someone to haul off their “yellow grease”, i.e. the remannts from fryers. Then the gumming mandated biodieset standards and the refiners found it was cheaper to make biodiesel out of yellow grease than soybeans, so now there is a market for yellow grease that’s been going up in price year after year. How would the same thing not happen to recycled lead prices?
Nothing tariffs can’t fix. Oh, wait.
Reloaders should definitely stay away from car batteries for making bullets. They add things to the lead that are not good for bullets or the people making bullets.
About a decade ago, GNB started adding Cadmium to their lead acid batteries. Makes a better battery but Cadmium kills the kidneys dead and the body does not excrete it. Dose is cumulative over a lifetime. If you keep your lead exposure low, the body will clear it out, If you keep your Cadmium exposure low, eventually you reach the critical dose and you are on dialysis.
Don’t melt down car batteries.
You lost me.
How is one lead different than another lead?
To make a lead alloy you start with pure lead then add to it.
A jacket bullet generally has pure lead in it while cast bullets are lead alloys to make them harder.
Lead is 98% recycled, mostly from batteries. Lead is the #1 recycled material.
If ANYTHING, the price of car batteries might go up a little, and only by the cost of shipping the lead ore to the offshore smelter and then back to the battery manufacturer.
Lead recycling:
When I was a kid I experimented fooled around with CdS solar cell material powders for couple years- never took any precautions- but I ate a lot of apples from the orchard- my kidneys are fine. Later on in industry I was exposed to a lot of Cd plating solutions for years and still ate a lot of apples. My kidneys are fine.
Gee, I hope you’re right.
Huh, funny about that, isn’t it?
We probably have a lifetime supply in the sand and dirt in the backstop of every shooting range.
I use a bullet trap to catch mine for melting down and re-use.
A half a diamond shaped steel thing with a snail shell like device at a hole in the small end.
The bullets fall in a bucket.
I wonder how many LED laser diodes it would take to create a Phaser.....
You are recommending an utter lack of preparedness. :)
I use Lyman #2 bullet alloy I buy from Rotometals in San Francisco. Their prices reflect current market prices. Right now their prices are up about 10% from last year, but they periodically offer sale prices.
One pound = 7000 grains. A .45 ACP round nose bullet weighs 230 grains. So you can get about 30 bullets per pound, depending on how much waste there is.
See Sooth’s post. You will sleep better tonight.
I've heard this too. The EPA is not a friendly organization to my mind, but this one, they got right.
1000?
I wasn’t loosing sleep, I just wanted to know how one lead was different than another lead.
Are you sure? The damage does not cause symptoms until you hit end stage renal disease.
I lost about 40% of my renal function last year from one too many doses of IV contrast, I feel fine.
Hey, it's a start. And depending on how many different caliber guns you own it could be a pretty good stash.
I just thought you forgot a zero or two.
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