Primer dust?

What is safest way to clean brass to avoid lead?

  • Decap first, then wet tumble

    Votes: 13 30.2%
  • Wet tumble first, then decap and load or decap and clean again

    Votes: 8 18.6%
  • Dry vibrate is fine, just do it outside

    Votes: 13 30.2%
  • Other

    Votes: 9 20.9%

  • Total voters
    43
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Am still dry tumbling with a lid. Use the occasional tbsp of water to keep dust down and increase friction coefficient of walnut. Use rotary media separator with lid. Am careful not to stir up lots of dust by working slowly and lettng dust settle before removing lids. When resizing brass am wearing a dust mask, and can certainly tell the difference after a couple hundred cases.
 
Don't accumulate dust in the nose. Started to notice the dust resulting when the primer popped free.
 
I toss em in a sonic clean for about two sometimes 3 long cycles and from there it depends. Anything smaller than 25 cal gets de-capped then dry tumbled. Over 25 cal. get tumbled then de-capped. Tumbler is sealed and in a detached garage. I don't poor it into a sifter I just sort out by hand wearing gloves. All de-capping gets done on the Lee Classic so the spents go into the tube, and eventually into an empty powder can.
 
Some folks seem to miss the major point that most exposure to lead from primers occurs when the primer is fired. Most of the lead and other toxic material is blown out the barrel, out the bolt when it os opened (semi autos) and out the cylinder gap on revolvers.

There has been many "Scientific studies" as opposed to anecdotal web info that show the routes of exposure to lead
Lead is not absorbed through the skin so wearing gloves does little to nothing. It is absorbed from inhalation, ingestion or through the eyes

If one shoots indoors there is the greatest risk of exposure regardless of how good the ventilation system is. If the indoor range allows lead primers and bullets then you are exposed. It is on your clothes, hair and all your "stuff"

Outdoors when the wind blows in is blowing the toxins all over you, when you sweep up your brass it is kicked up all over,
So how much exposure do you get when you shoot say a AR15 and fire 30 rounds with your face right there close to the ejection port?? A hell of lot more then when you tumble some brass, Folks don't seem to concern over this?

But then folks get all concerned about dry tumbling with a cover on the unit or when separating the media. Most of the lead is already gone.
Shooting and GSR that gets on you doesn't seem to warrant any concern for some reason??

How phobic are people when the clean their guns (assuming they clean them) all that nasty stuff in the barrel and cylinders??

Wash your hands, take a shower after shooting, and don't eat drink smoke or pick your nose.

Think of all these when you are shooting!

https://usarmorment.com/pdf/fedmsds.pdf
 
Lead in the tumbling media dust is what caused me to want to use wet tumbling. Just separating the media from the brass leaves a pretty noticeable film of dust in the area, and if you shoot regularly this film will become a greyish-brown layer that's hard to completely clean - it's dust, after all, and settles everywhere.

I wash without tumbling, and then resize/decap. If I'm interested in shiny brass, I tumble to remove the sizing lube and clean things up. If it's weekly range pistol ammo, I just load it from there.
 
Lead in the tumbling media dust is what caused me to want to use wet tumbling. Just separating the media from the brass leaves a pretty noticeable film of dust in the area, and if you shoot regularly this film will become a greyish-brown layer that's hard to completely clean - it's dust, after all, and settles everywhere.

I wash without tumbling, and then resize/decap. If I'm interested in shiny brass, I tumble to remove the sizing lube and clean things up. If it's weekly range pistol ammo, I just load it from there.

How much "lead" is in the dust" Isn't most of the "dust" just the media dust? As I mentioned above. most of the lead and other chemical have left the primer when it explodes and is in the barrel, the air and all over you when your fire the gun.
How much "dust" or GSR is all over you when firing the gun?

flogging_dead_horse_what.jpg
 
I have no way to quantify it. But since there is a simple and free to avoid the issue altogether, by simply washing the brass before tumbling, there’s no downside to assuming that the dust is a potential hazard and behaving accordingly.

I don’t need to prove that I’m right by adopting any one particular method, or another. What I need to do is avoid risk, and washing the brass first removes any potential risk regardless of its likelihood.
 
I wash mine before I start not because I fear lead dust but because I just want all the loose dirt, soot and particulates removed. Dirty water goes into the sewer were it is taken to the treatment plant. They are much better equipped to deal with this water than I am and am not going to just dump it on the ground. I have been involved in jobs where I was dealing with grain dust that could get so thick it becomes explosive. In this environment we would wear full face respirators to keep the dust out of our eyes and lungs.
 
I have no way to quantify it. But since there is a simple and free to avoid the issue altogether, by simply washing the brass before tumbling, there’s no downside to assuming that the dust is a potential hazard and behaving accordingly.

I don’t need to prove that I’m right by adopting any one particular method, or another. What I need to do is avoid risk, and washing the brass first removes any potential risk regardless of its likelihood.

Well to avoid potential risk as you call it, You should just stop shooting as that in itself is far more potentially hazardous:)


It's not a matter of how anyone chooses to clean their brass, To each their own.
 
Well to avoid potential risk as you call it, You should just stop shooting as that in itself is far more potentially hazardous
All risks are potential, until they are realized - at which point they're not risks any more and are now reality. Wearing a seatbelt, for example, is a mitigation to the potential risk of an auto accident. That doesn't mean that I expect to get in an accident every time that I buckle up - it means that I will work to mitigate the risk should it be realized.

In any event, your argument is nothing more than a logical fallacy. There is both a risk to carrying a gun, and to not. There is no risk to washing brass, but there may be to not. I dunno why this is a hard concept for some, or why it seems to be some important to be so, well, contrary.
 
Wear disposable gloves and a mask. That's what my Doctor has advised me to do, in order to keep my lead levels in the blood. Have my levels check once a year.
 
All risks are potential, until they are realized - at which point they're not risks any more and are now reality. Wearing a seatbelt, for example, is a mitigation to the potential risk of an auto accident. That doesn't mean that I expect to get in an accident every time that I buckle up - it means that I will work to mitigate the risk should it be realized.

In any event, your argument is nothing more than a logical fallacy. There is both a risk to carrying a gun, and to not. There is no risk to washing brass, but there may be to not. I dunno why this is a hard concept for some, or why it seems to be some important to be so, well, contrary.

Apparently you have not read anything I wrote,
Yours is the false logic. You take great "care" by washing brass yet fail to realize that your greatest exposure to lead and barium is when actually shooting and being in contact with those at the range. What mitigations of those risks do you take? Do you wear a hat? Do you actually touch the brass when you pick it up or wear gloves? Do you wash your clothes and take a shower before you get in the car or immediately when you get home

Wash your brass if that gives a sense of of security that's all fine, but does little to protect you, as you have already been "exposed"
 
It didn’t seem reasonable to hijack the thread with discussions of how to practice range hygiene – just how to practice reloading hygiene. You are absolutely correct that range hygiene is important, and fortunately it can be reasonably accomplished without the use of hazmat gear. :)

But the topic at hand was whether or not washing the brass was either necessary or good. My feedback was that it is by logic good, and that the discussion of whether it’s absolutely necessary is moot since (much like wearing a seatbelt) there is little practical downside to doing so.
 
Oh for <blank> sake listen to some of you.

Between those on the right saying glove-up, suite-up, rinse before wet tumbling or wearing a respirator..etc etc (if that makes YOU comfortable, great, I don't judge) and those on the left, constantly pounding it that all the extra steps are a waste and a "false sense of security" it's no wonder the OP hasn't posted anything to this thread since last Thursday.

How very HighRoad having to be so right.

Shrinkmd, here's my thoughts on your procedure. If you can afford the dillon tumbler, go for it. It's a beast & you won't be unhappy. Hang onto your wet tumbler for when you get some really nasty brass or like me, every 4-5 reloading just to bring back the shine...Honestly it's all about whatever floats your boat. I knew guys back in the early 90's when I was taught to reload that never owned a tumbler, just wiped their brass off with a rag.

I got into wet tumbling about 2 years ago. Not because of primer dust, I just wanted super shiny brass. Bought the FART, tried all the magic recipes but settled back on the FA cleaner. 1tbsp & I had to wear sunglasses...no fuss no muss.
A few months ago I bought the large Dillon tumbler, the c2001 & the large separator c2000 & haven't looked back. Just this evening I dumped a 30cal can full of 45acp into the bowl & 1.5 hours later it was spotless.(corncob+nufinish)
Sure the insides were dirty as were the primer pockets (primers still in) but so what. My 1911 don't care about clean pockets.
 
The OP, on a public chit-chat forum, asked for opinions. And he got them.

If the opinions he sought are offensive or not what he wanted to hear and this is keeping him from participating further well ok I'm very sorry, hope he can forgive us.
 
"And the survey says:"

30% dry tumble (they are gonna die)
27.5% decap first then wet tumble (well they are gonna die also as they did not clean the brass before decapping)
20% clean, decap and then clean again?, sometime they have time to go shoot.:)
 
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