BP inhalation concerns

[Muggsy]

I'm looking for some information on black powder material safety data sheets (MSDS)- I'm trying to gather safety information for shooting BP indoors. I know that OSHA has set regulations on centerfire cartridges (mostly for lead) in the number of rounds that can be safely fired without risk to health, but what about black powder? Has anyone run into this situation for their range?

 

[musketman]

Try here for starters... (type in goex in their search)
[url] http://www.msdsonline.com[/url]/

 

[Stony]

I have run into folks who complained about the clouds of smoke after I did a run while attending a SASS cowboy shoot but I smoke a pipe anyway so second hand smoke doesn't bother me. :rotf: I have seen people who do ISPC shooting wearing dust masks or those paint masks with the filters but I've never heard about anyone having problems because they didn't wear one.

 

[bwhoffman]

I have run into folks who complained about the clouds of smoke after I did a run while attending a SASS cowboy shoot

..If they cant stand the heat, get outta the kitchen!

so these "marroons" will wear dust masks to protect their lungs at the same time they are running around with a loaded gun?? :hmm:

Part of the mystic of what we do is the smoke and smell!

 

[john12865]

Your opening up a BIG CAN OF WORMS! Now we are going to get blamed for gobal warming. BP will be banned and we will have to shoot the so called cleaner substitutes. Hope your happy. :grin:

 

[roundball]

My only concern about inhaling good Goex smoke is that I can't seem to get enough of it
:rotf:

 

[bwhoffman]

Your opening up a BIG CAN OF WORMS! Now we are going to get blamed for gobal warming. BP will be banned and we will have to shoot the so called cleaner substitutes. Hope your happy. :grin:

I'm always happy!
since this is a traditional muzzleloading site and we dont really talk about the other diciplines much, shouldnt be much concern of "worm infestation". ...and I thought most sass stuff was going to BP and subs, which make smoke as well!
We cant make everyone happy all the time! :grin:

 

[RDavidP]

I also participate in SASS, alias is Macon McLeod O'Smoke. I shoot in the black powder class of Frontiersman since I also shoot cap and ball revolvers. On stage at a recent monthy shoot, the setup was down in a recessed area lined with trees all around you, meaning no wind to blow through. You started off with double tapping five rifle targets left to right for a total of ten rifle, put down rifle with action open, pickup shotgun, shoot two rounds at knock down targets. I shoot a 44mag rifle loaded with 30gr. FFg Goex, 12gauge shotgun with shells loaded with 3drams FFg Goex. I now have the smoke from 10 rounds of 44mag, and two shotgun shells lingering in the air. You now move down range to a marker, load shotgun, shoot two more knockdown targets. Move down range again, put down shotgun, draw pistols. 10 pistol rounds, five targets double tap, left to right. My pistols are 1858 Remingtons, loaded to the max of 30gr. 3Fg. I had the bay so full of smoke that everybody was coughing and hacking, everything smelt like fire, brimstone, and sulphur, and it took several minutes before the next guy got up to shoot because he complained he couldn't see. As I moved down range, from marker to marker I had to walk through a thick smog of black powder smoke. Most people ran to the markers, I just strutted like Clint Eastwood would do in his Westerns as he took out the bad guys. So the affects of black powder smoke slows your walk down to a strut, and gives you a feeling of toughness, while making those who are girly men cough and hack and complain. It seperates the men from wusses.

 

[mckutzy]

:rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: ........... :applause: :applause: :rotf: :rotf: ....
man i have the whole house rolling about this one,
"It seperates the men from wusses. " :bow: amen to that.

 

[powder jack]

I did the bobbing and ducking and weaving thing trying to see the targets through the smoke in sass matches. When some people complained about black powder smoke smell I thought I would try to improve it. First I tried garlic powder, I thought everybody liked the smell of garlic, I was wrong. Next I thought I could mask the smell with some small feathers in my shotgun shells, that idea stunk real bad. I tried glitter and different colors of carpenters chalk thought that might take their mind off the smell, wrong again. I have nothing but good things to say about sass, met some great people had a lot of fun, then my son got me a flintlock and I have never been the same. If I'm not shooting, I'm thinking about it. Black powder smoke will get up your nose and coat your brain causing money to trickle out of your back pocket continuously. Sometimes in big lumps, It also causes some folks to be drawn toward Friendship In. about twice a year, kind of a Homing Pieon effect.

 

[playfarmers]

I liked the replys they where good for a laugh. I love the smell of black powder, it means that I am having fun, and yes is does make money leak out of my pockets.

 

[faw3]

Funny you should ask... the 2 indoor ranges here wont let you shoot BP why Im not sure but they said it was "whats in the smoke you breath" so I asked " And all that lead and smokeless powder?" :bull: They didnt have blank to say. :rotf: Fred :hatsoff:

 

[renovato]

I guess I'm one of the wusses. I'm hopelessly addicted to real black powder and always will be, but I can't handle the "egg fart" smell that lingers afterwards. Gets me kicked out of the house a lot too. Good thing the doghouse is comfy.

 

[Claude Mathis]

Living in California, the law requires that I protect myself from black powder smoke inhalation. :winking:

 

[Muggsy]

First of all: thanks to Musketman for the MSDS link. Next- please, don't get me wrong on this issue- I love the smoke, the smell, heck- I've even been known to eat a mouthfull or two while loading during a good Rev War reenactment. What my concern is being able to prove to someone else how safe it is for black powder to be shot in indoor ranges. I do laugh at the public places who ban it saying the smoke is bad. I'm in the law enforcement field, and currently my agency is going through OSHA inspections on our range and our bosses aren't liking it. We feel that we have a serious health issue with the lack of proper ventilation, and the amount of (for a lack of better terms) bad stuff coming out of modern ammo. Needless to say, a call had been placed to OSHA to inspect our range and it didn't go very well and they are returning for another inspection very soon. Now with all that being said, there are a couple of us who shoot BP or pyrodex- and we have been singled out by one of the top bosses implying that our use of the stuff is what is causing all the problems (sure- 10 rounds of patched round ball is worse than the thousands of handgun rounds being shot). I have a feeling that we, too, may get banned from our range citing health issues. What I'm trying to build is a case to support my stand that the very limited use of BP is only smelly, not un-safe. Fortunately, thanks to the MSDS sheet I just pulled off- OSHA finds BP not to be a carcinogen.

 

[walruskid1]

hey fred, took my smokepole to the indoor range and asked if i could shoot it. sure, was the answer. 1st shot blew out the lay in tiles. 2nd shot overwhelmed the ventilation system. God, i love bp. i was asked to stop and leave. :nono:

 

[Cherokee]

Walrus


That made my day! :rotf: :rotf: :thumbsup:

 

[Mad Monk]

Your opening up a BIG CAN OF WORMS! Now we are going to get blamed for gobal warming. BP will be banned and we will have to shoot the so called cleaner substitutes. Hope your happy. :grin:

No! No! No!

We are fighting acid rain.
The so-called "smoke" produced by bp is mainly very fine particles of potassium carbonate, or potash. Humidity is individual molecules of water suspended in the air. At high humidity you get them kinda bunched up.
Fossil fuels and industry add sulfurous gases to the air. Which then combines with the water molecules to for acid rain. When the crystals of potassium carbonate come in contact with the acidic water molecules, the potash quickly neutralizes the acid. Therefor combating acid rain. Those who shoot smokeless sometimes contribute to acid rain. We bp shooters constantly fight acid rain.

 

[RickD]

I shoot at an outdoor range,its only 80 yards and was asked to stop shooting so the center fire rifle guys with scopes could[url] see..Made[/url] me wonder why at 80 yards you need a scope..

 

[WRussell]

The gunmakers toward the end of flint had indoor shooting ranges - I wonder what they used for ventilation.

Always wondered what a real old-west shootout in a saloon was really like. If they fired as many shots as hollywood nobody would be able to see anything.