Exactly how concerned should I be about lead?

[1911 guy]

Eliminating lead for pregnant women shooters.

The biggest offenders are indoor ranges with inadequate ventilation and reloading. Make sure to shoot outdoors or in well ventilated ranges, don't let her near your case tuimbler if you reload, and make sure she washes her hands after shooting/handling gun stuff.

My wife is a shooter, also. We took these simple precautions while she was pregnant with our son (who is now a very healthy three year old) and all was well.

I certainly understand your concern, and would suggest that you err on the side of caution if your concience tells you to. I'll just relay my experience that minor things will do the job of protecting her and the little one.

For what it's worth, case tumblers are the number one source of lead contamination for shooters/reloaders. Everything else, aside from chewing on bullets, runs a distant second.

 

[Mr White]

If the lead in question is moving toward you at a very high rate of speed, you should probably try to get out of the way. Other than that, just wash your hands good after reloading and shooting sessions and you'll be fine.

 

[revjen45]

Don't lick your fingers or the gun while you're shooting.

 

[Pat McCoy]

If you are very concerned about blood lead levels, you can take 1000mg of vitamin C each day (half in morning and half in evening) and it will help temove any lead from your system.

 

[Yosemite**Sam]

When I attended basic firearms instructor training I was taught the following:

The body retains lead and confuses it with calcium and therefore leaves deposits in the bones.

The half life for lead deposits in the body is 20 years.

Believe what you want.

 

[hso]

As an industrial hygienist that supports indoor shooting ranges I can assure you that most casual shooters have little to worry about from airborne lead exposure if they simply wash after shooting before eating/drinking.

I can also assure you that lead exposure is a real exposure hazard for range workers, busy firearms instructors and avid/competitive shooters at indoor ranges with inadequate ventilation and who don't follow reasonable hygiene practices. Simple precautions prevent overexposure.

Once lead is in the system it takes lots of time or chelation to remove it. No magic, just removal from exposure or chelation.

 

[ScottyB]

What about the dust that you take out of the range on your shoes and clothes?

Does that not add up in the soil and water, especially when you consider the volume of shooters?

When you fire outside, that dust just gets spread around and the same issue arises, does it not?

Keep in mind, I'm not worried about MY exposure to lead dust. I'm worried about little kids who eat dirt, drink water that has extra lead in it, etc...

 

[repo]

These are the precautions I take because I have a toddler:

Wear blue-nitrile gloves when cleaning guns.
Clean guns out in the garage, with ventilation.
Wipe hands/face thoroughly with wet wipes before I leave the range.
Wash hands thoroughly and have a shower when I get home.
Change my shirt.
Wipe down the steering wheel of car after I am cleaned up.

If I am at an indoor range I wash my hands right there, and blow my nose. I wear a shirt and boots just for the range. I take them off before going in the house. I really don't like indoor ranges. I am careful about not wearing my boots in the house because I think a lot of lead dust must accumulate on the range floor. People sweeping doesn't help matters. I have heard it's best to wash your range clothes in a separate load but I don't bother.

 

[GRB]

(i usually shoot at indoor ranges, need to find an outdoor one to further reduce this risk),

Stay at a well ventilated,and cleaned, indoor range. Outdoor ranges are more dangerous with lead levels from what I ahve heard. All that lead dust, from splatter, laying around, the wind blowoing residue into your face, the dust getting all over your shoes and clothing. Nope I prefer an indoor range.

I suggest if you worry about lead transmission, use certain clothing for the range, take them off when you get home before you go inside if possible. Wash them well. Use the same pair of shoes at the range each time, do not wear them in the house. Vacuum them off after every shoot.

Also clean yourself up well. Tose are more precautions than taken by most shooters.

 

[ScottyB]

Stay at a well ventilated,and cleaned, indoor range. Outdoor ranges are more dangerous with lead levels from what I ahve heard. All that lead dust, from splatter, laying around, the wind blowoing residue into your face, the dust getting all over your shoes and clothing. Nope I prefer an indoor range.

If there is little wind, wouldn't an outdoor range be safer than an indoor range, overall? The ground at the shooting point could have more dust, but there wouldn't be a contained cloud of dust (as in a poorly ventilated indoor range).

The ideal setting would be an indoor range with excellent ventilation, but I've never been to one of those.

 

[Jayman]

Outdoor ranges will almost always be safer than indoor. With all respect to anybody who weighed in on this thread, there is a lot of information out there on the dangers of indoor ranges. I have yet to see somebody mention a high lead count from shooting outdoors. (Trust me, I've looked, and I'm somebody who had to take steps to mitigate my blood lead levels, I was cruising around with an elevated number, and it WASN'T from shooting outdoors.)

 

[alsaqr]

I am an Explosive Ordnance Disposal guy. In 20+ years of military and 25 years of civilian work in this field, I have destroyed 1-2 billion rounds of small arms ammunition .50 caliber and below. Most of this ammunition was burned in open outdoor pits.

In retrospect, we did not work so smart: Sometimes we cleaned out the pits with shovels, Bobcats or end loaders in order to re-use them. There was lead dust everywhere. Since 1992 I have used a respirator while doing this work.

In 1991 and 1992, working in Saudi Arabia, I managed the destruction of all unserviceable US Army ammunition from Desert Storm. This included the burning of 150 million rounds of small arms ammunition. In late 1992 I took a comprehensive employment physical and two of my liver values came up tilt for lead.

My new employer followed all employees health very carefully. Was tested twice again for lead in about May and July, 1993 and everything was OK.

 

[K-Romulus]

info from NIOSH

Here are a couple of links from the CDC/National Institute on Occupational Safety and Health concerning shooting ranges and lead.

1) The general NIOSH webpage on the subject (yes, it gets its own page): http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/ranges/

The NIOSH range page includes links to its lead contamination studies conducted on police firing ranges around the country.

2) The PDF report of the NIOSH lead contamination study of the FBI Academy, Quantico, VA, from April 1996. The study measured airborne lead levels in both indoor and outdoor ranges by having test subjects wear particle collectors around their necks, both on the firing line and near the firing line. Also checked lead contamination in the dorms. Interesting reading: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/hhe/reports/pdfs/1991-0346-2572.pdf

Searching the NIOSH website for "shooting ranges," etc., will pull up even more reports not listed on the firing range webpage.

 

[Gun-Ther]

I was going to the local indoor range about 2x/week. I thought they had pretty good ventilation, but also noticed it would get fairly smoky in there.

After a few years of going there at that frequency I heard that some of the staff was having "lead problems" and got my blood tested. Sure enough, I was just below the level that would be considered "to be watched" if I was getting exposed to lead on the job (mid 40's).

I did some research on effects of lead and found that irritability and nervousness are pretty common at even low blood levels. That explained why l'd been having trouble sleeping for about the previous year and had felt tense for no reason that I could figure out before. I stopped going to the indoor range for a few months and started feeling better. The lead level dropped, too.

Now I shoot at an outdoor range. I will only go to the indoor range a couple times a year. I have shoes that go only from garage to range and back to garage, I try to wear long sleeves when shooting (minimizes lead dust on the arms) and wash my clothes right after coming in from the range. I feel better now than I have in a couple years. The lead level is coming down (in the low 20's, was in the mid 40's) and I can still have fun shooting. Indoor ranges in moderation is my recommendation.

 

[MrChicken]

I've been through three courses of treatment.

Before that I spent a year trying to get stomach pain diagnosed, had a shoulder that would not heal and fatigue I didnt know about until after treatment.

When a fellow instructor was diagnosed with lead poisoning I got interested, talked to my doctor and got tested. After two course of treatment the difference was amazing, no stomach pain, the shoulder healed quickly and I felt 10 years younger.

The lead poisoning wasn't putting me in any danger of dying quickly, I was going to live a long time miserably....

Teaching and running a weekly match indoors raises my lead level pretty quickly, about 1 point a month. Standing next to 20 shooters for 3 hours means you suck in a fair amount smoke. Some nights I could taste the lead. I'm cutting back on that now.

Lead poisoning is serious in children, don't take any risks with the young and unborn. Read up on the develomental effects of lead in children. The effects are permanent.

 

[def4pos8]

--not less than 200 rounds per week. . . . My right foot drags like Frankenstein's and I constantly collect speeding tickets but no worries! I'm all right!!

 

[dubious]

Mr. Lee of Lee Reloading Presses says in his book that his reloading buddy had very high lead levels despite being very careful to wash his hands and practice good hygiene. The culprit? It turns out that his brass tumbler was spewing lead particles in the air all around. Lee says he doesn't tumble anymore unless his cases are really dirty. Niether will I.

I didn't actually read this whole thread, so sorry if I posted something already mentioned... but I doubt anyone mentioned this.