Lead vapor concerns?

[retrogun]

I've run across some .38 special bullets w/ copper plating which are suppose to minimize lead vapor....Is this a concern when shooting raw lead bullets?
I shoot outside mostly and had a baseline lead test done 2 years ago to gain some insight due to handling lots of RF ammo. My wife is going to be shooting her new pistol as soon as it arrives and I will be reloading for her. Is this something to be concerned about or not?

Thanks,
Retrogun

 

[retrogun]

I've run across some .38 special bullets w/ copper plating which are suppose to minimize lead vapor....Is this a concern when shooting raw lead bullets?
I shoot outside mostly and had a baseline lead test done 2 years ago to gain some insight due to handling lots of RF ammo. My wife is going to be shooting her new pistol as soon as it arrives and I will be reloading for her. Is this something to be concerned about or not?

Thanks,
Retrogun

 

[pownal55]

not! i think this whole lead scare is nothing but a bunch of environmental balony. you would have eat the stuff to be poisoned by it.

 

[OKFC05]

I much prefer outside ranges.
There can be problems for old-style indoor ranges with inadequate ventilation.

It's not the metallic lead vapors as much as the water-soluble lead compounds that get in your lungs and mouth.
There's not much of it in the smoke, but is easily absorbed. Hot lead vapor, nitrogen compounds burning in the powder, yes it can make a little bit of nasty stuff. Indoor range workers have to be tested regularly for lead accumulation in their system.

 

[john traveler]

The concerns of lead vapor inhalation apply mainly to workers in a lead foundry/refining environment and indoor range personnel that receive a constant exposure to recirculated air. Hence the OSHA requirements for forced air circulation, filtered air, and routine maintenance of air filters in lead dust and fume work environments. For the casual or even the serious shooter, lead poisoning is a non issue as long as you use common sense in washing your hands after handling cast bullets, lead ingots, primer dust, etc.

 

[Skip Sackett]

I have shot lead bullets for years. I went to the doctor's office right after I started casting for myself. My lead level was "32" whatevers. I have been shooting and casting all winter and went back to the doctor for a 6 month checkup. I had another lead test done and it is "25" whatevers!

Birth defects is one reason to be careful.

There is lead in every aspect of reloading. Primers, cases, cleaning material, bullets and such. I have taken to using heavy rubber gloves when I am going to be doing a lot of "touching" of lead. It has seemed to help.

FWIW

 

[Paul5388]

Lead is not harmful in its elemental state, that's why it was used in potable water supplies for thousands of years. Lead oxide, OTOH, is serious stuff!

The main concern in indoor ranges is not the bullets, but the priming compound, lead styphnate (old corrosive primers were made from fulminate of mercury). Hence, the introduction of "NT" primers.

I've shot quite a few lead bullets that I have recovered in my berm. I've never seen a bullet that had any signs of "melting".

 

[David LaPell]

My grandfather worked for National Lead digging the stuff out of the ground for years. The town of Tahawus, NY (now a quarry and no longer exists was built next to the mine. My grandparents lived their for years, and my mother has told me stories of the "dust" that would coat the window sills every day from the plant. My grandmother died at the age of 85, no cancer, none of the kids had any birth defects. My grandfather, 84, no cancer.

 

[Dale53]

I DO know of a couple of cases of high lead concentrations in indoor range workers. The problem was sweeping up the dust on the range floor (down range) without a face mask. The dust can be a problem from the before mentioned lead styphnate in the priming compound plus whatever microscopic lead partials from shooting lead bullets.

It was solved by using a breathing mask when sweeping up and wetting down the floor before sweeping (this was a large commercial indoor range).

For those of us who only shoot once or twice a week on an indoor range the danger is small (a LOT different than someone who works there 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week).

I have utilized an indoor range for forty years on a once a week basis during the winter months and don't have a problem and don't know of anyone else using the range that does/has. Outdoors, there is so little risk as to be much less than breathing gasoline fumes in the car on the way there and back...

I have cast bullets for fifty years without any lead ingestion problems. I do pay attention to not overheating my melted alloy, do not eat while casting, and carefully wash my hands thoroughly after finishing.

Dale53

 

[bmcgilvray]

I think there is an agenda behind the increased political attention about lead and it has to do with further firearms/shooting restrictions. Just watch and see.

 

[retrogun]

I thoroughly wash my hands after shooting and I think there are lead removal hand wipes out there for shooters and re-loaders. I'm not too concerned shooting outdoors although feel I'll give the inside ranges with less than state of the art ventilation systems a wide berth. I believe some of these ranges have restrictions on un-jacketed lead bullets. The Copper plated bullets might provide an option also. Perhaps a pair of tight Nitril gloves would be a good idea when re-loading too.

Retrogun

 

[Paul5388]

Eating lead can be simulated by immersing a bullet into Muriatic acid (a common swimming pool chemical) for 8 hours or so. Muriatic acid is a form of hydrochloric acid, like stomach acid is. Weigh it before and then air dry it and weigh it afterward and see if there's any change in weight.


I think Bill is right about trying to control lead. It's a convenient method that is starting with outlawing lead wheel weights. In 50+ years of driving, I don't know that I've ever lost a wheel weight, but it's the latest that is supposed to be hazardous to the planet. Of course, lead comes out of the planet, so what's their point? Control!

 

[Houndog2]

We are all gonna die of something sooner or later....I'd not be worried about lead exposure from shooting a firearm any more than I would from biting all those fishing weights over my lifetime.
HD2

 

[Guest]

I firmly believe that our "Time" is something we don't really have any control over and if you're going to get Cancer it's in your Genes the day you are born and there ain't a single thing you can do about it. My Father was killed by smoking and Doctors who didn't look close enough. My Mother decided she was going to wait to see her Great Grand Kids one more time and then she died.

Personally, I've done all the wrong things with lead that all the Experts say should have killed me long ago. I'm still here and my lead levels aren't anything to worry about if the Experts "have it right" about how much is too much etc.

 

[Paul5388]

I firmly believe that our "Time" is something we don't really have any control over

That's inviting a theological discussion, but in general, I agree, while avoiding the theology of the issue.

 

[jag312]

If anyone is concerned about lead levels in their body, then take Vitamin C and drink lots of orange juice. I'm serious. Vitamin C is ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid is a chelating agent that will "grab" lead in your system and eliminate the lead from your system through your kidneys. I once had very high lead levels. The last time I was tested, about 5 years ago, my lead level was down to 2 micrograms. Almost nothing.

I take Vitamin C and I love to drink orange juice. I have even been known to add some vodka to the orange juice.