Can vapors from firing old ammo be toxic?

[myrockfight]

Csay,

Glad to hear everything worked out ok. Well so far anyway! Hopefully the MRI will come out negative too! Good luck. And stay away from those old shells from now on, just to be safe!

 

[Elza]

Nitrates cause the blood vessels to dilate thus lowering your blood pressure. It is used to treat angina. Nor does it cause the pupils constrict.

I’ve been shooting for 40 years and never heard of anything like this. There are problems that can be associated with shooting as stated by Cosmoline. However, these are long term effects.

 

[rcmodel]

Maybe the old shells had been setting on a shelf in grandpas barn for 30 years.
Next to the DDT fly spray concentrate!

Farmers used to spray the cows twice a day at milking time with chemicals that would kill a horse ten times over nowadays, according to the EPA.

A good friend lost his house to a leaking 5 gallon can of 2-4-D weed spray concentrate three years ago.

It was stored in the root cellar under the house and the bottom rusted out.
Dumped the contents in the soil under the house, and the furnace sucked it into the plaster walls.
The house is still uninhabitable after extensive clean-up and airing out for 2 - 3 years.

Almost killed the guy & his wife, and they are still suffering symptoms very much like you described.

rcmodel

 

[Cosmoline]

There's also the nitrate/nitrite issue with all burned powders, but the precise health impact of nitrites seems to be at issue. I've also heard you can get exposure from eating recooked spinach, so who knows. I don't think this causes any reaction though other than in infants.

My bet is an alergic reaction to some weird chemical they were using on the shells. Did you say they were paper?

 

[Carl N. Brown]

target rich environment

After my stepdad died, I received some shotgun shells mostly plastic
but some paper hulled. This thread conjured up a memory of his basement
workshop. Who knows what could have gotten on or in paper shotshells
after decades of storage in a basement workshop?

Aren't all smokeless powders nitrocellulose?

Most rod-shaped rifle powders are single-base nitrocellulose.
Flake powders used for pistol and shotgun (like Unique) are double-based
nitrocellulose with nitroglycerin.

Anyone remember seeing that letter?

Yes. If smokeless powder gives off a colored gas when opened and
exposed to air, it has gone bad. The gas is poisonous and the
powder should be disposed of by spreading it loosely outdoors
and burning it. Observe all open-air fire precautions and don't
breath the vapors. The gas tends to be reddish IIRC.

That's why indoor ranges need to be well ventilated.

A while back the FBI firing range at FBI HQ was closed to tourists until
they upgraded the ventilation system to carry the fumes DOWNRANGE and OUT.
Gives me one more reason to like to shoot outdoors and to hate indoor ranges.

A hallucination is just a modification of what's actually there.
Ie: Talking to somebody with a bubbling forehead.

If you are talking to someone with a bubbling forehead, you are not
hallucinating: you are at a Star Trek convention talking to a Klingon.

 

[KBintheSLC]

Can vapors from firing old ammo be toxic?

I'm pretty sure that any ammo vapors/particles are toxic... doesn't matter if it is old or new. Prolonged exposure in poorly ventilated areas can lead to serious health problems.

 

[csay]

For those interested in the outcome, my doctor gave me a clean bill of health. CT scan, MRI were both normal. All other tests A-OK. Just some freak reaction to what I inhaled.

 

[Eric F]

Well thats great as to the cause..............the world may never know.............