Any reason not to wash brass?

[Timberwolf]

Put it in a plastic glad bag, seal it, and put it somewhere where your son can't get it. If
you are really paranoid seal the glad bag with duct tape. I will guarantee you won't have
any lead seapage. Oh yeah, use the heavier duty freezer bags.

Depending on the quantity, you can use plastic ice cream tubs or 5 gallon pails and leave them in the garage or shed.

 

[GTOShootr]

Washed brass is going to get discolored. Not a huge deal but since you are giving it back to Q for him to resell, he might like the product to look nice, if for nothing more than looks. Maybe ask Q what he would recommend he is part of your question? I'm sure you are not unique among his customers in having kids.

A tumbler will polish. I like my brass going through my press and then through my gun to be slick and polished. I rather that moisture never gets introduced to the process.

If you have an out of the way place to wash, then you'll most definitely have an out of the way place to tumble.

 

[EddieCoyle]

Paul D: One last point about tumblers. When you vibrate dry, crap-covered cases in a dry media tumbler, you shake loose the tiny particles of lead (mostly from primer as noted earlier) and send much of this stuff into the air for all to breathe. Then there is the media that is contaminated and must be dealt with. When you use the washing method there is NO dust and the largest part of the lead issue is trapped in the water and poured down the drain to poison your neighbor's well. If you don't like your neighbor this works out fine. After the cases have dried they will have a much lower lead content than any tumbled case could possibly contain. Beware of some of the posters on this issue. I read them all and I don't think some of think very well. Or they're just plain old-fashioned stupid.
John

I'm not sure that washing removes the lead. I'm not saying it doesn't, but I'm not sure it does.

I tumble my brass for safety reasons. Washing brass doesn't remove all the grit. You can have a piece of sand embedded in the brass that doesn't get washed off. That piece of sand can then get embedded in the die, scoring subsequently loaded cases, causing them to split when fired. I know because I've had it happen to me. I used to wash my brass and load it without tumbling, and had a .460 Magnum case split on me upon firing. Not fun. I checked the box of cartridges, and half the cases were scored.

I've not had the problem since I started tumbling. Tumbling is a mechanical action that knocks the grit off. There are ways to eliminate the dust, so I'm not worried about lead exposure, and I like the idea that I can easily control the disposal of the contaminated media.

 

[Manomet]

What a nice, rational, explanation for tumbling without calling anyone stupid or questioning there reason for asking. I don't know if such reasonableness belongs in this thread.

 

[Dick]

I have fired over a million rounds in the last sixty years. A lot in indoor competition when no club had forced ventilation, not even in the military. My wife thought that I should be brain dead and had me take a blood test. I was a 2 on a scale of 1-10. The lead from primers is the greatest concern and will be found in the first 12 feet or so of a firing line. Lead bullet splatter is of no concern. My kid's grew up in a reloading environment along with casting tons of lead and they are all above average in intelligence,but do what you makes you feel comfortable.

There appears to be much we don't know about exposure to lead and how it relates to serum lead levels. I shoot on a couple of pistol teams and, with practice and some postal matches, I'm probably in the range an average of 4 nights a week this time of year. The ranges I shoot at all have ventilation, but most of it is inadequate by today's standards.

I had my serum lead level tested about a year ago and it was 31 mcg/dl (micrograms per deciliter) - that's high enough to require reporting to the state by law. For comparison, adult lead levels in this country are typically in the low single numbers. Another guy I shoot with was closer to 60 mcg/dl, which is seriously high. We both now wear respirators with P100 filters to remove airborne particulates, which is where most of the exposure comes from (from the lead styphnate in the priming compound, as you indicated - the 12 foot part, if true, is of no particular significance). He was able to get down into the 20s after a year of using the respirator, I haven't yet been re-tested.

I bring this up because I would not want to see anyone here ignore the potential problems with exposure to lead just because of anecdotal evidence that some people can "get away" with it. It's a real concern, and lead can and does result in neurological problems. Respirators are becoming nearly as common with serious pistol teams as eye and ear protection, as they should. And if you do a lot of shooting indoors, and particularly if you also reload and/or cast bullets, you owe it to yourself and your family to get your blood tested and to take appropriate action based on the results.