Lead concerns

Strykaar

Strykaar

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I currently shoot 22lr and some of them have lead round nose (with possible wax coating). I had few questions:
  1. Is lead a concern for other caliber ammo specifically 9mm or .223? Most of them seem to have a copper jacket.
  2. I see some soot/black stuff around BCG/barrel and on magazine follower, after about 70-80 rounds, is that lead or just burnt black powder?
  3. Any favorite lead remover soap/wipes u can recommend?
Thanks
 
1. If you shoot in a decently ventilated environment the lead will not be an issue. Birchwood Casey and Hoppes sell wipes that remove lead. But in general, just wash your hands well and dont lick your fingers or bullets while shooting and you will be fine.
2. The black soot stuff is carbon residue from the powder burning. It is normal. Sometimes you can find lead in the barrel if shooting unjacketed bullets, but simple cleaning and running a patch through the barrel with some Hoppes will get it off.
3. I like Hoppes and Ballistol for general cleaning and maintenance of all my firearms.
 
If you lick your gun clean you might develop a problem.

I often wear nitrile gloves when cleaning, as much for the chemicals as for the lead.

Been doing this, reloading, casting a lot the past decade, recent lead test showed zero.
 
if you have a range on leased land and have to close the range you can A) dig up the berms and floor of the range and send it to a smelter $$$$$$$$
B) truck the dirt from the old berms and build your new berms at the new range. So tell me again how bad is lead just sitting there?
 
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Metallic lead is more or less harmless. You can handle lead bullets with your bare skin every day with no ill effects. I wouldn't go trying to eat or lick them though.

What you see on your guns is mostly powder fouling. Lead fouling will be in the barrel. If you shoot a lot of cast lead in revolvers like I do, you will get a little lead build up on the frame. Its easy to scrape off.

The dangerous lead is lead dust/vapor that you breathe in. The smoke you see when you fire off a round contains some lead. As long as you're outdoors, or in a very well ventilated range, the exposure is still minimal.

Prop-driven airplanes still use leaded fuel, and they spew lead into our air every time they fly over. I'm sure you've breathed in more lead from aircraft than you have from guns.

Not a bad idea to wear gloves when cleaning guns. Most of the solvents used can be pretty toxic if ingested.
 
RedneckFur said:
Prop-driven airplanes still use leaded fuel, and they spew lead into our air every time they fly over. I'm sure you've breathed in more lead from aircraft than you have from guns.
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Here is a research paper an acquaintance of mine published on the size of the lead particles exhausted from a piston driven aircraft. If you dont want to read it, the particles are smaller than the ones emitted by cars burning leaded gas.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1309104220301331
 
Heavy metal exposure is a serious issue for shooters and comes from 2 sources - bullets and primers. If you don't think you're exposed, after a session, blow your nose and look at what comes out...

Immediately after shooting I use Birchwood Casey, Hopes, or Hygenall decontamination wipes/towelettes to wipe down guns, magazines, accessories. I use a separate wipe to clean eye & ear pro, and final wipe for my hands and face.

If I don't have a wipe, at a minimum I wash my hands and face with d-lead hand soap or something similar. I use cold water as hot water opens up your skin pores making it easier to absorb lead and other heavy metals through your skin. Lacking d-lead, I'll use regular soap and water.

When I get home, all clothing gets shed in the laundry room and washed immediately, separate from any other clothing.

Then I shower using d-lead body wash and shampoo -- in cold water. Then the hot water comes on and I wash again using my normal products.

Yes, showering in the cold is miserable.

When people ask me how much they should spend on a motorcycle helmet or a car racing helmet, my answer is always 'how much is your brain worth?'

The same concept applies to shooting. Safety first. The $50 in cleaning products and the 10 minutes cleaning post range session and 2 minute cold shower are a small price to pay to avoid heavy metal poisoning and the resultant life-complications.
 
You can get tested. i did for the first few years of shooting and reloading. my levels went down without doing anything more than washing my hands regularly.
 
Catfish said:
You can get tested. i did for the first few years of shooting and reloading. my levels went down without doing anything more than washing my hands regularly.
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So far I have only been to range twice and each time had to wear a N95 mask and gloves, but will plan to get tested as u suggested, may be like once a year, during routine physicals.
 
poller said:
Heavy metal exposure is a serious issue for shooters and comes from 2 sources - bullets and primers. If you don't think you're exposed, after a session, blow your nose and look at what comes out...

Immediately after shooting I use Birchwood Casey, Hopes, or Hygenall decontamination wipes/towelettes to wipe down guns, magazines, accessories. I use a separate wipe to clean eye & ear pro, and final wipe for my hands and face.

If I don't have a wipe, at a minimum I wash my hands and face with d-lead hand soap or something similar. I use cold water as hot water opens up your skin pores making it easier to absorb lead and other heavy metals through your skin. Lacking d-lead, I'll use regular soap and water.

When I get home, all clothing gets shed in the laundry room and washed immediately, separate from any other clothing.

Then I shower using d-lead body wash and shampoo -- in cold water. Then the hot water comes on and I wash again using my normal products.

Yes, showering in the cold is miserable.

When people ask me how much they should spend on a motorcycle helmet or a car racing helmet, my answer is always 'how much is your brain worth?'

The same concept applies to shooting. Safety first. The $50 in cleaning products and the 10 minutes cleaning post range session and 2 minute cold shower are a small price to pay to avoid heavy metal poisoning and the resultant life-complications.
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Thank you, ordered the hoppes wipes and Dlead soap. Did not think of the hot/cold water much until I read ur post.
 
Just an FYI, I asked for and received a blood test for lead several years running on my annual physical. I have been shooting for decades and reloading, and when I was in high school I shot competitively on the rifle team for 2 years in a poorly ventilated school range. All that said, my lead levels were way at the low end of the scale. As others have written, make reasonable efforts not to ingest lead by eating during or after shooting and wash your hands after reloading or shooting. I toss my clothes in the washer after I'm done shooting and cleaning the firearms after a range trip.

I grew up when the only unleaded gas was for your Coleman stove and breathed and probably ate a bunch of second hand lead. Lead exposure isn't anything to take lightly but it isn't something to be afraid of, rather it is managed. The main concern is lead exposure for children. Keep them out of your reloading area and make sure they wash up after shooting. They are much more effected by it than adults.
 
Strykaar said:
So far I have only been to range twice and each time had to wear a N95 mask and gloves, but will plan to get tested as u suggested, may be like once a year, during routine physicals.
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I think i mis spoke. I meant to say that getting tested turned out to be an over abundance of caution in my case. My doctor questioned me about it eventually and advised that if I am not casting bullets and/or I don't have work related exposure there is no reason to continue testing.
 
I worked in a gun shop, my part time job, for 18yrs. Alot of that time in the range with shooters and cleaning the range. I also spent several years running the local weekly matches, sucking smoke in the range. We had an employee come and go one time that tried to sue, after he was fired, for lead poisoning. Supposedly off the charts levels in his blood. We all got checked, not even close to being above normal levels.
After you shoot, wash your hands and face, blow off or change your clothes, don't lick your bullets.
 
poller said:
Heavy metal exposure is a serious issue for shooters and comes from 2 sources - bullets and primers. If you don't think you're exposed, after a session, blow your nose and look at what comes out...

Immediately after shooting I use Birchwood Casey, Hopes, or Hygenall decontamination wipes/towelettes to wipe down guns, magazines, accessories. I use a separate wipe to clean eye & ear pro, and final wipe for my hands and face.

If I don't have a wipe, at a minimum I wash my hands and face with d-lead hand soap or something similar. I use cold water as hot water opens up your skin pores making it easier to absorb lead and other heavy metals through your skin. Lacking d-lead, I'll use regular soap and water.

When I get home, all clothing gets shed in the laundry room and washed immediately, separate from any other clothing.

Then I shower using d-lead body wash and shampoo -- in cold water. Then the hot water comes on and I wash again using my normal products.

Yes, showering in the cold is miserable.

When people ask me how much they should spend on a motorcycle helmet or a car racing helmet, my answer is always 'how much is your brain worth?'

The same concept applies to shooting. Safety first. The $50 in cleaning products and the 10 minutes cleaning post range session and 2 minute cold shower are a small price to pay to avoid heavy metal poisoning and the resultant life-complications.
Click to expand...
Strykaar said:
So far I have only been to range twice and each time had to wear a N95 mask and gloves, but will plan to get tested as u suggested, may be like once a year, during routine physicals.
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There goes that mask conspiracy again. :rolleyes:
 
OK, here's the deal, take it for what its worth.
USAF firearms instructor for over 17 years. This means I was on the range at least 5 days a week with 15 to 20 shooters.
Cleaned guns, did maintenance on weapons and was exposed to Lead, cleaning solvents, everything you come in contact with being around weapons.
We were tested at least once a year. In all those years I tested high 1 time when we were digging out the back stop of an outdoor range with shovels and buckets, because the lead bullets had built up so much we were getting splatter and ricochets, safety issues. Also worked on many indoor ranges with no problem, good ventilation.
They restricted me from the range for 30 days then retested and I was back within normal ranges, and back to work.
We didn't wear masks, or gloves, gloves when it was cold.
Our qualifications with weapons require each instructor to shoot between 5000-8000 rounds per year.
I also have been a re loader for over 40 years.

So the point.
If you work on a Firing Range get tested once per year. If its an indoor range depending on the ventilation good or bad once to twice a year.
If your just a weekend shooter you probably have nothing to worry about.
If your handling lead and or casting your own bullets, good idea to get checked if your doing a lot of it.

This my experience. Take it for what its worth. If in doubt consult your doctor and request to get tested.
 
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Thanks everyone, I got the information I was looking for. It gives me the confidence and knowledge. Never hurts to be cautious, in that way I keep enjoying my new passion for guns.
 
poller said:
Heavy metal exposure is a serious issue for shooters and comes from 2 sources - bullets and primers. If you don't think you're exposed, after a session, blow your nose and look at what comes out...

Immediately after shooting I use Birchwood Casey, Hopes, or Hygenall decontamination wipes/towelettes to wipe down guns, magazines, accessories. I use a separate wipe to clean eye & ear pro, and final wipe for my hands and face.

If I don't have a wipe, at a minimum I wash my hands and face with d-lead hand soap or something similar. I use cold water as hot water opens up your skin pores making it easier to absorb lead and other heavy metals through your skin. Lacking d-lead, I'll use regular soap and water.

When I get home, all clothing gets shed in the laundry room and washed immediately, separate from any other clothing.

Then I shower using d-lead body wash and shampoo -- in cold water. Then the hot water comes on and I wash again using my normal products.

Yes, showering in the cold is miserable.

When people ask me how much they should spend on a motorcycle helmet or a car racing helmet, my answer is always 'how much is your brain worth?'

The same concept applies to shooting. Safety first. The $50 in cleaning products and the 10 minutes cleaning post range session and 2 minute cold shower are a small price to pay to avoid heavy metal poisoning and the resultant life-complications.
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Trojan makes a full body condom with arms and legs. I swear by them, they even have little fingers and toes,
 
poller said:
Sounds awesome. Perhaps you could send me one (unused, please).
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Sorry bud, we've got one for each family member and one for guests. The guest one was worn by a big ole friendly girl staying the weekend, so it's a bit stretched. But in the words of Roy D. Mercer, "How big a boy are you anyway"?
 
I'll throw my .02 in. I cast about 40# of bullets every week. Last year I sold over 10k (yes thousand) pounds of lead. Every drop of it was sorted from tire weights, without gloves and cooked over a fish cooker in a cast iron pot that will hold 150 lbs at the time. I'm pretty much the poster child for what you shouldn't do with lead. I was checked three times last year and had no detectable lead in my blood. We had the kids checked twice as well and all three of them were without any trace of lead. I know you can get it in your blood, but even shooting very regularly isn't gonna be a problem.
 
I ate the lead in school pencils for years. Crayons as well. I have lead in my leg since fourth grade when a teacher stabbed me with a pencil. You will be fine.
 
BlackGun said:
I ate the lead in school pencils for years. Crayons as well. I have lead in my leg since fourth grade when a teacher stabbed me with a pencil. You will be fine.
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Pretty sure they haven’t used lead in pencils for many, many decades. Pencil “lead” is actually graphite.
 
BlackGun said:
I ate the lead in school pencils for years. Crayons as well. I have lead in my leg since fourth grade when a teacher stabbed me with a pencil. You will be fine.
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So why did a teacher feel the need to stab you? You can't just say that and not tell the story.
 
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