Lead bullets
- Thread starter johnnyreb65
- Start date
Rick - yes those are the facts and it is useful for them to be repeated. I don't care if the members of the "You can't be too careful" crowd wear self-contained protective suits when casting, it just irritates me when they suggest that others who don't are foolish. Facts are lost on that bunch.
Indoor ranges can produce lead dust that poses a danger.
Handling cast bullets when casting or reloading poses no risk of inhalation, or absorption through the skin, so no need for a space suit or even gloves, just keep you hands away from your face and wash your hands afterwards.
DRG are great projectiles - consistent, and very clean. (I wish I had a local source for them.)
Lead is nasty. Get tested. Don't listen to anyone who says not to worry, just get tested. Don't listen to these health mavens who would dismiss legitimate precautions.
When loading, I wear a nitrile glove on the hand that seats the bullet. Why? Because my doctor told me to.
" Don't listen to these health mavens who would dismiss legitimate precautions."
This is the kind of nonsense that seems to prevail amongst some. Nobody says you should suck your ingots but their is a threshold of common sense that must be breached. The above comment fails to meet the most basic of marks.
"When loading, I wear a nitrile glove on the hand that seats the bullet. Why? Because my doctor told me to."
Change Doctors. The guy doesn't know what he is talking about. I am almost afraid to ask what he thinks of the air you breath.
Take Care
Bob
This is the kind of nonsense that seems to prevail amongst some. Nobody says you should suck your ingots but their is a threshold of common sense that must be breached. The above comment fails to meet the most basic of marks.
"When loading, I wear a nitrile glove on the hand that seats the bullet. Why? Because my doctor told me to."
Change Doctors. The guy doesn't know what he is talking about. I am almost afraid to ask what he thinks of the air you breath.
Take Care
Bob
Ummm... I'm not a health maven nor did I write that information. However, I am someone who can read what genuine "health mavens" will tell us.
The "health mavens" who provide those MSDS sheets and other product hazard information data are people like the poison control center, doctors, toxicologists, etc.
However, those who need peace of mind should always get tested. Whether for VD despite the fact they're faithfully married, or for lead levels even though they don't stick their hands in their mouth or handle food while reloading. Peace of mind is good!
But he didn't recommend at the same time a face mask as well to ensure you kept your grubby, lead contaminated nitrile glove away from your face? He didn't tell you to wash your contaminated clothing once you were finished?
I can believe that. I had a doctor once who asked me during my checkup if I owned firearms and then told me I was 47 times more likely to be killed if I owned firearms and I should get rid of them for the safety of my family. Like your doc, he too was a health and safety expert.
Now I knew that was a load of bullshyte, and I could have just kept him as my doc - he was a nice enough guy. But in the end I figured out anyone who was ignorant enough to pass out BS information like that without bothering to confirm it through peer reviewed journals, etc, might just be a little sloppy somewhere else regarding my health where it really matters.
For those who want a better source of information regarding the toxicology of lead than anecdotal stories about family doctors, there is information out there. From manufacturers of lead products, from labs who work with lead, from provincial and state safety organizations... take your pick.
http://www.canadametal.com/msds/lead.pdf
http://msds.chem.ox.ac.uk/LE/lead.html
http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10031
http://www.worksafebc.com/publications/high_resolution_publications/assets/pdf/bk17.pdf
For those who really want to be safe, the bottom link is from WorkSafe BC. While it also tells you lead poisoning only comes from ingestion and inhalation - not absorbtion - it has helpful diagrams to help you set up a clean room to separate your activities with lead from the rest of your spaces in the home.
From the Lee Book of Modern Reloading, another source to watch for is your tumbler. Lead from primers contaminates the media. When dumping casings, dust is given off and we inhale that dust. Not an item I would think of, but apparently a real source.
Last edited:
Ishootguns
Regular
- Location
- Acton Ontario
I've used DRG for some time and have never had a bullet problem at all. I get mine from Frank in Guelph.
I just started using DRG in .45 and .40 they seem to work just fine, group well and when weighed on my scale show pretty good consistency. They work just fine in the .45 but the .40 started to lead pretty bad around 900 fps in my M&P other than that excellent bullets.
Andy
Andy
Lucky you, you must have a horseshoe up your butt! The indoor ranges that I was working in at that time had been in use by the Canadian Forces since the early 40's. Proper ventilation was a pipe dream. At the time I was shooting 10,000-15,000 rds of lead reloads a year.
In Alberta, a good number of the safety supply stores that sell masks have a qualified fitter working for them, as masks are required at times by rig pigs. The gentleman that advised me had over 20 years as a CF Preventive Medicine Technician and was a service olympic level handgun shooter, so I
had no problem with his advice which I keep adhearing to until this day. The gloves help ensure that any lead caught on the glove isn't absorbed by any failures to wash after exposure. I now longer shoot on indoor ranges because most that I have been on recently I find don't adhear to gov't regs on cleanup or have been closed.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~toxmetal/TXQApb.shtml
http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/welcome/lead/leadsymptoms.html
http://www.precisioncartridge.com/lead.html
