Lead levels in blood

[da gimp]

good personal hygene, washing your hands , face and arms is thoroughly is a must after casting before you eat, drink or smoke. Keeping your casting done in a well ventilated area, with a fan blowing on you from behind towards the lead pot is a great help too............When I was first licensed in Missouri to abate/ lead, they did a base line BLL blood lead level, mine was at 4, I was casting a huge amount of handgun bullets for our use & our friends use. I'd never worn a respirator while casting either before I got licensed, and still don't for that matter....... but I make sure our family members & friends who cast here follow my rules above, on hygene & ventilation.

 

[LostintheOzone]

Nope. Had mine tested and my lead/mercury levels were very high. My mercury level came from too much tuna, and the lead was from reloading shot and trap shooting for many years. I went through the detox process and was back to normal in about 4 months. An East Indian doctor spotted the symptoms and had me tested.

 

[rwsmith]

You can be around mercury.....

You can be around mercury and if you don't breathe vapors, ingest it with careless handling or have a lot of skin contact, you can go for years and not be phased one bit. It seems that when it gets to be a problem, though, it's REALLY a problem. If the area has half decent ventilation, the brass has low mercuric compounds on it and the dust isn't stirred up too much, there's not much problem. A scientific study was done in the hatter's trade (really) and found about the same thing. Some people were very adversely affected while some we hardly affected at all.

The indoor range I go to is very cheap, but I think the ventilation consists of a guy standing by the door waving a newspaper in the air.

 

[Biggfoot44]

Before we assume never , semi-famous gunwriter , and San Antonio PD Rangemaster Tom Ferguson died from complications of lead posioning.

 

[bgrafsr]

When I worked as a Chemical Tank Liner We had a couple of Guys that did the Lead Liners, They used a Torch and basically welded Lead Plate together along with just making different size Lead Plates. Every Year They had to go to the Hospital and have a Calcium I.V run through Their Veins to remove the Lead from Their Systems.I guess the Calcium attached the Lead and help to flush it out.

I have had to have the chelation IV therapy done twice. It's been about 30 years since the last one. I really need to have my lead level checked again, but I'm no longer exposed to the lead dust, etc., as I used to be. I do shoot at an indoor range quite frequently, so maybe it's time for the lead check again.

 

[bgrafsr]

I've cast many, many thousands of lead bullets in the last 60 years. I have always made proper venting and sanitation an essential. I cast under an old kitchen vent that I bought at a flea market. My last lead test was normal.

When I do cast bullets, I do it outside so I have plenty of fresh air around me. Haven't cast in a couple of years though as I have plenty of bullets on hand. I also reload my own shotshells.

 

[Gamecock]

Plumbumphobia.

I let the hype get to me a few years ago. I told my doctor I am a shooter, and have lots of exposure to lead. I asked him if I should be tested.

He asked, "Do you have any symptoms?"

I said, "No."

He said, "You don't need to be tested."

My long experienced, internal medicine doctor said that if you don't have symptoms, there is no reason to worry about it.

 

[Watchdog]

My long experienced, internal medicine doctor said that if you don't have symptoms, there is no reason to worry about it.

Technically, he's probably correct. By the time symptoms start to bother you, it's too late to worry about it.

 

[Watchdog]

Lead poisoning is an urban myth to place another obstacle in the path of gun ownership and the shooting sports. Larry

Absolutely. Anyone with any sense at all knows it's another of those Vast Government Conspiracies. We've been lied to for decades.

Hey, did you know that whole Apollo 11 moon landing thing back in '69 was just a hoax? The whole thing was filmed out in the deserts of New Mexico, not far from Roswell.

The Truth Is Out There.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Phil,

I did the same thing. I got scared by the hoopla, had my lead levels measured (not once, but twice to confirm it) and I have abnormally low lead levels also.

I think it is simple. Don't eat after you shoot, keep your hands out of your mouth till you wash them and practice a lot of hygiene like washing up a bunch and showering after shooting.

 

[4011]

We used lead in the car factory. The dust from lead being ground smooth was the biggest problem. Each persons body treats lead differently. As of about 1985 when I worked in the Safety Dept. we had no lead poisoning cases. We had some high lead but these employees were moved out of the area until their levels came down. The highest blood level we had recorde at that time was from a employee who didn't even work the lead area. He touched clothes pins that held a sheet on the front of the body. The bodies went through the lead are and on to paint. The clothes pins were reused and not washed. That pratice changed quickly. The employee licked his finger each time he picked up an sheet to be pinned on the body. Also ate his lunch on the job while working. He was given some time away from that area and shown how to wash his hands properly. His blood count fell quickly. Be clean and you will be fine.

 

[Brian41]

Very interesting thread and I've been following it as I've reloaded for years and never wore gloves until recent years and shot a lot too. I may have come into contact with it in my job too at times.
I had thought getting tested may have been a good idea but never did. I feel a little better now reading the stories of some of you that did.

 

[da gimp]

brian, getting your blood tested is not a bad idea, and I'd still recommend everyone who casts bullets/lures/weights to get it done, it can't hurt to establish a base line for blood lead levels........... if you reload with lead bullets/shot , make sure you wash your hands and your face thoroughly after each reloading session, before eating , drinking, smoking........

I've never advocated using a fan during reloading sessions because of their ability to seriously screw up powder weights, so do NOT use one while reloading...............

But please do use one after each casting session, no matter how brief.........

 

[Ben_hutcherson]

I had a lead screen done about a month ago, and it came back in at "the high end of normal." I'm going into the doctor tomorrow, and going to request the full report.

In my case, I actually requested the test(actually a full heavy metal screen-I'm a chemist so come into contact with a lot of metal salts) as I though I was having some symptoms that could point to some sort of heavy metal poisoning.

I decided to take some time off from reloading and shooting, which wasn't a big deal anyway as I really haven't had time lately.

I do know that one of the indoor ranges I frequent gets very "smoky" when I shoot cast lead, and I was also unable to feel any air moving. On one occasion, I went out and asked them about it, and the found that-for whatever reason-one of the ventilation fans wasn't on. I suspect that this sort of thing may be my biggest source of exposure.

 

[rwsmith]

Since I do batches in stages.....

brian, getting your blood tested is not a bad idea, and I'd still recommend everyone who casts bullets/lures/weights to get it done, it can't hurt to establish a base line for blood lead levels........... if you reload with lead bullets/shot , make sure you wash your hands and your face thoroughly after each reloading session, before eating , drinking, smoking........

I've never advocated using a fan during reloading sessions because of their ability to seriously screw up powder weights, so do NOT use one while reloading...............

But please do use one after each casting session, no matter how brief.........

I do my reloading by stages, and I do powder charging in my easy chair. It's nice in the A/C but sometimes even the breeze out of the vents goofs up loads so I have to watch it.

Tumbling and tumbling media are a biggy and dust and handling can sure be a bad source of contaminants.

 

[LostintheOzone]

Mercury is another one to be careful with. I used to eat tuna almost everyday for a number of years. I asked one doc and he said a person could not get mercury poison from tuna. Well, I did because that was the only place it could have come from. I had severe pain in the area of my liver and it showed up in a blood test.

 

[snowman]

A few of you have reported symptoms of high levels of lead in your body, but haven't told us what the symptoms were. I, and I'm sure others, would find that information helpful.

Andy

 

[rwsmith]

Most of the smoke..

I.

I do know that one of the indoor ranges I frequent gets very "smoky" when I shoot cast lead, and I was also unable to feel any air moving. On one occasion, I went out and asked them about it, and the found that-for whatever reason-one of the ventilation fans wasn't on. I suspect that this sort of thing may be my biggest source of exposure.

A lot of that smoke associated with shooting cast lead is the lube used. I think the new coatings are far superior. There area lot of different recipes for 'lub in groove' and I wouldn't doubt that some of it is toxic when burned.

 

[shouldazagged]

Lead poisoning is an urban myth to place another obstacle in the path of gun ownership and the shooting sports. Larry

Sorry, ask any physician: that is absolutely untrue. There is abundant history of people, often children, being terribly affected or fatally poisoned by lead exposure.

Why do you suppose lead-based paint was banned years ago? And why was the use of lead water pipes discontinued even longer ago?

For many years some serious historians have theorized that part of the reason for the decline of the Roman empire was the Romans' use of lead plumbing (the term comes from plumbum, the Latin word for lead).

Not everything is a plot to deny our Second Amendment rights.

 

[da gimp]

I'm mystified by the folks who claim their blood lead levels "were on the low normal" or "on the high side of normal" etc.. When a competent lab does your BLL, it will give you the number that your blood lead level is...... when I was first tested as a baseline when I was first certified mine was 4, I was casting a huge amount of primarily lead handgun bullets for all of our family & friends, and not washing every time as I should have been.

Running a crew of 10 guys using 4 1/2" angle grinders and pneumatic needle scalers who were removing lead paint from high steel structural iron in a containment at times the air would shimmy/glisten around the guys if more than several were working in the same area. Wearing both foam plugs & the best muffs at the same time was mandatory for hearing protection.

But there were a few times every shift I'd have to remove my respirator & yell at someone to redo an area......at the 2nd month test, my BLL was 16, so I quit doing that.

For the guys saying that they had no symptoms........... tell me what you think the symptoms of elevated levels of BLL are.............