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Lead fishing weights, bad for health? (Read 3960 times)
Drakolith
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Lead fishing weights, bad for health?
Jan 8th, 2017 at 2:22pm
 
I use lead 1 gram 99% pure lead fishing weights I got from Amazon as sling ammo from time to time, and after I wash my hands thouroughly, should I be worried about lead poisoning or lead induced cancer?
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vetryan15
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Re: Lead fishing weights, bad for health?
Reply #1 - Jan 8th, 2017 at 2:58pm
 
Nope, as long as you don't lick your hands before you wash em ,you should be fine
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Kick
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Re: Lead fishing weights, bad for health?
Reply #2 - Jan 8th, 2017 at 3:46pm
 
Does anyone know how bad lead sinkers can be to the environment? One reason I've avoided them so far is that I know I'll lose some (read: "all") of them and the only places I sling are on a nearby field and next to a lake in the woods, both places I wouldn't want to poison.
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vetryan15
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Re: Lead fishing weights, bad for health?
Reply #3 - Jan 8th, 2017 at 4:07pm
 
In large amounts lead is bad for the environment,  but lead is a natural occurring material in.the environment.  It would be really bad if the lead leaked into the water, but you hdve yo think.  How many fishermen lose lead sinkers in.waterways.
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Drakolith
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Re: Lead fishing weights, bad for health?
Reply #4 - Jan 8th, 2017 at 6:04pm
 
I usually do throw them into a lake. There are fish and people fish here so there is probably already lead sinkers down there that aren't mine. Plus I don't throw em much only when I want to impress someone usually.
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timpa
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Re: Lead fishing weights, bad for health?
Reply #5 - Jan 8th, 2017 at 7:45pm
 
For example:
Lempäälä's shooting range (Finland) was shot in 2007, 14 tons of lead in the terrain.
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Re: Lead fishing weights, bad for health?
Reply #6 - Jan 9th, 2017 at 1:51am
 
Wow. Ok so I would probably be alright throwing a few Cheesy
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You are a great guy Kick but also slightly scary at times. - Morphy
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slingbadger
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Re: Lead fishing weights, bad for health?
Reply #7 - Jan 9th, 2017 at 6:33am
 
I know they're banned in Britain, along with lead shot. The reason is the waterfowl were eating them. Swans especially were having trouble with them, as they get poisoned. Officially, all wild swans are the property of the Queen, so people were accidentally killing the Queen's swans.
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Re: Lead fishing weights, bad for health?
Reply #8 - Jan 9th, 2017 at 7:18am
 
lead shot is banned in britain for fishing and shooting over water, my dad's just bought a new shotgun with a barrel proved for steel shot for water fowl shooting.

But the big lead weights are not banned for sea fishing, so pretty easy to get still.
The tungsten replacements for coarse fishing are a lot more expensive so you don't want to be throwing those away Smiley

And bear in mind that unless you are slinging over concrete - you will probably never recover a singl;e lead glande. They drill their way deep into the ground on impact.
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Morphy
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Re: Lead fishing weights, bad for health?
Reply #9 - Jan 9th, 2017 at 7:32am
 
Maybe you should stick to slinging gold glandes. Unlike lead or depleted uranium it's not bad for the enviorment.  I'll even provide you my yard to sling them in and clean up after for you. (I'm just a nice guy like that.).
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Re: Lead fishing weights, bad for health?
Reply #10 - Jan 9th, 2017 at 1:13pm
 
I could do with finding some gold glandes actually...
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You are a great guy Kick but also slightly scary at times. - Morphy
"Nothing matters, but it’s perhaps more comfortable to keep calm and not interfere with other people." - H.P. Lovecraft, in a letter to Frank Belknap Long, 7 October, 1923
 
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SlingerDave
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Re: Lead fishing weights, bad for health?
Reply #11 - Jan 9th, 2017 at 8:43pm
 
One gold glande would do for me. Are they being used for target slinging or for a long-range setup? For target slinging if practical, maybe a portable, dense flexible backstop would do the trick to ensure you don't lose them.
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Drakolith
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Re: Lead fishing weights, bad for health?
Reply #12 - Jan 9th, 2017 at 11:17pm
 
What about the towel I use to dry my hands after I wash them after handling lead? Would it be contaminated?
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vetryan15
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Re: Lead fishing weights, bad for health?
Reply #13 - Jan 10th, 2017 at 5:40am
 
If you washed your hands correctly,  the towel souldn't have any lead on it, but if you feel inclined to do so. Washing it wouldn't hurt.
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Bill Skinner
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Re: Lead fishing weights, bad for health?
Reply #14 - Jan 10th, 2017 at 12:16pm
 
I cast a lot of bullets from lead alloys.  I take a lot of precautions to avoid breathing lead fumes.  However, just handling lead is usually not going to contaminate anything.

Wash carefully with a good strong soap with running water, warm by preference.  Then dry your hands with a towel.  Put the towel in the laundry afterwards. 

While handling the lead, avoid touching your face, especially around your mouth and eyes.

I tried some of the larger weights that had an eye cast into them.  I put yarn streamers about 4 inches long (10cm) in the eye.  And when I threw them, I didn't recover a single one, they buried past the yarn.

The yarn did make it easier to track them by eye, though.   Grin
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