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lead exposure

134K views 195 replies 102 participants last post by  brickeyee 
#1 ·
Do any of you have health concerns about reloading with lead bullets during the reloading process or when firing the round? Does anyone have any real data or articles on this topic? I have always heard that lead is bad for the head.
 
#184 · (Edited)
The source of lead at ranges is mostly from the lead styphnate used in primers.

When it
Reacts it creates a witches brew of organic lead compound with the powder.
Many of them are VERY soluble in water.
So if you inhale the residue it gets into your lungs and dissolves.

There is some lead vaporized from the base of a bullet that is not covered in copper.
 
#4 ·
No. I have been reloading almost six years and casting close to five. I have the lead levels checked every years when I have blood work done for other problems. Lead level have always been good. Don't eat drink or smoke while reloading or casting unless you wash your hands first.
 
#6 ·
I had my lead level checked about two months ago when I saw my doctor for a sinus infection.It came back as "slightly elevated".I told my doc that I shoot indoors at least twice a month and that I loaded my own ammo.He told me to lay off the reloading and have it checked again in 3 months.I've reloaded once since the results came back;I wore blue nitrile exam gloves and used a cheap dust mask.I'm interested to see what the results will be next time.
 
#7 ·
Reloading:
The lead on your hands is relatively harmless unless you smoke.
When it gets on the cigarette and becomes vaporized,
your lung tissues take it up like a sponge. Don't smoke.
Elemental lead (the pure metal) uptakes very slowly
through the skin, and very slowly through ingestion.
Elemental lead can stay in the body a lifetime with virtually no harm.
We all know of soldiers with bullets still in their bodies,
but they live full lives with no lead poisoning.
The big problem is not elemental lead, but lead compounds. Like primers.
Lead from spent primers can accumulate in your tumbler medium.
You really need to be aware of airborne tumbler dust.
Keep tumbler dust under control, or outside. And wash your hands.
That pretty much eliminates nearly all reloading hazards.
That's why guys can reload for a lifetime with no health problems.

Shooting indoors:
Products of combustion from the lead styphnate priming compound
absorb rapidly through the entire respiratory system.
That's the truly hazardous stuff. That's where full time range officers get it.
Limit your exposure by insisting on ventilation that pushes combustion
products down range, away from the line.
Find a properly ventilated indoor range with 100% air change.
Bullet lead: Very, very little lead from the bullet becomes airborne. Almost none.
Yes, I know. Many indoor ranges require plated or jacketed bullets
due to the health hazards. Well, the bullet really isn't the problem.
But it's hard to convince people of that. The primer is the big problem.
Either way, ventilation is the key.

Shooting outdoors:
Same hazards exist, but get diluted in the vast volume of Mother Nature.
Thanks, Mom. We can breathe easier outside.

Getting shot:
The biggest lead hazard is being on the wrong end of the trajectory.
You should do your best to avoid that.



Funny that tarheelxd's doctor recommended against reloading.
He should have recommended against indoor ranges.
He probably doesn't know much about either.
 
#8 ·
Excellent post Nick!!!! I agree 100 %.


I cannot add much to it, but it is worth reiterating, make sure you are shooting in a well ventilated area. I did some testing on used media, the results are on this thread; http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=332004
 
#11 · (Edited)
Like I tell everyone...

Don't eat the boolits. :biglaugh:

Also consider making sure that your calcium intake is sufficiant... your body recognizes lead as calcium, and stores it in its bones... this is especially important to growing children(hense why they always freak out about kids gnawing on lead covered stuff.

Mike.
 
#188 ·
Like I tell everyone...

Don't eat the boolits. :biglaugh:

Also consider making sure that your calcium intake is sufficiant... your body recognizes lead as calcium, and stores it in its bones... this is especially important to growing children(hense why they always freak out about kids gnawing on lead covered stuff.

Mike.
That is actually the least of the problem.
A piece of lead is going to just run on through.

Stomach acid is not strong enough to do all that much to it.

Finley divided lead will have enough surface area to be an issue, but not a piece of shot.

The only place lead is removed is in joints.
The synovial fluid in your joints CAN dissolve lead.
Slowly, but it can.

Bullets near the spine may be more dangerous to remove so even there they are commonly left.

Organic lead like lead acetate in lead paint is extremely dangerous.

It was used as a hardener and gloss improver in the paint.
The old name for it was "Sugar of Lead" for its sweet taste.

Old lead paint chips are sharp and hard.
Easily cutting your skin.

Lead oxide pigments are so stable they do not pose much of a risk.
 
#12 ·
Very interesting and informative thread. I am not a sky is falling type but do try to take normal precautions. I don't check my gas tank with a match either.
Snow, were you cleaning the brass (in your other thread) with the primers removed or with them still in? Would it make a difference?
 
#13 ·
Very interesting and informative thread. I am not a sky is falling type but do try to take normal precautions. I don't check my gas tank with a match either.
Snow, were you cleaning the brass (in your other thread) with the primers removed or with them still in? Would it make a difference?
Inhaling ANY dust, whether its contaminated with lead or not is not healthy... obviously with lead is worse for you, but one should always take precautions not to inhale it/get it everywhere.

Best solution I have found, is change out your media... new media almost NEVER produces airborne dust, where as old stuff is BAD... clean media+cleaning in an open/vented area is the best solution.

MIke.
 
#14 ·
Been casting and reloading indoors for 50+ years and have had my blood levels checked with normal results. Until last couple of years, 100% outdoor shooting. Winters now I am shooting indoors, the range has good circulation that draws the air away from the line. Just be careful about breathing the primer dust and wash your hands.
 
#15 ·
I am a part time RSO at a local indoor range. Yesterday I was given a 30 page notebook on lead hazards and how to avoid them. All broken down, Nick hit it on the head. Wash face, forearms, and hands before eating or drinking. Change clothes when you get home. We have a state of the art range and it passed OSHA testing but we constantly are chasing our tail to keep it that way. Fans and new filters really make a difference. Dust is the enemy.
 
#17 ·
Just picked up a respirator good for dust as well as metal vapors at harbor freight for fifteen bucks. Typical price for such a disposable is twenty. They have nitrile gloves on sale just now too, $6.99/50. Some pretty great fold-up ears for $10 too.

Typical cost for respirator with replaceable filters is $30 with filters for $18 or $20 for disposable and you get a new mask and straps every time.
 
#19 ·
He told me to lay off the reloading and have it checked again in 3 months.
Your Doc had it bass ackwards. he should have told get out of the indoor range instead. The reloading has pretty close to zero risk. Indoor shooting is pretty much the only thing I have heard of in 40 years of shooting that anyone ever had any lead issues with. NEVER from reloading. To keep my wife happy (you know that routine) I get my lead checked with my physical every year. No issues - ever. shoot (a lot) and cast 30k rounds a year. Lead is not an issue unless you shoot indoors.
 
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#21 · (Edited)
FWIW
Several years back I used to visit a little gunshop that had a nice indoor range with a bad ventilation system. As I walked in one day the gunsmith walked out of the range wearing a particulate filtered respirator. Now. I remembered how nasty and smokey the range would get if it was busy. Some days it got so bad I couldn't even see to the back of the 25 yard range well enough to make out my target. I would routinely have a sweet taste in the back of my throat and would see black stuff when I would wash my hand and face, following an hour our two in the range. So after shooting that day I stopped in and asked the Smith what was up with the respirator. He said. dude! get your blood tested for lead. So I did.
My lead level came in at an 18 ug/dl and my Doc said he has seen serious complications at levels above 21 ug/dl (what ever that meant) Then I had someone explain to me the Lead in primers and the burning of lead on the back of lead bullets entering your respitory system. Enough said. I got a respirator and while I got allot of strange looks when I entered the range, my levels started to drop. Not very quickly I might add. Later on the EPA made the range revamp their venilation system and I joined a sportsmans club and now do most of my shooting outside. At that time I was shooting only about 5,000 rounds a year . So I will wrap this all up by saying as far as shooting, a well ventilated clean range is a must. If you cant find one. Shoot outdoors. Cheers!
 
#22 ·
Back in the late 80's, I shot a lot of Bullseye and Bowling pin matches with 45ACP and lead ammo. I shot 2-3 nights a week practice at an indoor range, plus the outdoor 2700 matches. About a year and a half after this started, I had my lead level checked during a routine physical because I was experiencing a lot of joint pain and was only in my thirties. My blood lead level was off the charts at 68 ug per deca liter or whatever they call it. I stopped all shooting activites and it took 2 plus years for the level to drop on it's own down below 25. I think much of that was due to the indoor range which I though had good air circulation. I started shooting again heavily about 10 years ago, but just outdoors now. I still reload and shoot plenty of lead. I have my blood lead level checked annualy and it has not gone above 12 ug/dl since then. above 10 is considered problematic, but I bet anyone who has been shooting for over 10 years is above 10. I think breathing in the primer particulates (lead styphnate) is a much bigger factor than handling lead.
 
#24 · (Edited)
I think Hattrick means filtering the airborne solids (dust) from sifting his tumbler medium.

The big question is micron size. Furnace filters come in different grades.
One looks up the micron filtration of that particular filter,
then determines the size of dust being captured.
Match the two together.
Filter too fine, impedes air flow.
Filter too large, won't trap particles.
 
#25 · (Edited)
here is a little background on lead. I can e-mail a full powerpoint of a presentation on some of the lesser known effects of lead. I conduct research on heavy metals as carcinogens, and am a member of the society of toxicology.

Known link in renal carcinoma.
Studies from the 1970s to early 1990s demonstrated that Pb2+ impaired cognitive function at increasingly lower doses.
CDC then lowered the definition of intoxication from 25 µg/dL to 10 µg/dL.
Even more recent studies show that lower exposure amounts lead to cognitive deficits


There is a strong association between lead exposure all kinds of behavioral problems.
ADHD
Anti-social behavior
Lower test scores
Violent behavior as adults
Reduced brain volume as adults
Exposure is irreversible.
Chelation therapy works for acute doses, but does not improve cognitive function.

I load lead bullets myself, and shoot indoors. The range has a ventilation system that costs 6k a month for filters. Even exposure via skin will accumulate. I wear gloves at all times well handling bullets, and loading clips.

Heavy metals including cadmium, lead, and arsenic all accumulate in your kidneys, there it has a half life of 20-25 years. Blood tests show current levels of metal in your blood low level exposure accumulates in other organs. So a decreased blood level just means your current exposure is lower, but the metal is still "somewhere" in your body.

Although a person may live with a bullet lodge in their body for a long time, I completely disagree that it has no effect. Cognitive tests for before and after would be needed to prove that either way.
 
#26 ·
Man, I like this forum. I shoot at an indoor range that has been open for just 6 months and I am told that the air handler cost $250,000. Many inspections were required and lots of hoops jumped though. I can feel the air moving as I shoot. I sometimes can still get a sweet taste in my mouth if I shoot a lot of .22's. Does anyone know if the sweet taste is lead related?
 
#27 ·
I'm not an expert on the subject, but it *could* be lead.

Lead has a slightly sweet taste -- which is why children would eat lead paint chips. They thought it was candy because of the sweetness. Not good.

You could try shooting 22's with less exposed lead and see if it changes...
 
#28 ·
The sweet taste of adrenalin. :) No, not really.


Actually, adrenalin tastes bitter almost to the point of tasting like burnt ashes.
It isn't pleasant. Nothing about that hormone is pleasant.
Very often, an 'adrenalin rush' isn't real adrenalin, just excitement.
Real adrenalin is downright ugly. It isn't pleasant at all.

It is more likely that the sweet taste is from your own saliva.
We generally don't drink anything while shooting
so whatever is in the mouth stays there during the entire session.
Enzymes in saliva continue to break down leftover food and stuff in the mouth.
Since saliva breaks down starches and other carbohydrates to glucose,
that could contribute to the sweet taste.





(Note:
Lead paint contains lead oxide, that's not the same as elemental lead.
That's why lead paint uptakes so quickly, it's a compound rather than the
elemental metal.)
 
#30 ·
Airborne Lead



Lots of folks at my club had elevated blood lead levels. We spent some money to bring the ventilation up to code and no one has had a problem since.

Reloading is not likely to cause a problem if you have good hygiene. Shooting in an inadequately ventilated range will cause lots of problems quickly. There are reams of data and studies on this; contact the NRA Range people for more information. See also http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/ranges/
 
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