What exposes you to more lead?

[Palladan44]

My BLL has risen once again to an elevated level, above 10, which my doctor said was too much and I needed to mitigate my exposures. Is 10 bad? No, not really. But it's 3-4x more than the normal for an adult.

Shooting indoors exposes the lungs and skin to aerosoled lead dust from primers as well as bullets smashing into the trap.
I'm thinking this is the main culprit, so I plan to discontinue shooting indoors weekly to only once per month.

But I plan to handload just the same. I wonder all that spent primer dust gets aerosoled in the air when depriming as well as dry tumbling I plan to cut back on, gonna get into wet tumbling as soon as I can. I use more coated and or plated/jacketed bullets these days, no more dark grey fingertips after a session these days.

But generally speaking, round for round let's say you handload 1000 rounds. Then you shoot 500 of them indoors and 500 of them outdoors. Which exposes you the most to lead. The loading process (all steps) or shooting?

 

[CQB45ACP]

My BLL has risen once again to an elevated level, above 10, which my doctor said was too much and I needed to mitigate my exposures. Is 10 bad? No, not really. But it's 3-4x more than the normal for an adult.

Shooting indoors exposes the lungs and skin to aerosoled lead dust from primers as well as bullets smashing into the trap.
I'm thinking this is the main culprit, so I plan to discontinue shooting indoors weekly to only once per month.

But I plan to handload just the same. I wonder all that spent primer dust gets aerosoled in the air when depriming as well as dry tumbling I plan to cut back on, gonna get into wet tumbling as soon as I can. I use more coated and or plated/jacketed bullets these days, no more dark grey fingertips after a session these days.

But generally speaking, round for round let's say you handload 1000 rounds. Then you shoot 500 of them indoors and 500 of them outdoors. Which exposes you the most to lead. The loading process (all steps) or shooting?

I dont know and didnt vote but darn you just reminded me it’s time for my semiannual blood tests—lipid panel etc and was going to add test for lead.

I’m an indoor shooter too but no other options in winter.

Good luck and good health to you

 

[mcb]

If your a reloader than the number one source of lead contamination is handling spent brass in your reloading process. The lead compounds generated by the primers and thus left on spent brass are the most biocompatable (easiest to absorb into the body) lead compounds of all the possible lead sources firearms and ammunition produce. Indoor ranges are probably a fairly close second especially if they have poor air handling systems but poor reloading process are usually number one. Move any brass process (especially tumbling) outside your house, to a shop or the garage. Make sure your not eating, drinking or smoking while working with spent brass and reloading. Remember to wash your hands well after reloading.

At one point my lead levels were at a 13 and simply moving my brass process out of the basement to the garage and being extra vigilant about being clean during and after reloading and shooting I have brought that down to a three. I did not change how much I was shooting. In fact for a large portion of time when I was working to bring that number down I was shooting more than any other time in my life. Be clean when shooting and reloading.

 

[Kaldor]

I shoot outside year around, even here in WI. If its above 10 degrees and the wind isnt terrible, we will shoot.
If I did shoot indoors, the local places have huge air filters to keep the lead under control, but I refuse to pay to shoot, and then worry about a range "officer" getting mad because I double tapped. Also shooting rifle indoors is awful.
I dont worry about lead while reloading. Depriming is done with APP and the container does a good job controlling spent primers. I dont use lead bullets, jacketed or coated for me only. I also wet tumble.

 

[AJC1]

I have significant exposure and the best way to combat the issues is 1. Wet vs dry clean, wear gloves while handling reloading components. And good ventilation whilst casting and handling brass prior to wet cleaning... it's not perfect but that's what I do.

 

[CQB45ACP]

I have significant exposure and the best way to combat the issues is 1. Wet vs dry clean, wear gloves while handling reloading components. And good ventilation whilst casting and handling brass prior to wet cleaning... it's not perfect but that's what I do.

You wear gloves? Gulp (I mean for me cause I don’t)

 

[AJC1]

You wear gloves? Gulp (I mean for me cause I don’t)

Not near as often as I should...

 

[splattergun]

You dabble in a pair of hobbies that involve lead. You are exposed to lead both by reloading and by shooting indoors. How much by each depends totally on your cleaning and handling practices and by the range's air processing, how many shooters on the range any given shoot day and any other variables. So who knows where you're picking up the most lead? Take steps to reduce exposure in both areas. Nitrile gloves, dust masks, hand washing, laundry (when was the last time your favorite shooting hat was cleaned?) safe hand/mouth practices (no smoking or eating while reloading or shooting) can all help reduce lead exposure.
Also, don't lick your fingers while loading your cap & ball revolver.

 

[westernrover]

I would avoid indoor ranges like the plague. I've been there for rentals, but otherwise I wouldn't spend more than a few minutes in one. Can they be made safe with sufficient ventilation? Maybe, but there are too many failures that are out of my control. I would also add that I generally avoid public shooting ranges period, so it doesn't take much more for me to loathe indoor ones. Generally, I'll only attend an outdoor range with others for the sake of a class.

I believe the lead styphnate in primers is much worse than the elemental lead in bullets. The airborne lead styphnate is easily absorbed in the lungs and goes directly to the blood. The same lead styphnate can be absorbed from surfaces. The range firing line is littered with the primer dust, so picking up brass is hazardous. Handling the brass is hazardous. Sweeping brass flicks up the primer dust to be inhaled. Responsible procedures would be to wear nitrile gloves and use the squeegees or wire baskets rather than brooms. Keep contaminated brass out of the reloading area. Wet tumble brass before it comes into your work area. Use a decapper that is independent from your reloading press -- no reason to have primer crud on your precision equipment anyway.

Use lead-free primers if you can. For years I only shot DDNP primers, but the suppliers have failed to deliver them as components for many years now. For all I know, Covid killed the folks at Fiocchi in Italy that used to make them. Those primers were awesome -- better than any other brand or type I've ever used. I still have a crate of pistol, but I'm very low on lead-free rifle primers. I hold Vista Outdoors leadership accountable for the failure to deliver lead-free tech which they claimed they would have rolled out to all their factory ammo years ago. They have the Catalyst lead-free tech, but have refused to deliver it as a component to handloaders and have failed to deliver supply of any primers while they enjoyed unprecedented billions in earnings and profit. The bottom line is Vista's management does not care about shooter's health or their 2A liberties. They'll have new owners soon, but if they keep the same management -- especially Jason Vanderbrink -- I won't expect anything to change. Think about it: lead free primers would mean clean indoor ranges where there's very little risk to anyone. It would mean clean fired brass. Clean reloading equipment. Nobody would ever have to stop shooting or cut back or avoid the range for health reasons.

So, to address the questions in the OP, I would highlight the dangers of lead-styphnate from the primers. That danger is unavoidable at indoor ranges unless they mandate lead-free primers, which few can since the factory ammo is scarce and the reloading components haven't been available since 2019 and only then from a foreign source. The danger in reloading can be mitigated by wearing nitrile gloves when handling fired brass and wet-tumbling to clean the brass while keeping dust down.

 

[Ethan Verity]

If your a reloader than the number one source of lead contamination is handling spent brass in your reloading process. The lead compounds generated by the primers and thus left on spent brass are the most biocompatable (easiest to absorb into the body) lead compounds of all the possible lead sources firearms and ammunition produce. Indoor ranges are probably a fairly close second especially if they have poor air handling systems but poor reloading process are usually number one. Move any brass process (especially tumbling) outside your house, to a shop or the garage. Make sure your not eating, drinking or smoking while working with spent brass and reloading. Remember to wash your hands well after reloading.

At one point my lead levels were at a 13 and simply moving my brass process out of the basement to the garage and being extra vigilant about being clean during and after reloading and shooting I have brought that down to a three. I did not change how much I was shooting. In fact for a large portion of time when I was working to bring that number down I was shooting more than any other time in my life. Be clean when shooting and reloading.

100% correct! The majority of the lead that gets absorbed from shooting is from the primers themselves, rather than the bullets. A component of the primer compound contains lead styphnate, a lead salt, which is more readily absorbed into the body than just pure lead metal. And, since it's being burned into the gun smoke with each and every shot, it both goes into the air, and gets on everything!

I always wear nitrile gloves when reloading, since lead styphnate can be absorbed through the skin. And, even though I do love the smell of gun smoke, I don't make a habit of breathing it in deep.

 

[CQB45ACP]

I would avoid indoor ranges like the plague. I've been there for rentals, but otherwise I wouldn't spend more than a few minutes in one. Can they be made safe with sufficient ventilation? Maybe, but there are too many failures that are out of my control. I would also add that I generally avoid public shooting ranges period, so it doesn't take much more for me to loathe indoor ones. Generally, I'll only attend an outdoor range with others for the sake of a class.

I believe the lead styphnate in primers is much worse than the elemental lead in bullets. The airborne lead styphnate is easily absorbed in the lungs and goes directly to the blood. The same lead styphnate can be absorbed from surfaces. The range firing line is littered with the primer dust, so picking up brass is hazardous. Handling the brass is hazardous. Sweeping brass flicks up the primer dust to be inhaled. Responsible procedures would be to wear nitrile gloves and use the squeegees or wire baskets rather than brooms. Keep contaminated brass out of the reloading area. Wet tumble brass before it comes into your work area. Use a decapper that is independent from your reloading press -- no reason to have primer crud on your precision equipment anyway.

Use lead-free primers if you can. For years I only shot DDNP primers, but the suppliers have failed to deliver them as components for many years now. For all I know, Covid killed the folks at Fiocchi in Italy that used to make them. Those primers were awesome -- better than any other brand or type I've ever used. I still have a crate of pistol, but I'm very low on lead-free rifle primers. I hold Vista Outdoors leadership accountable for the failure to deliver lead-free tech which they claimed they would have rolled out to all their factory ammo years ago. They have the Catalyst lead-free tech, but have refused to deliver it as a component to handloaders and have failed to deliver supply of any primers while they enjoyed unprecedented billions in earnings and profit. The bottom line is Vista's management does not care about shooter's health or their 2A liberties. They'll have new owners soon, but if they keep the same management -- especially Jason Vanderbrink -- I won't expect anything to change. Think about it: lead free primers would mean clean indoor ranges where there's very little risk to anyone. It would mean clean fired brass. Clean reloading equipment. Nobody would ever have to stop shooting or cut back or avoid the range for health reasons.

So, to address the questions in the OP, I would highlight the dangers of lead-styphnate from the primers. That danger is unavoidable at indoor ranges unless they mandate lead-free primers, which few can since the factory ammo is scarce and the reloading components haven't been available since 2019 and only then from a foreign source. The danger in reloading can be mitigated by wearing nitrile gloves when handling fired brass and wet-tumbling to clean the brass while keeping dust down.

Hey @Walkalong please delete this before my wife reads it! Thanks!

 

[Ethan Verity]

I would avoid indoor ranges like the plague. I've been there for rentals, but otherwise I wouldn't spend more than a few minutes in one. Can they be made safe with sufficient ventilation? Maybe, but there are too many failures that are out of my control. I would also add that I generally avoid public shooting ranges period, so it doesn't take much more for me to loathe indoor ones. Generally, I'll only attend an outdoor range with others for the sake of a class.

I believe the lead styphnate in primers is much worse than the elemental lead in bullets. The airborne lead styphnate is easily absorbed in the lungs and goes directly to the blood. The same lead styphnate can be absorbed from surfaces. The range firing line is littered with the primer dust, so picking up brass is hazardous. Handling the brass is hazardous. Sweeping brass flicks up the primer dust to be inhaled. Responsible procedures would be to wear nitrile gloves and use the squeegees or wire baskets rather than brooms. Keep contaminated brass out of the reloading area. Wet tumble brass before it comes into your work area. Use a decapper that is independent from your reloading press -- no reason to have primer crud on your precision equipment anyway.

Use lead-free primers if you can. For years I only shot DDNP primers, but the suppliers have failed to deliver them as components for many years now. For all I know, Covid killed the folks at Fiocchi in Italy that used to make them. Those primers were awesome -- better than any other brand or type I've ever used. I still have a crate of pistol, but I'm very low on lead-free rifle primers. I hold Vista Outdoors leadership accountable for the failure to deliver lead-free tech which they claimed they would have rolled out to all their factory ammo years ago. They have the Catalyst lead-free tech, but have refused to deliver it as a component to handloaders and have failed to deliver supply of any primers while they enjoyed unprecedented billions in earnings and profit. The bottom line is Vista's management does not care about shooter's health or their 2A liberties. They'll have new owners soon, but if they keep the same management -- especially Jason Vanderbrink -- I won't expect anything to change. Think about it: lead free primers would mean clean indoor ranges where there's very little risk to anyone. It would mean clean fired brass. Clean reloading equipment. Nobody would ever have to stop shooting or cut back or avoid the range for health reasons.

So, to address the questions in the OP, I would highlight the dangers of lead-styphnate from the primers. That danger is unavoidable at indoor ranges unless they mandate lead-free primers, which few can since the factory ammo is scarce and the reloading components haven't been available since 2019 and only then from a foreign source. The danger in reloading can be mitigated by wearing nitrile gloves when handling fired brass and wet-tumbling to clean the brass while keeping dust down.

I never understood why lead free primers aren't more popular, and why they haven't outright replaced the lead styphnate version. Are they less reliable? Don't last as long? More expensive than the status quo? At least we have moved away from the mercury fulminate primers of the old west days, but only to replace them with something else that is pretty toxic.

 

[Varminterror]

If a reloader is doing specific lead-centric processes, such as bullet casting, or tumbling with dry media with a lot of dust (especially cast shooters), then exposure skyrockets. Otherwise, the indoor range - especially shooting exposed lead bullets and LS primers - is the main culprit.

I had elevated lead for a few years when I was action shooting and casting my own, and admittedly, I wasn't wearing gloves at all when handling my brass or bullets. But a few years later, I quit casting, quit dry tumbling, and I wear gloves when I handle my brass and bullets (and quit shooting action sports with exposed lead base or solid lead bullets), and I've come down. I still shot at an indoor range almost every week (which, to their credit, was very well ventilated), but my blood levels came down. But compared to my reloading practices now, which do not include handling "dusted" brass, inhaling dry tumbling dust, handling bare handed lead bullets, and breathing casting off-gasses, the indoor range is now the smoking gun for my lead levels.

 

[AK Hunter]

I'm so glad I don't shoot indoor ranges. I don't eat while I reload. I have stopped dry tumbling & only wet tumble now.
And I know better than eat paint chips.
So I think my lead count should be low.

 

[JmacD]

an indoor shooter too but no other options in winter.

(Whispers,good naturedly, with a hearty chuckle and twinkle in the eye) “Chicken”
Ya! I bout frizzed me self!
Honestly I’ve been thinking about this recently. One of the big reasons I quit dry tumbling and why the potential casting location is outside in the garage, and a makeshift wannabe hood idea is rattling around in the noggin.

 

[dcarr]

i keep meaning to have my blood lead levels checked and keep forgetting..... shoot indoor range every week and have for many years. And of course reload

 

[Beancounter81]

Not all indoor ranges are bad. I shoot at an indoor range weekly, dry tumble, and load around 12k rounds a year. My last blood lead level was a 2. The range I frequent has very good ventilation and filtration though.

 

[CQB45ACP]

I shoot at the NRA HQ range and it’s advertised as state of the art ventilation but is that good enough? Who knows? When I’m bent over scrounging for brass is the air filtered well enough?

This is so depressing

 

[Mark_Mark]

Just wash your hand, don’t lick the range. Wear a mask if you want.

 

[higgite]

So, we have now reduced potential health hazards to a popularity vote. I'll take bacon over the poll options.

 

[Mark_Mark]

So, we have now reduced potential health hazards to a popularity vote. I'll take bacon over the poll options.

BLT… on it!

 

[Otto]

My BLL has risen once again to an elevated level, above 10, which my doctor said was too much and I needed to mitigate my exposures. Is 10 bad? No, not really. But it's 3-4x more than the normal for an adult.

Unless you’re pregnant or a child…a 10 µg/dL isn’t particularly alarming. Just keep an eye on it. And I suggest you have your drinking water tested.

“The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) at CDC has set a Recommended Exposure Limit (REL) of 50 µg/m3 for a Time Weighted Average (TWA) of 8 hours to be maintained so that worker blood lead remains <60 µg/dL of whole blood.”

 

[dcarr]

The few times of the year I use the local (not very local) outdoor range the major hazard was not lead dust poisoning but rather the people using the range for the first time using a gun. Free range, no supervision. Putting up a target or taking it down is always a hoot. Off subject somewhat, sorry.
Many years ago my aerospace employer at the time insisted on a lead blood check for "hi risk" techs, passed it fine and no I don't recall the number. Something to do with solder fumes

 

[CQB45ACP]

So, we have now reduced potential health hazards to a popularity vote. I'll take bacon over the poll options.

Nueskes applewood smoked

 

[SingleActionAndrew]

Buddy of mine said his levels went way down after just getting in the practice of taking a shower after shooting indoors. His theory is lead -> hair -> pillow -> drool -> ingestion. But I think he was wearing a P100 mask too before the retest.