Smoking cigarettes around guns or ammunition ok?

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Miss Becky

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Fairly recently I got my CCW license, but I've also been a pretty heavy smoker since I was a young teenager. I never thought there was a problem. Before he passed away from lung cancer, I can remember my father constantly smoking around his guns when I was growing up, whether he was hunting, or cleaning, or whatever. It just seemed normal to me.

After I pulled my holstered 38 special and a pack of cigarettes out of my purse while at an outdoor shooting range with a friend, she acted shocked to see me smoking at the gun range.:what: I joked with her that she knows I've been a two and a half pack a day chainsmoker for like fifteen years so there was nothing to worry about.:fire: Plus I mentioned that the range rules didn't prohibit smoking and I know I had seen more than one range safety officer taking a cigarette break on more than a few occasions, so I didn't see what the big deal was. :D

Has anybody else ever heard about this being a problem? Theres no way Im ever going to even think about give up smoking, I'm far too addicted to cigarettes to even think about that, but I really enjoy shooting too and I'd hate for there to be any issues.
 
No problem whatever as far as the ammunition goes.
You can't possibly ignite or detonate a modern self-contained cartridge with a cigarette in the immediate vicinity.
Denis
 
Nah, start vaping! http://www.perfectelectroniccigarette.com/
I still smoke real cigs sometimes, but these helped a lot. They also taste pretty good!

If you smoke around your guns a lot, they will collect a tarnish if not cleaned constantly. I have a lot of model airplanes and realized one day that they were turning yellow from the smoke. Started going outside to smoke then. Thanks to the wife griping at me, I don't even smoke around the house now though! Non smokers and "reformed" smokers just don't understand!
 
Unless there is "exposed" gun powder present at the range...especially when muzzle loading firearms are there, you're good to go.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em. Unless the range expressly forbids it of course...
 
I smoke a pipe - no possible harm to the firearm or ammunition, and people around love the aroma. Benjamin Hartwells' Evening Stroll is a great blend.
 
Yeah, smoke em if you got em. At an indoor range you have more to worry about from airborne lead particulates than detonating ammunition with a cigarette.

I have managed to cut down and working on quitting. I figure I could buy some nice guns on my savings. :)

Ron
 
There might be some transfer from lead and other substances on the ammunition, oils on the firearms, and accessories to your hands, to the cigarette, and then to your mouth and lungs. Residue from the primer compounds and gunpowder might also be a problem, especially in indoor ranges.

Yeah, I wash my hands after shooting and before eating. ;)

Some ranges are very sensitive to fire hazards, as well.
 
well another issue is smoking while at the range with lead contamination on your fingers. It would be a good policy to wash your hands and face before lighting up, just like its good policy to do so before eating, after shooting.
 
1-the smoke gets on the gun, dries and the dust and impurities in the air cake on....
harder to clean , may never clean like new again

2--at the range there is unburnt powder on the ground;
shooters sweep up brass and the powder gets drifted about;
potential for flash-over if someone drops a lit smoke.

3--at $7 a pack someone who pays that much for a habit ($20 a day??)
may have other issues id rather not explore. but its still sorta a freedom the govt hasn't totally made illegal ( think tax revenue) so if she can afford it....

more than a few at my club enjoy a cigar, fewer smoke cig's and no one inside.
 
The greatest harm is to yourself of course, so hope you can quit. I been there, done that. But, there is absolutely no harm to your smoking at an outdoor range. But, I would not recommend smoking at the reloading bench with loose gun powder around.
 
Smoking on the range is a way to increase the uptake of lead. I've always advised smokers to keep their coffin nails off the range and to wash before handling them if they wanted to make sure that they removed that exposure route.
 
I doubt the lead intake is worse than the smoke intake, so if you are willing to do one...

As others have said, around loaded ammo, no problem. Around exposed powder, be it reloading, or muzzle loading, absolutely, you do NOT want to smoke.
 
no problem at all. i always smoke while i shoot as there is just no danger of it causing a problem. i wouldnt even think of smoking while i am reloading though (kind of a no-brainer with exposed powder and all). light up and enjoy your range time!
 
I doubt the lead intake is worse than the smoke intake, so if you are willing to do one...
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, it is. The smoking not only provides another route for lead entry it is a very active route. The lead on the hands and cigarettes are very rapidly supplied to the lungs and cross to the bloodstream more readily due to the smoking.
 
I always thought that military range rules were a bit paranoid about smoking. I mean, if you're dealing with an object that is so sensitive you can't smoke around it....do you REALLY want it with you on the battlefield? Then I spent some time on a range in Africa with some Marine infantry, and they well, threw that rule out the window, smoked pretty much wherever they wanted to.
 
..at the range there is unburnt powder on the ground;
shooters sweep up brass and the powder gets drifted about;
potential for flash-over if someone drops a lit smoke...
Click to expand...
That is one valid concern... On a heavily neglected firing range. Actually it's easier to ignite unburnt powder just with shooting, rather then a cigarette - it already happened about 15 years ago at one local (and neglected) indoor shooting range.

Boris

P.S. Miss Becky, Ardor makes some wonderful and feminine pipes (and expensive too) if you decide to change your smoking habits...;)
 
Context

Smoking around guns & ammo: no [safety] problem.

Smoking while shooting: increased exposure to lead, etc. (see hso remarks above).
BTW, feel free to take hso's comments seriously: he's a professional safety guy and closet scientist.​


Smoking around nice guns . . . an argument can be made that the smoke will tend to tarnish the finish (and I see someone has made that argument).

Me? Well, smoking would seriously cut into my ammo budget, so I'd rather spend the cash on boolitz. If I can afford to go to the range, I'll breathe the smoke from whatever I'm shooting.

If I could afford to shoot often enough for that to be a health hazard, that would be awesome.

:D

 
I'll second the statement that you should not be smoking on an indoor range, at least. The lead intake is vastly increased.

As far as danger from fire/explosion? Again, unless you're in an area with lots of unburned powder, there is none. Now, an indoor range often does gather unburned powder flakes, but you shouldn't be smoking in there anyway as we already covered!
 
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