I remember my grandmother telling me when I was little that smoking was only bad for you if you had a pre existing condition. I also talked to a cop whose department used a basement shooting range and they all had high levels.
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10 mcg/dL or less
11 to 25 mcg/dL
25 to 44 mcg/dL
45 mcg/dL or more
I've never been tested, but show no symptoms
I've never been tested, but DO show symptoms
My doctor prescribed treatment
My doctor did not prescribe treatment
I remember my grandmother telling me when I was little that smoking was only bad for you if you had a pre existing condition. I also talked to a cop whose department used a basement shooting range and they all had high levels.
You better watch where you go and remember where you beenThat's the way I see it I'm a Simple Man. - Charlie DanielsFor if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. -Matthew 6:14-15
My original point was that the regulators keep lowering the "safe limit" not for scientific reasons but because is lets them be seen "doing something" and increases their control.
>I remember my grandmother telling me when I was little that smoking was only bad for you if you had a pre existing condition. I also talked to a cop whose department used a basement shooting range and they all had high levels.
Apocryphal stories do not make fact or prove anything. The EPA, years ago, tried to shut down a town where lead mining had been going on for years due to lead content over "their" limit in the dirt. All citizens were tested for blood lead and found to be below the US norm and their lawyers got the EPA out of town. Does this PROVE that high lead levels in the dirt is not important?
Your body, after a few million years of adaptation, appears to be able to handle heavy metals fairly well, except for very young children. Just remember what the real purpose of lead levels has been--not your safety, but stopping the use of lead bullets. That has been the direct area EPA and state agencies have been after.
Finally, one blood test in meaningless, since they are measuring EXTREMELY small levels. It would take about three tests, by different labs, to even approach having any real idea of the blood lead level.
All I know is I worked with lead and had my blood tested about 35 years ago and it was 6 (whatever numbers) and when I tested about 4 years ago (after spending about 40 years shooting almost exclusively in indoor ranges and smelting and casting my own lead), my blood level was still 6. I did not have the tests repeated, as that costs more money, but I'm not overly worried.
As my doctor told me about 2 years ago, I'm too old for it to matter any more (I was 63 at the time).
Find something important to worry about.
That's just your point of view.Originally Posted by noylj
Blood test negative for lead levels
- I make a point of shooting outdoors with wind at my back when possible.
- spent a number of years as indoor range officer and most facilities have inadequate ventilation if built more than 15 years ago in my experience.
je suis charlie
It is better to live one day as a LION than a dozen days as a Sheep.
Thomas Jefferson Quotations:
"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
What is your BL? negative isnst a lab result....Blood test negative for lead levels
- I make a point of shooting outdoors with wind at my back when possible.
- spent a number of years as indoor range officer and most facilities have inadequate ventilation if built more than 15 years ago in my experience.
havent had a long history of testing but 8 months ago i was 11
and 1 month ago i was 6
i shoot outdoors (but dont take any windy precautions)
this is our pistol range (there is a training building right behind me as i take the pic and extended roof over my head) they poured the fancy cement last fall
i have been shooting there twice/week
smelting range scrap in the garage (in the doorway so it really gets vented well) yeah i know there isnt sucha thing as lead fumes until well past 900F, but.......
and i do cast in the house from clean clean alloy at moderate temps
im not worrying about all this drivel !
but since you all are paying for my testing (medicare so yes i do pay) ill have the lead test done every time i see the vampire (she is a cutie!!)
There may be a certain amount of truth in this - and a certain amount of some other truth about the gasoline, I suppose.
Well, even though the regulations were not made for my safety, it doesn't mean that they do not make sense.
I am there to take care of my own safety, and that means keeping a low lead level if dealing with lead.
Still didnt get the result, will call dr this week to ask. been 2 weeks now.
(Hey, free health system, you get what you pay for).
I was in texas for training this year, and our bus passed in front of an "emergency clinic". It was so funny. There were like 2 cars parked in front, it looked clean, well kept, had cozy furniture, dim lights, a nice waiting room, a receptionist at the desk, lol.
Here, expect to enter the hospital, no parking, old waiting room, sit on a plastic chair, take a number, wait for the nurse to see you while there are sick people crying everywhere around staring at you, and then, you start to notice that there are probably like 30 people in there and that you are never going to be seen by a doctor in less than 8 hours unless you have a heart attack, or start bleeding to death or something, so you just leave..... eh.
I got the results of my latest blood/lead level test. To the surprise of both me and the Doc it is down to 2. Because of health problems, I hadn't been to the indoor range, in over 3 months. I have however cast and loaded more than usual. Most of my previous tests were ~ 4.
My conclusion is that most of the lead in my system, came from inhaling the fumes at the indoor range. My habit of washing and cleaning must work since my handling of lead had increased.
I'm looking for a better ventilated range.
That seems like a very sensible conclusion from evidence. I don't think there is any danger from a shooting range for the person who uses it a normal amount, unless there is something badly wrong with the way it is laid out and ventilated. But there is certainly an argument for having employees, who spend all day there, some way back or screened. Reduces the chances of catching some member of the intellectual classes from doing something more immediately dangerous, though.
Got my results after close to 6 weeks
.2 which is equivalent to 4.14 ug/dl
They consider up to .35 normal (7.25 or so)
Industrial norm used to be 40.... so I'm 10 times lower, and almost half the new norm.
So I'm all good, and that was 6 weeks ago, didnt shoot much and I shot with a respirator last times but once when I had a guest.
Great, so I'll keep taking precautions, and I'm fine. Glad to know.
I'll still shoot with a respirator indoors now though, why not, not like it's an issue anyway.
I do what I can to reduce the risk of lead levels in my body. Never been checked put I'm pretty sure old age will probably cause me to stop casting before lead levels will. My only symptom of high lead levels is my wife accuses me that I need to get the lead out of my butt and fix something around the house.
"Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid." John Wayne
>.2 which is equivalent to 4.14 ug/dl
They consider up to .35 normal (7.25 or so)
Industrial norm used to be 40.... so I'm 10 times lower, and almost half the new norm.
This is my point about almost almost all governmental "limits." They keep going down without any science to back it up. When I was tested in the '70s with a blood lead level of 6, my doctor said I had NO lead in me. Now, I am approaching the upper level for normal (with no numbers I can find showing what REAL national average is or what the real risks are if you over this normal and why the normal has been dropping and the acceptable level has been dropping even faster). I was 6 then and, after 40 years of shooting indoors and casting bullets and everything else, I am still running 6.
It is like my cholesterol. I was at 100, as I remember, in the '70s and the doctor said I had NO cholesterol (different doctor, also). I am still there, but now we have to worry about my LDL being higher than my HDL, though both are below the upper normal level. I asked my current doctor about the real concern and what science was backing up the numbers and he said that they were guidelines.
The one area I find interesting was I went from high triglycerides to low triglycerides from the '80s to now (don't remember numbers, so I don't know if they actually went down or if the levels changed), and eat just as much meat/fat.
You know, Triglycerides and all the other stuff may just have less to do with what you EAT and more to do with what your body PRODUCES!
I just wish that there was NO politics in medicine or climate "science" and we could go back to the scientific method (and not "consensus" science).
I took a home test which tested my urine and reads in ppm. I got 0.2 ppm when I did the test. Somebody check my math, but best I can tell, that's 20 ug/dl. I was concerned that the units (And limits) for blood and urine would be different, but from what I could gather from the internet, the levels are very similar in urine and blood. Anybody done a "Do it yourself home test kit"? Are you comfortable that it is accurate?
I just got my blood lead test results and it is 10.14 ug/dL. I am 59 years old so am not too concerned. I have been shooting for 50 years and spent many hours in poorly ventilated indoor ranges while a teenager. I smelt range lead outdoors and caste in a very well ventilated garage. I think most of my exposure has come from not wearing a face mask while mining lead from the range berms for casting and salvaging brass to sell at the scrap yard for moulds, guns and other fun stuff. In the future, I will wear a mask and see if it brings my lead level down.
I would like to report that at my most recent annual physical, my lead level was lower than a year ago, when it was well within tolerances. The poll would not let me post again.
Micah 6:8
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
"I don't have hobbies - I'm developing a robust post-apocalyptic skill set"
I may be discharged and retired but I'm sure I did not renounce the oath that I solemnly swore!
Having blood test done in a couple weeks for other reasons but had them add the lead test just to see ,at 52 will see
Dave Biesenbach
port charlotte fl
I have a friend that coached small bore at the local high school. he was feeling a little ill for several weeks and did the blood test route as per his doctors advice knowing that he coached the indoor rifle team. the results showed that his blood had elevated levels of lead. he notified the school of this situation who in turn notified the parents of the rifle team members. panic resulted and the small bore program was shut down. my friend had been coaching small bore for over 17 years . with medication his blood was back to normal in a short time
Much a do about..."Nothing?"
Well gang, lead poisoning is real and a real problem. You all may not remember, we, "I" used to add tetrahedral lead to all gasoline coming out of the refinery I worked in for 25 years. Before that, I 'made it' at a lead plant on the ship channel in Houston. It kept your cylinders from pre-ignition. Or simply, removed the 'ping' from your engine when you hit the gas. We were very very very careful with the stuff as we knew, 'it can make you crazy'. In the lead plant, we peed in the bottle once a week and every other week we got stuck with a needle in the infirmary for testing. Uncle Sam found out that when it came out our exhaust pipes over the years, it was making our children stupid. Yes, test scores were dropping and 'they' blamed in on leaded gasoline. So, now, no more leaded gasoline and 'they say' test scores are back where they belong. You tell me, 'right or wrong?' And, also, so goes the way of 'leaded paint'. No mas.
I too have been casting for years. Dug up old water and sewer, cast bell and spigot pipes for years and years and years. (that's a long time) Pulled out all the lead 'seals'... (that's what we used to put in the spigot joints of the pipe so it wouldn't leak).. and took it all home and melted it down, poured it out,,,,loaded it up, shot them indoors and out. Went to tire shops with several pounds of home made deer sausage and seemed to always come home with a few buckets of wheel weights. Same, thing...melt it, pour it, load it, shoot it. And, on occasion, dug up scrap form shooting ranges,,,pulled keel lead out of boats, fished some out of old windows, 'raided' print shops and swapped 'chores and sausage' for lead. I still frequent junk yards and tire shops and always show up there with some of my home made sausage. So far, I know of no one who has become sick or died from the sausage and I can still operate this old computer in a suitable manner to provide my opinions on our sites points of interest. So... my opinion is...
The danger of lead poisoning is indeed real. Thus, I too take precautions. Work outdoors or install indoor ventilation. Wear protective clothing, gloves, face masks, all the appropriate accouterments. Simply, I do not drive down the road with my eyes closed. I suggest to you all, please do the same.
I also believe our hobby is indeed under attack. As is our shooting sports activities as a whole. Shutting down a shooting team because of lead exposure is to me obscene. Would that school shutdown the SWIM Program because of a crack in the pool? But, swimming competition is not under attack. "WE ARE".
I will finish by saying, 'Keep the Faith' and spread the word so tomorrow, after 'we' are gone, there is a cadre of faithful to continue our work.
Nose Dive
Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.
PS: I have been tested many times and have always been shown in the LOW range of exposure.
PSS: "GUNCHEESE"... buddy... that is one FINE shooting range you fellas have there!
I don't claim it isn't a problem, but I had my blood tested; can't remember the results, but the Doc didn't have an attack of the vapors. Casting/Handloading for 40+ years, (76) As a kid, I did LOTS of cane-pole fishing, and bit my split shot sinkers onto the line. Later in life, did the same for trout fishing. During my career, I administered an average of ~a million dollars a year, and was quite successful at what I did.
If I was affected by lead, just imagine what I might have done if I had all my faculties. But, my Pshrink says I can handload as long as I wash my hands before I suck my thumb!
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