Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Hazmat Exposure

I try to be as safe as possible when I'm working with firearms.

I don't take food or drink into the room where I'm reloading
I wash my hands after handling firearms and reloading components
I cast lead outdoors
. . . etc.

I just came up from the Shamanic Secret Underground Reloading Facility, where I was giving a once-over to the deer battery, and the thought occurred to me: Exactly what am I exposing myself to these days?

I generally don't shoot old ammo with corrosive primers. Most of what I shoot anymore are reloads made with components that are less than 20 years old. When I'm not doing that, I'm shooting black powder.

Put your hands in The Hands of the Man Who stilled the waters then, rely on His guidance, don't worry, be happy.

I'd waste my time finding something real to worry about...

Damn Shaman if you worry about crap like that you have lived a sheltered life. I farmed-worked the oil patch- mechanic etc. more deadly chemicals than most people ver imagine and I’m still kicking at 70.
I worry more about falling on the ice and breaking something than I do any of the crap you mentioned. Just relax man. Edk

I'm not all worked up. I'm just asking.

When I started reloading 20+ years ago, I was warned that I needed to worry about both lead and mercury. I take it that is much of an issue anymore.

There is no mercury to speak of in primers like there once was. Lead is your biggest exposure these days.

You worry overmuch. I was born before the start of WW2 so I'm a bit long in the tooth. I probably ate chips of leaded paint off my crib.
I was into shooting at age 11 and into reloading including casting my own bullets at age 16. I cast my bullets in my grandfather's basement. No ventilation. Years later I had a part time job on an LGS casting bullets. Room we worked in was about 15 x20 feet, usually two of us running two 20 pound pots each. Drain one while the other was melting the next bath. Used two four cavity molds alternating back and forth. Room was kept closed and we drank and ate while working as well.

When they started making this huge fuss about lead, my wife insisted I get checked out. I don't remember the numbers but the lead in my system was considered normal for a person born at the time I was. Periodical checks since then have shown no change in the results.

OH, and on mercurial primes, the only bad effect is it destroys the brass for reloading. Corrosive primers are only a hazard to the metal of your firearm. Causes them to rust badly

Like I said, you worry overmuch. One thing that apparently helped keep lead levels in check is I drank lots of orange juice. Seems it has a tendency to chelate lead from the body. I would imagine lemon and lime juice might do so as well but too tart for my tastes.
PJ

Don't move to California. All kinds of items that are innocuous elsewhere are carcinogens there.

I don't exactly worry and I test fine. I do have d'Lead soaps and wipes on hand in industrial quantities. I'll use a d'Lead wipe if I eat free barbecue and hot dogs during open range day events. I take precautions with my hands and clothes if I fire rimfire prone on indoor ranges and other relatively high lead exposure situations. I'm nowhere near so comfortable on indoor ranges as I once was but I suppose modern standards for ranges have made indoor ranges far more lead safe than in my youth fifty years ago and more. No question some people have had their quality of life seriously affected by lead exposure on ranges and I've known a few rangemasters whose access to the range and so their job was affected. With the end of leaded gasoline I suspect the environmental load is so small that most people most of the time will never even come close to noticing an effect. Then again I suspect the optimal exposure is none.

i would think that lead and solvents pose the greatest potential for harm, however small that may be.

gun stuff that might hurt you? well I'll tell a little stupid story about myself. Back when I was a youngster I mean a real youngster in the cold winter time so they stayed warm and I could load it faster I kept lead pellets between my lip and gum kind of like a dip or in this case maybe a dipshit , for my air gun when I was out walking around as a kid in the timber shooting squirrels and such. by all the government warnings I should have died long ago but it has not affected me none. well some might say brain damage is possible but I would disagree.. 😁😁

I didn't see a question.

Back in the '80s when I was playing mountain man, we would run a timed course to start with a loaded rifle and shoot several targets moving through the woods. One guy would put his extra round balls in his mouth and load them without patches to speed up the process. It wasn't as accurate as patching them, but the targets were pretty close and any hit counted. That trick worked really well for him until one day he got ready to load for the last target and didn't have a ball left.

I guess it passed eventually.

When casting and handling lead either wear gloves or wash hands with soap and water before eating/touching mouth and eyes.

Melt and cast outside or in an area with positive ventilation.

When I oversaw hazardous waste management I don't recall lead toxicity issues (good management practices prevailed) but there was an instance where guys processing spent fluorescent light bulbs would step outside for a smoke without cleaning up and they had mercury toxicity issues.

I worked underground for 30 years, about 3 months out of each year. I probably stacked few hundred ton of lead brick and shot for radiation shielding, breathed diesels fumes from train motors,silica dust from the hard rock mining drilling, breathed the same air that drillers and jack hammers used, but it was suppose to be filtered. Many times got more than 300 mr of radiation in a day.. Early days (60's), limit was 5000 mr /yr ,then it was cut to 2500 mr, then a 1000 mr then 500 mr. Too late, I have more than a life time permitted of radiation dosage. I was barred for a year from going into any radiation environment. All during that time, I was casting lead bullets at home when not traveling. I probably ate several pounds of lead shot from shotgun hunting of rabbits, pheasants and rifle bullet fragments in elk, deer, and pronghorn deer hunting.

All this but what got me was asbestos. Cutting and machining a product that was 50 % asbestos and 50% cement for work. Again radiation shielding.. First diagnosed with asbestosis in 2020. It took battling with the feds until 2021 to get them to pay for my illness. Now the Department of Labor pays for my oxygen, treatments, medications and bi-annual test to monitor progression . Medical term is Pneumonconiosis due to Asbestosis. Parts of your lung die off.

Quit worrying about all the carcinogens and nasty stuff it will be one that you least expect that gets you.My brother and long time hunting partner did none of that. He was in construction most of his life. He passed away today, mostly from Chron's disease that ate away his intestines.Years ago,my older sister died of breast cancer. She never smoke a day in her life.

Condolences, saddlesore.

Right! Be a man.

Thinking back to the days of holding a lip full of pellets for the air rifle.
Spitting them into my hand for a quick reload.

Biting split-shots open or to crimp them.

Never hurt me.
Too much.

IIRC, Mike Venturino addressed the lead issue.
Has had his blood tested multiple times, no sign of elevated lead levels.
And he's probably had more opportunity for lead ingestion than almost all here.
Again, IIRC.

I've been working with reloading components and industrial cleaning chemicals for 40 years now with no special precautions and no probremlsss yeprrrppttt....was ther keston?