Lead pollution: causes and solutions

Pollution: why? How?

Pollution is mainly due to the crushing of the projectile as it comes to rest after passing through the target (whether paper, electronic or other).

On impact against what is generally a steel plate, the projectile almost melts because of its energy, releasing macro and micro particles of lead into the surrounding air.

Pollution at the target or at the firing point?

The tests we have carried out over the years at a number of shooting ranges show that pollution is more concentrated at the target than at the firing point, particularly at indoor shooting ranges. According to our tests, the pollution linked to the passage of the projectile through the barrel of the shooting gun is low or even very low.

The cloud of dust created at the target point of these indoor ranges is more or less loaded with lead particles depending on the number of shots fired.

Then, as a result of air currents caused by the opening of a door, ventilation on the shooting range, the comings and goings of shooters, etc., this cloud of lead particles will gradually migrate to the shooting range, where it will arrive, generally less laden with particles.

Pollution measurements

This is generally referred to as :

Surface pollution: this consists of taking a sample with a wipe on a horizontal surface.

This measurement is not very significant: you can have a high value with a low concentration of lead in the air if the housework has not been done for a long time... The threshold not to be exceeded is 1 mg/m².

The club can take these samples itself or contact a monitoring agency.

Air pollution: this involves taking a sample of the ambient air in the area to be monitored. Generally at respiratory tract level.

A pump sucks in air, passes it through a filter and then measures the quantity of lead trapped by the filter.

This is an interesting measurement to make, but the value found should be compared with the time spent in the polluted environment: it's easy to see that if you spend 1 hour a month in the polluted enclosure, it's not the same as spending 8 hours a day there...

The club can take these samples itself, but it will need to have the necessary equipment (sampling pump) or contact a control office.

Lead levels: here, on the other hand, it's very telling. It's really about the poisoning you've suffered, and this is what can lead to cancer.

To have your blood lead level measured, ask your doctor.

Thresholds set by the European Union

European regulations changed at the beginning of 2024 and drastically lowered lead concentration thresholds.
The threshold for lead particles in air has been lowered from 150 µg/m3 to 30 µg/m3, and for lead in blood from 700 µg/liter to 150 µg/liter.
Unfortunately, the threshold for lead concentration in the air is often reached, and sometimes far exceeded. 

Shooting range concerned

All shooting ranges (airguns and firearms) are affected.

Obviously, pollution will be more 'contained' and concentrated in indoor shooting ranges (air guns and firearms) than in outdoor shooting ranges. The most penalising situation is that of indoor shooting ranges for firearms.

Over a period of 2 years, we carried out more than 100 pollution measurements (including aerial measurements) at 7 different shooting ranges: the vast majority of these measurements revealed pollution levels in excess of the 30 µg/m3 standard.

What can be done to combat this pollution?

The main solutions we have considered (although there may of course be others) are :

- Replacing lead with another material

According to our information, ammunition manufacturers are looking into this subject. Without questioning their competence/research, we believe that, unfortunately, lead has major advantages in this shooting application:

It is dense (11.33)

It is ductile, which means it can be easily scratched by guns. Gold is even more ductile, but we don't think we'll be seeing gold projectiles any time soon!

It is relatively inexpensive

- Ventilation

Ventilation is the most widely adopted solution to date, but we need to be precise when we talk about ventilation. One type of ventilation that gives relatively effective results is that adopted by government agencies (national police or army shooting ranges), namely "piston" ventilation. This consists of a blowing wall behind the shooter and a suction wall in front of the shooter. This creates an air current, in the literal sense of the word, moving at a speed of over 0.4 m/s. For a 10-station, 1m-wide shooting range with a ceiling height of 2.5 m, this corresponds to 36,000 m3/h [0.4 x 3,600 x 10 x 2.5], which is considerable.

Such a ventilation solution is therefore costly in terms of investment (more than €10,000 per shooting station) and also in terms of operation, because in cold weather, heating such a flow of air by a few degrees (outside temperature) to 16 or 17°C is very energy-intensive. Not to mention the fact that this solution is not very environmentally-friendly: in addition to consuming energy, it simply shifts the problem to the outside, since the air discharged outside has to be filtered, and the filters replaced...

- Make sure you don't pollute

This is the solution we've adopted.

Ecotrap bullet traps

The ECOTRAP bullet traps we offer come in several versions: for air weapons (ECOTRAP 10) and for firearms (ECOTRAP 50 for shooting at 50 metres in calibre .22 LR and ECOTRAP 25 for shooting at 25 metres in calibre .22 LR to .357 Mag).

ECOTRAP 10 ECOTRAP 50

- Performance - Efficiency

The effectiveness of the ECOTRAP 10 bullet trap for airguns has been tested by an international testing agency (SGS, world leader in inspection, testing, analysis and certification).

For this purpose, we specially built 2 firing lines at 10 m with new clean-room type panels.

We installed 2 bullet traps: ECOTRAP 10 and an electronic target system consisting of a conventional inclined steel sheet.

We then fired 500 pellets into each firing line over a period of 8 hours.

The international control office installed sensors near the targets.

Values recorded: 147 µg/m3 of air with the conventional bullet trap and 4.7 µg/m3 with ECOTRAP 10. The INRS (Institut National de Recherche et de Sécurité - French institution) considers that below 10 µg/m3 of air the value is not significant because it is within the margin of error of the measuring devices and analysis equipment. It can therefore be said that ECOTRAP 10 avoids all pollution. 

Aspect of the 4.5 mm projectiles collected with ECOTRAP 10

The effectiveness of the ECOTRAP 50 and ECOTRAP 25 bullet traps for firearms can be assessed quite simply by looking at the condition of the projectiles recovered.

Appearance of projectiles of all calibres recovered with ECOTRAP 25 

Appearance of .22 LR projectiles with ECOTRAP 50

- Performance - Longevity of the shock absorber

Anyone can recover projectiles without destroying them. Creating a device that catches thousands of projectiles before becoming inoperative is more complicated. That's the goal we've set ourselves...

However, it is very difficult or random to give a lifetime for the shock-absorbing consumable as it depends on the precision of the shots fired: the more precise the shots (grouped together), for example shots fired by high-level riflemen, the more quickly the shock-absorbing consumable is destroyed. Conversely, shots fired by novice pistol shooters will have much less impact on the longevity of the consumable.

However, tests carried out on a conventional 10-metre shooting range have shown that after 15,000 shots (11,400 pistol shots and 3,600 rifle shots) the shock-absorbing consumable is still operational.

It's reasonable to say that it can last up to 20,000 shots with a minimum of 2,500 shots.

As for the ECOTRAP 25 and ECOTRAP 50 bullet traps, ongoing tests show that a comparable service life will be achieved.