Yes, it is the only place I'm exposed to lead.
Indoor ranges are a huge source of personal lead contamination. Lead dust in the air you breath and on the floor.
-
If you enjoy the forum please consider supporting it by signing up for a NES Membership The benefits pay for the membership many times over.
-
Be sure to enter the NES/MFS May Giveaway ***Canik METE SFX***
Range Paranoia
- Thread starter Boston_Shooter
- Start date
Yes, it is the only place I'm exposed to lead.
Indoor ranges are a huge source of personal lead contamination. Lead dust in the air you breath and on the floor.
I'm with you.
Boston Shooter, I have just the thing for you. I find it works quite well.
Kinda sucks if you need to go to the bathroom though.![[wink]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/002.gif "Wink [wink]")
What he's trying to say is that he owns a whole closet full of them.
![[smile]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/001.gif "Smile [smile]")
What he's trying to say is that he owns a whole closet full of them.
Doesn't everyone?
![[laugh]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/012.gif "Laugh [laugh]")
Garys
NES Member
That's the Fourth Rule of EMS, in case you're interested.
- Joined
- May 17, 2008
- Messages
- 16,975
- Likes
- 2,821
They shouldn't be and don't need to be. You should think about heading to a different indoor range with better ventilation and a decent cleaning regime.
Well that didn't work!
I have always opted for fmj ammo for the range. I wouldn't have a problem with jhp, but no need to get fancy. I do that to reduce the amount of lead I'd be exposed to since I clean my guns indoors. I figure ramming the brush through the barrel couldn't be good for containing any lead residue in there.
But that is the extent of my precautions. I will wash my hands when I get home. Alternatively, I will wash my hands at the range, but usually because of oil, noticeable smudges of residue, etc, not as an anti-lead precaution.
If one is concerned, I'd say it may be easiest to do what jdubois says he does and get tested for lead. If you've been shooting for years before your wife became pregnant and you have lead concentration that are within the normal range then I doubt the extra precautions over the next few months would do much.
That being said, your doctor is better than anyone here (except any doctors) to tell you how sensitive your child may be to lead and whether your lead levels are normal. So ultimately it may be best to run it by him.
But that is the extent of my precautions. I will wash my hands when I get home. Alternatively, I will wash my hands at the range, but usually because of oil, noticeable smudges of residue, etc, not as an anti-lead precaution.
If one is concerned, I'd say it may be easiest to do what jdubois says he does and get tested for lead. If you've been shooting for years before your wife became pregnant and you have lead concentration that are within the normal range then I doubt the extra precautions over the next few months would do much.
That being said, your doctor is better than anyone here (except any doctors) to tell you how sensitive your child may be to lead and whether your lead levels are normal. So ultimately it may be best to run it by him.
- Joined
- May 17, 2008
- Messages
- 16,975
- Likes
- 2,821
URL and not IMG.
- Joined
- May 17, 2008
- Messages
- 16,975
- Likes
- 2,821
JHP is more safe than FMJ??? Is this because of per round lead content?
Seriously, I doubt it. I don't have conclusive scientific proof to offer but generally the issues with lead contamination is the dust that is created when the round strikes the backstop and gets pulverized. Generally on outdoor ranges the backstop and targets are all "soft" meaning the round penetrates and embeds in the soil. In plate shooting ("hard targets") the round strikes the plate and literally shatters or pulverizes into dust. That dust is how the lead gets to you the shooter. It may appear to you the casual observer that the indoor range is a soft backstop when you see the rubber mats but that is there to keep backscatter from heading back up range. The round penetrates the rubber matting and hits a steel trap hidden from view by the rubber mats that pulverizes the bullet. The dust and more importantly the jacket gets caught by the BACK of the rubber mats and drops to the bottom of the trap instead of going back up range towards the shooter.
That is the primary mechanism for lead exposure at ranges and like I said earlier, indoor ranges can actually do a LOT better at controlling this than an outdoor range with plates. Though, don't take that to mean that the outdoor ranges are deadly or high risk. The risk is localized to the first couple of yards. Lead dust floats like a lead balloon if you will.
Last edited:
- Joined
- May 17, 2008
- Messages
- 16,975
- Likes
- 2,821
Yeah, like this...
Got it, makes perfect sense now. I have so many copies of that album!
There's a lot of conflicting evidence floating around, and I don't have any data either, but a case can be made that the major problem is from the lead styphnate priming compound, not microfragments of bullets, and that definitely results in lead compounds that remain in the air to be inhaled.
- Joined
- May 17, 2008
- Messages
- 16,975
- Likes
- 2,821
But the amount of that is miniscule. But yeah, lots of unknowns and the key is good ventilation where shooting regardless as inhalation is the primary vector for lead in these circumstances. Lead exposure is generally reversible by chelation (sp?) or something like that.
Someone raised cadmium and that is a whole other beast. I have to imagine the primer is the source for that if it is even in modern ammo. The problem with cadmium is that the effects are not reversible and cadmium uptake is so effective in the body. It fools the body into thinking it is calcium and the body sends it everywhere and it is absorbed everywhere.
But does anyone have any citable source that cadmium is even in modern primers?
Miniscule - agreed, but it doesn't take much lead to create problems. If we assume that the average male adult has about 5.5 liters (i.e., 55 deciliters) of blood, and 20 micrograms per deciliter is considered the threshold for lead poisoning, then that's only 20*55=1100 micrograms, or 1.1 milligrams of lead in the bloodstream. There are about 2600 milligrams of lead in a 40 gr .22 LR bullet.
Yeah, cadmium is worse. But I don't know where there's any cadmium exposure from ammo.
Chelation therapy can be effective in rapidly reducing lead concentrations in the body. It's not something that's done routinely however, but is reserved for acute lead poisoning. I understand that it's a pretty rough procedure, akin to chemotherapy for cancer.
Nope. Not that I know of. I just wouldn't have a problem shooting it, if it cost me the same as, or less than, a fmj load. Its a hypothetical, since jhp are not typically cheaper, but the point is there is some jacket around the lead. So the lead to barrel contact is reduced. Which, I imagine, means less chance of spreading lead residue when cleaning.
pdm
NES Member
