doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Lead poisoning exposure in reloading?

I know a lot of Doublegun shooters reload. I reload about 10,000
shells per year. I have the usual dropped lead shot on the floor.
Am I exposing myself to dangerous levels of lead. I am 58.

PDD

Probably not. Keep your loading area clean and you should be OK. Don't allow build-ups of lead or powder dust - clean that loader frequently.

Bullet casting is the activity requiring the most care - both for lead fumes and for burns.

Next trip to the Dr. ask for a blood test to detect levels of lead. Easy and not terribly expensive.

Jim

I have reloaded for years, fished with lead weights for years and used lead wheel weights on my cars and lead flashing on my roof and sucked my lead pencil whilst thinking what to write next.It doesn't seem to have harmed me and I'm 60 years old.
Mad as a hatter but not harmed.
Cars kill more people than lead and bullets but do we give them up?Most people die in bed, that's why I work all hours.

Burn a bit of lead paint off clapboards or shutters. Only takes about a day without a filter respirator to start putting the wrong beginnings on your words. Back when they mixed powdered white lead in paint (not so long ago as my dad did it in the Weirton WVA mills before The War), the exposure level was pretty telling. Presumably the same for those who wigged out on wig powder.

jack

I reloud and seeem two haf no ill affects.

Very little risk in reloading shotgun shells IN AN ADULT who is careful not to smoke or eat while doing so, and washes hands afterwards.
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/Lead-Poisoning-Topic-Overview

Lead however is very toxic to children and any potential for exposure must be avoided.
http://health.utah.gov/epi/fact_sheets/leadguide.html

From what I see when I dump a bag of shot into another container (8lb plastic powder jugs in my case), this may be the single task attendant to shotgun reloading during which a particle mask might be in order. Perhaps while filling shot bottle also. If you can see that silvery lighter-than-air dust, you are breathing it.

jack

That dust you see is probably graphite, rather than lead. Many of us grew up eating quail and other critters that assumed room temperature after multiple lead injections. I'm sure we swallowed some, occasionally. Did any of us die from it? I didn't, yet.
I certainly recommend not inhaling while pouring shot and always was my hands after reloading session. Ditto after going to the bathroom.

I've inhaled a few times after going to the bathroom and agree that on average not doing so is pretty good advice. Is there any type of lead shot that undergoes a milling operation? Is shot still dropped or has the method of manufacture undergone some changes?

jack