Are you poisoned? The lead blood levels poll...

[imashooter2]

Every time bullet casting comes up in discussion on another board there will be a poster that responds with something along the lines of:

"OMG! Don't you know that lead is poisonous and hazardous material? Don't go near it or you'll need serious medical help. A single ingot in your basement will kill your parakeet!"

So, we have over 3,000 members here now. A fair percentage of those have been casting a whole lot and for more than just a couple of years. Let's quantify the results...

This poll will allow multiple selections. Please indicate your blood levels and whether or not your doctor prescribed treatment.

[bushka]

I knew a gentleman who,retired,frequented the clubs indoor pistol range matches.
This was an every day thing,or at least every day for a couple years.
His doctor found his levels up there,and had to ask what was up,not knowing of his addiction to Pb.
The range was ventilated,but it will show if you are there enough,range masters and commercial casters are the most susceptible.

[9.3X62AL]

Background--

Part-time police rangemaster, 1983-2005. Active shooting hobbyist since age 10 (1965), with increasing activity levels since that time. I began reloading shotshells at age 16, and metallic ammo at age 21. I began bullet casting in 1980, and have continued at an increasing rate and frequency since that time. I continue to carry 3 shotshell pellets in the facial skull area installed by a customer in 1981.

By virtue of prior assignments as a drug lab investigator (1989) and fire cause/origin investigator (1994), I have since 1990 had annual testing to assess levels of various exposure compounds that are encountered as a part of that prior work. This testing will continue through my natural life, previously annually--now every other year.

The highest blood/lead level I have ever had was 9 mcg/dl, this in the late 1990's. The 2006 level was 8. The docs at Loma Linda University characterized this as "within normal range" for someone living/working in an urban environment. These same medicos advised early-on that shooters or others like me with ongoing exposure to lead consume orange juice frequently, as it is believed to have a chelating effect on lead within one's system. I love to shoot, and I love orange juice!

[Paul B]

I have had a long and nefarious history with lead. I've been casting boolits since I was 16 and I'm 69 years old now. You do the math. I first cast bullets on an old stove in my Grandfather's basement. Horrors, no ventilation. At 18 I went to work part time for a commecial bullet caster. back then it was a bunch of four vacity molds and two 20 pound capacity lead pots going at top temperature settings. The work area was a rather small room with three of us working, so figure six pots at full steam. When my regular job crapped out due to lay offs, I was casting full time 6 days a week at that shop and usually for two or three hours at night at home for my own use. Four years in the military put an end to casting bullets for four years. I went back to it after getting out and have been doing it ever since. With the exception of my current set up, my bullet casting has been under what could be called very poor working conditions. No excuse, I didn't know better and neither apparently did my employer way back when. My current set up is in a shed with a powerful box fan at one window and a separate fan pointing toward the door on the other side. The big fan blows across the pot and the smaller fan directs it out the open door. I don't even smell the stink from cleaning wheel weights.
The reason for the above description is about five years ago, hearing all the worry about lead poisoning ad nauseum, I had my doctor set me up for a lead serum level check of my blood. Fearing the worst, I was highly relieved to find my lead levels were WELL BELOW NORMAL. I emphasize this because it is well below normal according to the current standards for lead in the blood. Sicne it has been many years since lead based paint has been used in homes and baby cribs et al, the standard fpr lead in the system has been to allow less lead than was was deemed allowable.
I guess the question now is, was I just lucky, or has this thing with lead been blown all out of proportion by the ecofreaks and possibly aided by the anti-gun crowd? Look at California, the leader in the anti-lead movement. Now it seems they want to outlaw lead in bullets.
I'm not saying that lead isn't a hazardous material, but what I am saying is is there an agenda behind all the hullabaloo?
Just one man's opinion based on empirical personal experience.
Paul B.

[AlaskaMike]

Deputy Al's mentioning of the recommendation of orange juice fascinated me, so I just did some quick research--apparently vitamin C has a significant effect on either lowering lead levels, or perhaps preventing its absorption in the first place (the stuff I found didn't seem to indicate which). It also appears that iron and calcium help to prevent its absorption (http://www.health.state.ny.us/environmental/lead/handbook/phc10.htm).

Oddly enough, one thing I found indicated that lead is more readily absorbed on an empty stomach. I guess that means I'll be eating a big breakfast before that long casting session! :D

Since diets are very personal things (we eat what we like and tend to ignore advice to change), it's entirely possible that diet may at least partially explain differences like where one person is around lead all the time but has low levels in his/her blood, and another has very limited exposure but exhibits higher levels.

Mike

[RANGER RICK]

Like with a lot of guys on this board we cast bullets and have been for a long time .
My wife was concerned about all my casting and wanted me to do the blood work up.
She works at the hospital and sees all the bad things so she wanted me to do the tests .
No lead at all in my system .
I cast in my shop , I wear a respirator , have the door cracked along with a window open to get a cross breeze .

Most of the hype is from Greenies .
That is the case here anyway . Most of the places I used to get my lead is now getting it picked up by a green outfit so it can be properly disposed of !!!!!!

[centershot]

For the vast majority of us casting bullets is not a problem, relative to lead poisoning. If you are careful not to eat, drink or smoke until AFTER you have washed your hands (while casting/handling lead), you're probably OK! The majority of high lead levels among casters & shooters can usually be traced back to lots of shooting on an indoor range. You'll pick up a lot more lead from the spent primer residue in the gunsmoke than you will by casting bullets!

centershot


"Only two things are infinite; the universe and human stupidity.......and I'm not sure about the universe."

Albert Einstein

[dubber123]

Although I haven't had the illustrious casting career of Paul B., my casting, I am sorry to say hasn't been in a super safe environment either. I cast in a basement due to the cold weather present in VT. for most of the year. I also tend to drink alot of beer in the process. I do keep the beer about 5 feet away. (mostly to keep from spilling it in the pot). I have been tested twice in the last year after this site prompted me to worry. Both tests came back normal. I don't recommend my practices, but get tested before freaking out over your lead exposure.

[Lee]

I'm going out on a limb here, so to speak. As I understand it lead can be a cumulative poison, it can collect in your body faster than your body can dispose of it. Lead is everywhere, courtesy of Mother Nature. Many ores and minerals contain lead, and I don't even know what the "background level" is, DEPENDING ON LOCATION!
Now, certain of the lead compounds in paint have a "sweet" taste, and in the late 70's/early 80's it was discovered that the unsupervised, cooped-up, window-sill chewing, primarily inner-city aboriginies, were developing severe cases of lead poisoning. I don't doubt it. But, like all of you on this forum, I grew up in a family where eating paint from sills and walls was discouraged, to say the least.
Consider that lead paint is not 100% pure lead, and not 100% of ingested lead remains in the body, and that it is slowly excreted by the body, if you do the math, you will discover that you have to eat a lot of window sills and walls to develop lead poisoning. Yep, I "know" that it killed the Romans from their lead pipes, but unless I'm mistaken, that is just another Greenies romantic theory. Personally I think their Democratic arrogance did them in! I'll stop for now, because the more I get into this "lead" thing, the more frustrated and angrier I become...........Lee;-)

[Scrounger]

Bottom line, eat potato chips and drink Screwdrivers while you cast.

[dubber123]

Scrounger, It's always been beer and casting for me, but I do like screwdrivers, so I may have to switch. On your recommendation of course!

[Kraschenbirn]

Just had had my annual physical last week and requested a Pb test along with my regular labs. Came back with a "slightly elevated" 14 mcg/dl reading. Considering that I've been shooting/casting Pb for almost 40 years...and even worked with a commercial bullet casting operation (Bull-X), helping set up their production work flow, for a short time about 20 years ago...I don't figure that's too shabby a number. Of course, if I'd had my lead level checked about 8 or 9 years ago, it would've probably been considerably higher 'cause I was a 2-pack+ a day smoker and can't recall ever bothering with any special precautions while I was casting or reloading.

Bill

[piwo]

My level was two..... and I had the test done last month. I told my doc we will test for it every spring (I have semi-annual blood testing for high cholestorol).

[dmftoy1]

So I've never been tested but I'm curious . .what are the symptoms of elevated lead?

[imashooter2]

So I've never been tested but I'm curious . .what are the symptoms of elevated lead?

Signs and symptoms in adults
Although children are primarily at risk, lead poisoning is also dangerous to adults. Signs and symptoms of lead poisoning in adults may include:

* Pain, numbness or tingling of the extremities
* Muscular weakness
* Headache
* Abdominal pain
* Memory loss
* Mood disorders
* Reduced sperm count, abnormal sperm

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/lead-poisoning/FL00068/DSECTION=2

[Lee]

1) Pain?..yep every morning, thats how I know I'm still alive
2)Muscular weakness. Uh-huh..........
3)Headache. Yup, uh huh, uh huh......
4)Abdominal pain....?????
5)What are we talking about??
6)Don't F*** with me and I won't F*** with you.
7)Ain't counted 'em since I got em' fixed.

With all due respect to the posters here who are trying to help, this self lead test screening is about as accurate as Ann Landers "Are You An Alcoholic??" test.

Mercury. Played with it as a kid. You all did. Then it got poisonous. Read the Greenies reactions to a broken thermometer in a school nowadays. Got to get the overpaid HazMats Suits out there to clean up, then determine that it was an alcohol thermometer after all. Jerks. Jerks. Jerks.
When the gun banners, and lead banners, and mercury banners, and ???banners are done, cars will still kill more people each day than any war ever did.

Stop this thread. I got news for you; Yer gonna die. Live life and enjoy it. Do stupid crap and enjoy it too, just not as long.

Give it up man. I for one am getting tired of hearing about it. Get a life;-) .............................Lee

[imashooter2]

1) Pain?..yep every morning, thats how I know I'm still alive
2)Muscular weakness. Uh-huh..........
3)Headache. Yup, uh huh, uh huh......
4)Abdominal pain....?????
5)What are we talking about??
6)Don't F*** with me and I won't F*** with you.
7)Ain't counted 'em since I got em' fixed.

With all due respect to the posters here who are trying to help, this self lead test screening is about as accurate as Ann Landers "Are You An Alcoholic??" test.

Mercury. Played with it as a kid. You all did. Then it got poisonous. Read the Greenies reactions to a broken thermometer in a school nowadays. Got to get the overpaid HazMats Suits out there to clean up, then determine that it was an alcohol thermometer after all. Jerks. Jerks. Jerks.
When the gun banners, and lead banners, and mercury banners, and ???banners are done, cars will still kill more people each day than any war ever did.

Stop this thread. I got news for you; Yer gonna die. Live life and enjoy it. Do stupid crap and enjoy it too, just not as long.

Give it up man. I for one am getting tired of hearing about it. Get a life;-) .............................Lee

Well, just in case you didn't notice, the point of this poll is so I can link it from other boards when the "casting lead will kill you" guy posts. As for the symptoms... you're a rational adult. You can tell the difference between normal aging and the sudden onset of unusual pain, unexplained weakness, headache and the rest.

BTW, If you are tired of hearing about it, stop clicking on threads that have titles saying they contain topics you don't want to see. It's a simple and elegant solution.

[tom barthel]

I don't really worry about it. I feel blessed to have survived as long as I have. I'll probably expire as a result of death no matter what I do. I just give thanks for every day and keep going. The only way I'll worry about lead poisening is if someone shoots me.

[PatMarlin]

I think there is a far greater threat with the toxins in our food chain, water supply, and meat today than there ever was and is- or should be more of a concern than casting lead boolits.

I've never known so many people to come down with cancer, as I see know. Seems like eveyone is getting it.

And we all know what a great job our government is doing to inspect and regulate what we put in our mouths. Specially now with the help from our buddies in China supplying things like wheat gluten and other food additives.. :roll:

[Iceman]

Every time bullet casting comes up in discussion on another board there will be a poster that responds with something along the lines of:

"OMG! Don't you know that lead is poisonous and hazardous material? Don't go near it or you'll need serious medical help. A single ingot in your basement will kill your parakeet!"

So, we have over 3,000 members here now. A fair percentage of those have been casting a whole lot and for more than just a couple of years. Let's quantify the results...

This poll will allow multiple selections. Please indicate your blood levels and whether or not your doctor prescribed treatment.

I have cast bullets most of my life (62), have been a commercial caster for ten years with three automatic casters and two lubers, but my lead level has NEVER been elevated. I attribute this to two things; most lead is taken into the body orally, transferred from your hands and injested through cigarette smoking (from lead on the cigarette paper), or on food caused by not washing hands. I have never smoked, and wash hands many times through the day. These are the hazards of the caster. The major cause of high lead levels in shooting indoors, even with excellent ventilation. My gun clubs have all been outdoors, a real challenge in the winter in Canada, only shooting indoors for matches, then just long enough to compete. These are my experiences from fifty years of shooting.
Iceman

[9.3X62AL]

Lee, I hear ya sir. And Pat makes some good points as well.

I look at the subject this way......our "mission" here is to facilitate hobby and sporting interest in cast boolits, and a part of that mission is to dispel myths that surround the hobby--things like, 'Marlin Micro-Groove barrels aren't appropriate for cast boolits', or 'polygonal rifling and cast boolits don't get along'. BUSTED. This whole lead toxicity issue is WAY OUTTA HAND, far beyond reasonableness or good faith public health concerns. It's likely another example of the Mastercard Marxists who savaged college campuses in the late 1960's finding jobs in public and private sector niches that allow them to continue their assault on common sense and Judeo-Christian values from positions of authority.

NUKE THE CONDORS.

[45nut]

Every time bullet casting comes up in discussion on another board there will be a poster that responds with something along the lines of:

"OMG! Don't you know that lead is poisonous and hazardous material? Don't go near it or you'll need serious medical help. A single ingot in your basement will kill your parakeet!"


This is why the sheep are scared of lead, direct from midway:

Warning
The following firearm-related activities may expose you and others in the area to substances known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm:

* Firearms cleaning
* Firearms discharging
* Bullet casting activities
* Ammunition handling and reloading
* Gunsmithing activities
* Hand and power-tool use

Discharging firearms in poorly ventilated areas, cleaning firearms or handling ammunition may result in exposure to lead and other substances known to the State of California to cause birth defects, reproductive harm and other serious physical injury. Have adequate ventilation at all times. Wash hands thoroughly after exposure.

Melting lead and casting lead objects will expose you and others in the area to lead, which is known to cause birth defects, other reproductive harm and cancer.

Reducing Exposure
Lead contamination in the air, in the dust, and on your skin is invisible. Keep children and pregnant women away during use and until cleanup is complete. Risk can be reduced—but not eliminated—with strong ventilation; washing hands immediately after use of these products before eating or smoking; and careful cleaning of surfaces and floors with disposable wipes, after lead dust has had a chance to settle. Use a lead-specific cleaner with EDTA, or a high-phosphate detergent (like most detergents sold for electric dishwashers) and bag wipes for disposal.

[JohnH]

Yeah, I got lead posioning, can't pass a single WW laying lonesome in a parking lot without bringing it home to be with all it's relatives, never met a scrap of lead I didn't like, can't bring a firearm home without getting a suitable mold for it, in fact judge any additions I'm gonna make to my collection by the avalability of suitable molds. Cannot resist casting a few extra boolits no matter how tired my arm may be. Am in a constant search for improved groups from my simple 'ol lead boolits. I judge a gun not by how it it shoots, but by how well it shoots cast. Am I posioned? You're danged tooten' I am :)

[kirb]

My blood test came in at 18 last year. first time it has been elavated. been casting for along time. this wa the first time the test showed high.I had been doing a lot of indoor shooting 22 rimfire, and bowling pin shoots with a bunch of big bore. quit shooting indoors. My doctor was not to worried but the state of Idaho called twice with alot of good questions.

[shooter575]

Started casting in 1979 in a basement.At some point I did get a small fan to blow away fumes when a headache would come on.I shoot C/W muskets in timed events so biteing the minne between the teeth was the fastest way to load.so I had a lot of lead between me teethI also smelted tons of lead to sell to other shooters then.As most of us did back then I smoked and drank when casting also.I welded and striped a lot of lead paint.
So when I had my 1/2 century tuneup a couple years ago I had the doc test for heavy metals figuring with all my bad habats I was doomed!
Hell they said I was in the normal range. Now that was the about the only thing they found in that physical that was Ok but hey!
Just wait.Mercury is the next thing.In a all fluorescent tubes there is a small bit of mercury.The compact fluorescent ones they want you to buy to replace your standard incandesent bulbs have a couple atoms of mercury in em.Read about some greenie that busted one in her house.Had the hasmat clean up bill of 2K

[PatMarlin]

Here lies a real threat. If the America thinks foreign countries are going to abide by our health laws and produce safe export products as below, lead free dishes etc., good luck... :rolleyes:


China Investigates Contaminated Toothpaste


By DAVID BARBOZA and WALT BOGDANICH








DANYANG, China, May 21 — Chinese authorities are investigating whether two companies from this coastal region exported tainted toothpaste as more contaminated product, including some made for children, has turned up in Latin America.



A team of government investigators arrived here Sunday afternoon and closed the factory of the Danyang City Success Household Chemical Company, a small building housing about 30 workers in a nearby village, according to villagers and one factory worker. The government also questioned the manager of another toothpaste maker, Goldcredit International Trading, which is in Wuxi, about an hour’s drive southeast of here.



No tainted toothpaste has been found in the United States, but a spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that the agency would be taking “a hard look” at whether to issue an import alert.



Authorities in the Dominican Republic said they seized 36,000 tubes of toothpaste suspected of containing diethylene glycol, an industrial solvent and prime ingredient in some antifreeze. Included were tubes of toothpaste marketed for children with bubble gum and strawberry flavors sold under the name of “Mr. Cool Junior.”



Toothpaste containing the toxic solvent was also found in Panama and Australia in the last week.



Bautista Rojas Gómez, the secretary of health of the Dominican Republic, said the toothpaste, with diethylene glycol listed as an ingredient, was found in stores and warehouses across the country, including near the Haitian border.



Diethylene glycol is the same poison that the Panamanian government unwittingly mixed into cold medicine last year, killing at least 100 people. In that case, the poison falsely labeled as glycerin, a harmless syrup, originated in China, shipping records show. Diethylene glycol is generally less expensive than its chemical cousin glycerin.



Panamanian authorities said they believed the tainted toothpaste found in their country, containing up to 4.6 percent diethylene glycol, came from China.



Executives from both companies under investigation in China denied in interviews on Monday that they had exported any toothpaste containing diethylene glycol to Panama.



“We didn’t do this; we didn’t make the bad stuff,” said Shi Lei, a manager at Danyang City Success. “It was probably someone else.“



But Ms. Shi and other toothpaste makers in this region said that diethylene glycol had been used in toothpaste in China for years and that producers believed it was not very harmful.



Government investigators arrived here just days after customs officials in Panama said that they had discovered diethylene glycol in 6,000 tubes of toothpaste. The toothpaste was being sold under the English brand names Mr. Cool and Excel.



There have been no reports of deaths tied to toothpaste containing the chemical.



Dr. Douglas Throckmorton, deputy director for the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the F.D.A., said diethylene glycol levels found in some Panamanian toothpaste was nearly 50 times greater than what is deemed safe. “Kids swallow toothpaste,” Dr. Throckmorton said. “That is going to be a concern to you.”



Suspicion over China’s role in the tainted toothpaste and cold medicine comes just weeks after investigators blamed two Chinese companies for intentionally shipping pet food ingredients contaminated with an industrial chemical to the United States, leading to one of the largest pet food recalls in history. The cases are fueling mounting concerns about the quality and safety of China’s food and drug exports and threatening to turn into a trade dispute.



After initially rejecting any Chinese role in the tainted pet food, Beijing officials banned the use of melamine, an industrial chemical used in fertilizer and plastics, from vegetable proteins. Melamine and several related chemicals had been discovered in contaminated pet food ingredients. Chinese officials also promised to overhaul its food safety regulations and tighten export controls.



Indeed, the government seems to have responded quickly to reports last weekend about contaminated toothpaste. Hu Keyu, the manager at Goldcredit International, said investigators had talked to him over the weekend because his company was the first to sell and export toothpaste under the brand label Mr. Cool. But he and his staff insisted that Goldcredit never exported to Panama, and that this year the company had exported only a small amount of Mr. Cool toothpaste to Australia. Goldcredit executives said they did not sell toothpaste under the Excel brand name.



Mr. Hu said his company exports toothpaste, toothbrushes, glue and other goods to the United States, Europe and other regions but that his company no longer uses diethylene glycol. He said, however, that most toothpaste makers in this region use diethylene glycol because it is considered a cheap substitute for glycerin.



“You know, if you’re in the export market, the margins are small, so people use the substitute,” he said. “Even one percent or half a percent price difference can matter to people here.”



Executives from Goldcredit and Danyang said the brand Mr. Cool had been copied by several other companies and that numerous trading companies could be exporting the products.



Danyang City Success Household Chemical, however, said that while it did not export to Panama, it has used diethylene glycol in its toothpaste, and that the government does not have a clear regulation on how much can be added. Danyang City Success is a small company in a village in Danyang, a city whose entrance boasts that it has been designated one of China’s “national sanitary” cities for its cleanliness.



Danyang City Success produces both Mr. Cool and Excel and exports toothpaste around the world, including to Europe and Africa, company executives said. But this afternoon, villagers and one young factory worker, who declined to give her name, said that investigators had arrived Sunday night and closed the factory to investigate possible contamination in its exports. Ms. Shi, one of the managers along with her husband, met a reporter at the entrance to the factory and insisted her company had nothing to do with the case in Panama. Inside the gate a team of investigators could be seen meeting with company officials and then departing with a bag of documents. Villagers said the investigators were provincial and local officials, including the village’s Communist party secretary.



The sister of the party secretary, who only gave her name as Miss Hu, said Danyang City Success had been around for four or five years and that it was run by a former salesman and his wife, Ms. Shi, who grew up in the village.



“He used to sell packaging materials. Then he saved up his money and started this toothpaste company,” she said. “But lately the company has been struggling.”



Mr. Hu at Goldcredit said that while he did not produce the toothpaste shipped to Panama, diethylene glycol had been used for years at very low levels in Chinese toothpaste as a glycerin substitute. “If diethylene glycol were poisonous,” he said, “all Chinese people would have been poisoned.”





David Barboza reported from Danyang, China, and Walt Bogdanich from New York. R. M. Koster contributed from Panama; Guangming Xu and Rujun Shen contributed from China.

[MtGun44]

I just voted in the poll, but think the results can be a bit misleading.
I'm typically at 22-28 mg/dl, but I have been shooting IPSC at a reasonably
well ventilated (yet very contaminated) indoor range one night per week
for about 27 yrs, maybe 40 times per year. No symptoms.

I also cast indoors, but for both the shooting and casting am very careful
to not eat or drink when hands are contaminated.

The possible misleading results would be to assume that my 'elevated'
lead is due to casting, when I am nearly certain it is not.

Bill

[Lee]

I also voted in the "tested /no bad results section."
Now just a bit of background history FWIW..
I was tested regularly several years ago while employed for a small manufacturer of soldering and brazing supplies. Damn needle was big! and it hurt too. My baseline was normal/low and it never wavered during my employ. (I never got stupid with eating/drinking around there either). Co-workers who basically performed the same tasks as I, and behaved similarly around the stuff were not all so lucky. Some had wildly varying levels, and were regularly banned from the smelting/manufacturing areas till their levels dropped back down to "safe" numbers. Others were like me, and their numbers never moved. I never could see that some were doing things so much differently than me that I could point and say.."Uh Huh!" And we all had the regular mix of hunters/shooters/etc. So the outside contribution to lead levels might have made the difference in some results?? So go figure....................................Lee

[Lloyd Smale]

dont ever think its impossible to happen to you. I showed no symtoms at all and had it tested because i suffer from migrane headaches. My lead level was 89 the first time and it put the doctors into a panic. I was treated with two rounds of chelting theropy and that go it down to below 20 but about two years later it was up to 40 and i went through it again. My best friend who shoots more then i do has medical problems and i suggested he get his checked and he was just over 50 on his test and went through it twice himself. Now im not going to blow smoke up anyones buts here. Im a sloppy caster and i can be found casting with a cigerette hanging out of my mouth. I dont wear a resperator or even gloves. I do wash my hands right after casting but before the first time i was tested rarely did that. I have a third friend that doesnt do much casting but does alot of comp shooting that had to have blood trasfusions to take care of his problem. Even in my case i would have to guess that at least half of my exposure was from shooting and half from casting. I dont know that some people are more inclined to get it then others but dont ever think you can get sloppy like me or shoot indoors without good ventilation and never get lead poisoning from our hobby. It is not a myth or urban ledgon. IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU. If it happened to me. One thing i will add to this is like i said i had no symtoms and either did either of my buddys so i would have to say that if anything the levels the docs start to panic have been greatly exagerated to cause panic.

[BD]

I've been watching my lead levels for more than 20 years. I started work at 13 in an autobody shop sanding cars, many of which had lead body filler. We also used a red lead scratch filler which we then wetsanded smooth. I grew up in a 100 year old house with a terne, (lead coated steel), roof which I sanded down and repainted with "red lead" paint several times in my youth. I also sanded down and repainted most of the woodwork in that house. My lead levels tested in the teens to low 20's from my teens through my early 40's. I started casting at 40, I'm currently 52. At the age of 44 or so I shot one year of indoor bullseye league. This was in northern maine and the piss poor ventilation system in the range was often shut down while we were shooting to keep the temperature in the range above freezing. My next blood lead level test was in the low 40's and that got my attention, and the attention of the state. I quit shooting indoors, put an exhaust hood over my casting table and generally paid attention to lead. Within 5 years my level was back down under 10. I'm due for a test again as I've been shooting indoors here in SC, (no other local option). This time in a "five star" rated range with the latest in ventilation technology where they do not allow necked lead boolits. We'll see. The moral of this tale is that shooting outdoors and casting your own lead bullets really shouldn't have much to do with your lead levels. Elemental lead is not easily absorbed unless you eat it or breath in particulate dust, or if it is lodged in your intestinal tract or spinal fluid. It's the oxides and salts of lead and related compounds which are more readily absorbed, and with the exception of lead styphanate in priming compound, these substances are far more likely to be found as part of the non-firearms environment. Paint, pottery glazes and pot metal can all contain lead compounds. And while lead in these things are supposedly "regulated" the real effect of that regulation is similar to the real effect of gun control regulations. The more we drive manufacturing and materials sourcing off shore, the more lead we will see in these types of products again.
BD

[dakotashooter2]

Went in for a general checkup late last fall. General blood work came back with poor results. Doc retested and I though I might as well have a lead level done also. Lead level came in at 10 and the rest of the bloodwork was worse than the first time (white blood count was waaaaaaaay down). Yipes. Then came the trips to the oncologist who ran dozens of test which then came back normal. After some discussion (I had batched some ingots a few weeks before the initial test) it was determined that the lead level though not considered high was probably the cause of the other bloodwork being off. Suggested I cast no more. I thought I was pretty carefull but am now taking a few more precausions and will probably get tested every year. Just thought I'd point out that just cause it isn't high doesn't mean it cant cause other problems.

:castmine:

[corvette8n]

Just got off the phone with my Doc. he said level was a 9
and 0 thu 10 was normal.
This is the first year I had it tested and have been casting for less than 2 yrs.
I have my baseline for next year.

[mingol]

I cast in the 10 x 16 shop out back. Mostly in the winter time, because it is just too dern hot to fool with molten lead in the summer time. Of course, in the cold weather, the ventilation in the sparsely heated shop is nil. I kinda worried about lead levels so I got the doc to check. The results came back "too small to detect" and I quit worrying about it.
I, too, played with mercury as a lad. Nowadays the anti-pollution whackos would go berserk. But then I also used to do mildly adventurous stuff with home made black powder, not to mention firecrackers. I had a nice chunk of white phosphorus around the place for many years - finally disposed of it.

[Adam10mm]

Tested this winter but came back normal. Doctor never gave a quantity, just said everything is normal.

[nvbirdman]

I cast outside and shoot at an outdoor range.
I've been casting for thirty four years and have never been tested, but have no symptoms.
I'm sixty three years old now. If I can remain symptom free for another thirty four years I'll be happy, and I promise I'll stop casting then.

[Lloyd Smale]

birdman i about agree with you there. Like i said ive been treated twice and im sure there up there again but i show no symtoms and im 50 years old and how be dammed if im going to quit shooting or casting. the doctor suggested it and I laughed at him. Id about as soon be a vegetarian!!! I have modified my approach to casting a little (very little) i wash my hands after casting now and try to smelt with at least the door open on the pole barn. But figure if God wants to take me because i love shooting then id rather shoot for another 10 years then live another 20 not shooting.
I cast outside and shoot at an outdoor range.
I've been casting for thirty four years and have never been tested, but have no symptoms.
I'm sixty three years old now. If I can remain symptom free for another thirty four years I'll be happy, and I promise I'll stop casting then.

[EMC45]

Not exactly sure of the scale the docs used at the base clinic, but they said I was at 11. 20 was the level when birth defects were present. I got tested again about 3 months later and I was 5. I also had my kids tested and they were 5 as well. I think there is alot of hype surrounding this, but be careful. I wash after cleaning guns or casting. And I 've gotten more aware of eating/drinking while casting. I knew from the start that it is a no-no, but it sure gets hot in Ga! BTW hows it going Lloyd? I am using the .308 dies like crazy! Let me know if you need anything else.

[BluesBear]

And I 've gotten more aware of eating/drinking while casting. I knew from the start that it is a no-no, but it sure gets hot in Ga!

It gets hot anywhere you're casting.
Thay why they invented the soda straw.
I have one of those large Aladdin insulated mugs you get at 7-11 that I use when working. It sits on a small side shelf out of the way but within easy reach.
It has a lid to keep the insides in and the outside out. It has a handle to make it easy to grab when wearing surgical gloves. And it has a straw to drink from.
I grab a couple extra of the really long ones every time I get a drink from 7-11.
And I change to a new one at least once a day.
Being insulated the outside of the mug never "sweats" no matter now high the humidity gets. After all you don't want your drink piddling on your loading bench/casting table. OR on your hands.

Now eating is a completely different thing.
I have a simple rule... I don't handle ammo in the dining room and I don't handle food in the reloading room. (it works for me... YMMV)
But I think drinking is okay if you practice a little caution.

[mtgrs737]

Both my father and my grandfather were house painters and both used a LOT of lead based paint back in the days when you had to buy 25 lb. buckets of white lead paste and mix your own paint. One day while working with my dad on the only house I ever used the old "white lead and oil" type of paint on I asked him about it being dangrous because when painting overhead often paint drips down on the painter and somethime you get to taste the paint. He said he didn't think it was too risky or there would of been a lot of dead painters. I have also wire brushed whole houses that had asbestos siding without a resperator, we just didn't know back then. Folks lived normal lifespans back then.

[black44hawk]

I read of about 12 cases of lead poisoning every month in my National
Rifleman Magazine. Incidentally, the weakness, tummy aches, headaches, and pants wetting struck home invaders quite suddenly!

[Rick N Bama]

I had blood pulled for testing this morning. Maybe I'll know about my lead levels in a day or so.

Rick

[longbow]

I have been a boolit caster for 40 years and did much of my early casting in winter in an unventilated basement over a natural gas hot plate - while eating pizza and other things kids do. At the time lead safety was not discussed much.

Now I normally cast outside and take a few precautions like washing my hands before eating.

The last time I was checked for lead I was working in a large lead smelter. I almost never wore my respirator unless there was smoke or dust in the air. My exposure times were generally short but many of the plant operators did the same and were exposed from 8 to 12 hours per day. My blood lead level was 16 mcg/dL.

The acceptable blood lead level before a move from a lead area is 40 mcg/dL for the plant personnel.

I am back working in the lead refinery as a maintenance engineer and will see much more exposure. Plus I am still casting Boolits.

Am I worried? No!

Normally leading only occurs through inhalation of dust (dross) or ingestion (not washing your hands before eating or smoking - smoking is a bad one). If lead is actually boiling and vapourizing that would also lead to potential inhalation but boolit casting is nowhere near that temperature.

I doubt anyone on this forum or any lead boolit caster using even moderate safety methods will ever become leaded.

I am surrounded by hundreds of tons of lead every day. I will let you know if I get leaded.

Longbow

[longbow]

I have been a boolit caster for 40 years and did much of my early casting in winter in an unventilated basement over a natural gas hot plate - while eating pizza and other things kids do. At the time lead safety was not discussed much.

Now I normally cast outside and take a few precautions like washing my hands before eating.

The last time I was checked for lead I was working in a large lead smelter. I almost never wore my respirator unless there was smoke or dust in the air. My exposure times were generally short but many of the plant operators did the same and were exposed from 8 to 12 hours per day. My blood lead level was 16 mcg/dL.

The acceptable blood lead level before a move from a lead area is 40 mcg/dL for the plant personnel.

I am back working in the lead refinery as a maintenance engineer and will see much more exposure. Plus I am still casting Boolits.

Am I worried? No!

Normally leading only occurs through inhalation of dust (dross) or ingestion (not washing your hands before eating or smoking - smoking is a bad one). If lead is actually boiling and vapourizing that would also lead to potential inhalation but boolit casting is nowhere near that temperature.

I doubt anyone on this forum or any lead boolit caster using even moderate safety methods will ever become leaded.

I am surrounded by hundreds of tons of lead every day. I will let you know if I get leaded.

Longbow

[AZ-Stew]

I had my lead level tested this year during my "annual" physical. At 57, I decided I was old enough to start watching my health so I can be around long enough to enjoy my grandkids growing up.

I've been a caster and shooter for about 35 years, though I don't do either on a daily or even weekly basis. I quit smoking over 15 years ago and I remember casting and shooting while smoking. I recall having the black residue on my fingers from handling empty cases that had been loaded with cast bullets lubed with Alox/beeswax and getting that black crap on my cigarettes as I smoked. Never paid too much attention to it, but I did try to keep the part of the cigarette that touched my lips clean. I always have something around to drink while casting or shooting, but never food. I've never been able to figure out how the lead is supposed to migrate up the container from where I grasp the bottle or can to where I put my lips while drinking. I do set the drink a couple of feet from where my casting pot is, but I don't cover it. I have a vent fan behind my casting pot to suck the fumes, if any, out of my shop, but I occasionally forget to turn it on while casting. It's kind of noisy anyway, and running it makes it hard to hear the radio. I do wash my hands after casting, loading or gun cleaning.

My lead level tested at 4.

While having the nurse explain some of the test results (they gave me numbers, but didn't tell me where those numbers fell on the scale established for each one), I asked her specifically about the lead. She told me it was well within the normal range, then added that if it had been high, they would have had to contact OSHA or the EPA or some other government entity to have them find out from where I was getting contaminated. That both scared me and thoroughly pissed me off. I'll be DAMNED if I'll ever let some bureaucrat come snooping around my loading room checking for lead!

It was a good checkpoint, just to know I'm not carrying around lead that should be in my casting pot, but I'll never do it again! I'd rather suffer from lead poisoning than have the Feds come snooping around my shop. I'm not doing anything illegal, but I can just imagine them finding a dozen or so things they don't like and requiring me to "fix" them (at my expense, of coure), with, I'm sure, a re-inspection before they'll let me use the shop again. Screw that!

Regards,

Stew

[monadnock#5]

I just got my test results back. My lead level was 17 last month, and 16 this month. It was suggested that I have another test in September, but I might conveniently forget to make the appointment, and pay better attention to hygiene. There was no suggestion that any type of intervention was needed at this time.

[largecaliberman]

About a year ago, I had a blood check the same time I did my cholesterol. The results came back and it was a 4mcg/dl. Six months I had it check again and it went up to 10mcg/dl. This was a red flag for me. So I went to a health food store and got me a food supplement called Metal Magnet and was also taking Sonne 7. I did another check and my level is now 2mcg/dl. It never hurts to check.

[BluesBear]

AZ-Stew, just tell them it might have been from all of those old lead soldiers and fishing sinkers you found in the attic and then sold at a local flea market.

Or perhaps it was those couple of buckets of wheelweights that you picked up at a garage sale, cleaned up and sold for scrap.

No one knows if you're a boolit caster unless you tell them.

Unless it was well off the charts I doubt your doctor would tell anyone right away. First step would be to schedule a second test to make sure the first wass correct.

[AZ-Stew]

Blues,

First, I told the doctor I was a shooter/caster to justify the lead test.

Second, there is a set level at which the medical folks are required by law to report blood lead levels to the government.

Unfortunately, there's no weasling out of it. As I said, I'm OK, so I believe my meager safety precautions are adequate. So long as my behavior doesn't change and I have no symptoms, I can reasonably expect to remain safe, therefore I won't invite government intrusion by requesting a test that will likely be negative anyway. No sense inviting a disaster greater than the lead exposure.

Regards,

Stew

[TAWILDCATT]

i'v asked doctors how to clear lead from sytem,never got clear answer.iron /zink suplements will do it i understand on poster said hi doc said drink orange juice.
I stated casting around 1938 and my lead level was most 45.my last check was 4.
i am 83 now.I believe it all had to do with children in poor nabourhoods eating paint chips.and a lot of hipe by activists.think how much the specilists get removing lead paint.
:coffee: :Fire: :coffee:

[BluesBear]

Since my accident a few years ago I have several "complete" physicals.
So I specifically asked them to tell me the lead results.

When asked why I simply told the vampire in the lab that I occasionally went shooting at a couple of the local indoor ranges and I had read somewhere about improper ventilation controls.

Turned out that my levels are actually lower than the average bloke on the street whose only exposure to lead is breathing in exhaust fumes.
My primary doctor (he's also a shooter) even remarked that his were slightly higher than mine.

While it's nice to live in a gun friendly location, like you I do my best to avoid letting anyone in the gummint know anything about my personal life.

[The Dust Collector]

Pual B pretty well sums up the situation concerning myself. We both have had an extensive relation with lead. I have a very serious heart problem, and recently a few know it all folks ( Ya they're greenies ) that I cann't avoid, have told me and my wife that my problem IS lead related. ( Now they have a medical degree TOO! ) I have blood work done on a regular basis, but had never asked for a heavy metals scan. This last time I did. The doctor's office just called me with the results. The lead was less than 5! My city water supply to my home is delivered in lead pipe as most of the older section of my city is. Hmmm... I could say much in sharring my opinions, but I'm sure that we are on the same page anyway.
Your Servant, DUST

[The Dust Collector]

By the by, there is alot of lead / lead by products from the dust in spent primers.
The main component, if I am not mistaken, is lead styphnate. Depending on how your press pops out primers, a considerable amount of dust may be ejected in close proximity to your nose allowing you to breath this dust in. This dust accumulates in the primer collector and on the surrounding equipment and work space. What does all of this mean? Use your head and take what ever appropriate precautions that you deam nessisary. This dust does have a danger potential normally not considered............
Your Servant DUST

[Rick N Bama]

I've just gotten the results from my test for lead levels and it's a 7 & as I'm almost 60, I don't think I'll change a thing. I might get tested again in 5 or 6 years.

Rick

[Hayfield]

I had to wait to get my blood test levels for my 6 mo physical. Just got the results and it was 5.5. I was happy with this as I had just finished smelting 700 lbs of WW, 150 lbs of 25:1 ingots and 200 lbs of lead ingots. That plus casting and loading for 3 BPCR shoots a month plus practice rounds and 2 buckets of 1 oz 2 1/2" shotgun shells. What worried me the most and have since changed my habits was I rub Copenhagen and I'm putting a fresh rub in about every half hour. Oh, and my prostate is OK too.

[handyrandyrc]

Just got my results in. I scored a whopping "6". :) I'm a new caster -- only been doing it about a year.

[TAWILDCATT]

I just thought I 'd throw in a thought about cleaning parts with gasoline. do any of you clean parts that way???no one seems to know how we get lead posioning.
it seems like guess work.I believe the NRA has research on this subject.
:coffee: :Fire: :coffee:

[PatMarlin]

Don't have lead in fuel anymore do they?

[melw]

Well just got back from my Dr. I had them check my lead levels.
Came back at 8.
She said it is fine. Now lets talk about your cholesterol.:-0
Oh darn!
Mel W.

[imashooter2]

Don't have lead in fuel anymore do they?

Not common automotive fuel. I think racing gas and aviation gas still uses it.

[bart55]

I also have been casting since I was 12,AM 57 NOW casted sinkers jigs shad darts and bullets .i can remember biteing splitshot sinkers to crimp them and i remember they were sweet (Romans used powdered lead to sweeten low grade wine) I also played with mercury etc. My wife wanted me to get tested aboiut ten years ago so now each year when I get blood work I get lead tested. It always comes bback low.I have casted in some closed environments but I was always careful to wash my hands. So from my standpoint I think it is alot of scare tactics.

[Taylor]

I don't have a basement or a parrot,no worries.

[shotstring]

During the early 80's my partner and I had an ammunition shop the sold reloaded 38/357 rounds primarily but other calibers as well. We featured hand cast H & G bullets in all our 38/357's and cost only around $3.00 for 50 rds w/brass exchange. We sold tens of thousands in the Los Angeles area, but my partner did test positive for lead poisoning-severe muscle/skin pain and headaches. But he had aquired it before we ever set up shop by doing everything wrong and spending hundreds of hours in unventilated shooting ranges. There are so many other ways to get lead poisoning other than casting - used to eat ducks and pheasant all year long in S.D., and remember spitting out lead shot every 4th bite or so....and those wild birds carried lead shot around with them for years...and I have never tested positive for lead poisoning. I DO live with a parrot and a lovebird, but I don't cast in the house and am careful to wash my hands before handling the birds.

[Steelbanger]

I voted earlier as having no symptoms after casting for almost 40 years. The first years casting were with no concern for my own safety regarding ventilation etc. but for many years now I take precautions and try to be careful.
This week I had my annual physical and explained to my Dr. that I was a hobbyist bullet caster and have been working with lead alloys for many years and wondered if he thought I should be checked for heavy metals. He said I certainly should so now I await the results, which should come late next week. I was expecting to have blood drawn but a 24 hour urine sample was also needed so I complied even though it was a royal pain in the butt considering that the sample had to be refrigerated while I kept adding to the contents of the lab jug.
When I get my lead level results I'll let you folks here know the outcome. The good news from my exam is that I still am able to get through life with no drugs, unless you consider an occasional glass of wine as a drug. I haven't even had an aspirin in over 15 years and possibly longer.

[Old Ironsights]

I've been around so much radiation I figure the only reason I'm not glowing is the Lead in my system. :twisted:

[ReAX222]

I haven't been tested, but I have only been casting a few weeks, and before that I only handled lead for diving purposes or to help my dad with projects. I have issue from an accident and everyone on my dad's side ends up with dementia, so I should never if the lead causes any harm.

[Sundogg1911]

I really think that if you use some common sense you'll be fine. Cast with good ventilation. wash your hands often. Don't smoke, snack or eat while casting. You you are drinking a beverage while casting, keep it away from the pot. don't touch the part of the glass that touches your mouth. I usually keep my beverage in a cabinet in the oppisite side of the garage with the door shut and I always cast with an exhaust fan (Range hood) when casting indoors.

[Steelbanger]

Good news for me. Doctors office called and left a message that my lead levels are within normal range. I suppose I could call and get the specific number but don't think that is necessary. So at almost 67 years old I am not going to have it checked again. PSA was good too. Next appointment Aug, 2008. I hope I'm still around to make that one.

[BD]

I got my test results back in October. Despite not doing much of any casting for the past year and a half, and taking all of my usual precautions in regard to tumbling and reloading, my lead levels went from 8 to 14 in a year. The culprit? A year of shooting once or twice a week at an indoor range. And this is a new "Five Star" rated range with the latest in AC and filtration systems. More evidence that it's not casting boolits that should concern us, but rather shooting indoors.
BD

[wolfspotter]

I was tested a few months ago because I have have symptoms but all my doctor said was the level was elevated but still in a safe range. My symptoms may be the result of very high levels I had 90s and was never treated. Worked in a brass foundry running a large wheelabrator which blasts the brass fittings with steel shot. Also ground the fittings as peicework. Of coarse working third shift when no bosses were around, we didn't bother wearing our dust masks and smoked freely while working. I've changed my ways when casting bullets.

[floodgate]

This was mentioned here several months ago and I got one of their D-LEAD "sampler" kits with spray testers for the presence of lead, cleanup solutions and wipes, and now use it regularly. Goggle up "Esca -Tech" and look it over. Maybe some "hype" here, but makes a lot of sense.

floodgate

[snuffy]

Mines at 5.0. Time to bump this to the top. We do need to be careful, but the paranoia is unfounded. hygiene is the answer, never forget to wash well after casting or loading lead boolits.

[klw]

I get tested every six or so months. The highest value I've ever had was 28. The lowest was 17. My lead level started climbing this year. First time in years. When it got to 25 I stopped bullet casting. When it got to 28 I stopped shooting. Six weeks after I stopped shooting it had dropped to 17. I think that the problem wasn't all my casting but rather my shooting.

The one odd thing about this year's shooting was that I was using an old 1891 Mauser that didn't seal up particularly well. Got a small bit of blowback in the face every shot. Shop shooting that gun and the problem literally went away.

For blood levels below 40 or so, stopping the exposure should not only stop the rise in blood lead levels but should actually cause it to drop. In my experience the drop can be pretty quick.

[JohnSmiles]

Yeah, my other 1/2 and her sister and both their daughters . . . just KNOW I have lead poisoning because I touch the stuff with my bare hands.
[smilie=1:

(Lord only knows what they would say if they knew I had handled mercury a few times)

Wash your hands well after playing.
Lava is a great choice.
Nuff said.

:castmine:

[Ranch Dog]

I didn't respond to the survey above because my quarterly blood test reports in "ug/dl" vs. the "mcl/dl" indicated above. The scale looks similar but I don't know if they are. My results sit around 2.8 ug/dl. I do a lot of casting and shooting.

[glenwood]

Just had my blood level checked two months ago because I was getting a little concerned. I cast bullets in the garage with the door open. Other than that no venilation. I breathe in fumes from the pot and I am not careful with the dust and debris from the casting and reloading. I wash my hands after casting and shooting. The test came back with a blood level of 5. For what it is worth I eat an orange for breakfast every morning.

[longbow]

I have already posted some of the following in another thread on this forum so you will have to excuse me for repeating - or not I guess.

Personally I think the best way to address the concern of "lead poisoning" is not by taking a poll to see what people think or what their blood lead levels are if they have been tested, but by providing information on how to avoid the issue all together by following a few simple guidelines which I posted in another thread but will repeat here.

To start, I work in a lead refinery that produces about 90,000 tons of lead a year so I am surrounded by lead every day. I have been a boolit caster since I was about 15 so that makes about 39 years. My blood lead level is 5 micrograms per deciliter.

I asked the nurses at work about vitamin therapies, supplements, chelation thereapy, etc. The answer was that there are no known or proven therapies of any sort that will lower blood lead levels over the long term - just time. Chelation therapy can lower blood lead levels for a short time then they rise back to where they were as the lead leaches out of your system. However, taking vitamins within reason is certainly not going to hurt so if it makes you feel better why not - and maybe orange juice does help a bit (especially in a screw driver).

The main sources of lead entry into the body are:

- Inhalation: of fume or dust (dross) so cast outside or with good ventilation, don't overheat the lead unnessecarily, don't melt it with direct hot flame (like burning off chunks with an oxy acetylene torch). Also as pointed out by others, indoor shooting could be a large contributor of fine lead dust and/or vapour exposure. Smoking while casting is particularly bad as the lead gets onto the cigarette from your hands then into your lungs.

- Ingestion: of metalic lead or oxides (dross) mainly from contamination on your hands so don't eat or smoke while you are casting and don't touch your face as what gets on your face will often find its way into your mouth (the nurses say we all do this far more than you would think). Again smoking is bad as you handle the cigarette then put it in your mouth.

Metallic lead cannot be absorbed through the skin.

Lead will gradually be excreted from your system over time. I work with a fellow who spent about 20 years working in the lead smelter and his blood lead level used to be over 80 but has dropped to mid 20's now. The current concern level is 35 micrograms per deciliter.

Lead absorption is reduced if you have a full stomach as someone else mentioned above so eat before casting and wash your hands well after casting.

So to summarize:

- Eat and drink before casting
- Cast outside or with good ventilation ~ so you are upwind
- Don't overheat the lead
- Don't smoke, eat or drink while casting (yes I often have a beer while casting - I just don't grab the drinking end with a lead covered hand)
- Avoid the dust and smoke when drossing/fluxing (that good ventilation thing again)
- Wash your hands right after casting
- And if you are really worried then wear coveralls or change clothes after casting and wash your face too
- Now, have a beer and all the junk food you want

Longbow

[Just Duke]

I started casting in 1977 with no protection. Went to the doc in 1989 because of swelling on both sides of my lower back. They ran a battery of insurance paid for test, and you know when the insurance co. is flippin the bill they will check you for anything and everthing. Went back to the Doc for my test results and he said "come-ear son", facing me he reaches around me and grabs the swelling parts and says. "boy those are love handles" you tested negative for any lead at all.
125 lbs of wheel weights a month for um-teen years for 9mm, 45, 44 mag gc and no lead in me. I have not casted for 12 years now but I will be back in full force stocking up on 500 S&W, 460 S&W and 45-70 bullets to last me and the wife a lifetime and then some.
I will be wearing a resperator and always eye protection this time around.

The guy at Discount Tire balancing tires is exposed to lead more than I am.


I have seen many a deer in my general vicinity die quicky and humanely from lead poisoning. ;)



.

[PatMarlin]

I think there is far more exposer reloading, shooting, and case cleaning but another factor is the ceramic finishes on all the dishes and coffee cups from CHINA and other countries.

Have you had yours checked for lead?

[imashooter2]

I will be wearing a resperator and always eye protection this time around.

.

So you cast for years with no protection and tested negative, but now you're going to wear a respirator? Why?

[Just Duke]

No lead at all in my system .
I cast in my shop , I wear a respirator ,



Because he does. ;)

[billsr]

Back in the 80's I worked at an indoor range, loaded ammo, and was the firearms training officer for the police dept. My Dr. checked my lead level, and twice I had to have chelation therapy to remove the lead from my blood. I stopped working at the range, have retired from the PD, and only load ammo for myself, usually using jacketed bullets. I'm okay now. Bill

[Wayne Smith]

Doctor called yesterday with my results. 3.2! And I had blood drawn on Monday after I cast on Sunday afternoon.

[PatMarlin]

Is 3.2 good or bad? Is that in mcg?

[PatMarlin]

"I've never been tested, but DO show symptoms"

I can't stop the craving to scrounge lead.. :mrgreen:

[AlaskaMike]

3.2 mg/Dl (micrograms per deciliter) is a great number. My doctor told me that 0-20 is the generally accepted "normal" range.

Mike

[Wayne Smith]

My MD said under 10. He's conservative in a lot of ways!

[PatMarlin]

That's good news.. :drinks:

[NoDakJak]

Have been casting for 35 years and just tested the first time. Doctor reported that I tsted Low/normal. Yowza! I was worried!
Neil

[Mumblypeg]

Hummm... I know a lot of animals that died of lead posioning and they never casted any boolits!

[Fish_N_Russ]

ive played around with lead quite a while (20 years or so) either casting for fishing weights/lures or bullets as well.......never been checked. But its not the lead im worried about its the organo-phosphates from pesticides from my previous career working in agriculture....ive been dusted a few times while in fields taking samples! Those chemicals are quite nasty....:)

[Jim Thompson]

I've been pouring my own bullets for more than 30 years and have poured 10s of thousands of bullets for 9MM and 44Mag plus a few 3006. I was going in for my 6 month checkup and with so much racket about lead poisoning and how toxic it is, I decided to ask my doctor if he would include on my blood test, a test for lead in my system. He agreed and the tests were done. To my surprise, my lead levels on a scale of 0-24 was .4. Point 4 Wow, the doctor said, that's nothing. I attribute this to always using a fan to blow fumes away from my face, using a flux that cuts down on smoke such as mervalux, (available from Brownells) and of course, not eating, smoking etc., without washing your hands after handling lead.. My tests were done in March, 2008 and my mind is eased, knowing that if I just use a little common sense, I have nothing to fear.

[Leadforbrains]

Well if everything goes well when I die you guys can just melt me down, mold me into bullets and shoot me into a dirt bank to bury me.:Fire::drinks:

[steif]

I have not been tested yet, but will mention it next time I have a appointment... I think most cases of lead poisoning is because of lead paint and residual lead around some factories. specially the lead paint when it chips off. there was a battery factory in many larger towns back in the past, and you can imagine how much lead was slingin in those places and still is in the ground around the plants...

[piwo]

I was the "lucky 13th" poster on this thread when it was first started, and my lead level was 2. A year has gone by, and my annual lead testing (which piggybacks on my 4X's a year Cholesterol testing) showed a: 2. No change. :Fire:

[Possum]

Got my results back today and it was 17 ug/dL on a scale of 0-19. That scale is "enviromental exposure" and is anything <20. Occupational exposure was 40. I guess that means if you work in that enviroment you need a move if 40 or above.

I don't consider myself a completely "safe" smelter. I imagine that may be where the level comes from. I might start wearing a respirator in the future since I did buy one a week ago.

[GabbyM]

Perhaps I should get tested.

I was a "burner" for nine years. That's flame and plasma cutting steel in a manufacturing plant. Running up to six torches at a time through plate steel liberates all the trace elements in the kerf. I've had the heavy metal exposer equivalent to a welder with two hundred years on the job.

When I was a teenager I used to work for a painter using lead based paint on grain bins and barn roofs.

This boolit casting doesn't worry me much.

[mooman76]

I finnally remembered to ask my Dr to check mine when I went in and he made a big deal about it like why should I be concered, what am I thinking that I should need such a test and so on. Anyway all was good, mine was 3.

[missionary5155]

Lead poisoning ? Isnt that the intended end of vile 2 legged preditors ? [smilie=1:

[deltaenterprizes]

When I was doing commercial casting my lead level went up to 40 because the collator for the lubrisizer had a slot to release trash that was at the height of my nose and while sizing bullets I was inhaling lead dust. After discovering the problem and installing a collector my levels were reduced to about 15 when last checked in 1994.

[PatMarlin]

Interesting that something simple is all it takes. Simple fix too.

[xsquidgator]

I got tested a year ago and it was none detectable.

Just got my results from this year's physical, and it says 16 mcg/dL- yikes!

I read some of these posts with a lot of interest- 20 is the upper end of "environmental" levels per one lab. My lab sheet says < 10 is normal, 10-19 is moderately high, 20-44 is high, and 45-69 is urgent.

I am concerned about an apparent jump. I don't *think* I'm doing anything wrong but that wouldn't seem to be true, would it? I think I'll increase the airflow in my garage casting area, maybe move outside to cast too. I know I breath in some smoke when I shoot outside, don't know what I can do about that. I was hoping most of the smoke was bullet lube...

[xsquidgator]

I got tested a year ago and it was none detectable.

Just got my results from this year's physical, and it says 16 mcg/dL- yikes!

I read some of these posts with a lot of interest- 20 is the upper end of "environmental" levels per one lab. My lab sheet says < 10 is normal, 10-19 is moderately high, 20-44 is high, and 45-69 is urgent.

I am concerned about an apparent jump. I don't *think* I'm doing anything wrong but that wouldn't seem to be true, would it? I think I'll increase the airflow in my garage casting area, maybe move outside to cast too. I know I breath in some smoke when I shoot outside, don't know what I can do about that. I was hoping most of the smoke was bullet lube...

A week or so later...
my doctor says I'm still "normal" which his office defines as less than 30 mcg/dL. I'm not worried about the level, yet, but I am worried about the rate of increase. If nothing changes I'd be up at 30-something this time next year, and that would begin to be a problem.

With my doc's concurrence, I'll try to reduce my exposure to lead, and will retake a lead level in about 4 months to see if I've gotten a handle on the source of the exposure.

My hunch is that most of my exposure comes from shooting (primer lead in the gunsmoke), since I know for sure that I've been breathing in a fair amount of dirt during my shooting sessions. I think I'll take some precautions in my reloading and casting area though.
1) Even though I doubt casting is the source of my exposure, I'll look for an inexpensive respirator to perhaps wear while I'm casting or working with my tumbler.
2) I'd never paid the slightest attention to my tumbler, usually running it outside (noisy) but sometimes inside. I cleaned off the outside of my tumbler, and I went and bought a box of those dryer sheets and will use those every time I tumble cases now. The couple of times I've done it this week, the sheets really pulled a lot of dust and dirt out of the tumbler bowl so hopefully that will reduce the amount of lead dust i might be exposed to.
3) I haven't totally figured out a way to reduce my exposure to gunsmoke while shooting. I shoot 99% at an outdoor club range, but the firing line is covered. Maybe this is a reason to use the (uncovered) action ranges and do more IDPA-style practice in a bay by myself, where the smoke can disperse a little easier?

[AlaskaMike]

16 mcg/dL isn't bad (mine was 19 on my first test). My doctor told me that I should work on lowering it because there are some problems with long term moderate levels like this. I strongly believe the smoke is a significant contaminator--just a couple days prior to my test level of 19 I'd been at the range and breathed in quite a bit of smoke from cast loads. It was enough that when I blew my nose, what came out was grayish/black. That day was a little unique the way the wind pattern was blowing, and after about a half hour I realized I needed to take a deep breath, squeeze off a shot, and slowly exhale as the smoke drifted past me. It's probably worth noting that in my case there was excessive smoke because I hadn't wiped the lube off the bases of those particular bullets prior to loading them.

Mike

[imashooter2]

Remember... As lead levels fall nationally, the doctors keep lowering the standard.

[looseprojectile]

tonight online. PSA = .81, yea. Lead level =10.
I have not been as careful as I should have. So I think if I keep doing it the same way I should live to be at least seventyone. I'll be seventy Saturday.:drinks:
It seems that with a modicum of common sense we all should have no problem with our lead levels.
I do shoot at an indoor range and the smoke and particulates in the air get pretty thick sometimes. I will offer to give the club a squirrel cage blower to help the air quality. Might also enlist my number two son to help design the system as he is a mechanical engineer. Filters, waterfall, what works best?
Hang in there.

Life is good

[imashooter2]

tonight online. PSA = .81, yea. Lead level =10.
Might also enlist my number two son to help design the system as he is a mechanical engineer. Filters, waterfall, what works best?
Hang in there.

Life is good


Exchange works best, but it's tough on your heater...

[zampilot]

I'm getting mine checked today along with other levels of usual tests. A friend that used to cast a lot saw first hand the really bad mood swings associated with lead in a casting associate of his, said the guy had his blood filtered and all returned to normal, as it was several years before.

[bbs70]

Some interesting reading in this thread.
The reason is because I had lead poisoning some years back.
This was 15 to 20 years ago, and yes I was casting my own boolits.
BUT, I also was an overhead crane operator at a copper smelter and we also prossed huge quanties of lead.
And being in a crane all the smoke came up to where I was.
The company had us tested for lead on a monthly basis, I believe it was mostly for show.
People with low lead levels were tested every couple of months.
The ones with high levels (I was one ) were tested every month.
At the time osha acceptable limits were 80 (which I didn't know ) and mine was 105.

I won't go into a rant about what the company didn't do or should have done, lets just say they were trying to cover their butts.
After consulting my own doctor, I confronted the company and they put me outside the smelter away from the lead.

I quit casting boolits for a while to get my lead level down.
After several months my lead level started to come down, so I started casting again.
Funny thing is my lead level kept coming down and is now at normal levels.
PLEASE NOTE, I quit casting after this because I didn't have the time.
I just recently started casting again, I'm happy to say.

So what I believe is you have to be subjected to high levels of lead in the air before it starts to accumulate in the body.
Mind you this is just my personal opinion, and I have been known to be wrong once or twice in my 61 years on this earth.

I cast in my ventilated garage and try to take every precaution.
But I believe I should be more concerned with what is in the drinking water and what the additives in the food I eat are doing to this old body of mine.

I'm gonna die of something, so I might as well die doing something I enjoy.
My wife suggested that sex wasn't on the list, so I'm going to cast boolits.:-D

[The Double D]

I have shot and cast for over 40 years and have never, that I recall been tested for lead.

During my last medical checkup the Doctor brought up the subject. We had a discussion and he found out we patients sometimes know as much as they do and maybe a bit more. Wear a respirator, indeed.

Any way I asked for a lead test. When I went in for the follow-up appointment, the Doctor explained that most of my ailments were related to the fact that even though I thought I should feel like I was 40, I really was 61--nothing wrong. He did say I was in better shape than 95% of the rest of his 61 year old patients. Then I got the good news/bad news about the lead. The good news results < 3 mcg/dL of lead in my blood. The bad news, the damn test cost $100.

The doctor said he looked it up and I was right about only needing good ventilation and not a respirator.

So how do I change my input inthe poll?

[Mygila]

Gents, I sold "flame spray metalizing equipment & wire/powders" for a living. We did NOT spray lead wire but did zinc wire. Zinc dust will make you SICK but the cure is BEER or MILK. Most opted for the beer. Actually the beer ( yeast if I remember right) & calcium in the milk absorbed the zinc dust out of one's system. I have a 158 grain round nose 38 that I sit on that's been there ( went in the front) since 1968. Got tested once,:drinks::drinks::drinks: 6 was the number. Well with in safe limits. Good ventilation and wash your hands & things will okay. Mygila http://castboolits.gunloads.com/images/smilies/drink.gif

[klw]

I have had my checked one every several years for as long as I can remember. No problems until I retired and started shooting a lot more. Then it started going up. Eventually hit 28. On the way up I stopped casting, securely packaged up all my lead. Still went up. Then I stopped shooting one particular gun that was clearly having blowback. Not much but some. Lead levels dropped like a brick. So, at least in my cast, it was all the casting but rather the shooting. Would have have believed that but it is true. Today I get a lead test about every six months. It has been dropping steadily ever since I stopped shooting that one rifle even though I am now casting more than ever.

[Jbar4Ranch]

I worked at an ASARCO lead smelter for 23 years and, early on, blood lead levels in the eighties and nineties were common. Over a hundred wasn't unheard of. Near the end, when OSHA blood level standards were considerably lower, I would commonly spend four to six months a year on in-plant medical removal. I think the removal level was... 38 or 39. We were allowed back out in the plant to our regular jobs when it dropped to... 21, I think. Like bbs70, I spent a lot of time in an overhead crane processing lead, but it was pressurized and, for the most part, the cab was a fairly clean area. The last few years it was open, I was a pipefitter, and worked in some of the dirtiest areas imaginable - places where you couldn't see the ceiling or the other end of the building because of the smoke and dust. I have a large hole in my septum today due to lead and copper exposure for all those years.

[felix]

Kenneth, tell me about that rifle, please. Looking for leakage aspects. ... felix

[Springfield]

I went back down to 8 from 13 in a 6 month period and all I did was to stop tumbling in the garage and move them out. I also now put auto paint swirl remover in with the media, totally eliminated the dust. I cast thousands of bullets a week so the numbers can be kept low. I almost never shoot indoors but I shoot 2-3 cowboy shoots a month.

[Irascible]

Speaking of cowboy action shooting, I have noticed MANY cowboys are resetting the knock down targets (usually shotgun)with no gloves and then during mid day break go on to lunch with no thought of washing the lead offf their hands.
Just as bad, I watched the target re-setters at the monthly IHMSA silhouette match setting their lunch down on the lead splash coverd rail, and then picking it up and eating it. Tried to talk to them about lead but I got the same contemptuous look as when I tried to talk to them about hearing protection. DARN FOOL KIDS!

[PatMarlin]

Kenneth, tell me about that rifle, please. Looking for leakage aspects. ... felix

Ditto on that... :Fire:

[PatMarlin]

I went back down to 8 from 13 in a 6 month period and all I did was to stop tumbling in the garage and move them out. I also now put auto paint swirl remover in with the media, totally eliminated the dust. I cast thousands of bullets a week so the numbers can be kept low. I almost never shoot indoors but I shoot 2-3 cowboy shoots a month.


That's definitely a biggie- tumbling indoors- that not to many guys think about.

[PatMarlin]

I heard Mike Savage mention a story claiming the reason the Roman Empire folded was because their water system pipes where made of lead.

The lead poisoning due to their drinking water caused them to loose their "Reasoning" or rational thought.

Lead takes out the Romain Empire... fuel (the lack thereof) takes out Hilter's Empire...

Greed and ingnorance is taking out ours... :roll: . ...:mrgreen:

[MT Gianni]

I heard Mike Savage mention a story claiming the reason the Roman Empire folded was because their water system pipes where made of lead.

The lead poisoning due to their drinking water caused them to loose their "Reasoning" or rational thought.

Lead takes out the Romain Empire... fuel (the lack thereof) takes out Hilter's Empire...

Greed and ingnorance is taking out ours... :roll: . ...:mrgreen:

If it did the water pipes were not replaced until a few years ago if at all. Many Italian ceramic cooking vessels and clay water pots had and still have a curing process that is lead infused. Almost every nation has lead water systems with no quick plan for replacement. There is another agenda here.

[TAWILDCATT]

MT: I think so too."ITS FOR THE CHILDREN"try and find out how to get rid of it.I use iron and zinc tablets.this has been going on since the 70s,and the paint removing. water based paint does not last here in the south.I am 84 and my last test was 9 .I have been casting since the 1939.and ran a reloading group at my club for 20 ys before moving south.:coffee:[smilie=1:

[xsquidgator]

Ditto on that... :Fire:

Mausers will do that- I have a K98 that blows back into your face at light loads, "light" being something like 70% of the max load. I forgot why I was trying light light loads like that once but I did and saw it happen. The blowback stopped at about 80-85% of the published max load when pressures got high enough to expand the case and seal properly.

Isn't a big part of what makes a Mauser, a Mauser action, the chamber pressure relief flow path through the bolt and out the bottom (and thence everywhere including your face)?

[zampilot]

OK, I'm at a "< 5" baseline from a test two weeks ago.......we shall see in a year after casting.

[357maximum]

I am far from "white glove" when I handle lead...my last test was a 3....:wink:

[Gunfreak25]

Isn't it sickening how much the government has become a part of our daily lives? There was once a time when the goverment worked for it's people, now we are being enslaved by our own government. My grandparents (my favorite people in the world) relish the memories of the good old days. I could write forever and ever and ever about "the good old days" that my grandparents speak so fondly of. But alot of you guys here already know what i'm talking about if you've been around the block a few times. There once was a time when:

You could walk the streets at night without fear of being mugged or raped
You could leave the doors on your house unlocked a night
There were no teen pregnancies, mass shootings and drug counselors in schools

But most importantly there was a time when the goverment was made for the people, by the people. Now our goverment is a monster, eating us alive, and it's getting worse every day.
Someday they are going to tell us when we can and can't breath.

I want to smash my TV every time I see a green commercial or hear about some smog issue in a big city. What we can be doing about it or what we should or shouldn't do about it.

I'm 17 and have never had a blood test. Nor do I plan to ever have one. If my lead levels are high, it's nobody's business but my own. Should an EPA inventigator visit my house, i'll show him a nice shiny lead ingot and shove it where the sun don't shine. Call me paranoid, but I hate the society we live in today, I will never give into it. People are so afraid of their goverment.. I think it's the goverment who should be afraid of their people.

I think now I'm going to go watch a good 60's show on TV and pretend I'm living in that era or something. :roll: The 60's were my grandparents favorite years. They made it sound like a really enjoyable time to be alive, I wish I could have been there with them. I know I know. Even years ago the world still had it's problems. I imagine having to dig a bomb shelter in your backyard was very scary back then. But it was certainly a better time to be alive compared to today. I know, I should be enjoying the world I live in today at a young 17 years old, that way when i'm 90 I can look back and say "those were the good old days". I guess we are always living in the "good old days", but never realize it until 30 years has passed by.

[PatMarlin]

I think the key here GF is to live like your grandparents did back then in today's world. All throughout our history there have been times like this.

Don't buy into doom and gloom, and get depressed. It's how we look at the current situation that gets us through and excited about life.

Going to Cambodia and Viet Nam in 1997 changed my life. When you witness first hand how badly people wish to survive, and see them survive and be happy with next to nothing it is humbling.

There are people dying of diseases and starving in our world right now, and are being persecuted and killed for various reasons who have NOTHING. We have everything here in the USA... right now and life is good.

Tune out the media hype and some of Grandpa's rant.

Make the best of it.

[Heavy lead]

Isn't it sickening how much the government has become a part of our daily lives? There was once a time when the goverment worked for it's people, now we are being enslaved by our own government. My grandparents (my favorite people in the world) relish the memories of the good old days. I could write forever and ever and ever about "the good old days" that my grandparents speak so fondly of. But alot of you guys here already know what i'm talking about if you've been around the block a few times. There once was a time when:

You could walk the streets at night without fear of being mugged or raped
You could leave the doors on your house unlocked a night
There were no teen pregnancies, mass shootings and drug counselors in schools

But most importantly there was a time when the goverment was made for the people, by the people. Now our goverment is a monster, eating us alive, and it's getting worse every day.
Someday they are going to tell us when we can and can't breath.

I want to smash my TV every time I see a green commercial or hear about some smog issue in a big city. What we can be doing about it or what we should or shouldn't do about it.



I'm 17 and have never had a blood test. Nor do I plan to ever have one. If my lead levels are high, it's nobody's business but my own. Should an EPA inventigator visit my house, i'll show him a nice shiny lead ingot and shove it where the sun don't shine. Call me paranoid, but I hate the society we live in today, I will never give into it. People are so afraid of their goverment.. I think it's the goverment who should be afraid of their people.


I think now I'm going to go watch a good 60's show on TV and pretend I'm living in that era or something. :roll: The 60's were my grandparents favorite years. They made it sound like a really enjoyable time to be alive, I wish I could have been there with them. I know I know. Even years ago the world still had it's problems. I imagine having to dig a bomb shelter in your backyard was very scary back then. But it was certainly a better time to be alive compared to today. I know, I should be enjoying the world I live in today at a young 17 years old, that way when i'm 90 I can look back and say "those were the good old days". I guess we are always living in the "good old days", but never realize it until 30 years has passed by.
Gunfreak,
Don't give up or give in buddy. I was just like you, about the same age (maybe a little younger but close) in 1980. The world sucked Grandpa and Grandma grew up in the depression and reminised about what great memories they had, even though they were dirt poor and didn't always know where their next meal was coming from. They used to comment about how easy we had it (and I grew up on a farm where I worked my tail off day and night) and about how messed up the world seemed. We had 20% inflation and 15% to 22% interest rates, imagine that, the housing bubble had burst and no one was building anything, the auto industry was in shambles, imports were taking a lot of jobs and business away from our automakers. Local GM plants were either shutting down, or threatening to shut down. Gas and diesel fuel was high, I was just starting to drive, and we didn't have much left over for beer! Then a man came along named Mr. Reagan who made us believe in ourselves, in freedom and in the goodness of the Constitiution, he changed me and my attitude. Times are tough right now, and things are bassackwards, but this is where a great attitude can not only get you through, but make you prosper. I can tell you are far older of the mind than your age, we that believe in freedom and capitalism and everything else that is good in life will prosper. Why? because we are winners, that's why. Don't let life get you down, or beat you down either. Your life can be good and will be good if you will it.


You are correct on this above too, you will look back at the year 2008 someday as "the good old days". When I was your age some of the things I dreaded most (like 2 a day football practice when it was 90 degrees and 100% humididy, and baling hay in between) I look back on as being the most missed and now look at those memories with fondness.

With all this I have said, I hope I haven't offended you. It sounds like you are angry, very much so, anger itself is ok if you let it go, what is not healthy is not having a positive outlook on life. Life is like anything else, it is what you make of it, we are still are plenty free enough to get in life what you want out of it. You believe in yourself and don't let people get you down, and live good, and my friend you will always be able to look yourself in the mirror with pride.

Stop watching what irritates you, don't waste precious time on this earth worried about the morons that don't see the world the correct way. Remember most of these eco-liberal-freaks simply could not find a job and activism has become there career, actually it's probably cheaper than welfare, so chill on this dude and don't waste your time.

You having a blood test does not have anything to do with Government intervention. The government is a PITA, I agree, (I work from Jan 1 to June 1 to pay my taxes) but this is about your health and you taking charge of it and being proactive not reactive like the government is. You don't need to fear anything for even though a democrat said it, it was good advise: "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself", only thing I will add to that would be God.


Pat Marlin is a very smart man, his advise should be taken.

[PatMarlin]

Maybe sometimes... Thanks for the compliment.

The other thing I try to do is stay away from doomy gloomy people, and not let anyone tell me I can't do something, or that it can't possible be done. That's when I say "Watch Me".

They will suck your energy dry like a vampire sure as hell.

The reason I'm taking the time to post this GF is at 17, you can grab life by the balls. Wish someone had told me the same at your age.

[Heavy lead]

100% in agreement Pat.

[waksupi]

I learned a long time ago. If someone tells you something is impossible, just add three days to the delivery time, and do it!

[BigBlack]

My last physical (November 08) I asked my doctor. Told him I was hand loading and casting. He told me not to wory unless I was actually eating the stuff. My blood work was normal all the way down. I do wash up good before eating after working the lead, but I wash up good before eating anytime.

[TAWILDCATT]

I think I posted here already.why in heavens name does this keep coming up?
its been going on since the 70s when they blamed lead paint,now we have paint thats junk and does not stand up.I am 84 and had tests in the 70s.I blame lead ed gasoline as we used to wash parts in it.my club had a state biochemist check
the loading room.even the melting pot did not give of lead fumes.:groner:
[smilie=b:

[Spector]

I used to power wire brush a lot of red lead paint in the Navy. I started collecting lead and casting ingots and round balls in 1980. I started reclaiming lead shot on our trap range last winter. First doing it only when the ground was wet and using water to clean the shot and return the water to the flat ground where the shot had come from. I collected 250 lbs. Last summer I began collecting shot when it was dry and collected another 200 lbs. I can recall the dust occasionally having a sweet taste to it. Through the years I have smelted a little over 1000 lbs of plumbers lead, water pipe and cable sheathing into ingots and another 800 pounds of wheel weights. I have cast in the garage with the door open on rainy days, but limit my casting to out of doors now and run a fan at my back. Oh yeah and in a real dumb moment back in the 80's I smelted a battery. And I always used to clamp split shot on my fishing line with my teeth. I still forget sometimes when I'm in a hurry, but I spit a lot now when I realize what I've done. ha ha I'm 61 now.

I had my lead level checked in 1998 since I was retiring and intended to do more casting. They have lost my medical records from then, but I recall the doctor telling me a number that I did not undertand. I asked for a layman's explanation. She said that children have less tollerance for lead than adults and that even if I was a child my lead level reading would be fine.

I had it tested again 6 weeks ago and it was 8. My new nurse practitioner told me the normal scale is 0-19.

I never knew that lead levels could fluctuate so much until I read this thread. I thought once you had the lead in you it pretty much stayed there. I think I'll have my lead level checked every few years now and wear a respirator if I decide to reclaim any more lead shot in the summer months..........Mike

[JohnH]

Gunfreak25 said, "You could walk the streets at night without fear of being mugged or raped......"

Maybe. Large cities or small, people are still capable of acting like animals. Some small towns were relatively crime free and at the same time terrible things happened in some very rural settings. "Natural Born Killers" was in part based on a young teen couple who murdered at least 4 people in the rural plains in the 1950's. My Great Uncle raped my sisters at the ages of 3-5 during the mid 1950's, we don't know how many other children he raped..... Good 'Ol Days????? Not to some.


Gunfreak25 said, "You could leave the doors on your house unlocked a night....."

I live in a very rural and secluded area and do this far more often than not, and it's almost 2009

Gunfreak25 said, "There were no teen pregnancies, mass shootings........"

I guess they didn't tell you about homes for unwed mothers or the Marine killing people on a Texas University campus


Gunfreak25 said, "I think now I'm going to go watch a good 60's show on TV and pretend I'm living in that era or something. :roll: The 60's were my grandparents favorite years. They made it sound like a really enjoyable time to be alive, I wish I could have been there with them. I know I know. Even years ago the world still had it's problems. I imagine having to dig a bomb shelter in your backyard was very scary back then........"

So was getting under your desk for nuclear strike drills, the assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin King and Bobby Kennedy. So was Detroit and Watts going up in flames and Mayor Daly calling out his police troops on the demonstrators at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The bombings and murdes of the Civil Rights Era and so was Tricky Dick.

But many good things happened in those years as well. The discovery of DNA which may well hold the promise of the elimination of many inherited diseases. The eradication of small pox. The Cuban Missle Crisis. (We figured out how to not blow ourselves up for at least the following 40 years) And prolly most important, the introduction of the Ruger Blackhawk. (Yeah I know that was mid 1950's, still danged important though)

We tend to forget the bad and remember the good. It is the nature of how we are put together.

I'm not what might be called a religious kind of fella. I do believe that there is a struggle of right and wrong, good and evil, in our personal lives inteh world at large. Yes there are evil people in the world. As well, there are some very good people in the world. Sometimes they win and sometimes they don't. (Good or evil) But as has been said by another, "The only thing nessicary for evil men to win is for good men to do nothing" Stop sniveling, choose a side and get to work. Be the change you want to see in the world.

As to lead poisoning, I think it's chances of happening are vastly over estimated, and that the lead elimination program we are seeing is an act of the do gooders (as opposed to doing good) finding something they can force on others so that they can feel good about themselves. There is an inherent evil in that which must be fought and resisted in every possible way.

[zampilot]

else, like an elevated PSA, as I did in early January. In a way, casting saved my life. There aint no 'scuses really, just do it!:drinks:

[sniper]

I had a lead level check after reading the first post: my level was 1.

[Tokarev]

I cast outside. This allows me to get even with the neigbours by adding some tire rubber to the pot sometimes when wind blows in the right direction. My neigbours are *******s :(

J. K.

[supv26]

I have never been tested for lead but there are several at work that are required to have a blood test once a year. They work the indoor shooting range and by our rules, no one is alowed past the shooting line without having on FULL HAZMAT gear. I have been getting lead from the trap but that is outside the range in a hall way near the elevator. I just open a little trap door and turn on the clean out device. It is a little dusty but I try not to breath any of it. Also, I have only done this a few times so I should be alright.

The other night, one of the guys from work was out and I was showing him some of my casting gear. The way he described it, I was going to be dead in short time for casting boolits if I didn't wear a full respirator! I do all my smelting outside but I do cast my boolits inside but I open the doors and have fans going to pull the air out. Plus I only use a 4 pound melter so I do not have much going at a time. Last night when I was fluxing I could see the smoke being drawn towards the window pretty hard so I think I should be ok. I think that if we cast boolits and smelted 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, then we should be concerned.

[Psycho0124]

I've been casting .45 ACP, .44 mag and 45-70s with my old man since the age of 8. Now, at 26, I have two boys of my own and fully intend on keeping with the tradition when they are old enough. A little bit of precaution (do it outside and stay upwind, don't eat stuff, don't chew your fingernails) goes a long way to avoiding contamination. Even smoking while he casts, my dad has never shown any symptom at all of lead poisoning even after 40 years and what must be a quarter-million rounds (200 rounds every weekend for 25 years).

I'd bet your in far more danger just driving around in your car than you ever would be casting or shooting. Plus casting is such a damn fun hobby, I would cast even if it was exceptionally hazardous.

[BigBlack]

I asked my doctor during my physical exam last year and he told me unless I was eating it I would be okay. He told me to be sure and wash up before eating or drinking, but I do that anyway.

Oh my lead level was normal

[ciPeterF]

I think everyone is unique.. we're (doc and I) are still trying to find what's keeping mine high.. (went up in the summer shooting outdoors).. right now the suspect is handling the lead while loading so we're in white glove mode.. (Being a thin skinned office guy might be letting me absorb thru the baby bottom fingers.. versus guys who do something other than pound a keyboard all day..

[PatMarlin]

May want to get a lead test kit and check your dishes.

[snowtigger]

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.

[PatMarlin]

That's a perfect example of why folks should look elsewhere for things like imported ceramic dishes instread of the "evil" cast shooting industry.

[imashooter2]

I think everyone is unique.. we're (doc and I) are still trying to find what's keeping mine high.. (went up in the summer shooting outdoors).. right now the suspect is handling the lead while loading so we're in white glove mode.. (Being a thin skinned office guy might be letting me absorb thru the baby bottom fingers.. versus guys who do something other than pound a keyboard all day..

What is "high"?

[klw]

What is "high"?

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.

[joedapro]

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.

[imashooter2]

Over 30.



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.

[klw]

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.

[Chunky Monkey]

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.

[ciPeterF]

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.

Floating between 25 and 30 depending on the month..

[mpmarty]

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.

[Paladin 56]

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?

[PatMarlin]

Marty ...LOL

[ciPeterF]

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..)

[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[smilie=1:

[Chunky Monkey]

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!!

[ciPeterF]

A question for you high volume (1,000+ rounds \ month) cast loaders.. Do you wear latex (or other) gloves when loading?

[waksupi]

A question for you high volume (1,000+ rounds \ month) cast loaders.. Do you wear latex (or other) gloves when loading?


No need, just wash your hands when you are done.

[klw]

I've tried but I've had a life long skin problem which they make worse in short order.

[snuffy]

A question for you high volume (1,000+ rounds \ month) cast loaders.. Do you wear latex (or other) gloves when loading?

No. Also I'm not afraid of my shadow, or getting hit by lightning, or getting hit by a meteor!:bigsmyl2: 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.

[Bert2368]

The only time I had a heavy metal screen, it came back low in the normal range for Lead.
Big surprise was I was at the top of the range for Arsenic. Turned out the whole basement of the place I lived was painted with very old, peeling, chalking light green paint... And the paint colorant had been a copper arsenic compound. We re-painted the basement in a hurry, and I've moved away since. No more heavy metal problems.

[AZ-Stew]

I just had my physical, about a year and a half after the last one, and had them check lead. Came back less than two. Last time it was 4. I haven't done anything different. Matter of fact, this time wasn't all that long after a smelting session. There was a lot of smoke and it was windy. I was fighting a cold and I couldn't smell as well as normal. I spent a good amount of time down wind of the smelting, trying not too breathe too much of it. I don't use a face mask. Too much trouble and I don't think they provide a significant amount of protection. More trouble than they're worth.

Anyway, my lead level is down by half from last time. I don't take extraordinary measures, just the common sense stuff like washing my hands before directly handling food. I keep my drink within a couple of feet of my casting furnace while working. I also don't smoke. Handling cigarettes during casting is asking for trouble.

Bottom line is that space suits aren't necessary to protect oneself from lead exposure during casting/smelting. Take as many precautions as you feel necessary, but in my experience, most of them aren't necessary.

Regards,

Stew

[Bladebu1]

Signs and symptoms in adults
Although children are primarily at risk, lead poisoning is also dangerous to adults. Signs and symptoms of lead poisoning in adults may include:

* Pain, numbness or tingling of the extremities
* Muscular weakness
* Headache
* Abdominal pain
* Memory loss
* Mood disorders
* Reduced sperm count, abnormal sperm

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/lead-poisoning/FL00068/DSECTION=2

wow I voted too soon
* Pain, numbness or tingling of the extremities ^^ Yep but they called it neve damage
* Muscular weakness ^^I am 40 of course I have some loss
* Headache^^ yeah but I have been married for 20 years
* Abdominal pain ^^Nope ( yeah one no )
* Memory loss ^^what was the last quistion oh yeah CRS
* Mood disorders^^ not any more the prozac helps that
* Reduced sperm count, abnormal sperm^^ I never looked and it is too late I fixed now anyhow [smilie=l:

[ace1001]

When you shoot, don't sniff the smoke. Let it blow away before you look into the chamber. The biggest source of poisoning is the lead vaporized in gunsmoke. Then was your hands before eating or drinking. My levels are 1/10th of the allowable. Ace

[jimkim]

I'm more worried about carbon monoxide. I worked in a factory that had no ventilation and used propane powered forklifts. All of us stayed sick. The plant president had the nerve to say that propane didn't produce carbon monoxide. We bought a meter from wallyworld and checked the level several times that night. We stayed at three times the max safe level. They finally switched to electric lifts after that, but I fear it may have been too late. I can't handle being around car exhaust now. I get sick very quick. I shoot outside. I smelt outside. I cast outside. I tumble my brass outside. God willing I wont get much exposure, outside.

[montana_charlie]

I just read an interesting thread about lead poisoning. It says some things I was never aware of.
I have not read all 9 pages of this thread to see if 'hair' has been covered, but I will assume it has not.

Therefore, you might like to look this over...
http://shilohrifle.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=13181

CM

[cwskirmisher]

I have been smelting and handling pure lead, and shooting boolits in front stuffers for over 12 years. When I retired from the navy in 2003, they required a full physical - I asked the docs if they could check my blood lead levels, and I told them why -- with no 'raised' eyebrows from the doc - just an "ok, sure".
Anyway, my lead levels came out "high normal", and he said that everything was where it should be (blood levels, that is). He told me to just continue to do what I do, it was obviously not 'poisoning' me - and to continue to wash hands thoroughly before handling any food.

Knowledge is power. Shared knowlege is awesome.

[BPJunky]

Because I smoke and cast a lot, I had my levels checked back in the winter..While it showed some lead, the doc assured me it was well within the "normal" level.

[xsquidgator]

Update on me, 4 months after finding my blood Pb had shot up from 0 to 16 mcg/dl in a year... good news is that I'm down to 10 after 4 months of taking better care of exposing myself to my hobby Pb.

I had a 4 month later blood test done last week. 4 months ago when I discovered I was up at 16, I bought a lead dust respirator ($25), and started wearing it when handling my case tumbler and when I do casting. I also started paying better attention to having a fan behind me blowing air at me and away from me when casting in my garage with all the doors open, and I also made a much stronger effort to wash my hands well after handling anything that might have lead on it.

I'm glad to see that some combination of these things seems to have gotten my lead exposure under control.

[Coastie]

After hearing about how bad lead is.......I wondered about how I would test, so I ask for a lead test - especially when I recalled how many times Dad told me "to get the lead out". Grew up playing with lead soldiers - some that we cast. Helped Dad plumb by stuffing oakem into pipe before we poured in the lead, worked with solder that contained lead, shot thousands of lead bullets, began working in construction in the 50's and have no idea how many houses, deck plates, etc that I have sanded, wire brushed, chipped or scrapped the lead paint from during the last 60 years. I have reloaded with my own equipment since the mid-sixties and have no idea how many wheel weights I have melted or shot shells I have loaded. All that to say that after 69 years - My blood test for lead was great. Although for the last 20 years I did get a little smarter and used a mask, or respirator and washed my hands right after smelting or sanding old paint. I think that the hazard of lead is blown way out of proportion to serve another agenda. I always wonder how many window sills a kid would have to eat to equal the amount of lead an old time house painter had ingested - and where is the kid's mother?

[David R]

I had it checked for the first time. I had to convince the doctor to do the test. She said it wouldn't be necessary. It was 42.5. The doctors office notified the state workers health people.

I have been casting and shooting indoors a LOT, so this explains it. I bought some rubber gloves and only shoot out side for now. Much more careful about what and how I do things. I am also a weldor which makes things worse. I go back for anther test in 60 days. I can tell the difference already. My hands and feet were falling asleep easily.

The doctor said they do not treat unless its over 50.

David :)

[bigdog454]

Back in the 50's (1950's), tooth paste and other items, such as thosethat now come in plastic tubes; used to come in lead tubes. How things have changed!

[jcwit]

I believe they were tin not lead.

But then again?

[RugerSP101]

For the vast majority of us casting bullets is not a problem, relative to lead poisoning. If you are careful not to eat, drink or smoke until AFTER you have washed your hands (while casting/handling lead), you're probably OK! The majority of high lead levels among casters & shooters can usually be traced back to lots of shooting on an indoor range. You'll pick up a lot more lead from the spent primer residue in the gunsmoke than you will by casting bullets!

centershot


"Only two things are infinite; the universe and human stupidity.......and I'm not sure about the universe."

Albert EinsteinIve only been to an indoor range once in my life. It was so closed in that I couldnt enjoy shooting anyway, but even tho it said it was well ventilated it certainly didnt seem to be.
I only shoot outdoors now.

I just started casting bullets officially today so I really want to make sure not to get into bad habits from the start, especially since I live in an apt and have to bring my melter and tools inside when Im done.

We dont shoot a lot so I dont think Ill be getting a ton of exposure anyway.

If a person is only casting for 2 hours once a month or so and only doing so outside, also being careful about clean hands and such, would that person be pretty ok about lead not being too much of a problem ?

[jcwit]

You Sir should be fine. You probably have a greater risk factor with your Chinese coffee mug.

[will-mo]

8 Months ago, I was at 22. I'd been shooting indoors a bunch. I quit shooting indoors, but started to cast my own. Just got my lead tested last week. I'm at 11. I guess casting has no effect on my lead levels.

[felix]

An indoor range should have its exhaust fans at the target area. If you cannot hear the fans running big time when no one is shooting, you can bet the lead levels in your blood will skyrocket. Insist on having the best squirrel cage fans installed, and make sure they are connected to/with the target light switch. This makes sure the fans come on when the target is in view. ... felix

[will-mo]

Felix, I quit that range. Its a very old range which has very poor ventilation. I've been in many other indoor ranges that are top notch for air quality... Its good to know that lead levels will drop in time...
Will

[mwohlenhaus]

I remeber as a kid I would use my teeth to remove the lead bullet from 22's in order to get the gunpowder out of them. I distinctly remember chewing on a couple because they tasted sweet. When I started casting my wife had a cow, and thought I was gonna die of lead poisoning, well I tried to show her data on lead but she is as stubborn as I am. so I got tested and it turned out I was only a 3. Doc just called and told me. I didn't notice any long term effects from chewing on lead, but it was at a time when "experts" say it is the worst for you, when your brain is developing.

[ghh3rd]

I'd better get mine checked, since I've noticed that my boat rides a little lower in the water lately. :kidding:

[inuhbad]

I went to see my doctor last fall for a physical, and for the lab tests, he threw in heavy metals testing as well.

My lead levels were a bit on the 'high' side of the average range he said - I forget the number - but still not detrimental to health! He asked me how I was getting the exposure so I explained to him the frequent handling / use of cast lead bullets. He informed me that lead can enter the body in numerous ways, but in my case, it was likely entering in two ways:
1.) Inhaling lead fumes.
2.) Absorption through the skin.

He suggested that I buy THREE THINGS to reduce my lead levels:
1.) Buy a FULL NATO SPEC GAS MASK WITH 40MM NBC FILTER. He said that inhaling MELTED LEAD fumes is different from inhaling lead dust in the air! Typical dust masks & filtration masks you can buy at the hardware store most likely are NOT SUFFICIENT to keeping lead out of your lungs, and it can also get in through the mucous membranes near your eyes, etc... So a full-face mask is recommended for added protection.
2.) Wear Leather Gloves, and try to NEVER touch the lead with my bare skin if I can use gloves instead - he even recommended gloves when shooting so I don't touch it when loading magazines.
3.) Buy a Lead Decontamination Soap. Whenever you finish making bullets, loading ammo, or shooting your guns, he said just wash from your hands up to your elbows with the decontamination soap, and wash your face with regular soap, and a washcloth after you get home from the shooting range. DO NOT EAT/DRINK ANYTHING BEFORE WASHING.

I've since done all of these three things! I bought a cheap surplus Israeli M15 Gas Mask, a new NATO standard NBC Filter, decontamination soap, and used leather gloves when loading ammo... Then I went back for monthly testing (as per his orders), and by January my lead levels had PLUMMETED! He said they were on the low-end of normal, or virtually nonexistent.

He said he has never seen a lead count drop that quickly, noting that it usually only drops a couple 2-3 points in ~6 months or so. Mine fell quite a bit in only ~4-5 months! Just by using a gas mask with good filter, leather gloves, and a decontamination soap (Called D-Lead Hand Soap)!!!

I seriously think the two biggest factors were switching to a full NBC Mask (the neighbors probably think I'm cooking up Meth or something, :lol: ), and the use of the decontamination soap!

[windrider919]

I had a very complete physical at the VA hospital in January after suddenly out of the blue being unable to breath. I have been having a low level cough for almost two years and they found I had 'Walking Pneumonia'. On the questionnaire I filled out i wrote down that I had been bullet casting since 1970 and the doctor went crazy, claiming i must be lead poisoned and that my high BP and memory problems were caused by lead poisoning. Actually, I got run over by a 16 year old kid in a stolen car in March 2005 and had a head injury which has caused long term recall problems. Of course at 54 years old thats my story and I am sticking to it.

Anyway, the long and short of it is that I cast indoors but use a vent hood over my workbench. I shoot outdoors and usually shoot 200 rounds a month. I cast a lot of bullets for friends of whom I really barely charge for the cost of electricity to run my pot. And the results of my test was a 3.

The really odd thing is that I know several guys that do not shoot or handle lead in any known way and work indoors in downtown Houston and drive an hour or more each way in heavy traffic who DO have high lead levels (one told me his count is in the mid 30s) yet I thought there was no lead in gasoline any more. Go figure.

Another person I know that has had lead poisening and health problems is a fishing fanatic. He has fished in Galveston Bay (which is surounded by chemical plants , etc in operation for decades) for years and he told me that while searching for the source when he took some of his frozen fish in they found elevated levels of heavy metals in it's flesh. The levels were in the toxic range! They had him dispose of all his fish as toxic waste and recommended he eat nothing out of the bay anymore. That was two years ago and people still fish in the bay and there are no public health warnings posted. again, go figure.

[303Guy]

Lead poisening is like gun control. Gun control is making your shot count. Lead poisening is what the other guy gets when you control your gun!:mrgreen:

[Taylor]

I see my VA doctor about 2X per year for blood work,he likes to keep up with my cholesterol.So I figger it ain't hard to go ahead and check for lead.I told him why,and he is fine with the idea.All good so far.

[Brick85]

Last time I was tested, I hadn't started casting, but I do construction, often on older houses that certainly have lead paint, and we often bust out plaster, which would obviously have lead paint on it and turns into dust when you remove it. My levels were fine, even lower than average if I recall (though I don't know the specific number, my doctor wasn't worried), and while I usually wear a respirator (not even the paper masks, but a real respirator), there are times when it's only a few minutes of dust that I neglect it.

I can understand not eating finger foods or smoking while casting, but if you're not touching the food (like a sandwich in a wrapper, or something eaten with a fork), or drinking but not touching the rim, how does the lead get in your mouth? Does it settle on the drink/food from vapors and dust, or is it only what's transferred from hands to objects and then to the mouth?

[snuffy]

1.) Inhaling lead fumes.
2.) Absorption through the skin.

Unless you're running you lead pot at or above 1200 degrees, there's no lead fumes. Smoke is not lead fumes.

As for lead absorbing through the skin, it can't. Not metallic lead anyway. Some of the lead salts may be able to be absorbed, but not metallic lead.


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.

Quoted from my post on 2-21-09. My test this time was 4.0!!! If I'm that low, there's no reason most casters should be worried. Just keep your hands clean after handling lead boolits. The metallic lead on your hands will be absorbed if you don't wash, then eat or drink Especially if you eat finger foods.

[Lead Pusher]

I am new to casting and new to this site. I take my personal safety seriously, but I believe this as well as other subjects are blown out of proportion. I cast outdoors and I wear gloves and jeans. It's Florida so I wear short sleeves. I do not wear a mask I dip snuff. It's too hard to spit. I know that I'm taking unnecessary chances and I have weighed the options and made my choice. I work as a Deputy Sheriff in South Florida I wear body armor everyday even when it's 100 degrees with 99% humity. There are some chences I'm willing to take and others that I'm not willing to. I understand the point of the survey and why the results are needed. I also believe that I'm a full ghrown man and am capable of making my own decisions. I don't get into anyone else's buisness unless I have to, and I don't expect them to try to get into mine. Sorry bout the rant, but part of what I see is wrong with this country is some do gooder is always trying to get into someone else's buisness and tell them how wrong they are. I have a better chance of getting into a car crash and being killed or being killed in the line of duty than I do from lead. Right Wrong or Indifferent it's just the way I see it.

[Brick85]

I saw that some folks were talking about not "tumbling" indoors. Does this mean tumble lubing? What first came to mind to me was my vibratory case cleaner, but that has a top and pretty much zero dust escapes it, though I could see it putting out dust if I didn't use the top.

[high standard 40]

This is something I have been concerned about for some time but never took the time to get checked. When I was younger I had heavy exposure to lead based paint while helping maintain my dad's shop. I've been one of those who held lead sinkers in my mouth while fising. I've smelted over a ton of wheel weights this year alone and cast several thousand bullets. Worst of all, I maintain all the targets for our metallic silhouette club which requires welding steel plate with a good coating of lead on it. I've never used a dust mask but do use good ventilation. Anyway, I just got my blood test report and my level is 7.
Pleasant surprise.

[Possum]

last year I tested at 17 which was on a scale of 1-20 for non-work enviroment lead levels. This year I tested at a 7. The test dates were almost exactly a year apart. I started melting my batches in bigger lots instead of once a week and started wearing a mask. Must have paid off.

[TAWILDCATT]

this bull started in the early 70s.I had a level of 45.no one knew how to lower it.
remember leaded gas most of us cleaned parts with it.my next check at VA will be for lead.but my last was 9.
dont smoke,eat or drink.and zinc or iron supliments will claer any up.if you get it.
which you wont.its all "about the children"and another way to get rid of guns.
unfortunately to many are so paranoyed that they believe any thing.lead does not leach in the ground its been tested.
and tell me where is all this lead going to go when they collect it,it came from the ground to begin with.:coffee:[smilie=1:

[masscaster]

Lead poisioning, hmmmm, i've handled well over 10 million rounds of boolits and ballits in my 30 + years as a caster, commercial & personal and my levels have never been above 4.
Let's see, wash hands squeaky clean before eating is a good start, don't huff off of the lead pot is another. A little common sense goes a long way with ANYTHING! It's like Mr. White says "Ya can't fix stupid". There I said it.............
Thank you, and goodnight.

[captaint]

Getting tested is easy. I go to the Doc twice a year. She always does blood work. Now I tell her check for lead. What?? Lead?? Why?? Because I have different hobbies!! Just get it checked. I've always been good to go. Mike

[Frank]

I saw that some folks were talking about not "tumbling" indoors. Does this mean tumble lubing? What first came to mind to me was my vibratory case cleaner, but that has a top and pretty much zero dust escapes it, though I could see it putting out dust if I didn't use the top.
I see people who tumble brass inside their home. Tumbling brass evidently is a big source of lead exposure, like shooting at indoor ranges. Take a look at your tumbler. Is it sealed top and bottom? Nope. Dust creeps out constantly. So tumbling for me stays outside. And when it is done, it fits in a sealed 5 gallon bucket, the whole unit.

[Down South]

I had my lead level checked a few months ago while getting some other blood work done. My blood level came back good. I don’t know what the number was but the doctor just said it was fine.

[TAWILDCATT]

this has been going on since the early 70s."FOR THE CHIDREN"the only ones I have heard or were police instucters that spent their days teaching police.I am 85 been casting since 1937.there was a time when cleaning parts with gasoline may have caused problems.its anothe scam the activist have been working.:coffee:
[smilie=1:

[bigstrap3]

I think this post By Pat is right on the money. Stinking cancer seems to be every where, and there arnt that many casters in the U.S. I will start getting my blood tested twice a year as I have to get tested for my cholesterol anyway. But This is a good thread IMHO.....George




I think there is a far greater threat with the toxins in our food chain, water supply, and meat today than there ever was and is- or should be more of a concern than casting lead boolits.

I've never known so many people to come down with cancer, as I see know. Seems like eveyone is getting it.

And we all know what a great job our government is doing to inspect and regulate what we put in our mouths. Specially now with the help from our buddies in China supplying things like wheat gluten and other food additives.. :roll:

[Hammer]

Signs and symptoms in adults
Although children are primarily at risk, lead poisoning is also dangerous to adults. Signs and symptoms of lead poisoning in adults may include:

* Pain, numbness or tingling of the extremities
* Muscular weakness
* Headache
* Abdominal pain
* Memory loss
* Mood disorders
* Reduced sperm count, abnormal sperm

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/lead-poisoning/FL00068/DSECTION=2

Darn, I thought I was just getting old......

[TAWILDCATT]

this is all bu**st.it started in the 70s and you people keep rehashing cra p.
I am 85 been casting since 1937.leaded gas was one cause.I too have my level checked at VA.but had it checked yrs ago.there were a number of us that had levels in the 50/60 range.and we all used gas to clean with.leaded gas is gone and our level went with it.as the doc how to get rid of it. I asked my doctor and he admitted he was not familiar with the subject.It was all about children control.
and it succeeded better than they thought.it was at the start of all the PC bull.

[jcwit]

this is all bu**st.it started in the 70s and you people keep rehashing cra p.
I am 85 been casting since 1937.leaded gas was one cause.I too have my level checked at VA.but had it checked yrs ago.there were a number of us that had levels in the 50/60 range.and we all used gas to clean with.leaded gas is gone and our level went with it.as the doc how to get rid of it. I asked my doctor and he admitted he was not familiar with the subject.It was all about children control.
and it succeeded better than they thought.it was at the start of all the PC bull.

A voice of reason in a jungle of PC idiocy. My God we played with lead pellets/bullets, sinkers ect., ect., even had mercury available back in those long ago days. Dissected frogs in biology class saturated in formaldehyde, and thru all this we managed to keep enough brains to put a man on the moon, and build all the technology we have today?

Wonder how all this happened?

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

A voice of reason in a jungle of PC idiocy. My God we played with lead pellets/bullets, sinkers ect., ect., even had mercury available back in those long ago days. Dissected frogs in biology class saturated in formaldehyde, and thru all this we managed to keep enough brains to put a man on the moon, and build all the technology we have today?

Wonder how all this happened?

I remember as a kid (Amazing I can even remember anything today!:mrgreen:) biting the lead sinkers to make them tight on the line, yes putting lead in my mouth, and biting down hard!

But my memory is going, can't see as good as I use to, can't remember very well, eye sight not as good as it use too . . . oh, and I can't remember all the other things . . .:mrgreen:

Probably has more to do with my "visit" with three punko's that assaulted me and knocked me unconscious than any lead poisoning!

Just more government interference, IMO!

[Lead pot]

I just had a lead test taken last Friday and mine is at 8.
I'm a retired plumber and a lot of my working time was working with heavy lead joints caulking lead joints in open and close confined spaces at times you could look at the 30 pound lead pot cooking on the furnace and it would be red. This went on for 35 years and my lead count was never over 10.
My high counts were more form eating my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with out washing my hands before eating.
Now I cast about 4000 bullets every year in my basement under a vent hood and my lead count I got results for yesterday was 7.

[dsmjon]

Lead doesn't absorb through skin easily, I think the warnings of not smoking/eating are useless. If someone is stupid enough to EAT lead, well... don't tell the Democrats, they already have enough people to save themselves from themselves.

Lead exposure doesn't bother me nearly as much as all the RF energy we are constantly bombarded with. I'm glad my copper mesh lined Ti/Al/Pb helmet comes in soon!

[Lead pot]

Even being a plumber a lot of times there was no water on the job to wash before eating. And the lead pot cooking in confined spaces with out cross ventilation and the lead getting very hot a lot hotter than a lead pot used for casting bullets.
I'm not saying lead wont hurt you, it will and some will get hurt more than others.
By the Way a tin foil aht will also do a good job for people on cell phones too.:bigsmyl2:

[plumber]

What I do at work scares my more than casting. Hell, shooting indoors is worse. Asbestos scares me, PVC solvent freaks me out!!

[odoh]

Dad was a plumber for >50yrs. Before that, in elementary school, he and most of the other guys chewed lead (circa late 1920's) no, the lead wasn't different then, they just didn't know any better like we school kids in the early 1950s chewed tar.

[fecmech]

I just got my results back today and they are 5.4 . I had the test done last spring after shooting at an indoor range for the most part of the winter and it came back at 19 which is still OK. I've been casting loading and shooting the same for years so it appears to me that the only place I get lead is shooting indoors.

[WhiteHorse]

Hey gang.

Been lurking/reading a lot lately, but this may be my first actual post. I have been doing plenty of shooting, reloading, and casting over the years, so I started getting testing during my yearly physical. My personal level has risen from 2 to 3 to 4 over the past 3 years. Mind you, I do plenty of casting and primer pocket cleaning.

I do, however, keep my mouth shut while doing chores and I wash up using D-Lead soap. No worries.


-White Horse

[shooter58]

I'm new to this forum but not new to shooting & lead. I work in electronics, I solder at work and solder at home and have done so for over 40 years. I have been shooting since I was six or so. For the past 40 years I've been heavy into air guns and handle pure lead pellets all the time, shoot almost daily. I get tested once a year for lead exposure, and my highest result ever was 2, and below 40 is ok, they say. I wash my hands and don't eat the stuff, but I don't worry about it either. I plan to use an exhaust fan when casting. I have molds, etc. on the way, and have this most excellent forum to learn from. Life is good.

[JeffinNZ]

WHOA! Just got tested and came back at 61 so gotta take some action.

[splattersmith]

What about some input from those that died of lead poisoning. It would be illuminating. So far this thread is so one sided.

Or -- how many animal species have you heard died from eating lead bullets? Us humanoids have been shooting lead for - what - 6 or so centuries. You think we would have some statistics of gross extinctions.

[Tom B]

Here's what I know!
When I turned 17 and graduated from high school, the first job I had was as a Linotype operator. In the ensuing years I inhaled , wallowed in and generally practically ate and lived in lead until Linotype's were no longer available. Started in 1959 and the last time I was working Lino was 1985. Since I always cast bullets, I guess I should be dead. I have two children. One is a bank executive and the other a UPS delivery driver. So its not relevent to their intelligence. Might be to mine, but . . . that's up for debate.
I am now 68 and still a curmudgeney old guy who is very opinionated and
in my humble opinion all this stuff about lead is a scare tactic. I must admit I don't think I really ate that much, but who knows.

[TAWILDCATT]

back in the late 60s they brought out the children and lead so the 200 members of our club got tested,some were high as I was,but no one could tell how to lower it.I was about 45,never got treated and got tested a few yrs ago at 9.I am 85 1/2.
I think its time the moderater took this down.its 99% bull.I think the lead came from autos and washing parts in leaded gas.It nothing but scare tactics and urban ledgen,pushed by anti gunners.the NRA had a study done and found lead does NOT leach out of ranges.
SO PLEASE MODERATER GET RID OF THIS THREAD.TED

[Shiloh]

To quote Jocelyn Elders, Klinton's Surgeon General, "We'll probably all die of something."

I'll continue to cast, and continue to practice safety procedures for lead.

SHiloh

[Suo Gan]

Hitler at the Reichssicherheitshauptamt speaking with Wilhelm Frick circa 1934 (Another scenario)
Boss: "How many guuns are ot der Frick?"
Frick: "Gee boss, a vew hundret million anyvay."
Boss: "Holy smoke! How ve gunna git rit of zem all?"
Frick: "Ve vill confiscate zem all boss!"
Boss: "No stupit, tink...zat vuld probabzy mean ve vuld haf to kill some in zee process, zat might make zee rest mad! Zook at history! None of the zee revolutionz turned out too vell for zee ruling class... right!!?" Acts like finger is a knife and runs it across his throat, "FWWWWT!!!"
Frick: Looks pale, and wide eyed.
Boss: "Sink man, vee vill just make it zo zat zee lead iz zeen as evil! It makes kits go crazy, and lowers zee sperm count in men...zat vill get dem! Pretty zoon zey vill be begging us to take zis stuff off der hants!"
Frick: "Yeah!"
Boss: Smiling, "Get me zee het of the Environement Ovvice!!"

[Tazman1602]

To quote Jocelyn Elders, Klinton's Surgeon General, "We'll probably all die of something."

I'll continue to cast, and continue to practice safety procedures for lead.

SHiloh

Wasn't she the same one who thought we should teach masterbation in high school to the kids too? (seriously!). All I could think of at my age is "is they're so dumb they can't figure that out then we DO have a real problem".....................:roll:

[ebg3]

When I was pre-teen, we used to shoot pellet rifles every day. We sometimes carried a few lead pellets in our mouths for quick reloads!
I've been a USPSA shooter since 1997 and have shot well over 250,000 rounds at matches and in practice. For the first few years all I shot were cast .40 bullets and I can remember many times after shooting coughing and tasting the smoke from the lube/lead. Last year I asked to have levels checked and they came back as normal and unremarkable. Still, I am a little concerned about breathing in the smoke when I'm shooting...I try to keep my mouth closed and not to breath in when a big cloud of smoke hits me in the face. When casting, I keep a fan pulling air and I do it with the garage door open. It's cold this time of year but it keeps the smoke away.
EG

[AKsoldier]

I didn't have time to read through this whole thread, so my appologies if this is a repeat, but I thought it important to point out.

According to an article I read somewhere (can't remember where) There is actually a greater danger of lead poisoning from the media in case tumblers. Because of the lead residue in primers, if you don't change out your media often enough there can be a pretty high lead content built up in the media and it gets in the air, and on your hands when handling.

Since reading that article, I decided to use a mask while emptying my tumbler, and I change out the media about every 300 cases. And of course - I always wash my hands after handling the media. It's not all that expensive, and worth the peace of mind to me.

[imashooter2]

I didn't have time to read through this whole thread, so my appologies if this is a repeat, but I thought it important to point out.

According to an article I read somewhere (can't remember where) There is actually a greater danger of lead poisoning from the media in case tumblers. Because of the lead residue in primers, if you don't change out your media often enough there can be a pretty high lead content built up in the media and it gets in the air, and on your hands when handling.

Since reading that article, I decided to use a mask while emptying my tumbler, and I change out the media about every 300 cases. And of course - I always wash my hands after handling the media. It's not all that expensive, and worth the peace of mind to me.

Change the media after 300 cases? Heck, that's new media every time you turn on the tumbler! :shock:

[AKsoldier]

Change the media after 300 cases? Heck, that's new media every time you turn on the tumbler! :shock:

LOL, I'm a low volume loader with a small tumbler. I only run about 50 cases at a time for big rifle cartridges, or about a hundered of my 45 ACPs. With a larger tumbler I'm sure you could get away with a lot more between changes. This isn't any kind of published guideline either, just a number I set for my own use.

[redgum]

Latest test showed 8.9, Doc said it's reasonable unless it approached 20-24
JeffinNZ :shock: you are a 'lead-pig', what steps will you take

[mpmarty]

Lead doesn't absorb through skin easily, I think the warnings of not smoking/eating are useless. If someone is stupid enough to EAT lead, well... don't tell the Democrats, they already have enough people to save themselves from themselves.
BS my boolits fly right through skin.

[JeffinNZ]

Latest test showed 8.9, Doc said it's reasonable unless it approached 20-24
JeffinNZ :shock: you are a 'lead-pig', what steps will you take

Yeah. Thinking of having the wife smelt ME down! :kidding:

I haven't done any casting since the test. Pretty much no loading either. Going forward I will apply a barrier cream to my hands while loading and scrub death out of them once done.

Starting to think some range work I did in September might be at fault. I check out the bullet catchers and the rubber chip in them and wore a respirator for safety. Beginning to think I inhaled some air borne lead and the respirator did not seal correctly.

[whisler]

Respirator seal can be a tricky thing especially with any facial hair. I was taught to clamp my hands over both canisters (assuming a double canister respirator) and trying to breathe in. This will show up any leaks. Hope this helps and all goes well with lead level reduction.

PS. If you were just using a dust mask of the paper type, forget it, they are useless.

[delt167502]

I guess some of us older shooters are lucky to lived thru mercury( used to use it to remove lead in our barrels,it eats lead) lead poison (been casting for 60 years)no problems.worked as a plumbers helper in the late 50's found out not to dump wet ingots in to a hot pot.(the hard way) worked with a painter painting grain elevators paint or the lead in it tases bad. (probably should have used the masks) but the last test came out below a 7.so I guess i'll just keep casting.take no great care casting 4-6 of us get together and cast about 300# of bullets then try to shoot them up, so we can cast some more good luck all

[brad925]

For the vast majority of us casting bullets is not a problem, relative to lead poisoning. If you are careful not to eat, drink or smoke until AFTER you have washed your hands (while casting/handling lead), you're probably OK! The majority of high lead levels among casters & shooters can usually be traced back to lots of shooting on an indoor range. You'll pick up a lot more lead from the spent primer residue in the gunsmoke than you will by casting bullets!

centershot


"Only two things are infinite; the universe and human stupidity.......and I'm not sure about the universe."

Albert Einstein

I Have to agree here based on what i have read over the last 4 months. From what i have been able to gather lead does not produce fumes until it reaches between 1800 and 2000 degrees. Well above what we would be heating for casting. The biggest factor for contracting lead in your system is smoking while casting and not washing your hands. Personally i wear surgical gloves under my leather gloves. The leather gloves are kept in a plastic bag so they will not be used for anything else. Lead dust is also a culprite but unless your grinding it for some reason i would not worry about it. I also wear a resperator rated for lead and fumes but more for the initial smelting. After that i worry more about gaging on the smoke from the flux but a good fan usually takes care of that.

[delt167502]

to you brad925; the lead you pick up casting bullets would almost have to be injested or inhaled as long as you ventilate the smoke out there isn't a problem and wash your hands after casting ,which most of us do after any job. a lot of people worry more than is really nessary.

[silverbuzzard]

I eat lead for breakfast

[TAWILDCATT]

I cant believe youall have kept this scam going for page after page.I an 85 have been casting since 1937.never had a problem.yes I have been tested.never wore gloves,seldom washed my hands after casting.was a compeditive shooter for 30 yrs.shooter since 1937.and compeditor in school in 1940 to 43. and club from 1969 to 2000.:coffee:
dont smoke and dont eat/drink while casting.:coffee: :coffee: :coffee:

[afish4570]

A nurse that used to shoot with us told that one. Also if you take calc., magnesium and zinc pills that too helps. How much it will reduce I don't know. Years ago Milt (don't know last name) used to sell and manuf. cast bullets. Got lead poisoned bad. Met him at a local gun show working a booth selling some ofhis remaining stock. He had gone thru chelation therapy. Said he felt so good that in his mid 70's he took to running in a few senior marathons. Wife couldn't understand how he had erased 10 plus years off of his age. Story went on that he said alot of movie stars and big buck people had it done (expensive and not covered by health insurance for their reason) and were clients of his doctor (or group).....just alittle info passing on for what its worth. afish4570:lol::lol::roll::roll:

[RP]

without going back and reading every post what are the signs of lead poisioning ?
Is it being grumpy or strong attaction for women and beer? Or wanting more and more guns and reloading stuff? if so iam got it. But I really dont know what any signs of it.

[imashooter2]

Post #15:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showpost.php?p=184745&postcount=15

[runfiverun]

i recently had mine done.
right after two days of casting just over 12 hrs worth.
i smoke, and drink soda while casting.
must be the gloves i wear and take off to do so,plus washing after casting and before eating.
my level was an 8 ,not bad as i worked with lead oxide for a couple of years,and casted bout everyday when commercial.
but i figured after that and no vent in the garage when casting in the winter, i must be doing something right.

[moses]

Wide ranging results here. Seems like casting is not the usual cause for LP.

[delt167502]

lead must be bad for you, if you send it to me ,i'll dispose of it .i don't charge for this service. so please pay the freight . PM ME.

[old turtle]

I saw a report several years ago which pointed out that the greatest exposer to lead was in the 50s from lead in gasoline. People in the large cities had the highest levels. Use common sense such as displayed in many of these answers and you should be ok. My mother did not allow me to eat the paint off the walls and I do not chew on boolits or smell the fumes coming off the lead pot. Net result I have no problems at 71.

[qajaq59]

My opinion is sort of like Scrooge's........

[Rockchucker]

I'm going on my 2nd year of casting boolits, and have cast only around 15,000 boolits so far. I just got my lab results back today an it looks like I'm a solid 8, 0 to 10 is normal. I do use a small exhust fan and wash my hands after casting or smelting but thats all. Now if the rest of the lab work looked this good I'd be mighty happy.

[ahhbach]

The 'LEAD is BAD for you" is one of the many ways the Anti-Gun people get ranges shut down. Lead poisoning is serious but hardly the end-all that people put it out to be. Lead is a NATURALLY occuring element it isn't like lead just jumped up in the last 25 years or so... From reading the posts it sounds to me like some people are either susceptible to Lead poisoning and/or eating the stuff. I cast ALOT and reload and shoot more than most people. My lead levels seem normal 2-3-4 in that range and I work with lead sheath in my job. Maybe what y'all that are worried about Lead poisoning should do is send me your lead and i'll make good use of it.

Brian Murphy :lovebooli

[wizard93]

Any time I'm sitting here at my computer I'm exposed to thousands of cast boolits. Beside my left foot is a can with muzzleloader REALS and balls in it. By my right foot is a large plastic tray full of 38/357 158 gr. swc boolits, probably over 500 of them. Right behind me is my reloading bench and it's covered with cast boolits, my RCBS boolit sizer lubricator, etc.

I was having health issues this past spring and I mentioned to my doctor that I cast boolits as a hobby and would like to have my lead level drawn. When it came back, it was read as <1.4 mcg/dl. That is WAY below noticeable levels for ANYONE, even those who aren't around guns at all.

In my personal view, lead toxicity is WAY overrated.

wizard93

[IridiumRed]

Hey everybody, this is my first post. I read a lot on here, but just haven't posted anything yet (didn't feel I had anything to really add to the discussions)

But I gotta say, WHAT A GREAT THREAD!

I read a lot, on a lot of different internet forums (and yes I do post on some of them) and this is hands down, one of the best threads I've EVER read

I had thought about bullet casting, but one of the things that worried me was the lead exposure. Now I know that with a few basic safety precautions (which are things I would have done anyways), that this isn't a problem at all

The best part is the results from the lead tests. People can say "I feel fine" but that doesn't mean much. The blood work tests tell the story

I have a ton of other projects on my plate, but I gotta say, when I get a bit more time, I might just start casting :)

Thanks!!

PS. Mods please dont lock this thread, this is way too useful!

[Shooter6br]

As long as I dont chew on any products from China I beleive my lead level will be OK. By the way ,has anyone tested the lead level in our Congress? Something must be affecting there mental status! Dingy Harry and Nancy Botox?

[myg30]

Back in 96-97 we had a blood lead test before we started work on a special job involving lead.
That week before I had gone twice in one week to shoot at an indoor range and their exhaust system was piss poor. My BLL was 10. I had never cast lead,eaten lead sinkers,ate paint, only did some shooting. Everyone else had a blood lead level of <2. My boss wanted to know why mine was so high compaired to others. Indoor shooting !
Going for a physical next week and will ask to check bll again to see if my smelting affected my levels. I'll let ya know.
Mike

[timkelley]

Tested two years ago at '5'. Tested again last week at '4'.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I haven't read all the posts in this thread, so forgive me if I'm repeating some info.

has anyone mentioned the Lead in primers. (Lead fulminate)
The dust created when tumbling fired cases with spent primer intact
can have lots of lead powder in it.
Besided indoor ranges, this is probably the biggest contributor to a
reloader...breathing in this lead dust.
I read an article about this some years ago.
Jon

[Echo]

Just had mine tested - 7.8 - I didn't know what that meant - Dave (my MD) said normal range, and 40 was the point where OSHA got interested.

[Brick85]

Just got tested, and I was at 4. Doctor didn't prescribe treatment, but the wife prescribed that I have to make sure to wear a respirator at work when I'm working with possible lead paint dust.

[hansumtoad]

For what it's worth, the OSHA Permissable Exposure Limit (PEL)for lead is 50ug/m3 over an 8 hour period (TWA8). That's about zero point zilch.

The actionable limit where a worker has to be removed from lead exposure is 40ug/dl of blood. Again, about zero point zilch.

A surgical mask (N100) type and THOUROUGHLY waashing your hands after casting/loading will generally prevent any problems.

IMHO the greenies have got this all overblown and have caused the bureaucrats to buy in on the dance. They are right about one thing thourh, lead is very fatal to bad guys at 1300 FPS.

[deltaenterprizes]

When I was doing commercial casting my lead level went up to 40 mcg/dL. I found the problem to be the MA System bullet collator had a slot in the bottom of the bowl to allow small particles to drop from the bowl. The opening was nose high causing me to breath in the lead dust. They were advertising a free dust collector and after installing it my lead levels dropped to 18 mcg/dL in a short period of time.

[pcmacd]

Every time bullet casting comes up in discussion on another board there will be a poster that responds with something along the lines of:

"OMG! Don't you know that lead is poisonous and hazardous material? Don't go near it or you'll need serious medical help. A single ingot in your basement will kill your parakeet!"

So, we have over 3,000 members here now. A fair percentage of those have been casting a whole lot and for more than just a couple of years. Let's quantify the results...

This poll will allow multiple selections. Please indicate your blood levels and whether or not your doctor prescribed treatment.

I used to shoot a couple of evenings a week at an indoor range in Brea, CA.

I didn't think the ventilation was that great, but they swore the guy from CAL OSHA checked it as often as was required.

I used to work in a steel mill, and I should have known that when I blew black **** out of my nose after every range session there was a problem.

Had the doc draw blood, and I was right around the action point of, I believe, 35 micro grams per what-ever. She wanted me to stop casting and blah blah blah. I told here we would try it my way and if in six weeks it wasn't better, then I'd try here way. All I did was stop shooting at the stinking range. I continued to improve every six or so weeks, so no further action was necessary. She was also ready to call child protective services until I got extremely in her face (I had a couple of kids who frequented the garage.)

This was about 18 years back.

I was lucky we caught it when we did, because after a _very long_ time at that level or higher, the lead displaces calcium in your bones and can literally take a lifetime to get rid of.

I had her check my levels because I was having lots of trouble sleeping, getting numb limbs at night, and my stomach was getting cranky. All three together point to trouble. (qualifier: I am NOT a doctor.)

The DROSS is the worst part. You could swallow a couple of bullets and still not measure anything in your blood. Lead salts (like dross!) are very, very easily absorbed, especially in your eyes, nose and mouth. Primers are usually lead styphnate (sp ?), and that is just as bad, so handle spent primers with care. Dude, I mean that they are really, really nasty. Just like dross.

Don't smoke or handle food until you have thoroughly washed up.

I always put a fan blowing out the door when fluxing or cleaning the pot so that the debris is carried away from me (be UPWIND of the fan!)

I hope to God none of you cast in your kitchen. Or in the living areas of your house, for that matter.

30 years ago I was inspecting a Crane Packings mfg plant, and the fools were using sulfur salt injections to chealate the lead out of the blood of the other fools who were careless with the _powdered lead_ used in some of their packings. Bad business, that. It was astounding, as chelation therapy was deemed bad medical practice in the 1930s.

mac

:Fire: