I know a lot of Doublegun shooters reload. I reload about 10,000
shells per year. I have the usual dropped lead shot on the floor.
Am I exposing myself to dangerous levels of lead. I am 58.
PDD
Probably not. Keep your loading area clean and you should be OK. Don't allow build-ups of lead or powder dust - clean that loader frequently.
Bullet casting is the activity requiring the most care - both for lead fumes and for burns.
Next trip to the Dr. ask for a blood test to detect levels of lead. Easy and not terribly expensive.
Jim
I have reloaded for years, fished with lead weights for years and used lead wheel weights on my cars and lead flashing on my roof and sucked my lead pencil whilst thinking what to write next.It doesn't seem to have harmed me and I'm 60 years old.
Mad as a hatter but not harmed.
Cars kill more people than lead and bullets but do we give them up?Most people die in bed, that's why I work all hours.
Burn a bit of lead paint off clapboards or shutters. Only takes about a day without a filter respirator to start putting the wrong beginnings on your words. Back when they mixed powdered white lead in paint (not so long ago as my dad did it in the Weirton WVA mills before The War), the exposure level was pretty telling. Presumably the same for those who wigged out on wig powder.
jack
I reloud and seeem two haf no ill affects.
Very little risk in reloading shotgun shells
IN AN ADULT who is careful not to smoke or eat while doing so, and washes hands afterwards.
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/Lead-Poisoning-Topic-OverviewLead however is very toxic to children and any potential for exposure must be avoided.http://health.utah.gov/epi/fact_sheets/leadguide.html
From what I see when I dump a bag of shot into another container (8lb plastic powder jugs in my case), this may be the single task attendant to shotgun reloading during which a particle mask might be in order. Perhaps while filling shot bottle also. If you can see that silvery lighter-than-air dust, you are breathing it.
jack
That dust you see is probably graphite, rather than lead. Many of us grew up eating quail and other critters that assumed room temperature after multiple lead injections. I'm sure we swallowed some, occasionally. Did any of us die from it? I didn't, yet.
I certainly recommend not inhaling while pouring shot and always was my hands after reloading session. Ditto after going to the bathroom.
I've inhaled a few times after going to the bathroom and agree that on average not doing so is pretty good advice. Is there any type of lead shot that undergoes a milling operation? Is shot still dropped or has the method of manufacture undergone some changes?
jack
Thanks to all, I think in the future I will be sure to wash my hands like a doctor when I finish reloading. I did not realize
lead was so toxic.
PDD
Northwest claims they drop theirs. I think it's still the easiest way.
Jack, The shot in S & B ammunition was/is[?] rolled to final dia. I have no idea if it was dropped before milling, but it could have been. Shot towers & dropping is the least expensive method of mfg. I also think that the Italian RC ammunition mills the shot for their 'trap' loads, BICBW.
Salopian, Best quit the beaver hats, if'n you're mak'n 'em;-) Mad hatters' origins, ya know, but its Mercury, not lead, that was causal.
A few nut cases are about in the reloading community, but they were dense t' begin with and then went & did something really stupid. Lead poisoning, from reloading[?], you prolly need to wash more than your hands, but do at least that, always.
PPD, Before you go and get all upset, I do understand that it is an honest question and one that deserves an honest answer. I have several close friends whose careers have been spent in the medical field ranging from current heads of quite serious transplants to pathology and they assure me that my response is both frank & accurate. Do with it what you will.
All the hubub, IMHO, is mostly just that, melded w/ a good dose of tort. Skakespeare was, in some ways, a predecessor of Jefferson.
If you can see that silvery lighter-than-air dust, you are breathing it.
jack
Lighter than air lead dust? Come now, Jack. As it was said, it is graphite dust.
When I got diagnosed with gout last year, I noted in the literature that one high risk group for the malady is lead workers and miners.
Since I load about 500 high power loads a year and probably twice as many shotshells, plus have pellets in my mouth monthly as I eat my fall harvest, I figured it was worth the cost to get a lead blood level test. It was within the normal range.
One of my jobsites requires annual bloodtests due to high concentrations of lead, arsenic and cadmium in some areas of the plant.
So my company pays to keep me apprised of my blood lead levels. I haven't had time to load much in the last two years but even with work exposure and reloading exposure my blood lead levels are in the low norm range.
Take some care and wash your hands but this is overblown IMO.
I agree with revdocdrew that, while it may be overblown for adults, it is a definite concern for young children.
My sister is a child psychologist - when she was in graduate school she worked on a study testing the effects of very, very low levels of lead exposure. The government labels any amount over 10 µg/dL as harmful. The study my sister worked on found that even at as low as 3 or 4 µg/dL lead has negative developmental effects - reduced I.Q. - more behavioral issues, etc.
In her educated opinion there is no "safe level" of lead exposure for kids under age 6.
I stand corrected at least twice.
jack
I believe toothpaste used to come in lead lined tubes as we use to wrap strips around our fishing lines to add weight. Also dentist use to use lead for fillings and i have a mouthful of them! Jon can correct me on the dentist part if i am wrong. Bobby
Amalgom? wasn't that what they call it?
Well, that mercury must be working on my mind!!!!
Mostly they've ground that stuff out and replaced with the current thermosetters. Looks like some of us have been killed ten times over and are here to tell about it. And on the lead balloon note, I accept that the stuff I'm seeing above the rattling shot is graphite lube but does anyone think like I do that a heavy element such as lead can be ground into a fine enuf flour to remain airborne long enuf to get a whiff? Remember I never said lead is lighter than air. Neither is wheat or corn until ground exceedingly fine. The paint mixer and wig powderer ailment suggests that lead dust do indeed "float".
jack
rabbit - yep, lead can be ground very fine. However, I doubt that shot on shot grinding would produce much, if any, that was that fine. The graphite is already that fine. The "float" is very short term unless the powder is much finer than shot on shot is going to make.