My pistol club has an indoor range that I plan to make extensive use of this Winter. However - they have a large ominous sign over the entrance stating "Lead ONLY/NO jacketed bullets".

What I'm wondering is - short of reloading - where the heck do you buy ammo with lead bullets? None of the Walmarts near me have it.

I also have a Glock 23 and I'm kind of bummed about the Lead Only deal since from what I understand the Glock rifling doesn't play well with the lead. Considering an aftermarket Lone Wolf barrel for it so I can shoot lead.

Anyway - other than suggestions for places to buy lead ammo & what brand of 9mm plays best with a Shield - does anyone else have this issue to contend with - or is "lead only" a fairly common rule for indoor ranges?

Does the range not sell the appropriate ammo?

No - it's a membership only club with 3 outdoor ranges, a Trap range and the indoor range. They don't sell anything. The advantage is the key card you get when joining that allows you to open the gate etc and come and go 24/7 - so it would be nice to be able to just drive over in the evening whenever I like and use the indoor range.

Indoor Ranges near me are few and far between unfortunately.

Wonder who the crack smoker was that came up with that lame rule... I'd find another place to shoot, if possible.

It seems odd to me. I have heard of ranges that do not want bullets with steel cores. That is no great surprise. The common trend these days seems to be to discourage lead, because of the concern people have of possibly inhaling particulate lead.

Anyway, I do not know who makes affordable lead-bullet 9x19 or .40SW ammo but my first reaction would be to contact a custom-loader who runs a good shop and who has a good reputation. I have been fortunate to have been acquainted with one who is just a few miles away and while some people are very concerned about this type of "reloader," I trust this particular operation and have done so for decades. Maybe there is a similar business not too far from you? If you plan to shoot a lot, why not just invest in some reloading equipment. It is a great hobby, if you have the time for it.

That seems strange. I wonder what their reasoning is? The range I
frequent has only one rule: No steel core. Anything else is fine.

I think someone there (maybe one of the senior members) does a lot of reloading and doesnt want to pick through jacketed ammo to melt the lead out of. Either that or they are afraid the back stop won't handle a lot of jacketed bullets

You could get a set of molds and a smelter and just melt your own lead into ammo. My friend does this with a 45-70. I supply him with a steady stream of wheel weights for this.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

Geogria Arms makes a lot of lead ammo, just about everything. They do it for a resonable price. Also G.A.D in WI will load ammo with lead bullets. Give them a try!

Thanks for the replies so far!

I suspect it's a backstop concern issue more than anything. Finding a new place isn't really an option for me since this one is about 30 minutes from me. Any other indoor ranges are at least 45min to an hour from me.

I think it is a great rule.

Here, for miles around, all indoor ranges forbid lead.
But the kicker is, they sell jacketed ammo at outrageous prices to use at their range.

Pretty simple math.
Lead is usually used by reloaders.
Reloaders do not buy ammo from range at inflated prices.
Reloaders collect and reuse their own brass.
Less money in ammo sales.
Less money in fired brass sales.
Ban lead.
They never see a dime from me, even when I shoot jacketed due to this stupid no-lead rule.

Someone has probably had enough, and created this lead only range as an option to all the no-lead ranges.

There are many advantages of using lead.
Some of these include:

#1 by far is accuracy. Lead is usually sized larger, and rides the rifling much better than jacketed. Lead has always chopped group sizes at least in half over jacketed.

Lead causes almost no wear.

Lead is much cheaper to shoot. When some people shoot a couple hundred rounds each range trip, the savings can be substantial. Casting your own saves even more, with completed rounds now costing me around a nickle a piece for 180gr 40 S&W.

Lead has natural expansion abilities.

Lead can be very soft, very hard, or anywhere in between, depending on your specific needs.

Most of my guns only see 1 box of jacketed as a test, then get the more accurate lead for life. In the S&W line, that includes Bodyguard 380, Shield 40 and S&W 500. The 500 went from around $2.00 a round, to now less than $0.20 a round using 440gr cast lead w/GC.

I bought quite a bit of their .38 Special lead at a gun show, and was quite pleased. They sell lead in many calibers (not sure about 9x19), using both new and used casings.

That is a real strange range. The biggest problem with ranges is the EPA requires them to remove all the lead at certain time intervals. For an indoor range, it is less expensive to remove the lead as it just ends up lying at the base of the backstop. At outdoor ranges it is much more expensive to remove the lead. You did not indicate if the "lead only" included the outdoor ranges. Outdoor ranges have to remove large quantities of the surface area and the berms to remove the lead. This earth is then shipped to a company that can dispose of or recover the lead properly. I looked into opening an outdoor range in Florida and I found the EPA regulations would add so much cost to the project that it would not work for my situation.

There is a "sportsman law" in the US Congress that if not passed will ban lead in all ammunition and fishing. Then the price of ammo will skyrocket, as lead is much less expensive than other metals. Most all current ammunition (except for 100% lead bullets) is lead with an alloy outer jacket (full metal jacket / jacketed hollow point). Without lead they would use solid copper and alloys that would raise the cost of ammunition at least fourfold. This law is supposed to be voted on very soon. If the law passes, it will allow the use of lead to continue in sporting ammunition (hunting and target) and fishing use.

Bob

Yeah something is odd about that range. I think they want u to spend ur money, so they can make money in return (reloading ur ****).

I've seen plenty of ranges that ban Steel Core, but thats mostly because their back stops can't handle it and it's safer not to use it. But Steel Core has been federally banned from import since the 1990's and no distributer sells them in the US. The only place to buy them is 2nd hand off the guys who purchased them before the ban. Or do some reloading and make ur own.

Bill:

My club range also permits lead ball only indoors. The outdoor range is not restricted.

The backstop was sufficiently dinged up that bits of jacket material would fly back and hit you if you were close to it. As in "under 30 feet"! Lead tended to just shatter when hitting the steel....

There was a guy who harvested the lead, too, and I expect he had problems with the jackets, too. I don't know....

We put up some very expensive rubber curtains a few years ago, and that about ended the bounce-back problem, but you can still hit the target holders. Meantime, there's a rule against hollow points - now because they tear up the curtains....

Ultramax makes decent (not all that cheap) lead ball "factory reload" ammunition. I think Sportsman's Guide had 'em. Mastercast in Enon Valley PA (worth the ride from Pittsburgh) was selling very high quality (IMHO) lead (and about everything else) as "factory reload", too, but they've decided to drop selling loaded rounds as of the end of this year. Good place to get lead ball, though, if you're into reloading, as well as powder, primers, or Dillon presses & accessories.

(I bit the big one a few months ago and bought a Dillon XL650 from him.)

Our club range is set up about the same way as yours with respect to access. Members get a key.... We can't shoot after about 2200 outdoors, and 2300 indoors (nasty neighbors), but it's still pretty decent, and about 20 minutes from my house. We're looking at card keys, but have cheaped out so far ....

Regards,

__________________
Stu.