That’s exactly what happens when your weapon goes “bang”. The lead at the base of the bullet is aerosolized when a bullet is fired. You are covered in it more so in indoor ranges, especially when doing high round count shooting. Even then, just being on the firing line is enough. That’s why I completely wash hands and face when done while at the range, then totally change clothes, wash them, then shower before doing anything else.
I’m going to get my lead checked when I do my next lab work up, since I shoot almost exclusively in an indoor range.
Understood. It’s also frequently posted on fishing signs at state parks and reservoirs. I should have said “…instead of X number of fish every month” to indicate that toxins are flushed out eventually. Whether or not they are flushed before damage is done I would presume depends on how much and the given time frame.
Where are the doctors in the crowd? Specifically, any military docs who can provide guidance on starting a testing program or if it’s needed? You would think I had asked for a new liver when I mentioned a BLL test.
Glen Fryxell is a heavy metals chemist and cast bullet expert and he provides a couple of tips to reduce lead exposure, along with excellent articles on casting and getting the most out of plain lead bullets. The second link comes from a website devoted to women and firearms self defense. The lead article is geared to keeping lead contamination out of the home. Once you get past the pink pages there are some excellent pages that apply to men and women both. I originally found this site to educate my wife about guns and self defense training and ended up reading everything she wrote. FWIW Massad Ayoob recommends this site for women.
Back in the 80’s I was instructing on an indoor range and tested with extremely high lead levels. They actually came to me and asked me to participate in a national study on elevated blood lead levels. My asst instructor also tested with elevated levels. We taught on an indoor range built in the 1960’s.
Our treatment was just to stay off the range for 6 months and our levels dropped back to normal levels. It seems when you urinate your body flushes the lead out of your system as long as you are not exposed to additional lead. The problem stems from being exposed at a rate higher than your body can naturally get rid of it.
When we started back on the range again we restricted the range to no food or drink allowed and we washed up with cool soap & water as soon as we got off the range. Both of us got our levels checked every 6 months after that and neither of us had any further problems with elevated blood lead levels.
I have gone on to have 2 children both of whom are going to college on academic scholarships and they also enjoy the shooting sports.
The danger of elevated lead levels is real and you must be careful. I give all my students instruction on the danger of lead exposure.
I have found that the biggest precautions a person can take is no food or drink on the range and cleanliness.
I wear the same clothes shooting, especially shoes and wipe my hands, face, and arms down with a wet-wipe when I’m done. When I get home shoes come off in the garage and I go right upstairs and take a shower. I also glove up when cleaning and wear a respirator (not a N95 mask) when I sift my tumbler media. Also be smart about it when shooting, dont type on your blackberry or drink a can a coke when shooting indoors. I see it happen all the time.
lead on your hands is a minimal risk for lead poisioning. the big risk is inhalation of particles in the air after firing- a significant issue only on indoor ranges. Most of the risk is from the lead discharged from the PRIMER not the lead un bullets. If you shoot jacket bullets most of the time it does help. Non toxic loads for police training were developed in response to the issue of instructors getting lead poisioning. If you shoot on an indoor range a couple hours a week, the effect /risk is negligible but instructors who are on site for hours every day are at risk. Also in my area many older indoor ranges have backstops not designed to hold up to jacketed bullets and require plain lead bullets only which makes things worse of course
I finally got a BLL check… i’m at 2.2 micrograms per deciliter. “acceptable, but needs to be watched” BLLs are 1-10 MPDL, according to my doctor. in other words, i do not have anything close to “lead poisoning,” but i do have an accumulation that’s above “natural,” and my doctor wants me to drink extra milk, use 100% lead protection- no indoor shooting, wear shooting gloves, wear nitril gloves for, and wash hands immediately after, handling anything that contains lead/exposed to lead fouling, etc.
then we’ll re-check about every 6 months, just to keep tabs.
my wife STILL hasn’t gotten checked, but i suspect she’s probably well below any concern level.
i rarely shoot indoors to begin with… if i’m a little elevated, and YOU shoot indoors- i strongly encourage you to get checked.
Imagine the production workers at the company I consult for. They have lead level checks every 6 months and if too high get rotated to different job/location till levels are normal. But typically if they are 50% above normal levels they are out. Since I do shoot indoor alot and have to be on manufacturing floor at times when lead is being smelted and cast I get checked 3-4 months and am usually slightly elevated. I know I am getting more than I need when my headaches return. My body and heavy metals don’t get along, guess I shouldn’t have played with mercury as a kid LOL!
I have been shooting indoors for quite a while. My BLL are within the norm as are those of my 2 young sons. A few suggestions:
Dont wear your range shoes inside the house. Wipe them with a wet towel before getting in your car.
If you handload be careful when you sift your brass. Dont breath in the cloud of dust (duh). Change the tumbling media often. It gets nasty with the lead dust from the primers.
While in .mil, we used to pickup brass in our covers, not wash our hands, etc.
About 10 yrs ago I was shooting a lot more, and a lot of those rounds were my own 200 grn LWSCs. About 2003 or so, had my BLL checked and found it was 18!
Started getting real serious about gloving up when cleaning guns and loading, switching over to TMJ/JHP bullets for everything.
As of about 2008, my BLL is down to 4.
Of course, I’m not sure how much lead is in my bones.
For those of you who don’t know, lead has a half-life, which means that if you aborb a bunch of it, you won’t live nearly long enough for any significant quanity of it to be purged unless some of these lead treatments actually work.
Keeping it out of you is a helluva lot better than trying to get it out of you once it’s there.
I don’t wear my range shoes/boots into the house, I clean up with gojo soap or D-Lead if I can get it, don’t eat at the range, don’t wear my range clothes into the house, etc.
Another suggestion would be to put your range bag on a chair or bench if you’re shooting indoors. Having dedicated indoor range clothing, and showering ASAP afterwards, as mentioned above is SOP.
PRIMERS = “LEAD STYPHNATE” - a lead compound which, when detonated, creates several lead-containing “salts” or compounds that can end up in your blood (and can accumulate in your bones). “Lead-free” or “non-toxic” primers exist, though the companies that make them have NOT figured out how to make such primers last more than 5 years reliably, so such primers effectively have a “shelf life.” The Sig Arms Academy REQUIRES such primers. The EPA could eventually require such primers, and the fed gov has effectivley banned lead shot from use in waterfowl hunting. Expect prices for such components/ammo to be higher.
Breathing vs. ingestion (eating): most lead in the blood comes from ingestion. WASH YOUR FACE and your hands after shooting. The slide on your handgun throws particles and particle-containing smoke right at your lips every time it reciprocates. Wash your hands and eat with utensils (I am serious. Fries, pizza, burgers, I eat with a knife and fork if I have been shooting).
Calcium: is a metal, like lead. Your bones can absorb both calcium and lead. If you have a high level of calcium in your system, your bones are LESS likely to absorb the lead.
I previously tested @ BLL of 13; my most recent test was under 10 (they did not give me a number).
BTW, the PEDIATRIC limit for lead EXPOSURE is <10; the adult limit is higher. HOWEVER, most doctors simply apply the pediatric limit to adults - which is less likely to get anyone sued & results in the recommendation that the patient “avoid exposure.” I understand that when leaded gasoline was in use, adults commonly had BLLs in the 20s.
