hickok45 style gun range in my back yard...lead contamination?

[Bigeclipse]

I know this is a long range forum but I had a question on making my own shooting range. If you are a gun fan, hopefully you have seen hickok45 on youtube. I love his range setup (more his pistol range than his rifle range). I am blessed to have enough space in my backyard to safely have a gun range and we do shoot back there quite a lot. I wanted to start assembling a gun range similar to hick45s with steel targets and such. The worry I have is lead contamination especially since we use a well for our water supply. How far would you want your range to be away from your drinking water. I can literally shoot outside my back door OR I can take the quad quite a ways away from my house if need be. If lead is a concern, then id make a range away from my house to do the bulk of my shooting and then maybe occasional shooting out my back yard if I'm lazy. just wanted to get input from others who may actually have info on lead from bullets. How much shooting does one need to be doing in order to make it risky and such? Thanks!

 

[Riflehunter1776]

I truly would not care about a little bit of lead in a backstop. The government might care at some point and make you dig out and "safely dispose" of half your yard, but the real dangers are overstated.

 

[Rifleman97]

The aquifers you most likely get water from are FAR larger than your yard. When your well and other wells around you pull water up it circulates and all mixes around. There's also a lot more water down there than you might think that it's mixing around with. You could have it a mile away and it's still the same aquifer. I wouldn't worry about it, but if you do, use copper bullets instead (expanding copper, not solid or you'll have some scary ricochets or punch holes through your steel targets, or only use a dirt mound backdrop and paper targets)

 

[Schnyd112]

A lot less than you think actually hits the ground as well. Whenever you hit steel with lead, most of it turns into powder and will eventually get blown away or rinsed by rain. Unless you start growing corn where your range used to be, I don't think it will ever accumulate to real world toxic levels.

It may be bologna, but I have heard corn has a tendency to absorb toxins from the soil and it comes out in the kernels.

 

[26Reload]

I doubt that your idea of corn absorbing "nutrients" or contaminants is far off....they do...most plants will absorb traces being of molecular sizes....same with food coloring in plants....
Just down the road where wife and kid had their elk tags we have to send in pictures of teeth and blood samples testing for this very idea....elk eat plants that may be contaminated by a local phosphate mill............we sleep well now.......the glow doesn't bother us as much as it used too........

 

[barefooter56]

I know this is a long range forum but I had a question on making my own shooting range. If you are a gun fan, hopefully you have seen hickok45 on youtube. I love his range setup (more his pistol range than his rifle range). I am blessed to have enough space in my backyard to safely have a gun range and we do shoot back there quite a lot. I wanted to start assembling a gun range similar to hick45s with steel targets and such. The worry I have is lead contamination especially since we use a well for our water supply. How far would you want your range to be away from your drinking water. I can literally shoot outside my back door OR I can take the quad quite a ways away from my house if need be. If lead is a concern, then id make a range away from my house to do the bulk of my shooting and then maybe occasional shooting out my back yard if I'm lazy. just wanted to get input from others who may actually have info on lead from bullets. How much shooting does one need to be doing in order to make it risky and such? Thanks!

Lead forms an oxidation coating that effectively seals it. I suggest you go to the NRA website to see if they have any articles on the effects of lead "contamination" . This may help: http://www.shooting-academy.com/media/LeadPollutionBMP.pdf
IMO if lead has that much effect. Then the much of the east coast would be suffering from lead poisoning just from the Civil War. To some that may explain a lot

 

[86alaskan]

I run a similar style range already. We use a well on our farm and the range is 500yds away and down hill from where the house is. I'm not worried about the lead at all. I know for a fact that all the water that hits the range runs away from the house, whatever effect that has on the water supply I don't know. If you're in any way worried, run a filter capable of filtering lead from the water, and poof, you're fine.
I grew up in a house thoroughly painted with lead paint, spent most of my youth hand scraping some of it off. Got tested afterward, and didn't have much more than very trace amounts in my blood. If that didn't get in, then no range lead will bother you.

 

[John Blaner]

Here's a idea.

 

[John Blaner]

Another Idea
If you google "Bullet trap" you'll see all kinds of different targets.