Originally Posted by mauserand9mm
Originally Posted by Sandlapper
Originally Posted by mauserand9mm
Originally Posted by Sandlapper
Originally Posted by flintlocke
Could it be something of a misnomer? The fumes from expended nitro compounds can cause vicious headaches...in extreme cases, a debilitating headache similar to migraine. High percentage dynamite is brutal in underground mining and tunneling. Not everyone suffers from it, and eventually the new miner builds a resistance to it. I worked for an underground mining outfit in Idaho briefly, the miners would shoot their shot just at quitting time, let the face ventilate overnight before going back the next day to muck out. New miners were advised to smear a little dynamite on their hardhat headband to get over 'powder headache'. I think it was nothing more than a cruel joke.

Gough Thomas wrote that the nitrites and nitrates in the fumes of nitro powder are vasodilators that can cause gun headaches, "especially in individuals not habituated to them."

I think you mean nitrogen oxides (and dioxide) - these are gaseous and termed NOXs. Nitrates and nitrites are not gaseous.

NOXs can inflame and damage the respiratory system over time - I don't believe they cause headaches or are present in signifcant quantities in burnt powder. I'm aware of lead causing more issues in poorly ventilated indoor ranges rather than NOXs.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

Someone in Oz read Gough Thomas' book, too. grin

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

https://www.claytarget.com.au/joomlatools-files/docman-files/CTSN/1990/1990_V43_12_Dec.pdf

Thanks for the snippets and links.

The aussie article simply references the original article so is not additional evidence or finding - he's just perpetuating the idea.


There's nothing else to support the production of nitrates and nitrites from burning nitrocellulose. The original article is a leap of faith connection made by someone without any expertise in the matter ie making something up.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/gunpowder

Gunshot Residue

GSR consists of unburned or partially burned gunpowder particles, soot, nitrate, and nitrites from the combustion of the powder, particles of primer (oxides of lead, antimony, and barium), and particles of the bullet or the bullet jacket that are vaporized when a firearm is discharged (Rowe, 2000). They are projected from the barrel in a conical cloud; and they are also expelled from the various openings of the weapon such as the chamber, the ejection port, and the slide action.