Lead levels in your blood

[cecil]

i shoot Precision Delta 124gr HP bullets for that reason... they do cost more than lead bullets... but . lead content in your body is detrimental to your health..

i also wear a dust mask when taking brass out of a tumbler to prevent from inhaling any harmful compounds..

Edited March 19, 2013 by cecil

[Guest]

I wonder if there is some genetic or dietary factors (besides not eating bullets and fishing weights) about Blood Lead Levels (BLL).

Just today got my BLL results back from the Doc for this year and they were 6 which is pretty typical for me. I've had BLL testing done for the past 28 years and they have always come back with numbers less than 10 except for one year when it was 12. I load and shoot lead, FMJs, JHPs, have been an officer at an indoor shooting range (it was during this period that my BLL was running 8-12), and make and restore tube guitar amps which requires a lot of solder work (my other hobby) so I wouldn't categorize my exposure as minimal. But, I have always practiced good safety and hygiene and avoided eating, drinking, handling anything which might get ingested and am very conscious of the handling of spent primers and tumbler media. I consider myself fortunate not to have high BLL, but also wonder why others who do the same thing have high levels.

[Solvability]

Status update - a year later my lead levels have dropped to below the worry threshold.

My course of action was to wear nitrile gloves when I clean guns and do reloading and case handling. Next was to stop cleaning brass with a vibratory cleaner - I now use a wet process with a cement mixer and I take hand wipes to the range and clean my hands several times during the course of a match or training session. I believe this will be the new normal for me, I do not know which of these actions was the biggest contributor but going forward I will continue all of them.

Edited July 5, 2013 by Solvability

[acu111]

Great tip. I have the same issue although mine is so far < 10.

[coordinator]

Thanks for the tips, my BLL is high and I will employ the aforementioned suggestions.

[dtuns]

It helps to eat lots of greens and donate blood regularly.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

[Nordeste]

I come across a lot of odd things affecting patient test results at work. Also my wife works at a large family medicine clinic that does lead testing for the many battery factories in our area. I flux, cast and size large amounts of lead bullets. I also handle lead daily at work usually wearing nitrile gloves but do not melt or cast any at work. Nine years ago my wife became concerned about my and our young son's lead levels because we were casting and shooting so much. During the same time period my son was shooting 10 meter Air Rifle indoors every day. After having our blood drawn frequently over a two year period she finally gave up except for annual checkups. Our lead levels were always at a very minimal level. The main policy I try to follow is always tumble brass, flux, cast size and reload in a very large room or shop. I have a feeling and this is just a feeling that most lead exposure to reloaders comes from tumbling brass in small, closed reloading rooms with not much air exchange instead of the actual shooting. There is a lot of lead residue left on that fired brass and the cleaning process gets it into the air.

Interesting point here. I had read about lead exposure due to dust from the tumbling media before. When I pick up brass from the range or shoot I always was my hands thoroughly after that, and before I put my cases in the tumbler, they get a "wash" inside an empty coffee can with soap, hot water and white vinegar. Then they get a neutralizing rinse bath with hot water and baking soda (that stops the acid's action on the brass) and are left to dry on a towel or hand dried with a hair dryer (five minutes do). After that they get resized and decapped. At this stage most of the carbon from inside the cases is gone, as is the dirt and mud from the range, but the primer residue is well visible, so they go straight to the ultrasonic cleaner which takes care of that and leaves them really clean, but not shiny. They could be reloaded straight away after the ultrasonic, but as I like them shiny, they usually get a couple of hours in the tumbler. I know it's a long process but it makes for really shiny cases, clean primer pockets and clean media, as all the toxic residue is gone down the toilet when the cases hit the tumbler.

I decided to do it this way since my tumbler is in a small room (no way to put it elsewhere) that I keep well ventilated and was concerned about the toxic residue that could get airborne when separating the media from the cases. This way, what goes inside the tumbler are cases that are already clean in and out, and with clean primer pockets. Whatever dust gets airborne shouldn't contain much lead. I also keep the dust at a minimum by using a metal cleaning solution added to the media and a dryer sheet cut in stripes, that I replace regularly.

I plan on simplifying this procedure when I get a universal decapping die that I have ordered. I'll just decap the cases and drop them in the ultrasonic cleaner, so no need for the first step. Once they're out of the ultrasonic and dry, they can go into the tumbler for polishing.

I also plan on building a wet tumbler some day. Whenever I do so, it's likely that my tumbler and ultrasonic will be for sale. It's the perfect way of avoiding any lead contamination at home.

Something I'm very careful with is used primers disposal. I use a Lee Classic Turret and when I remove the primer pick up tube, I drop them inside a plastic bottle that's half full of tap water. The trick is flipping the tube upside down into the bottle carefully, and empty it inside it. The water gets an interesting green colour. When that bottle is full, I take it to a recycling plant nearby home where they handle toxic waste (used motor oil, old electric appliances, batteries and stuff like that).

So far I haven't tested my blood levels, but with all this precautions I'm taking plus the fact that I shoot outdoors, I guess I should be OK.

[bobert1]

Mine dropped a point to 20. Again no concern expressed by my VA Doc. I do donate platelets every 2 weeks. May be the reason.

[DW 10mm]

My Doctor told me that BLL blood tests are not very accurate. There is another test where you spit in a cup everyday for two weeks. PIA but supposed to give much more reliable results.

[Steve RA]

Got my results back - 10 - not great but not too bad.

[doc38]

I was worried about this for a while. From everything I have studied, dust and smoke from primers is the culprit. I am transitioning to wet media tumbling. The rest of it is just good hygene. I don't worry a second about casting lead bullets, other than just basic hygene.

[Maynoal]

It seems to me that during the shooting the shooter breathes the smell of lead, which naturally remains in the body, so I keep the weapon away from the face, or I wear a protective mask

[Ynorydigam]

This is very dangerous in my opinion.

[Sarge]

1 hour ago, Ynorydigam said:

This is very dangerous in my opinion.

What is?

[Doc1]

I use d-lead soap/wipes at the range or after reloading. I also wear gloves when cleaning/tumbling brass and handling steel targets. I wear a mask at indoor ranges.

[blasterboy]

I don't worry much about handling, cleaning brass or reloading.  Lead is either inhaled as fume or ingested as dust, The exposure from these activities is very low, wash your hands after.  While shooting indoors or casting your own lead bullets, I'd use a decent half face respirator with a set  P100 filters, you'll be fine.  Besides shooting, I've worked at a lead smelter for the past 8 years if that counts for anything and my levels are below the plant average.

[StuckinMS]

Eating green vegetables allows the body to naturally filter out the lead.  Turnip or spinach greens are the best performing.   I use nitrile gloves when reloading,  my spent primers dump into a jar with a clear tube running through the lid to keep dust down.  I remove tumbled brass outdoors with a fan blowing the dust away from me.

[MikeyScuba]

Do those lead wash/wipes actually contain something that binds to lead?

 

one thing that I see but don’t do is dry tumbling indoors.  I must say that at the last indoor match we went to those of us in the last squad who stuck around to clean up had masks. But not everyone seems to care.   A good friend who is working his way up (practicing indoors) is oblivious and I gave him a spare N100 mask I had when he was shooting cleanup last week.

[shootmove]

This is something I think about a lot. I am a chemist by training, but not a doctor . So please take the following with a grain of salt, and carefully research and consult a medical professional before taking supplements etc.

 

Here's my personal list of physical precautions to reduce lead exposure (deliberately repeating some points from earlier for the benefit of future readers)

• Use clean ammo (I've had good luck with Speer Lawman Cleanfire; there's also American Eagle with toxic-metal free primer; often these are classified as TMJ = total metal jacket bullets)
• Hand wipes (for hands, mouth area, grips, etc.)
• Nasal filters - sounds nuts, but you can barely see these and, in my experience, they do reduce odor. I've been using the Woody Knows brand. I know people who get headaches after shooting, and these filters may help. Be sure to get the ones that remove organic compounds.
• Wash hands and face after shooting. 

On the nutritional side, there is an entire science of "chelation therapy" that I won't get into. You can search the medical literature on compounds like EDTA and DMSA that remove lead from the body. A perhaps simpler method to lower lead absorption is "selective uptake." Lead and other heavy metals compete with other minerals for absorption (e.g. zinc). The idea is that if your body is saturated with the right minerals, it is less likely to absorb and incorporate lead from the environment. Selective uptake is precisely the reason that Potassium Iodide is issued to nuclear fallout victims: if your body is saturated with non-radioactive iodine, you'll be less likely to assimilate radioactive iodine.

Edited December 26, 2018 by shootmove
correct

[MikeyScuba]

Your body can’t tell the difference between lead and calcium.  It’s when  lead gets used for neurons in the brain instead of calcium that causes problems for young growing bodies.  And just slowly f**s up the rest of us.

 

i take a multi mineral supplement as too much calcium can be a problem as well.  I use one in caps, the horse pill pressed tablets sometimes don’t dissolve.  I use bone up by jarrow.

[dccarper]

Thanks for the tips 

[highhope]

don't shoot indoor range, the lead level will decrease. Or wear p100 mask if you have only indoor.

mine is 13 now

[MikeyScuba]

I use Fiochii lead free primers, helps, especially when the exhaust fans don’t work like the other day!

[jessesmith121]

just got my test done... lets see what happens

[RedlandsShooter]

I just got my test results for the first time , it is 28.  So, I need to make some changes and be more conscientious about limiting exposure. Things I changed immediately,: cut the two indoor steel matches out of my monthly schedule, wear a mask and gloves during reloading, switch to jacketed bullets, use gloves during wet tumble brass processing and use delead wipes often at matches before eating.  

 

The doc wants to run another test in 3 months, I am hoping for some appreciable decline.  My buddy that works at an indoor range has a much lower level than me and from his experience he said the only way to get an appreciable decline is stop shooting for six months.  I will if I have to but there are a few more changes I can invoke first such as switching to lead free primers and cutting all indoor matches out of my schedule ( still shoot about four outdoor matches/month).