Reloading safety

[Tim N]

Hi All
A family member has expressed concern about reloading safety.
Not the go bang side of it but potential health issues.
I was looking up the topic but couldn’t find much.
They were concerned about lead contamination but as our projectiles are covered in copper I can’t see an issue there.
However I’m not sure about the powders we use?
Any thoughts on the matter?
Do you take any special precautions?
Tim

[MattyG]

There is an article in the ADI 10th Handloader's Guide about women shooting when pregnant.

In it the author (a chemical engineer) covers precautions she took when reloading, above and beyond what she normally did.
She states that wearing a pair of disposable gloves and frequent handwashing is sufficient.

(I happen to know the author well as she is my partner).

Hope this helps!

[AlanF]

I worry more about the wide variety of chemicals used for things like bullet coating, stock glueing and painting, and particularly barrel cleaning. But I find disposable gloves are a PITA e.g. a bronze brush easily pierces them.

[IamPlayer]

http://www.adiworldclass.com.au/safety-data-sheets/

[Rich4]

Airborne lead from priming compound I believe is worse than jacketed projectiles,
Dust or vapour is easily absorbed through permeable membranes, not so much clean metal.
Pretty much easily controlled by frequent hand washing and shooting in a well ventilated environment.

[Daveh]

I was an apprentice plumber in the 1970s. I was "good" at lead burning. This is a process of oxy welding lead sheet with a gas torch and using lead strips for filler rod.
In those days when a plumber run a vent pipe through a roof the pipe was sealed to the roof with a lead collar. These lead collars are what I was welding. We made thousands of them using on average three rolls of 4 foot wide lead sheet about 100kgs each weekly..
I was handling lead, cutting and welding it for 8 hours a day for months on end. The company I worked for were contracted to supply collars for whole towns being converted to sewer systems.
I was taught to wash hands thoroughly before meals which I always did meticulously as a plumber - not because of the lead, rather the rest of what we had to handle! I was also told the oxidised lead on old sheets was the"bad" stuff and to avoid it.

Most of the old plumbers I worked with have passed away from asbestosis from working with AC pipes and roofing. So their advice on lead work was probably incorrect anyway.

The only thing I can say is the amount of lead one is exposed to reloading copper jacketed projectiles would be minimal in comparison. Just wash your hands thoroughly if the missus yells out dinner is ready and avoid KFC while seating bullets.

Dave

[BATattack]

Did maintenance shutdowns in lead smelters. Fun place. Had blood tests before and after each shutdown. I lived in the country and drive to work in the city. Even through I was reloading and shooting a fair bit my lead levels were lower than the other guys that lived in the city. They through this was due to they guys living in the city being exposed to more diesel fumes. Even though we all worked as welders exposed to metal fumes and dust every day our lead levels were lower than the average school kid in the town close to the lead smelter.

I can't remember the exact ppm numbers but after 3 weeks of oxy cutting and welding on structures and inside confined spaces I was still well under the limit of being moved to a different area to detox.

Other than wearing respirations while working on the plant the main thing they stressed was to wash hands and prevent ingestion. Don't get it on your food, don't bite your nails etc. Apparently the worst thing is smoking rollies with dirty hands as it gets on the paper and is directly absorbed through the lungs as it's burnt and inhaled.

Agree with Alan. Lead has been around for a long time and effects are pretty well know so some of the other chemicals we deal with are probably a bigger concern.