May want to get a lead test kit and check your dishes.
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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
May want to get a lead test kit and check your dishes.
I do all my smelting outdoors in the summer. My casting is done indoors in winter. When it is -40 degrees, I am not about to open any window. I smoke while casting and usually have an open Coke.
I just had a lead test, less than 3....'nuff said.
That's a perfect example of why folks should look elsewhere for things like imported ceramic dishes instread of the "evil" cast shooting industry.
What is "high"?Originally Posted by ciPeterF
Over 30.
I have my lead levels tested three to four times a year. What I've found is that shooting can raise lead levels even more than casting in an area that is not well ventilated. Yes I know that that doesn't make a lot of sense but it is true anyway.
I've taken to not casting during the winter when I'm also not shooting. A couple months off will usually drop my lead levels 10 to 12 points.
i have been shooting at an indoor range since i was 12, reloading since 20, and smelting and casting since 30. now at 50, i went for a physical. i was somewhat concerned by all the press on lead so i asked the dr to do a lead test. so 40 years of weekly shooting at an indoor range with no ventalation, 30 years af weekly reloading, 20 years of smelting and casting. then add on top of that 30 years of skeet competition and reloading. the net result my lead level was a whopping 4. i don't buy the overreactionary bull. if you are not eating the lead or being shot, you are not getting lead poisioning.
I'm trying to see what ciPeterF and his doctor call "high." As lead in the environment falls, lead levels that used to be no cause for concern are now seen as "high" to some.
In recent years mine has wandered between 16 and 29. 16 doesn't concern me. 29 did. By correlating times at the range and casting sessions with blood lead levels I've become convinced that shooting can be just as big a problem as casting.
got blood work today for my cholesteral. I also had my Dr add lead check to the test. I'll find out in a few days.
"A gun in the hands of a bad man is a very dangerous thing. A gun in the hands of a good person is no danger to anyone except the bad guys." ~ Charlton Heston, 1997
Floating between 25 and 30 depending on the month..
The most important part of supporting a sport...... "Showing Up"
Lets see......... I'm seventy years old, have been range officer at our indoor range for over twenty years. Started casting fifty years ago and still at it. Last physical was in 1978 or so to renew my flight physical for my pilots license. Haven't seen a doctor since except for a couple of second and third degree burns, one in 1986 the last two years ago. I smoke, until twenty five years ago two packs of regular camels a day. Since then a pound or two a month of pipe tobacco and I inhale every puff. Two years ago on the visit to the ER for the burn, the doc listened to my heart and lungs and congratulated me for not being a smoker as my lungs were "very clear". I told him I was a three pack a day camel smoker and that his stupid AMA didn't know its ass from a hole in the ground. He laughed and admitted that he smoked also. Gee do you think that's why his fingers were stained brownish yellow?
Mood swings? Absolutely not as I'm generally pissed 24/7.
Marty-hiding out in the hills.
I have been casting for going on 38 years, some years more than others.
Years ago I worked in a gold mine in Nevada, where we all had to be tested for mercury and they may have tested for lead as well, but if they did, I didn't think to ask about the lead levels, and if they were high, they would have said something.
I would run the furnace for the refiner since he liked the way I did the pours, and never wore a respirator like he did. There were a couple of times I was banned from the refinery due to elevated mercury levels, so I started wearing the face mask.
I did manage to get an umbilical hernia from loading a 5 gallon bucket of WW's into the back of the truck without any help during that time. The hernia didn't hurt unless I irritated it by poking the fat back into the hole, but the repair hurt like the dickens. Does that count?
Marty ...LOL
Iceman, I would have agreed wholeheartedly with you till my lead levels went up this summer. Never saw the inside of the indoor range for 5 months.. As I mentioned previously, still trying to work out if I am getting some exposure thru handling....(don't smoke and wash many, many times a day when working with it..)
The most important part of supporting a sport...... "Showing Up"
Slow Elk 45/70
Let me see, I was about 7years when I started casting lead toy soldiers, and fishing sinkers, 13 when I started casting boolits and have been at it ever since.
So I guess I qualify for long term exposure. I think it was early 70's before I heard that you need to ventelate the area...live and learn, I guess I was lucky??
I've been packing iron & lead since 1967 in the old bod . Thanks to Uncle Ho and his goons. I've been checked several times for metal poisoning, and the levels do go down if you take care and don't sit in a confined space and inhale the fumes.
Older and Smarter, Slow Elk 45/70
Got a phone call from my Dr this evening. She said lead levels in my blood were virtually non-existant!
Got a new Lyman 45 acp mold on the way to me gonna be castin 22 and 45 this weekend. Come on little brown truck!!
"A gun in the hands of a bad man is a very dangerous thing. A gun in the hands of a good person is no danger to anyone except the bad guys." ~ Charlton Heston, 1997
A question for you high volume (1,000+ rounds \ month) cast loaders.. Do you wear latex (or other) gloves when loading?
The most important part of supporting a sport...... "Showing Up"
No need, just wash your hands when you are done.
The solid soft lead bullet is undoubtably the best and most satisfactory expanding bullet that has ever been designed. It invariably mushrooms perfectly, and never breaks up. With the metal base that is essential for velocities of 2000 f.s. and upwards to protect the naked base, these metal-based soft lead bullets are splendid.
John Taylor - "African Rifles and Cartridges"
Forget everything you know about loading jacketed bullets. This is a whole new ball game!
I've tried but I've had a life long skin problem which they make worse in short order.
No. Also I'm not afraid of my shadow, or getting hit by lightning, or getting hit by a meteor!A question for you high volume (1,000+ rounds \ month) cast loaders.. Do you wear latex (or other) gloves when loading?We are turning into a nation of chickens.
The VA didn't send the results of my last lead blood levels out with the last panel they did. My PA can't be bothered to scribble a note on the sheet the computer spits out, says there's not room for it on that sheet. I'll see her in a couple weeks, got to do another panel.
The last one I had a year ago was 5.0. I suspect it may be a bit higher this year, I've been casting/shooting a lot more lead lately.
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| BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
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| C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
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| PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
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