US Consumption Of Lead By Product

With the numerous stories including mine regarding the closure of the Heculaneum, MO primary lead smelting facility, I thought this chart would be helpful to put the consumption of lead for ammo into perspective. The chart is from IndexMundi which got it from the US Geological Survey Mineral Resources Program.

For 2010, lead used in shot and bullets comprised 4.6% of the total lead used in the United States. This was down from 5.26% in 2009.

TABLE 5-----------
U.S. CONSUMPTION OF LEAD, BY PRODUCT1-- ---
(Metric tons, lead content)-----------
SIC2 code		Product		2009		2010
		Metal products:
3482		Ammunition, shot and bullets		67,900		65,700
		Bearing metals:
35		Machinery except electrical		W		W
371		Motor vehicles and equipment		W		W
37		Other transportation equipment		W		W
		Total		1,100		1,230
3351		Brass and bronze, billets and ingots		1,370		1,410
36		Cable covering, power and communication		(3)		(3)
15		Calking lead, building construction		(3)		(3)
		Casting metals:
36		Electrical machinery and equipment-		W		W
371		Motor vehicles and equipment		W		W
37		Other transportation equipment		W		W
3443		Nuclear radiation shielding		W		W
		Total		15,900		16,400
		Pipes, traps, other extruded products:
15		Building construction		1,130		990
3443		Storage tanks, process vessels, etc.		(4)		(4)
		Total		1,130		990
		Sheet lead:
15		Building construction		16,300		16,000
3443		Storage tanks, process vessels, etc.		W		W
3693		Medical radiation shielding		W		W
		Total		25,400		23,400
		Solder:
15		Building construction		W		W
		Metal cans and shipping containers		W		W
367		Electronic components, accessories, and other electrical equipment		6,160		6,130
371		Motor vehicles and equipment		W		W
		Total		6,450		6,420
		Storage batteries:
3691		Storage battery grids, post, etc.		389,000		478,000
3691		Storage battery oxides		750,000		806,000
		Total storage batteries		1,140,000		1,280,000
27		Type metal, printing and allied industries		(3)		(3)
34		Other metal products5		5,790		8,800
		Grand total		1,260,000		1,410,000
		Other oxides:
285		Paint		W		W
32		Glass and ceramics products		W		W
28		Other pigments and chemicals		W		W
		Total		10,100		9,760
		Miscellaneous uses		12,200		13,700
		Grand total		1,290,000		1,430,000
W Withheld to avoid disclosing company proprietary data; included in appropriate totals.
1Data are rounded to no more than three significant digits; may not add to totals shown.
2SIC Standard Industrial Classification.
3Included with -Metal products: Other Metal products.-
4Included with -Metal products: Sheet lead: Building construction- to avoid disclosing company proprietary data.
5Includes lead consumed in foil, collapsible tubes, annealing, galvanizing, plating, electrowinning, and fishing weights.

Looking at where raw lead is found, data from the US Geological Survey shows that Australia has the greatest proven reserves of lead. China which has the second largest amount of reserves of lead is actually the largest miner of lead accounting for about half of the world's yearly production in 2012. The United States has only the 6th largest reserves in the world.

Kurt Hofmann makes an excellent point in his post about the Herculaneum smelter closure. He notes that the possible squeeze in lead for bullets might be felt even more keenly due to the Federal ban on many other materials for use in handgun ammo.

Perhaps, perhaps not, but regardless, the squeeze is likely to be felt quite keenly by gun owners. All the more keenly because of longstanding federal law banning the use of many other materials in the construction of bullets used in "handgun ammunition." If lead is unavailable/unaffordable (and now verboten, to California hunters), and if a great many other possible bullet materials are illegal, the remaining options are both few and of limited utility.

And what, anyway, is "handgun ammunition," you ask? Excellent question. Handguns have been built in nearly every caliber that rifles have, including the .50 BMG and the .600 Nitro Express. It seems apparent that any caliber that can be fired from a rifle can also be fired from a handgun, given a shooter with sufficient tolerance for recoil (and, in many cases, for impracticality).

And that means that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives can, if it chooses, ban bullets made with tungsten alloys, steel, brass, etc., in virtually every caliber. It is hardly difficult to imagine the BATFE, especially under an administration like this one, choosing to do precisely that.

And therein lies the rub when it comes to reduced US production of primary lead.