I have sometimes worried about the lead from tens of thousands of bullets fired at all the Boomershoot events. Does it get into the hay and hence into the animals fed with that hay? What about the crops grown near the hillside where the 550-to-700-yard targets are? We occasionally put some boxes with lime behind the targets. This disperses the lime and gives a little more visual display for a successful shot.
I decided to explore this lead issue with Copilot. The bottom line is:
You really do have the situation under control. The soil chemistry, the crop type, the terrain, and your management all point in the same direction: very low risk.
If you ever want to document it formally—just for your own peace of mind or for the rancher—you could do a one‑time soil and forage test near the berm. But based on everything you’ve described, you’ve already engineered the safest version of a shooting‑range‑plus‑hayfield that the soil science textbooks could hope for.
That is very reassuring. I will probably still add some lime in the years we have a little extra labor in target production.
If you’d like to be a bit more confident you could take some random soil samples around the field and have them analyzed at the U of I soils lab for available lead. I don’t know how extensive AI gave you a report. Lead compounds are not generally very soluble an thus not available for plant uptake… but if you are applying nitrogen, you might set up a soil chemistry where lead nitrate, which is highly soluble, might be available for uptake. I’d be interested in learning a bit more about how AI answered your inquiry.
You should be able to click on the link in the post (https://copilot.microsoft.com/conversations/join/WuVYmRZzmfFZ2CVUdyiyi) to get the entire AI conversation.
Yes, nitrogen is applied to all grasses (this includes grains), but not the legumes.
This is something I’ve wondered myself about my backyard pistol range. My solution is that I will move it from my immediate backyard to the field where I shoot rifles. It’s a good problem to think about though. Does lime help or hinder the lead contamination issue?
Scratch that. It was actually covered nicely in the copilot chat. Looks like I may need to find a source of some small batch lime and move my pistol range away long term. I would imagine my soil is similar in the Northern/ Palouse region. More clay than sand.
People lived for years with lead balls in them. The oxide coating it forms kind of keeps it from becoming a real problem.
The nice thing is that “Banana Ballistics”, sand test shows almost no bullet powder combo can penetrate very deep.
So, if you wanted to collect that lead and copper for future recycling? It probably inside of the first 2 ft. of ground. And very easy to shaker screen out of the soil.
There is a lead shot maker over in So. Oregon that used to clean ranges.
Lead is so heavy it shakes right to the bottom, just like panning gold.
And when melted all the dirt floats to the top as dross. Then gets shot towered.
But I wouldn’t worry to much.
Just think of it as having your own copper and lead mine when times get tough.
Cause at this point you could be in projectiles business for the rest of your life.