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Old September 14, 2012, 02:32 PM   #1
rajbcpa
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Should I take precautions around lead?

I usually take recommendations on avoiding pesticides, non-organic food, medical vacines, metal tooth fillings, etc. with a grain of salt (no pun intended).

Allshiemer (dementia) is in my family with all 4 grandparents and two parents dying with this horrible desease.

I recently read where exposure to small amounts of lead is a major factor for contracting this.

Should I use rubber gloves when handling lead cast projectiles that are neither platted or jacketed? Are there any other ways to avoid lead getting into your system?
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Old September 14, 2012, 02:51 PM   #2
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Keep it out of your mouth is the rule of thumb.

Wash your hands after handling ammo. As well as wash your hands, and face before eating, drinking, or smoking.

The vast majority of lead that enters the body does so by means of ingestion. Second behind that is inhalation. Shoot in a well ventilated area.
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Old September 14, 2012, 03:42 PM   #3
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Quote:

Should I use rubber gloves when handling lead cast projectiles that are neither platted or jacketed? Are there any other ways to avoid lead getting into your system?
NO!Lead is NOT absorbed through the skin. Elemental or solid lead that is. What can be absorbed easier is lead salts, like what's generated when primers are fired. It's called lead styphonate, a lead salt.

Be careful around fired cases, IF you tumble to clean, it should be in a well ventilated area, or outdoors with a breeze to carry away dust when sifting the media from the brass.

As M&P said, be careful not to to touch your face, eat, or smoke while handling ammo or loading. Then a thorough washing to remove it from your skin AFTER each session.
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Old September 14, 2012, 03:49 PM   #4
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Biggest exposure to lead is usually shooting at an indoor range with inadequate ventilation -- and they all have inadequate ventilation. Sweeping up at the end of the night is probably worse than shooting.
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Old September 14, 2012, 04:07 PM   #5
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One area of concern to me is de-priming. Ever notice that little puff of dust each time you de-prime? That's the worst kind of lead, super fine so it floats around in the air and gets in your lungs.

I don't worry much about outdoor shooting, cleaning guns or handling lead bullets.
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Old September 14, 2012, 04:50 PM   #6
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The only way that lead can be absorbed through the skin is if it is fuming hot. Lead doesn't start fuming until somewhere above 1000 deg f., and that is way hotter than typical casting temps of 700. Handling cold lead boolits is akin to working on the car in the garage. You get dirty hands. Wash your hands when you're done reloading or when you take a break from it. Just like you would if you come in from working on the car or whatever. There's no especially hazardous significance to lead. More hyperbole linked to gun control.
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Old September 14, 2012, 04:51 PM   #7
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Lead isn't absorbed through the skin.
You have to ingest it to be harmed by it. And even then it is a gradual acumulation over time.

Don't eat at the casting table or while loading up cast lead bullets.
Don't smoke or play with your dentures while working with cast bullets.

I have my Dr. Check my lead level with a simple blood test each year. I tell him I need it for work. I cast thousands of bullets and my lead levels are actually lower than what is considered normal.

Treat lead as you would any other substance you would wash off before sticking your paws in your mouth.
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Old September 14, 2012, 04:54 PM   #8
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Be careful of your back while lifting lead too. I just scored two heaping full 5 gallon buckets of lead wheel weights earlier today, and even after dividing them among 4 buckets my back is pretty sore.
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Old September 14, 2012, 06:06 PM   #9
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Quote:
Should I take precautions around lead?
The short answer is yes.

Lead and the health effects of lead exposure is one of the most studied heath issues, and the toxicity of lead has been known for a long time:

Lead toxicity is recognized in this 1911 Industrial Labor standard.

Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, Issues 94-96 , pages 166 and 167]

http://books.google.com/books?id=8c0...%2C1514&edge=0

Let me tell you, in 1911, they generally did not care about workers dying. I heard that eight men died building the Titantic and the death rate at Harland and Wolf was one dead worker per 10,000 tones. The average payout to the families was 100 pounds. So you know if it was on the "radar screens" in 1911, it was a problem.

If you can find this article it is very good. The Doctors point out you can track lead around the house. The stuff gets on your clothes and walks in with you, there is a lot more to this article than that. This is one of the earliest lead warnings in gun magazines that I ever read.

Don’t Let Lead Poison You” , American Rifleman Nov 1984, pg 39. by Dr George W. Huckaba and Dr George C. Wood.

Here are a bunch of links about lead. Decide for yourself.

http://www.lasc.us/LeadSafety.htm

http://www.theppsc.org/Staff_Views/H...eadHazards.htm

http://www.utexas.edu/safety/ehs/msds/lead.html

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/81-123/pdfs/0368.pdf

http://www.aafp.org/afp/1998/0215/p719.html




http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/2006smallarms/mauritzson.pdf


http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/2007smallar...usky_520pm.pdf
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Last edited by Slamfire; September 15, 2012 at 12:01 PM.
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Old September 15, 2012, 04:45 AM   #10
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I'm confused about the earlier comment on depriming spent rounds.

Does this mean that the factory chemicals in the primers contain lead or is the lead comming from the inside of the cases because they were loaded and shot with a lead bullet?

...maybe it does not matter?

I load in the basement which has virtually no ventalation. Maybe I should clean brass cases somewhere else.....
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Old September 15, 2012, 08:18 AM   #11
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Yes avoid lead

Whether it is absorbed through skin or not, is not the point. If you get it on your hands you get it on everything you touch!
I do NOT use cast bullets; plated are fine.
Re: fired brass: I wear gloves, deprime using Lee's decapper, then wash in a bucket of very hot water and dishwasher machine detergent. Stir with a stick, every hour, 4 hours. You will be shocked at how dirty the water gets. Rinse in hot water until it stays clear. Depriming first helps them dry faster in the sun or oven. Then gloves are no longer needed.
Tumbling I do in my garage. Use dryer sheets or paper towel strips to catch dust. Used media should be considered toxic.
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Old September 15, 2012, 08:27 AM   #12
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I cast, shoot & reload .

I avoid the dust , fumes generated by casting & loading , wash my hands before doing anything else to keep cross contamination at bay & have minimal time on indoor ranges .

Last yrs blood work was .9/M for heavy metals.

Although I may not shoot every week I do cast at least once ,to get my silverstream FIX !!
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Old September 15, 2012, 09:15 AM   #13
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I told my doctor I reload and cast bullets and want my lead levels checked when I have my blood work done every year for other problems. It has always been been normal.
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Old September 15, 2012, 09:20 AM   #14
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Quote:
Does this mean that the factory chemicals in the primers contain lead
YES! As I said, the priming compound,(the stuff that's an explosive), in the primer is LEAD styphonate. When it burns, this residue is easily absorbed into the body. It coats the inside of every case, and primer residue is exposed when you deprime every case. It's also present in the air in indoor ranges as the ammo is being fired, in the gunsmoke, if you will.

As far as other things being contaminated after touching a lead boolit, I'm quite sure my entire loading/casting area IS contaminated. I'm not one bit concerned. I don't have kids, or anyone else for that matter, my dog does not seem to be affected. I have yearly blood tests for lead, I'm always UNDER 10, although last time I was at 9,(whatever minute measurement they use, IIRC it's deciliter per million!)

As far as lead fumes while casting, lead fumes,(vapor), are generated when lead boils, but that's at 3180 degrees F. At 1200 degrees SOME lead vapor is present. Normal electric casting furnaces can only reach 900 D. I NEVER cast over 750 D. The smoke you see while casting/fluxing is just that SMOKE! Probably not good for you, but it's not lead vapor.

Take precautions, yes. But don't get paranoid about it, or buy into the EPA BS.
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Old September 15, 2012, 12:10 PM   #15
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As for lead casting this has been hashed over again and again on this site.

You have to convert from milligrams/cubic meter by multiplying the number by 1000 to get to today's standard of micrograms/cubic meter. The OSHA standard limits worker exposure to 50 micrograms/cubic meter in an 8 hour shift.

You can see the levels and lead concentrations in the air, it is an incorrect concept that lead has to be boiling to have vapor pressure.

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Old September 15, 2012, 12:25 PM   #16
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FWIW, you have a bunch of good advise above. But, I have been shooting, mostly indoors for about 25 years, add outdoors mebbe 5 more. I have been reloading for that 25+ years too. I have been casting my own .44 cal bullets for mebbe 17 years (smelting, casting, lubing, shooting, mostly indoors). I use common sense for safety measures. I don't gnaw on a boolit while I'm casting. I don't lick my fingers when I handle once fired brass. I don't breathe the smoke off of my lead pot (kept way under 900 degrees). I don't hold my face over my tumbler and breathe the dust. I do wash my hands every time I go back into the house. I do have a 6" fan blowing by my casting bench. I do keep my tumbler and media containers closed. I wear Levis and shoes when I cast. And I wear safety glasses. That's about it. Common sense, and my last lead/blood test was under 2...

Added later; I believe the "lead poisoning" scare for shooting/casting is waaaay overblown. In all my time around the sport I have heard of only one person affected by lead. That was a commercial caster running a one man operation, and after 35 years, and prolly millions of bullets cast, was diagnosed with high lead levels in his blood and suffered effects of "lead poisoning". All the greenies have put the fear of lead into the hearts of the gulliable.
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Old September 15, 2012, 07:28 PM   #17
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Don't lick the gray stuff off your fingers after handling lead bullets and you'll have no problems with it.

There is very little lead in primer pellets, the pellets themselves are very small, most of the lead is blown out the bore and there's so little left inside a fired case as to be irrelivant. 'Dirty' water from washing cases is the carbon left in the cases, not lead.

I've been reloading almost 50 years and have seen no 'smoke' coming from decapping.

Most of the dust seen when tumbling is dried polish that most people use far too much of, or dust off the media itself; virtually none of it is lead dust.
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Old September 16, 2012, 10:40 AM   #18
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If you really worry about the amount of lead you’re getting, get your blood checked. The next time you see a doctor for a regular check up and they take blood ask him to have it checked for lead content.
Since I shoot a lot and work around electrical equipment and do a lot of surface mount soldering I ingest a lot of lead fumes.
But doing that for over 35 years the lead content in my blood has never been high. It is higher than a normal person (and I agree I am not normal) but it’s still in the safe level.
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Old September 16, 2012, 10:21 PM   #19
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As several have stated, wash your hands before doing anything else.
Also, don't drink your gasoline or breathe the fumes from your gas tank.
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Old September 18, 2012, 01:47 PM   #20
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Heck, wash your hands after shooting lead bullets, and make sure the wind is from the rear.

The CDC exposure limit is 50 micrograms per cubic meter exposure in an eight hour day.

Lead casting has its own issues and will certainly give you lead poisoning, but the amount of lead from a typical casting pot is small compared to what is blown out of a gun.




You can find the referenced document on the web. Since a 158 L bullet from a 38 Special blows out 5600 micrograms of lead per shot, you better shoot in a well ventilated location.
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Old September 19, 2012, 02:27 PM   #21
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Quote:
Biggest exposure to lead is usually shooting at an indoor range with inadequate ventilation -- and they all have inadequate ventilation.
^^^ What he said.

Years ago I had my lead level checked. It was high.

--So I quit casting in the basement. No improvement.

--I quit using lead bullets. No improvement.

--I started insisting on only using the better ventilated lanes at the range. My lead level went back to normal.

Ken
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Old September 19, 2012, 04:17 PM   #22
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Haven'nt had my lead levels checked in a few years, May have it checked
next appointment, Or not. I've reloaded a quite a few years to date & started casting for all my handguns except the 22 ; ) PS I've been givin about
300+ lbs of lead, plumers ingots & use a Lyman big dipper, as I use a ladle
and mostly Lee 2 cavity molds (4) 1 Lyman 146gr WC. I only load for 4 calibers & at 4.5cent a cartridge on average. Not too bad. if I say so myself.
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