Minimizing lead exposure while reloading
- Thread starter TomJ
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TomJ
Contributing Member
That’s good to hear. I stopped going there about 6 months ago.
jmorris
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I doubt you will see a drastic change that quickly.
You do need to tell your doctor to check your blood/lead levels along with all the other stuff during your physical every year as they don’t normally do but will if you ask. I do every time I have a different nurse take my blood.
There is no harm in reducing your exposure but I bet your cause was the same as mine, especially if even people that just worked in the building tested high.
You do need to tell your doctor to check your blood/lead levels along with all the other stuff during your physical every year as they don’t normally do but will if you ask. I do every time I have a different nurse take my blood.
There is no harm in reducing your exposure but I bet your cause was the same as mine, especially if even people that just worked in the building tested high.
shoobe01
Member
As has been stated, aside from open wounds, lead cannot get through the skin. Drinking, eating, or smoking with leaded up hands IS a good way to ingest it.
Best protection is simply not to eat, drink (or smoke at all, come on!) in the reloading area. At all. When you leave, wash up immediately. If in an unfinished basement, install a hand sink.
Gloves are NOT a protective measure in themselves. They only work as a barrier that gets contaminated, then you remove them before you touch other things. For example, before you leave the reloading room, instead of washing you strip off the gloves (and discard them somewhere that won't be touched! In a bagged can, keep following procedures all the way down!). That way, hands are clean.
Some people wear dust masks, and they can be suggested, NOT as a protective measure, but as a reminder. You can't eat or drink with it in the way. If you find that you keep catching yourself not following contamination protocol, get a box of dust masks and use them until you get used to it.
I also agree it's pretty unlikely you have serious lead issues from reloading. Casting is #1, and otherwise it's gonna be from firing. Indoor ranges are the worst, but outdoor can be.
And then: same procedures. Lead or lead-compound-bearing dust is on everything. Including your guns. Wash after shooting, do not drink/eat/smoke on the range until you have washed up. Think about what else you are touching. Your bag, your car? Wash before you touch that stuff. Effective wipes for this purpose exist, so that may be the way to go if the range has no good wash facilities.
For high lead levels, start monitoring. That means at least every 3 months, get tested. Then, once in a good place, annually for the rest of your life to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Best protection is simply not to eat, drink (or smoke at all, come on!) in the reloading area. At all. When you leave, wash up immediately. If in an unfinished basement, install a hand sink.
Gloves are NOT a protective measure in themselves. They only work as a barrier that gets contaminated, then you remove them before you touch other things. For example, before you leave the reloading room, instead of washing you strip off the gloves (and discard them somewhere that won't be touched! In a bagged can, keep following procedures all the way down!). That way, hands are clean.
Some people wear dust masks, and they can be suggested, NOT as a protective measure, but as a reminder. You can't eat or drink with it in the way. If you find that you keep catching yourself not following contamination protocol, get a box of dust masks and use them until you get used to it.
I also agree it's pretty unlikely you have serious lead issues from reloading. Casting is #1, and otherwise it's gonna be from firing. Indoor ranges are the worst, but outdoor can be.
And then: same procedures. Lead or lead-compound-bearing dust is on everything. Including your guns. Wash after shooting, do not drink/eat/smoke on the range until you have washed up. Think about what else you are touching. Your bag, your car? Wash before you touch that stuff. Effective wipes for this purpose exist, so that may be the way to go if the range has no good wash facilities.
For high lead levels, start monitoring. That means at least every 3 months, get tested. Then, once in a good place, annually for the rest of your life to make sure it doesn't happen again.
rfwobbly
Member
IMHO, air-borne lead fumes and lead dust always represented the greatest danger...
• Hazard No1 is always indoor shooting ranges. Wipe you finger on any horizontal surface and if it comes away gray or black, then don't shoot there.
• Dry tumbling, and the follow-up sifting and sorting, always represent a hazard. You might store your tumbler indoors, but all uses of it need to be outdoors. What you absolutely don't want to do is get the dust picked up by your central heating system and carried all over the house.
• Then follow up with lots of hand washing
• Hazard No1 is always indoor shooting ranges. Wipe you finger on any horizontal surface and if it comes away gray or black, then don't shoot there.
• Dry tumbling, and the follow-up sifting and sorting, always represent a hazard. You might store your tumbler indoors, but all uses of it need to be outdoors. What you absolutely don't want to do is get the dust picked up by your central heating system and carried all over the house.
• Then follow up with lots of hand washing
SpangledHatch
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- Dec 3, 2019
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I dry tumble, and my strategy during case preparation involves decapping with a universal decapping die prior to initial tumbling. Minimizes dirt/residue in my decapping/resizing die and lowers the chance for lead exposure when sifting cases out of the media.
My tumbler runs mebbe 2 hours at a time while I'm paying with something else. I don't stand over it and do my deep breathing exercises and I only deal with 100 used primers at a time, and my used primers go in a bucket on the floor. I have a few hundred pounds of lead ingots on the floor in my shop that I handle occasionally (I use ingots as anvils when pulling bullets or working with metal). I ues lead bullets in 90% of my handloads and handle them, bare handed. The lead levels in my blood have declined steadily since I left LA.
In theory, yes there may be a possibility of lead poisoning, but in real life I sincerely doubt it. On forums many things get blown out of proportion and the "Lead Poisoning Scare" is in my opinion one of the most common ones. Not being an MD and only having my own experience to go by, and while there may be good factual examples(?), the Lead Exposure Danger borders on a "Chicken Little" mode of thinking...
In theory, yes there may be a possibility of lead poisoning, but in real life I sincerely doubt it. On forums many things get blown out of proportion and the "Lead Poisoning Scare" is in my opinion one of the most common ones. Not being an MD and only having my own experience to go by, and while there may be good factual examples(?), the Lead Exposure Danger borders on a "Chicken Little" mode of thinking...
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