Do you always wash your hands after touching bullets?
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Reloadron
Contributing Member
I wash my hands on a regular basis and believe me lead particulates are the least of my concerns and worries.
Ron
Ron
Best instructor I've ever had or taught with included the advice in his classes wash your hands after you shoot and carry something (Wet Wipes, anti-lead wipes, etc) to do so with. And he did so when he shot, too.
Since so much of his teaching/advice proxied on-point, I tried to make it a habit, too. And since I have varied and sundry chemicals on the bench, I try to remember to either use a wipe before I walk away after working with guns & ammo or to go to the sink straight afterward ... though every now and then I forget.
Dunno, just seem like sensible precautions to me.
Since so much of his teaching/advice proxied on-point, I tried to make it a habit, too. And since I have varied and sundry chemicals on the bench, I try to remember to either use a wipe before I walk away after working with guns & ammo or to go to the sink straight afterward ... though every now and then I forget.
Dunno, just seem like sensible precautions to me.
CapnMac
Member
Our personal sample sizes. I know of around a dozen mechanics & machinist's mates who wound up with heavy metal issues. (That tell-tale line around the nail is hard to spot under a near-permanent grime line.) Most of that cohort also have issues from absorbed solvents and VOCs.
And, I have to fairly deliberately try and remember all the people I know who do not have heavy metal issues--painters, plumbers, demolition contractors and the like--to offset my own reflex opinions.
I know I also have to fight my own biases on the differences between the science and the regulations. And, that can be a vast gap.
And, I have to fairly deliberately try and remember all the people I know who do not have heavy metal issues--painters, plumbers, demolition contractors and the like--to offset my own reflex opinions.
I know I also have to fight my own biases on the differences between the science and the regulations. And, that can be a vast gap.
When I was in school, I took a semester class in printing with the old lead type cases where you had a zillion little letters, spacers, etc. It was great fun learn how to set up a big page and run the press. However, the instructor was insistent on hygiene. Wash hands and face. Told us of printers who would run their hands through the hair - lost it and went nuts.
I carry wipes for the range.
I carry wipes for the range.
jmorris
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I wash my hands all the time, might be how I didn’t catch Covid when my wife had it last year.
I don’t touch bare lead much but wash my hands just the same as after working on a greasy old tractor. Hot water, soap and abrasive pad. From smelting, casting, coating, loading and shooting, for the calibers I shoot the most, I don’t have to touch lead, at all.
Despite that fact, I still have my lead levels tested when they draw blood for my physical every year. It’s not something they normally do, so I have to remind her every year but it doesn’t cost me anything. The only time it ever elevated was when I began shooting weekly indoor matches, switched to outdoor matches and they went back down.
I don’t touch bare lead much but wash my hands just the same as after working on a greasy old tractor. Hot water, soap and abrasive pad. From smelting, casting, coating, loading and shooting, for the calibers I shoot the most, I don’t have to touch lead, at all.
Despite that fact, I still have my lead levels tested when they draw blood for my physical every year. It’s not something they normally do, so I have to remind her every year but it doesn’t cost me anything. The only time it ever elevated was when I began shooting weekly indoor matches, switched to outdoor matches and they went back down.
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Me too, and didn't, and I do maintenance in a hospital. I am a big believer in hand washing, and keeping fingers out of mouths/nostrils/eyes. It's served me well for a long time, but I also have a good immune system from eating dirt (not directly) and drinking out of the garden hose as a kid.
.308 Norma
Member
Me too. And I also do a lot of hand wringing over what others think of my habit of not rushing to the nearest sink to wash my hands after touching a bullet or two.
Just kidding around, Walkalong. I really do wash my hands a lot - especially since covid. So does my wife, and neither of us has had it yet. Of course, that might be because we're both retired and don't get out in public as much as most people probably do. Or it could be because as you say - strong immune systems.
Whatever. I'm getting in the mood for a thread that will have me doing some hand wringing over what others think of my CCW - my Glock G-19.
CherokeeGunslinger
Member
I sprinkle lead into my cheesy taco meat and I mix lead into my wine. I can currently communicate with the dead, specifically the ghost of John F. Kennedy.
Yes, I wash my hands after directly handling bullets and after range trips.
Yes, I wash my hands after directly handling bullets and after range trips.
X62503
Contributing Member
Does licking my fingers count?
yzguy87
Member
No.
I have worked with solvents, asbestos, lead, etc for a lot of years, wash up after working with anything nasty, so, yes, after a range trip, before and after reloading, after cleaning weapons, etc.
Can't say I do when I am just loading a mag, or unloading a mag, or because I touched a round or loading component, but then again I usually unload at the range and touch components when reloading, so when I clean up after that counts.
Wet wipes in my range bag along with a first aid kit. I rarely used hand sanitizer in the past, always figured I had been exposed to so many things in 60 years that this is what kept my immune system healty.
These days seems I am using it all the time - even old dogs can learn.
YMMV
D
Can't say I do when I am just loading a mag, or unloading a mag, or because I touched a round or loading component, but then again I usually unload at the range and touch components when reloading, so when I clean up after that counts.
Wet wipes in my range bag along with a first aid kit. I rarely used hand sanitizer in the past, always figured I had been exposed to so many things in 60 years that this is what kept my immune system healty.
These days seems I am using it all the time - even old dogs can learn.
YMMV
D
Autodidactic
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I am sorry to hear about your friend. Just for the community, what mistakes did he make or practices did he not do that led to that?
Autodidactic
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Well they also had lead or lead lined pipes for water in many locations.
Ignition Override
Member
Ignore cholesterol (plus ignoring getting ‘more’ short of breath when jogging) and when the Widowmaker artery finally closes 100 percent
- as mine did in 2017- chances are about 90-95 percent that you will die.
But it can’t hurt to wash hands more often after handling Anything.
Keep the Big picture.
How might you say this in Latin- or Italian ?
- as mine did in 2017- chances are about 90-95 percent that you will die.
But it can’t hurt to wash hands more often after handling Anything.
Keep the Big picture.
How might you say this in Latin- or Italian
?
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