Many Sports take advantage of the properties of lead. The properties of lead including high density, malleability, ease of casting and resistance to corrosion, promote its use in both professional and amateur sports. For water based sports, lead is used for, ship ballast, diving weights and fishing lures.

1. The Uses of Lead in Sports and Hunting
Many Sports take advantage of the properties of lead. The properties of
lead including high density, malleability, ease of casting and resistance to
corrosion, promote its use in both professional and amateur sports. For
water based sports, lead is used for, ship ballast, diving weights and fishing
lures
On Land, lead is used sports handicapping, and in golf clubs and tennis
racquets. Lead Bullets are obviously a key element in hunting and target
shooting.
This article will provide information on the uses of lead in various sports
and information about Nuclead Inc. a manufacturer of lead products and
related services.
Ship Ballast
Because of its high density and resistance against corrosion, lead is used for
the ballast in ships and sailing vessels.
Lead ballast is either external ballast, which is built into the keel or is
internal ballast which can be in many forms including lead blocks, lead balls
or lead ingots.
Lead Ship Ballast is used to provide distribution of weight, to counteract
buoyancy and to provide stability. Lead ballast is used in sailboats to
provide moment to resist the lateral forces on the sail. The lead weight is
typically kept as low in the water as possible to provide the maximum
righting moment that can be extracted from the given mass
Ballast Lead comes in a variety of sizes, shapes and grades; common is
Machine Lead which is around 1-4% Antimony content and the balance is
Pure Lead

2. External Ship Ballast
On many modern vessels, the keel is made of high density lead casting,
including machined or cast-in fixtures. In some cases the lead keel can be
cast in one piece, called a solid pattern or if it must be cast in a split
pattern. Lead keel castings can range from 100 lbs to 200,000 lbs., and can
take virtually any shape or size.
Lead keel bulbs are often used in sailing vessels, these provide additional
turning moment to prevent tipping and allow the vessel to sail closer to the
wind.
Sheet Lead can also be used for ballast applications when additional weight
is required for wrapping Lead Keel Bulbs and Fins.
Internal Ship Ballast
Historical forms of ballast carried inside the hull were stones or sand.
However lead ballast provides a more flexible and easier to use alternative.
Internal lead ballast can consist of many forms including lead shot, lead
ingots and lead blocks ranging in size from 10lbs and up.
Lead shot is an option for ballast requirements when space is tight. Lead
shot is also excellent for trim ballast applications, keel centerboard ballast
fills and lifting keel applications.
One piece internal lead keel castings are also sometimes used.
Lead Diving Weights
Divers wear lead weighting systems, lead weight belts or lead weights, to
counteract the buoyancy of other diving equipment, such as diving suits
and aluminum diving cylinders.
Lead Fishing sinkers
A lead fishing sinker is a weight used to force a lure or bait to sink
sometimes to the bottom of the waterway. Sinkers are made of lead, since
the material is inexpensive to produce and mold into a large variety of
shapes for specific fishing applications.

3. For example, lead pyramid sinkers, shaped as the name implies, are used
when it is desirable to anchor on the bottom of water bodies
Sports handicapping
Horse racing weights
Horses carry lead weights during the course of a race as a form of handicap.
Such a race is also sometimes termed a "handicap." The jockeys use saddle
pads with pockets called lead pads to hold the lead weights.
These lead riding weights are assigned by the Racing secretary based on
factors such as performances, distance so as to equalize the chances of the
competitors.
Car racing weights
Lead racing weights, in the form of lead bricks or lead bars, are used in
racing cars to balance the car to achieve optimal performance and to meet
the weight restrictions that the car must fall within to meet specifications.
They have to take into account the weight of all materials to construct the
car: roll cage, engine, transmission, driver's seat, fuel tank, weight of full
fuel tank, weight of half empty fuel tank, oil, tires, the weight of the driver,
weight of driver's equipment, and many more items. Lead racing weights
allow additional design flexibility.
Lead in Golf Clubs and Tennis Racquets
Custom golf club makers use powdered lead - either as pure lead, lead
oxide or litharge lead (Litharge is one of the natural mineral forms of lead
oxide) - to balance and weight the clubs. There is typically a cavity in the
head, accessible through a small hole sealed with a screw. Swing weight can
be adjusted by removing this screw, adding a measured amount of
powdered lead and replacing and securing the screw with epoxy.
Lead rod has also been used to add weight in tennis racquet customization

4. Hunting and Target Shooting
Lead Alloy bullets
A lead bullet is a projectile. Thousands of years ago lead bullets were fired
from slings but since the mid fourteenth century bullet has meant a
projectile fired from a firearm. The original meaning of the word comes
from the French “boulette” or “small ball” because early bullets were
shaped that way and used gunpowder (“black powder”) for propellant.
Lead is an ideal bullet material because it is high in mass, relatively cheap,
easy to obtain, easy to work and melts at a low temperature, making bullet
manufacture easier.
Since the invention of rifles and higher nuzzle speeds, bullets have been
made out of several variations of lead alloys of tin and antimony. The
typical bullet shape is now a pointed cylinder instead of a round ball.
The main sporting applications for ammunition are hunting and
marksmanship/target shooting.
Bullets with tips designed for use in hunting often use softer tips that
expand to cause maximum damage to incapacitate the target and tend not
to completely penetrate so that bystanders are not harmed.
These types of bullets are banned from military use by convention. Military
bullets usually have hard tips or full metal jackets.
Conclusion
In conclusion lead metal finds many uses in the sporting world today.