Any recommendations on minimizing lead exposure, while training at an indoor range? Thanks
from MichiganWear proper PPE . Long sleeve shirt, long pants, face mask, gloves, hat and safety glasses, spare shoes.
Change before you leave and store your dirty clothes in a bag, wash your clothes and shoes when you get home. This will minimize skin exposure and taking any into your vehicle and home.
Unless you shoot several times a week exposure is minimal, mask,gloves and washing your hands will minimize slight exposure. 
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Dont lick lead paint and dont get shot would be my advice.
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Tips to prevent lead exposure:
Lead poisoning is 100% preventable. Proper ventilation, good housekeeping practices and basic
personal hygiene practices will limit or eliminate the risk of lead exposure. The following simple steps
are recommended to prevent lead exposure in firing ranges:
- Use jacketed ammunition, preferably with non-lead primers, to reduce airborne lead in the range.
Consult your range master or manager for more information. - Check to make sure the firing range has good ventilation to reduce airborne lead levels at the
firing line. General exhaust ventilation is not adequate and indoor firing ranges must ensure
supplied air moves steadily across all shooting booths to carry the gun smoke away form the
shooter’s face and directly down the range where it is exhausted, filtered and discharged. A
separate ventilation system exclusively for the range is recommended. - Only cast or fabricate lead bullets in workshops properly equipped to control lead exposure.
These workshops should be staffed by trained craftsmen who know how to protect themselves
from lead exposure. - Never dry sweep or shovel bullet debris at an indoor firing range. Wet-mopping or using a
vacuum with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter is recommended to remove lead
particles. - Minimize airborne lead dust while cleaning the bullet trap. Where possible, debris trays should
be emptied inside closed plastic bags. Debris should be repeatedly misted with water during all
shoveling operations. New bullet trap designs which do not require cleaning are best and also
save time. - Never eat, drink or smoke inside a firing range.
- Wash hands immediately after shooting, cleaning firearms, picking up spent casing pellets or
reloading ammunition. Wash hands, forearms, and face before eating, drinking, smoking or
contact with other people. - Change clothes and shoes before leaving the firing range facilities.
- Wash clothes or uniforms used at the firing range separately from your family’s clothing.
- Wear respirators and full protective outer clothing when performing range maintenance. Fittested NIOSH approved respirators with HEPA filters should be worn during all cleaning
operations. Lead particles will pass through common paper dust masks. - Wear gloves and eye protection when using chemicals to clean weapons or firing range surfaces.
- Have your blood lead level tested. If you work in a firing range, you can participate in your
workplace bio-monitoring program to monitor blood lead levels.
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Got the first one covered, still working on your second advice!
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Great Freakin Vid!! Didn’t see this CT video yet. Loved the beginning of it. Thanks Bruce26!
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Great tip… I gotta be more discriminating, when it comes to ventilation systems of indoor ranges! Thanks Cobra!
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For a more serious answer (that you may not like) I personally dont worry about it. I have been exposed to so many things that were bad for me I should have been dead by the time I was 30 (and thought I was going to be).
I licked the lead paint at Granma’s house when I was a toddler, I painted with lead paints when I was an adolescent. I helped Dad cast lead bullets in the garage in the winter with no ventilation when I was a teen. I jumped out of perfectly good airplanes for 3 years in the Army and then worked with nuclear weapons for 5 years in my 20s.
We will not talk about all the drinking I use to do but lets just say it was A LOT.
I will turn 64 next month and other than being over weight not much slows me down.
Don
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Well then… Early Happy Birthday Don!.. I guess I’ll work on my drinking (Bourbon), not so much on the Lead thing! Haha! Cheers to you! Thanks Don!
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Just received my diagnosis for my extreme radicalism, pre Covid-19 , practiced three times a week, for 11 years rotating indoors and outdoors!
I personally am the leading source for lead, except for children’s jewelry and toys.
Seriously, I always wash at the range, some indoor ranges now provide sanitizer to use before you leave, never considered my boots but always changed clothes! Also just learned that lead damage is permanent in the human body.
Great new topic. Added some wrinkles to my lead poisoned brain! However, I do feel completely NNNnnnorm Nnnnormal! My wife calls me AB normal!
Glad you joined us. You’ll find I’m no where near normal!
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With the cost of ammo these days…I can’t do 3 days a week shooting, good thing that it will slow me down on lead sandwiches, HELLO lead free dry firing! Thanks Scott52!
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My pleasure, safety is my first concern!
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Hi neighbor. One positive from the Epidemic of 2020, those one dollar disposable masks; I think I now prefer to use them or a washable one especially for the range, when at the range. Of course, once done at the range, taking a shower. I wonder if it helps using copper bullets, but not sure if they are as affordable. Appreciate the question from a health standpoint value.
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So, here’s a reasonable article on the matter.
If shooting at gun ranges is such a concern though, go outdoors and find some BLM land in your area and have the benefit of open air shooting. Just my 2 cents.
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A different kind of Lead Poisoning. Long term effects. Here is a link to the article.
Gun Violence Survivors Face Lead Poisoning From Bullets …
(Gun Violence Survivors Face Lead Poisoning From Bullets | Time)
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Gee, I hope you’re not expecting him to be shooting around Black Lives Matter (BLM) land! Sounds dangerous! Could not resist.
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The stupid thing is that the same rules apply for lead as for the Wuhan Flu. Wash your hands, don’t touch your face, wear a mask, stay well ventilated indoors, stay six feet away from the impact zone.
Jimminy Christmas I just solved the Wuhan Flu Pandelerium! Pretend you are going to an indoor range! If you don’t know what that means we will send flowers.
Cheers,
Craig6
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It didn’t even click till I read your remark…dang.
For those who aren’t familiar, BLM land is Bureau of Land Management land or state/federal owned land that people can go to and use in most cases. There are a few places around me that people have essentially made the open land into a shooting range.
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