I have been making bullets the last couple of days and today making ingots. Last couple of nights I have woke up with the chills and sweating bad. Last night was the worst, fever broke about 2:30 and when I got up the bed was soaked. I don't know if this has anything to do with the lead. I am in an extra bed room with a box fan in the window just above the melting pot. Back door to garage open and fresh air coming in. I have made bullets before and not had a problem. If this is from lead what can I do about it. I feel it coming on again and need to figure it out. I have a Doc apt tomorrow and will ask him and maybe get a blood test. Last time I remember feeling this bad was when I had ammonia. Body hurt all over and fever with chills.

You probably just got the flu or something. But . . . lead isn't good for you, of course. It's probably best to do your casting outdoors and.or to wear a respirator to minimize breathing in the lead.

From my experience and your description, the good news and the bad news are the same. Sounds like you have the flu. The poisons that are in lead alloys just don't work that fast, and your precautions sound very good. As long as you didn't ingest some lead, you should be good. Do what the Doc tells you.

My sons family lives in southern Texas. There is a virus down there that comes on in about 24 hours, has violent effects for about 4 or 5 hours, then in about 4 more hours, you feel fine. 3 in the household had it in 36 hour intervals.

Good luck, and I hope you get well soon.

Ivan

BTW: ammonia is a cleansing liquid, pneumonia is a disease of the lungs.
If you had ammonia in you, it would act as a so-so embalming fluid.

Ivan

Been casting for 34 years.............You got a bug or something else.....Not from your casting.

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S&W Accumulator

Care must be taken when making Your own Bullets.
Proper ventilation is a must to keep the fumes and smoke from being inhaled and You should wear gloves also.
I worked in a Shop that lined Acid Tanks with Lead Plates and They had to be joined at the seams by melting (a lot like oxy/acetylene welding) The People doing that work were sent to the Hospital twice a year to be treated to prevent Lead poisoning even though They had all the proper safety equipment.

Biggest danger is mixing your silver bars up with your lead bars when making ingots. It really really increases the cost of reloading.

From the reloading section

Blood lead levels

I doubt your symptoms are from lead. Lead poisoning (heavy metal) is a long term exposure and settles in the fatty parts of the body.

It's main entry ways into the body are breathing dust, ingestion or through the eyes. Most exposure is from lead in the primers at indoor ranges.

It is not readily absorbed through the skin. Washing your hands removes it. Just do not eat , smoke or pick your nose after handling lead,

You do not seem to have any of the signs or symptoms of lead poisoning.

Lead poisoning Symptoms - Mayo Clinic

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Still Running Against the Wind

Lead does not go "atmospheric" until the temps get way higher than you attain whilst smelting or casting. The way to get lead into your system is handling lead with bare hands and then eating, smoking or rubbing your eyes, wash your hands after handling lead. Also shooting in a poorly ventilated indoor range will do it too. As already said it takes a long time to accumulate enough lead in your system to have symptoms. Now smelting wheel weights is hazardous to your health, I swear a few lung fulls of that and you will wake up next morning with tentacles or such!

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Stay safe people!

Kd5exp, why take any chances. Pack it all up and ship it to me. I will even pay the freight.

BTW hope you get over the bug that's making you feel so poorly.

Acute and instant toxicity of lead almost ALWAYS occurs at high velocity.
That is NOT what you have just described

Thanks Guys. My Wife was worried but I didn't think this was it. I have fresh air coming in and old air going out right above the melting pot. I have done this for years and no problems always be careful about fumes. Wash my hands after working with it. Good news is I was OK last night after melting down a big piece of lead of some kind a friend gave me he found in a pasture. Looks like they dug a small trench and poured in in there. Found a few small rocks in it. Got about 35 lbs. of it but seems a little hard. I will have to test. No telling what this is. I have been out of it for a while but after going to a nearby town and buying supplies I think it will pay off for my plinking. It's just a hobby and I enjoy it. Never learn enough about it. Any info on where to read up on mixing lead to get it right for pistols and rifles I would enjoy reading I would be thankful. Thanks < Gene

This reminds me of a poorer past....When I was young we would take a pencil and drive it in the ground to make holes......We'd melt scrounged lead in a can on Dad's camp stove......We'd pour the lead into the holes....Dig up when it hardened......Cut into lengths with side cutters & split each piece 3/4 way through........Instant(free) sinkers for our bush lines & trot lines......Thanks for the memory.

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S&W Accumulator

Sounds very X Files like, I would avoid it entirely, is there any black "oil" looking stuff around?

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Still Running Against the Wind

I don't know much about where it came from. My neighbor traded for it and gave it to me. I melted it all down and made it into ingots and have it put aside for now. I have plenty of WW so not needed yet. I found some 1 pound sticks 50% Tin and 50% lead and mix this with 9 lbs of WW. Seems to do pretty good. I am almost positive that this mystery lead is WW but want to find out before I waste my time on it. I can just barely put a dent in it with the fingernail test. It didn't cost me anything so no loss yet.

What others have said but an investment in a quality respirator is good advise and additional safety precaution.

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Patriots Forever!!

I used to cast for pistol, rifle and M/Loader. Then it got too time consuming with everything else I had going on.

Now I just take any lead I scrounge (and brass/copper/ect) to the scrap yard & buy cast projectiles from a local bulletier.
Lazy,,I don't think so,,just not enough hours in the day anymore.
I'd rather be reloading and shooting at the range than standing over the leadpot.
...But there is something special about making them yourself from free stuff isn't there!

I put the fan behind me.

It's not radioactive medical lead or something like that is it?

This would be OK if your going to make bullets for werewolves!

I hope you're feeling better.

And thank you for not calling them "boolits"!

You got a bug for sure. I was in printed circuit board fabrication for 23 years and dealt with tin/lead plating, reflowing, hot air solder leveling, reclamation, etc. It never bothered me a bit. Hope you feel better soon.

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I'm Proud To Be An American!

You REALLY should only melt lead out of doors. If you get lead hot enough, it will actually boil off into vapor, which you can breathe in. If you don't wear some sort of gloves ALL THE TIME. tiny bits of lead stick tenaciously to your skin. Washing with regular soap will not always remove it. Then when you eat something, you ingest some lead.

The same thing happens when you reload with lead bullets, and when you process fired cases. Your brass will have a thin coating of lead from both the burned base of the fired bullet, and the primer. Most primers, unless they are labeled 'lead free' contain lead styphenate as the primer compound. So the cases are fairly badly contaminated with lead, and some is in the easier to absorb lead salt form. Much worse then elemental lead.

When you fire lead bullets, you breathe in some lead from the primers, and burned and vaporized lead from the bullet bases. People who work as range officers in indoor ranges generally have to have serum lead levels run, as they breathe in lead all day long.

If you polish your cases, do it outside. I used to do it in my basement, and I had the case vibrator on a sheet of newspaper. A fine black powder would accumulate on the newspaper. I don't have a cover for my brass tumbler. I took some of the black powder to work and got a friend to test it, and it had a LOT of lead in it.

You can get lead on your hands from cleaning your guns, too. I have some special soap I bought at a gun show that is made to remove lead from your hands. I just looked for it, and I can't find it. I haven't cast bullets in some years now.

I had a blood test run back when I was shooting 700 rounds a week, every week, of cast bullets, and my lead level was 48mcg., almost at the 50mcg. level that OSHA considers harmful to adults. Of course children are WAY more susceptible to lead poisoning.

I started scrubbing my hands with Dawn dish washing liquid, and stiff bristle brush, moved the case cleaner out to the garage, and cleaned up as much as I could where I thought there was lead contamination. I was especially careful to really scrub my hands before I handled any food.

Slowly over time, my blood serum lead levels went down, and after 6 or 8 months it was half of what it had been. My doctor stopped testing me, as the level was relatively 'safe', and slowly and steadily decreasing.

I would say, as has been said, that you aren't suffering from acute lead poisoning. But, if you have health insurance, and can get it covered, it would be worth getting a lead level done. I would be surprised if you didn't have some lead in your bloodstream. Hopefully it's low and not a problem. Good luck.

I got over the bug I guess. I fell much better last several days. I went to Doc for reg check up and he ran a blood test and said he would have it checked for lead. Still haven't heard from him. Any body got a test to see how hard this lead is. I don't think the finger nail test is as accurate as I would like. Too much interpatation in it for me. I will search around. Thanks Guys

Lead boils at 3,180 degrees. What you described is physically impossible with a home casting pot. You can get vapors from the impurities in the alloy and whatever you're fluxing with, but you're wrong about lead vapor.

A little common sense is all the protection you need when casting. Frankly, any exposure from fired primer or residue on brass is negligible and not worth worrying about. Washing your hands, though, isn't a bad idea.

I used to load an awful lot of ammo. Cast bullets and shotshells Sold up to 8 tons of shot a week. Lot of lead moving. Worked in a Fire Dept. We had our blood levels checked for almost everything. including lead..Never had an even slightly high level of lead. No one in the dept did..we had a couple get caught with drugs in the blood stream though.. Good grief..respirators and only casting outside?? If you want to do it that way fine but a fan blowing from behind toward an open window is all that is necessary for your peace of mind Heck I even got shot in barrels new and reclaimed..all hand work weighing etc. and then..I started making shot..only nasty part about all of it was graphite dust..gets everywhere. As ChuckS1 said..just a little common sense...Same thing with mercury. no mercury fumes is a good thing..Mad Hatter and all that stuff..old time gold miners too.

Physics may disagree with you.

Vapor is produced anytime the lead is molten, with progressively more vapor being produced until the boiling point - at which the vapor pressure is one atmosphere.

The rate at which vapor is produced is directly related to the temp and vapor pressure of the fluid in question.

The volume of vapor produced at casting temps is small, but there.


Other hazards include the oxides and exposure to other heavy metals, such as arsenic.

Regarding casting outdoors. Make sure you have a roof or cover of some type over you.
First time I cast lead outside, an unexpected rainstorm came up!
Hot lead and water do not mix and tend vto pop and splatter!

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Wherever my mind isn't
Jim

If I had to guess... I would say the lead that you're using has zinc in the alloy. And the condition you have is "galvanized poisoning". I've only had it three times in 45 years of metal working. It will give you a fever about three hours after exposure to the fumes.. just like the flu.. and will last 8 to 10 hours.

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Nationality: Confederate

That sounds a lot like it. This is all old lead. Been in his garage over 20 years. A piece of galvanized may have gotten in there somehow. I have had this kind of galvanize poisoning before a long time ago welding on some pipe. Been so long ago don't remember much about it. One welder I know told me to drink sweet milk. I didn't think I had breathed enough of it to do that but will be more careful about it. Thanks for the info.

I have decided to use the unknown lead to make shot. I have a mold for #4 BS and 00 BS so hardness is not that critical.