Lead exposure

[toreskha]

I've heard all kinds of opinions on how much lead exposure you can get from shooting, but I'm curious as to how much other people usually do to curtail it. Do you just wash your hands and clothes, or do you wear some sort of mask when shooting? The range where I usually go isn't well ventilated, so I wonder how much I might be sucking in every time I go through the door.

The bullets that most people fire out of their guns are mostly coated with copper, but when they strike each other repeatedly at the end, it seems bound to pulverize the other bullets and probably create an incredible amount of dust.

This might be more a concern if you have kids or are married...bringing home a light coating of heavy metals probably isn't good for a 3-year old's brain.

 

[Red Hat]

I know for me it took a lot of exposure to have my levels go up. i was stationed at Castle AFB in CA and we had a smell semi-indoor range. It was open to the air above the berms and it had no ventilation system other than being open at the top.Back then we had S&W Mod 15-4 and only shot wadcutters. After three years I was identified as having higher than normal lead in my system. I had to stay away from the indoor range for a couple months and only work at out outdoor range until my level went down. I only had to do that twice that I can remember. At Pease AFB we had another indoor range and it was worse that the one at Castle AFB. I never had any problems there because we were shooting the 92F's with FMJ's. Jacketed bullets help a lot in containing a lot of the lead particulate. I know as a kid I grew up with Lead paint on the walls, toys and glasses, bowls and plates. Asbestos in the siding, insulation and ceiling tiles. DDT to kill the insects and smoked 3 packs a day when I got older. I'm still kicking and so are a lot of us in the 50's.