Gordon writes:

"Stopping the use of lead bullets cannot possibly have a measurable effect
on
the amount of lead in Cape Cod's water. Everyone knows how it is still
common to find bullets left over from the Civil War. They are still there
after 135 years or more because they don't dissolve (or dissolve very, very
slowly, and precipitate as lead carbonate or lead sulfate very close by).
I'm sure that buried bullets from the Revolutionary War still exist
undissolved, too. Does the Army intend to remove all the bullets in the
ground at the Massachusetts Military Reservation? If not, how can the EPA
think that they have accomplished their objective? What will they do when
they discover that the lead levels in Cape Cod water are not dropping as a
result of their order?"

I'd posit that they'll bury the findings in obfuscation.... results that
don't prove a popular premise
are not often given the light of day.

" The real basis for deciding to make the
switch from lead to tungsten composite should be a simple cost trade-off
between the extra cost per bullet and the money saved from reduced barrel
erosion, plus the benefit of improved target accuracy."

Very true. An interesting sideline, is that on the NPR treatise, the cost
of this swap was pegged as "pennies per round" whereas the number given
on a more in depth article pointed out that the difference was 1/2 cent per
round per "old" bullet and 8 cents for the "green" bullet... a sixteen
times
increase. If the change does not result in measureable results, there's
a lot of money wasted on PC efforts that could have been used to deliver
meaningful results.

I'd also challenge how a bullet of the same mass (which it must be, to
perform in the rifling configuration of a M16) and the same outside
jacketing
material (It's required to be full metal jacket to be used in war) which
is usually a copper alloy, could result in less barrel wear.

Thanks for your thoughtful views of this "Pop Science" reporting.
John

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