bullet casting

[douglas duncan]

i have been thinking about casting my own balls (round balls for the muzzleloader) can some of you that have been doing this for some time tell me if you feel/or have been sick from breathing the lead fumes?

I do know that when some people get older they tend to not go to the doc that much. some of it being fear. or really do not care, it could have to do with some of the cancer screening procedures we have. ie the ole postate finger test.

I understand this might seem a bit off the wall for some of you, of me asking this. I have been diagnosed with cancer and had to have one of my kidney's removed because of this. i really do not wish to loose another one.

 

[BrownBear]

If you work in a ventilated space and avoid breathing the fumes, that's an important step. It's also worthwhile to wear gloves plus wash your hands and bathe after casting. Goes without saying to wear old clothes and wash those, too.

I've been casting bullets myself for just shy of 50 years and I was around it before then. My blood lead levels are only slightly elevated, and in fact it's pretty easy to document that's not from casting. I shot handguns for about 6 months at an indoor range before they got decent ventilation, and from one year to the next my blood levels spiked up.

You probably picked up more lead breathing highway air in the days of leaded gas than you will from casting done right.

 

[mazo kid]

Hi Doug, interesting question and I can understand your concern. It is my understanding that the lead has to be at a considerably higher temp than we use for casting in order to vaporize. That said, I always make sure to either cast out doors or in a place that is positively ventilated. My basement casting area has an old range exhaust hood vented to the outside, located a little over a foot above the melting pot.

 

[hepburn4590]

Be mindful of good ventilation and keep your pot under 800 degrees.

 

[Moloch]

As I started casting bullets on my own I did not care much about lead poisoning, but after some time casting bullets in my garden I could smell the lead and it made me sick and nauseous.
After I informed myself about lead poisoning in the hospital I was quiet suprised and shocked how dangerous it really is and what a tiny amount of lead you breathe in can do in your body. The main problem with lead is that your body stores the lead in your bones, no way to rehab a lead poisoning, it will stay in your body for ten, twenty years or longer, and while it stays it does all sort of bad things like weakening your bones, damaging your brain cells causing nausea and limiting your brain functions. Lead is a slow working mean poison.

Imagine lead particles you breathe in as useless big solid bricks which get stored inside your body, and the bricks will block all sort of things like blocking neurons in your brain causing limited brain functions, blocking off the calcium supply to your bones weaking your bones, blocking blood circulation in your whole body which leads to damaged body cells and blocking off other important stuff.
You might say, ''ah its just a tiny amount you breath in, its not like eating that stuff''.
Well, breathing it in is far more dangerous and effective than eating it, if you are eating lead your bowels will deal with that stuff and 90% of it will make it out of your body with the natural way, but when you are breathing that stuff lead will attach to lung cells and the whole stuff, every tiny bit of lead will make it into your blood system. And a lot of people died from just eating food conterminated with lead.- (cans) a century ago.
Think about it, lead is a long term damaging poison, and over time even the smallest amount will screw your body up over the years, its commutative .
Have you ever seen the people working in lead foundries? I know several people working at car battery manufacturer, they have a monthly blood check and wear a full-body protection suit almost looking like the suit of an astronaut.

I always wear a gas mask with a NBC-marked filter, I can place my head directly over the furnace not smelling and lead and I feel save. No worries or bad feelings after casting hundreds of bullets. Gloves arent a bad idea either, lead goes through your skin. In the winter and at cold days I wear a full NBC body protection suit I've got as military surplus + the mask. MAybe thats too much, but I feel totally save and happy.

 

[paulvallandigham]

A client and good friend was a firearms instructor at our State Police training institute, and when tested for lead, showed high enough that they took him off the range, and put him in the classrooom. A year later, his blood tests showed he was back to normal lead levels. Subsequent yearly testing showed no changes upward.

All that you say can happen, but in infants and small children, where they are still growing bone tissues. It also gets into the fatty tissue of the brain, which is where it causes mental problems. I have heard of NO empirical evidence that lead collects in the bones of mature adults, or that it poses the same risk to adults' brains. Obviously, if you are breathing in lead particles, it first affects the soft lung tissue, and lead is not going to do your lungs any good. That in itself justifies taking precautions when casting lead to make sure the area is well ventilated, and that fumes are not allowed to blow into your face. Washing the skin, and showering to get any lead dust out of your hair is smart, because the second way to get lead into your body is by ingesting it. If lead gets on your hands, and then you transfer this to a sandwich or other food you are eating, you are going to eat lead, too.

This matter came up more than 20 years ago when I represented our local Public Housing Authority, and it received a request from HUD to do a survey of its buildings to see what lead abatement needed to be done. The staff and the Board of Commissioners was all concerned about lead poisoning, until the Board was told that lead abatement had begun back in the 1950s, , that all lead based paint that could be reached by small children, were removed, and that as part of ordinary maintenance, in the 1960s, the rest of the lead based paint that kids could not reach was also removed. An expert with all the testing equipment showed up From HUD, and after testing the apartments, was shocked to find out that we had no lead problem that needed further abatement. ( Well, actually, we were having nightly shootings in our family projects, but he was not qualified to do anything about that lead pollution!)

I am not trying to minimize the dangers of lead toxicity, but I also don't believe that you have been given the best information about the affects of lead on Adults. The liver, and kidneys remove heavy metals from the digestive track all the time. They exit the body in the lower Large Intestine. I believe that adults can and do filter out certain amount of lead, along with other metals, all the time. You just don't want kids around when you are casting.

 

[douglas duncan]

From the responses it seems that it is all right as long you do not sit there and smell the pot all the time.

 

[CrackerJim]

The is the mad hatter of old. I believe the felt hat making process used lead compounds. The exposure had deleterious effects. I presume that the working conditions caused a much more concentrated condition than would be found in well ventilated lead casting operations.

Something to think about however. In my case, one might not be able to tell the difference..... :grin:

Jim

 

[Semisane]

Actually, the hatters problem was mercury.

 

[brubincam]

-----you mean the hatters were making hats outside in the dark while watching the sky?----- :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: couldn't help myself---

 

[2172]

Semisame, you're right, it was mercury. As to lead casting, I've been doing it for about 12 years, and am 76 years old, see my doc for an annual physical, and have no problems ...I make sure that I have good ventilation...do it either on a covered,screened-in porch, or in my shop with all doors and windows open and a fan blowing from behind me...Hank

 

[tg]

", it could have to do with some of the cancer screening procedures we have. ie the ole postate finger test."

You're gonna put WHAT?... WHERE! :shocked2:

I think it has ben pretty well summed up, better safe than sorry, good ventilation, I like to run a fan that puts a gentle breeze across the work area, gloves, resperator if really concerned or have existing resperitory issues, and don't drip drops of persperation into the pot.

 

[merdean]

I have been casting for centerfire firearms as well as muzzleloaders since 1976. Last checkup was normal for a diabetic with high blood pressure. I cast outdoors or in the shop with good ventilation and a fan behind me. The temperature today is 112 so I am not casting! I save that for the winter when it is only 60 outside. Just dont sit over the pot and breath it in

Merdean

 

[Photog]

At 112 you don't even need a fire or pot to melt the lead, just hold it outside!

 

[Swamp Buck]

Good grief....60 deg in the winter time.

This has been a cool summer until recently when the temperatures have finally gone up to normal summer highs in the 70's to 80's. It seemed like the whole first half of the summer stayed in the 60's.

I don't even want to mention what the winter temperatures are usually at - but I won't be in the garage attempting to cast round balls thats for sure.