Myths, Legends and Half-Truths about Lead Bullets

We've been casting, selling, and shooting lead bullets for over 20 years. During this time, we've heard a lot of wrong information about shooting and loading lead bullets. This is an attempt to dispel some of these myths.

• Loading lead bullets is more dangerous to your health.
  Ingesting lead is not conducive to your health. Lead can be transferred through your skin. However, bullets aren't the only place that you can get exposed to lead. Since your primers contain a lead-based compound (lead stefanite) even loading jacketed bullets doesn't make you safe from lead exposure. This is why we always recommend that you wear latex or nitrile gloves when loading ammunition.
• Lead is too soft to push to very good velocities.
  Depending on the hardness of the lead, this may be true. Slash K's Hard Cast Lead bullets are hard enough that you can push them to a decent velocity. Between the alloy of the lead, and the lube we use, we have been able to push some of our bullets to upwards of 1800fps without noticing any leading.
  As a local shop, we have noticed that often times, a customer will have a bad experience with lead, but not ours. He bought bullets from some guy at a gunshow, who cast them in his garage, out of random things he thinks are lead.
  
• Lead bullets require me to clean my gun more often.
  Shooting lead bullets will sometimes require you to clean your pistol more often, but not by the margin that people seem to think. I tend to clean the pistols I shoot lead through every 500 rounds, whether it needs it or not. I also clean my pistols I shoot exclusively jacketed bullets through every 500 rounds, whether it needs it or not. I don't notice a significant difference in accuracy between the first round and the 499th round.

What are other incorrect assumptions that people make about shooting lead bullets? Let us know in the comments.