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Old September 6, 1999, 03:28 PM   #1
Futo Inu
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Is there any danger in just HANDLING lead, such as lead airgun pellets and lead bullets? TIA.
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Old September 6, 1999, 04:40 PM   #2
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Not really, the real danger is in actual ingestion through the many body orifices.
Breathing it in through vapor form or dust form such as dust from tumbling media, vapors from casting and shooting indoors,not washing your hands thoroughly after handling it and then ingesting it through contact with the food you're eating for example. I try not to touch my face at all when handling it.

I had read that one of the main culprits of lead ingestion to shooters is dust from tumbling media when sifting brass form it. You breath in lead dust from primer and bullet residue. The more heavily used the media the worse the problem becomes as the more lead dust accumulates in it.

[This message has been edited by Contender (edited September 06, 1999).]
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Old September 6, 1999, 09:51 PM   #3
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Most tumblers have an open top(mine does), but some are totally enclosed like the Lyman "wet" dish for the Turbo-Twin model. Perhaps they all have one to stop any dust escape? You could rig up a little extractor and vent if you were really worried, I suppose!
Most cast or swaged bullets and slugs I handle are coated with alox or other lubricant or graphite( Winchester shotgun shot) - so direct contact is rare. The same result can be obtained with a patch at the bottom of the air pellet tin moistened with a little Tri-Flow teflon spray.
I suppose swaging is a safer process as regards vapour etc contact/ingestion compared with casting, but lino-type alloy would be a bit difficult to use.
When I was younger I regularily crimped the lead split-shot on my line with my teeth, I would use my Leatherman super-tool pliers now!But...

"Worry makes cowards of us all."


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Old September 7, 1999, 05:06 PM   #4
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BB,
The dust becomes airborne when you dump out the tumbler into a strainer to seperate the media and cases. I use a DILLON seperator with the hand crank.

I don't worry about it either. Just use common sense. Use a dust mask or take it outside to do it.

For the casual,infrequent reloader,I'd say there is little to worry about.

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Old September 7, 1999, 11:21 PM   #5
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Way back in history..... I was about 8 or 10 years old. I ancored split shot with my teeth,I still have all but two.(teeth)
The downfall however, came when my Daddy bought me a Daisy single shot, break pump BB gun for my 9th birthday. I dearly loved that little gun. Kept all(well,most) of the vermine from taking over the homestead.....sparrows,pidgeons,rats even a cotton tail now and again(for the table,that's a game animal,not vermine).
Now,without giving my age,this was a time before copper plated BB's. Yep,pure lead. And, this Daisy single shot was a muzzle loader. OK,are you getting the picture? When you're 9 years old,you can hold about 30 to 50 BB's in your mouth, chew two sticks of Dentene(didn't have bubble gum back then), spit a BB down that barrel about as fast as you could cock it,and never swollow the gum.(we had no idea lead injestion was harmful),after all this was before EPA,AMA,CDC or dead ducks with lead poisoning.
Now, I have no idea how many BB's I swallowed during that happy and hallowed period of 8 to 10 years. But this I know; I'm definately effected. I mold and shoot lead bullets(both pistol and rifle),including round balls for muzzle loading(both pistol and rifle).....don't spit them down the barrel,spit only on the patch. I load shot shells from #9 to 00 buck. I even strip down old car batteries and melt out the lead.....very near pure lead in most car batteries. My mental capacity never did fully develope because I'd much rather shoot or reload than go dancing or partying. I'm definately not politictly correct..... I see the problem of school violence in the shooter,not the gun.
And probably the best way to know is the fact that my party of choice has been out of it for two terms now.
So,does lead have anything to do with the many national crises' we have today? Me thinks so,because there's too many of us mentaly(lead)afflictded people who are not inteligent enough to throw out(vote)the scum we have for social and especially political leaders.

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Old September 8, 1999, 01:16 AM   #6
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So thats why we can't get another pro-gun candidate elected in OZ!
I thought it was lazy layback-ness,but now I know it is shoot-itis. Good one, I enjoyed your last posting GB, not a mis-spent youth atall !
I had (No 2 bore) MK2 Webley(air pistol) Junior in .22, but kept my ammo in my pockets, yes, you have guessed it...that b--dy "new beut" washing machine claimed a lot of my ammo, paid for by my hard-earned chores pocket money.

I still weep at the waste and injustice...

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Old September 8, 1999, 02:11 PM   #7
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GreybeardB,
A most enlightening post. Now I'm starting to get the real picture. Quantrill
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Old September 10, 1999, 12:45 PM   #8
Paul B.
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I have been shooting cast lead bullets for better than 35 years. Love'em. When I first got started, and for about 8 to 10 years, off and on, I cast in an unventilated garage, for hours at a time. I had a part time job working for a bulletr maker casting bullet 8 hours plus a day, 3 days a week in an unventilated work area.
Military service put a halt to that for 4 years, but I got back to it in a hurry when I got out. Only in the last 10 years have I used any kind of ventilation ( a fan) to clear the air.
What all this long-winded bunch of comments is leading to, is, I became concerned with the possibility that I might have a problem with lead poisoning about 10 years ago. I went to my doctor, and after a simple blood test, I was pronounced clean of any lead contamination.
I don't know how much lead dust is placed in the air from a tumbler, but I usually turn mine on when I leave my shed, and turn it off the next morning.
This, like not using hearing protection while shooting, is dumb, and is not intended to be a recommendation to not ventilate the area. I just figure I was lucky.
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Old September 10, 1999, 02:58 PM   #9
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Lead, Schmead..... When I was going to Elementary school, my dad owned a tv shop, and, I know this is stupid, but Iused to chew on soldier (85% lead, 15% tin). I think the Scientist were feeding Fishing sinkers to the rats and they died from Malnutrician. Most scientist are alarmist, I work with them every day.......... remember back to the future, not to diffrent.

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Old September 11, 1999, 05:25 PM   #10
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Well. While the threat of lead poisoning is real, chewing on solder, crimping fishing sinkers with your teeth, lead dust in the air at indoor ranges, I think those rectal orifaces at the EPA and OSHA have it all wrong. The real threat is government official with the power to make rules and regulations without any recourse by the people.
We here in southern Arizona are now being told that as many as 85 percent of our groundwater wells must be shut down because the EPA sez there's too much Radon in the water. Also, when the new standards for arsenic come out, there will be too much of that stuff in the water too. Gee guys. People been drinking that water for almost 300 years and we ain't had problems from that stuff yet. They did have to close some wells that were contaminated with TCE, but that was a man made problem.
We would not have a water problem though. They have a canal bringinh water to our area from the Colorado river, the CAP project. The problem is that the water tastes like hell, corrodes the plumbing in older homes and some say smells pretty bad. We had a referendum vote saying to use the water to recharge our groundwater. The powers that be didn't like that. The vote was about 5 years ago, and they still have done nothing.
All of a sudden, enter the superhero EPA to save us from all our bad groundwater. Bull puckey!
You do know that the EPA wanted to outlaw lead fishing sinkers, and lead bullets, because they were made of lead.
Tell you a story, that happens to be true.
When I lived in Nevada, Winnemucca NV to be exact, this 23 year old jerk with his BS degree, working for the EPA came out looking for info on wind patterns, IE average directions and speeds on a yearly basis. I got the distinct displeasure of having to help this know it all. After giving him the data he needed, I asked what it was going to be used for. He told me he was doing a study on the excessive rate of particulate matter in the air of Northern Nevada. I asked him to step outside and look around. What did you see? I asked him. He said nothing. I said you are looking at a desert. Deserts are dry and dusty as a matter of nature. I said, "Tell me you idiot. Does the government and your agency plan to blacktop the whole state of Nevada? Because that is what you will have to do to get rid of the dust."
With guys like him around, making environmental decisions via regulation, we are in deep fecal material. Sorry to get off thread.
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Old September 11, 1999, 08:25 PM   #11
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Paul, HERE,HERE!!

Common sense is once again the best method when dealing with lead.
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Old September 12, 1999, 02:30 PM   #12
Paul B.
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Contender. You're so right. But since when does the Government use common sense?
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Old September 16, 1999, 01:23 PM   #13
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Caution:

A lot of people have suffered their demise all over the world due to lead poisoning.

It appears that lead is very dangerous indeed.

Especially when injested from the end of a gun barrel.
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Old September 16, 1999, 01:45 PM   #14
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Surgeon General's Warning;

It has been determined that the end with the hole in it points away from you.



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Old September 17, 1999, 12:22 PM   #15
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Contender - LOL!
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