safety with lead

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cheygriz

cheygriz

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I know this has been said a thousand times before, but it needs to be said regualrly and often.

"]LEAD IS TOXIC]

Wear rubber gloves, such as latex surgical gloves when casting, resizing bullets, loading, and any other time that yourbare skin could be exposed.

Lead build up in the blood is cumulative. You won't get symptoms until you're pretty well over the limit.

Wearing gloves when handling lead is like wearing safety glasses, not smoking around your reloading bench, etc. Just good old time common sense!:p
 
To be toxic, lead has to be ingested or inhaled.
You don't absorb it through your skin.

If you don't suck your thumb when handling lead you won't ingest it.

rc
 
I must respectfully disagree. You DO absorb it through your skin.
Click to expand...

As in most other things he posts about, rcmodel is essentially correct about dermal absorption of inorganic lead as well. Although lead is taken up through the skin, in the sense that the uptake is not actually zero, the amount that is taken up is so small compared to the inhalation and ingestion pathways that it can pretty much be ignored for those of us whose primary exposure to lead is via our shooting and reloading hobby.

There is a wealth of literature available on-line regarding lead exposure, but this brief and relatively non-technical summary of a multipathway approach to modeling blood lead concentration will illustrate the important points. Pay particular attention to the constants used in the pathway-specific equations, which are a measure of the uptake efficiency of each pathway - you'll see that the constant for dermal absorption is orders of magnitude lower than the others.
 
Only vaporized or oxidized lead can be absorbed epidermally. Solid lead can't be absorbed through the skin. It has to be ingested or inhaled, and then again it has to be vaporized or oxidized. Washing your hands after handling lead is all that's required, as long as you don't put your hands/fingers in your mouth or nose. Don't eat or smoke while handling lead.

I've had discussions about this subject with Rick Patterson, CEO of SAAMI, and Ed Guster III, the EPA's leading authority on lead on shooting ranges, about this very issue. They've both written books on lead management and they both agree, as do most doctors, including mine, that lead isn't absorbed epidermally. They have both addressed our group, the Oregon Association of Shooting Ranges (OASR) on this very issue several times.

I've been shooting since 1958, reloading since 1963 and casting bullets since 1968. I've had my blood checked for lead several times, the last time being this past year, and my blood levels are normal. I don't wear gloves when reloading and I don't wear a mask when casting bullets. This past year I cast well over 30,000 bullets on a Magma Master Caster, lubed and sized them and have shot most of them. The only gloves I wear are leather work gloves to protect my hands from the heat of molten lead and hot molds when casting bullets.

I know people who have had bullets in their bodies since World War II and still test within the normal range for lead. We used to chew on lead split shot while fishing, which was dumb to do, but nobody knew the difference, but still my blood levels are within normal range.

One of the worst things you can do as far as lead poisoning is concerned is shoot a lot on indoor ranges that don't have a good EVAC system, and that don't practice good lead management practices.

An indoor range should never be swept. It should always be wet mopped. There should be no carpets at the shooting positions or anywhere else inside the range. All surfaces should be cleaned with a vacuum with a good Hepa filter on a regular basis. Good housekeeping and ventilation are the key.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
oxidized lead
Click to expand...
there are alot of different 'lead' compounds that you will handle, from pure metal to the white powdery stuff, some is MUCH deadlier than others. Like all things in life, it's best to have an idea what you are doing.

BTW, white lead, which is extremely toxic is what was used in lead paint, metal lead, like RC said, is not that bad as long as you don't eat or breath alot of it.
 
I read that California has banned lead bullets and lead shot. Unfortunately, I suspect this will be a growing trend with other states.
 
Back in the 1960's, from 1963 to 1971, I worked for the phone company. We used white lead to fill in the numbers on pure lead tags on telephone poles marking the terminal numbers and cable counts. All of us carried small cans of both white lead and red lead, plus a bunch of the lead tags. The transition to plastic sheathed cable was just beginning, and most aerial cables were still lead sheathed at the time. We were in constant contact with lead with our bare hands, clothes, etc.

Like I posted above, I still tested in the normal range for lead poisoning, and lead is cumulative in the body, unless one undergoes chealation therapy to rid the blood of accumulated heavy metals.

Hope this helps.

Fred

NCsmitty,

You need to get out more, son............
 
rajb123,

The last I heard, the ban was still within the California Condor range, but the rest of the state is still allowed to use lead bullets for hunting. I don't think the ban applies to shooting ranges, but I haven't checked their ever changing laws lately.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
. . . lead is cumulative in the body, unless one undergoes chealation therapy to rid the blood of accumulated heavy metals.
Click to expand...

The body does eliminate lead without chelation therapy, it's just a very slow process. I was able to get my serum lead down from about 31 ug/dL to 11 ug/dL (10 or less is considered "normal" for adults) by wearing a respirator while shooting indoors.

I don't know a great deal about it personally, but I understand chelation therapy is very painful, and so it's reserved only for acute lead poisoning, something in the range of maybe 100 ug/dL or greater.
 
"Wear rubber gloves, such as latex surgical gloves when casting, resizing bullets, loading,"

Don't cast under a hood and don't lick yer fingers clean and all will be well.
 
Not to high jack, but how many of you readers of this post over fifty ?
How many of these reader were brought up fishing?

How many of these 50 yr old plus fishermen highroaders have ever used lead splitshot sinkers ?
How did you attach these lead splitshot sinkers to the line?

Don't know about y'all but I USED MY TEETH!

Yeah lead is DEADLY no doubt it's a proven fact. I'm 63.
 
I started castin in `83 off & on but more on than off, anyways I probably cast 5,000 boolits a yr. give or take (going by the primers) & cast outside & shoot mosyly outside .

I don`t wear gloves when casting but I do when smelting , I don`t allow smoking , eating or drinking in the gun room & theres a restroom 3 steps from the door with a sign please wash your paws !!!!

I`ve had my blood heavy metals checked every 24 mos or so & it`s never even shown a trace !!

But now that huntin seasons over & I`m gonna bump for goggel eye (crappie for you city folk) I better get some pliers !!!!

Oh , I was born the yr. the corvette came out !!! The real ones !!!!
 
You don't absorb any appreciable amount through your skin unless you have cuts. Most folks that work with lead get elevated levels by inhalation or ingestion. If you shoot indoors a lot, get your self some D-Lead hand soap and laundry detergent. If you are really worried about tracking it home, keep a spare pair of beater shoes in your car for use at the range only.
 
I know this has been said a thousand times before, but it needs to be said regulary and often.

DON'T LICK YOUR BULLETS AND YOU WON'T GET LEAD POISONING.

Don
 
Slightly off topic, but my sub science teacher in high school was a retired munitions (as in the big stuff) engineer. He worked designing DU rounds for the Navy, and had many a story about a 'concerned' congress critter wanting to Ax the program he was working on cause Uranium is just to dangerous:eek:

He would walk into their office and pull out a round (inert) and lick it, then ask them if they thought he would do that if it would kill him...

It was lacquered BTW, but his point was, until it's vaporized and you inhale it, it's just a hunk of metal.
 
Exposure to lead is most toxic when it is traveling at high velocity, or as my father always said, "acute lead poisoning" :p..
 
The last I heard, the ban was still within the California Condor range, but the rest of the state is still allowed to use lead bullets for hunting. I don't think the ban applies to shooting ranges
Click to expand...
The ban ONLY applies to hunting bullets CARRIED by hunters in the Condor range. No restrictions in shooting ranges (indoor/outdoor).

Dept of Fish and Game:
If you hunt in this area, you will be required to use nonlead projectiles to hunt big-game and non-game species beginning July 1, 2008. In addition, while hunting these species in this area hunters may not possess any lead projectiles/ammunition and a firearm capable of firing that lead projectile or ammunition.
Click to expand...

Indoor ranges that specify no lead bullets do so not because of any lead bullet ban but because of the type of back stop used to capture the bullets. Growing number of ranges are switching to chopped tire rubber and permit the firing of lead bullets.
 
Brad, Santy Clause was watching you and he told me that you dint even try to help it! ;)
 
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