dirty brass fumes cause headaches?

[nelsonted1]

This one could make me look stupid. I've purchased three five gallon pails of brass swept up off an indoor range. Been sorting and tumbling the 45 acp- a friend needs all the acp brass he can get to feed a Thompson.

The two sorting days, a week apart, have ended with pounding headaches. I have been careful to not touch my hands to my mouth without washing first so mostly been breathing the fumes. Anything in dirty spent brass to cause headaches? Also, been wondering if my whiplash is causing this (bent-over head too long) but I can't locate a hot spot feeling around my neck. Any clues?

TED

Anyone need any 40 cal or 9mm brass cheap?

[Lloyd Smale]

id guess its probably eye strain from staring at the brass when sorting it along with bending over to look.

[Baldy]

Unless your snorting the burnt powder out of them cases it's a combination of eye strain and your head being bent over for a long time. Get your buddy to help out as he is benefiting from your labor. Good luck.

Best:Baldy.

[medic44]

Most powders are nitro glycerin based. As a paramedic I know that one of the side effects of Nitro is headache. People that work in powder or explosives factories all report headaches when they start working there. I used to work close to an explosives factory and the employees would frequently have heartattacks within 1 month of retiring because they were used to a constant supply of nitro. If the brass is dirty w/ unburned powder and you handle it w/ bare hands the nitro will absorb through your skin

[Dale53]

You might want to wash your brass before you tumble it. Some of us are apparently more sensitive to certain things than others. I have processed thousands of various pistol and rifle cases without a problem but, like I said, we all are a bit different (it has been suggested that I am more different than most but don't you believe it [smilie=1: [smilie=1:

Dale53

[Paladin 56]

Sounds like Medic44 has a good answer, and maybe it's a combo of the nitro and eye strain/bent over.

My dad told me when he was training with M2's in WWII he would get splitting headaches after a short time on the range from smelling the "exhaust" , and when you could still buy dynamite, we blasted a hole in solid limestone for a septic tank. He would get the same type of headache from the dynamite. It never bothered me much, maybe a time or two.

David

[randyrat]

Wash your brass> water, vinigar,a little soap, soak for a few minutes, shake/agitate/stir for a few minutes, rinse real good with hot water and let dry in the sun or near a fan to speed drying. """""cheap and affective"""""" brass will be clean and look great! This will stop the dust. Want your brass with a little more shine> soak a little longer.

[Freightman]

A good canister resparater is cheap protection and sergical gloves are cheap at harbor freight. Wish I had protected my body when I was younger.

[snuffy]

Most powders are nitro glycerin based.

Ummm, no, most powders are nitro CELLULOSE based. Some powders have nitro glycerin in them, know as double based powders, like the Alliant, formerly hercules, powders.

Whether the extremely small ammount of nitro that would be present in unburned powder could be injested could be the culprit, I dunno. But I doubt it.

I HAVE heard that indoor range dust is very flamable, and has high concentrations of lead in it. A flash fire injured several workers at the Glock test range back a couple years ago.

[nelsonted1]

Dad was in a dynamite crew as a kid. He talks of dynamite headaches quite often. That and the boss driving a dumptruck with cases of dynamite sliding around the bed which wasn't very dangerous. The boss had a shirtpocket of blasting caps rattling around which Dad didn't like.

I have a gem tumbler that was made to tumble rocks into diamonds, well... Anyway, it works better and much faster to wash wet than tumble with corn cob. With no dust. Only they aren't shiney new looking.

[mooman76]

Could be all the dust. Maybe a sinus headache. I'm sure the added eys strain helps too. I have a sure cure though. Next time you get a bunch of brass, just send it to me to sort!

[LarryM]

You have no doubt developed a severe and dangerous allergy to used pistol brass so I'll do you a solid and you can just send it to me and I'll keep it away from you to protect your health:bigsmyl2:

[nelsonted1]

Ok all you jokers with the send-to-me ideas. You need cash- bs walks money talks. How about this. I have pushing a thousand empty reloadable 303 brass I could sell.

[medic44]

You guys have got it wrong. The nitro in the powder dialates the cardiac arteries and veins thereby inncreasing blood flow to the heart muscle and also decreases your B/P. Therefore you can tell your wife that you need to mess w/ this powder for your health.:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: I have a 2.2 mile 9 station shooting course that I walk daily for my health. It makes walking more fun if I pop off 45 rds of 45ACP.:mrgreen: :mrgreen: