With all the hipe about lead and what it can cause I decided that I'd talk with my doctor about lead levels in my blood. After all, I had been a caster for over 35 years and had casted probably tens of thousands of pistol bullets and I must have ingested a lot of those fumes into my lungs. As it turned out, my lead levels are quite low .04 or a scale of 0 - 24. That's less than 1%. What's up with this? Well, I think people and government agencies have a tendancy to over react to things like this. I've been a science teacher for over 30 years and have known about he dangers of lead poisoning long before they started putting those warning stickers on melt pots etc. But we can take some precautions too. First, I always flux with Mervalux, (Brownell's sells the stuff) It's a white powder that you use instead of beeswax. It cuts down on a lot on fumes and smoke.
I also have a fan at my bench in my garage to blow away fumes from my face. And of course, I never eat, smoke or handle lead without washing my hands. I've never worried about how much lead exposure I was getting at the range. What does this tell us? I don't know other than it seems to have worked for me. I read a lot of articles in the past few years about how concerned some guys were about getting lead poisoning. Lead must be ingested through the lungs or mouth. You're not going to get lead poisoning from it going though the skin.

I can tell you aren't from Kalifornistan, or you would know that just looking at lead will poison you! I'm a caster too and the wife tells me it has been collecting in the lowest part of my body while setting in the recliner, guess I've had it.

quote:

Originally posted by swheeler:
I can tell you aren't from Kalifornistan, or you would know that just looking at lead will poison you! I'm a caster too and the wife tells me it has been collecting in the lowest part of my body while setting in the recliner, guess I've had it.

When your jeans have a couple of holes worn in the bottom from your ass dragging you will know you have lead posioning....

well my ass is dragging this morning, so I guess it has reached critical mass!

All heavy metals are toxic. I remember the school system decided to conficate all thermomters that had mercury in them. Just in case some kid might eat one. These are labratory grade thermomters that cost a mint. This is the reason you always go over safety procedures first and have the students sign a safety contract. When I was a kid, we used to roll mercury around on the tables for fun. We just had enough sense to wash up after using it.

Okeybug wrote:

quote]And of course, I never eat, smoke or handle lead without washing my hands.[/quote]

So you are saying it is safe to eat or smoke lead as long as you wash your hands?

The results from my latest physical came back recently and my blood lead level went from 7 to 15 ppb. The OSHA limit is 30 ppb AFAIK. I am going to cast outdoors to make sure it does not go higher, but for now I am not worried.

Does anyone know if casting above 700 F greatly increases the rate at which vaporized lead enters the air? Thanks.

Ranb

I have never ben tested yet, gonna do to check. Only period I casted bullets was my black powder rifles shooting period long ago. But I have shot over a million rounds in IPSC, ISSF, Bowling pins shooting and plain fun shooting, most of the time outdoor range.
I remember that when I had blown my nose after a full day shooting, the tissue was black..
I had started to shoot in 1975 in indoor shooting ranges, civilian and military.
From a team of 4 RO at that civilian Paris indoor shooting range, 2 died of lead poisoning 25 to 35 years later.

I started shooting more and more FMJ after 1995.
I shoot copper coated bullets since 2000 after they became more common here.

Well at 50 and casted for 20 years lost count probably cast and shot over 100,000 pistol and rifle rounds I will ask the doc for a lead check next work up. Boon

I hate to burst anyones safety bubble but ive been treated for lead poisoning 3 times now. My lead level has been as high as 79. Chelting theropy has broght it down in the 30s which the doc feels is ok. He told me i should quit shooting and casting to keep it down and i told him id rather be dead. Lot of it is my own fault many years of casing and smelting in non ventelated areas casting without gloves ect and even casting with a sandwich or cigerette sitting on the bench or even on the edge of the pot to warm it up. I think if a guy uses some common sense precautions hed not have a problem. One of the biggest problems with getting lead poisoning isnt casting its shooting. Especailly at indoor ranges. Ive got one buddy who was treated that never casted a bullet in his life but shot comp indoors for years. Another real good place to pick up lead poisoning is your tumbler. Keep it away from the area you spend time in as when its running it will give off lots of dust and dont be cheap about replacing your tumbling media. Do it often.

LS is correct.My lead level was in excess of 60 ppml-WAY over limit.Fault was an indoor range with poor ventilation.I didn't cast bullets-only reloaded and shot indoors 12-15 hrs weekly.I also washed up after every session.I now realize inhalation was the culprit.After being tested,shot outdoors and level is below 30ppml.

I think a big reason for my low lead levels is I don't shoot at indoor ranges. I always wear gloves, never eat without washing up first. I
don't smoke so I don't have anything coming in contact with my mouth. I've always poured in my garage but manage to have good ventilation including a fan blowing across my bench to keep fumes away and I also use Marvelox that reduces fumes and smoke while you flux.

I cast, hand sorted, weighed, sized, lubed, and loaded without gloves a couple hundred rifle bullets a week for 8 straight years, then got a blood test for heavy metals. My levels were very low, the lead being about 2.0 or so.

I was doing all this in my basement, as I found the breezes outside to cause too much variation in melt temp and bullet consistency for my match bullets. I also regularly drank coffee or soda pop while casting, and sometimes ate a couple of candy bars.

I suspect that most of the lead ingested at indoor ranges comes from the lead styphnate (SP)used in the primers, not from the bullets. (Lead primers are now being phased out of the U.S. arms industry.)

Why were my lead levels that low? I figger it had to do with what my alloy mix was. It was straight linotype, which melts at like 465 degrees F. I regularly cast at about 650 degrees. If I had been using straight lead, I would have had to do most of my casting at about 850-900 degrees, which I've read is close to the temp at which significant amounts of lead molecules start to vaporize.

Obviously there is something more to the whole understanding of how lead poisoning occurs than is contained in the simplistic vision of the alarmists who believe all lead should be transported to the moon by a fleet of space shuttles.

Distressing how we tend to pass laws before we really comprehend the problems we are trying to solve.

quote:

I remember that when I had blown my nose after a full day shooting, the tissue was black..

That wasn't from shooting Edmondo...I told you not to put your nose in there...

Seriously, I had the same problem shooting at indoor ranges for 25 years. I think the black nose is from burned powder and carbon more than lead. Never been tested.

I've heard that lead levels may not be high with a blood test because your bone marrow removes the lead from your blood and stores it in the marrow. Don't know if that is true, check with DOC.
I have casted on and off for years as well as shooting indoors and being a range officer (outdoors) for over 12 years, but that doesn;t mean that what you are doing is safe !

Hipshot

quote:

I don't shoot at indoor ranges

This is the problem in Germany, the most ranges are indoor. Too many people living in the near of shooting ranges and if you don´t want problem with the noise, the indoor variation is the better one.

My dad have the problem, after nearly 45 years working as gun smith, with shooting, cleaning the shooting range, with all the dust, he have great problems with the lead in the blood and bones. In his legs a few nervs are dead and he can´t feel parts of the feets and fingers. The doc said, there´s nothing, whats help. The lead level is over 30ppb.
My dad never casted bullets, but I´m a caster and I do it only outdoor and only a few times at year. But I don´t know should I test my blood.

Martin

I've done more then my fair share of casting, along with burning lead based paint off wood work while restoring old houses. I never used a dust mask, because the mask directed warm moist breath up to my safety glasses, fogging them.
My blood levels are below normal, according to my doc.
I wonder if there's some people who are more prone to to the problem. Like the fellow who smokes three packs of cigs per day and lives to be 90, and the fellow who never smoked and dies of cancer at age 35.

Jim

you have to keep in mind that im far from the average caster and shooter. I cast and shoot ALOT. I probaly average over a 1000 rounds a week and probably have a half a million cast bullets on hand at any given time. I think the average caster and shooter that even takes basic precautions like washing up after casting and shooting and not smoking or eating while doing it would never have a problem.

You get more lead exposure from opening an old bottle of good wine with a real cork and lead foil seal than from casting enough bullets for a bullseye match assuming you don't lick the seal or chew on a bullet.