Lead levels

[Broc]

To reduce the lead styphnate and elemental lead dust in the dry media? Sure. But ultrasonic + dry tumbling sounds like a lot of work to do what wet tumbling does quickly and relatively easily. The hassle with the wet tumbler is mainly to do with the pins. If you don't care about making the primer pockets and insides look new, just want the outside polished and clean, you can use a wet tumbler without any pins. With the pins, a rotary media separator helps a lot, as does a magnet.

I didnt know about wet tumbling. I will need to read about that. Thank you.

 

[LittleCalm]

For those with elevated levels or wearing respirators, how often are you guys hitting the range? Curious. Thx.

 

[DW357]

how often are you guys hitting the range? Curious. Thx.

And specify whether indoor or outdoor range. I refuse to shoot indoors at my local club. I think the ventilation system is much older than I am.

 

[milktree]

And specify whether indoor or outdoor range. I refuse to shoot indoors at my local club. I think the ventilation system is much older than I am.

Both of the clubs I'm a member of spend a lot of effort/money maintaining the ventilation system. They both hire experts to come in with smoke bombs and flow meters and ... I don't know what else.

I've assumed for years that there's a correlation between all that and air quality.

Is there any way to test?

I imagine a vacuum cleaner like thing with a very fine filter on the input that can be tested for lead.

Does such a thing exist?

 

[DW357]

Is there any way to test?

I imagine a vacuum cleaner like thing with a very fine filter on the input that can be tested for lead.

Does such a thing exist?

Yup, it exists. At my last job as an EPA contractor, I used to test air for lead and other metals on jobsites. Just need an air pump (use high volume for better detection) that's calibrated to the proper flow rate, tygon tubing, and a 0.8 micron MCE cassette. There's a thin mixed cellulose ester filter sandwiched inside. Then ship them to a lab after calculating the volume of air that passed through the filter. There might be other ways to test for indoor air? Not sure.

 

[milktree]

Yup, it exists. At my last job as an EPA contractor, I used to test air for lead and other metals on jobsites. Just need an air pump (use high volume for better detection) that's calibrated to the proper flow rate, tygon tubing, and a 0.8 micron MCE cassette. There's a thin mixed cellulose ester filter sandwiched inside. Then ship them to a lab after calculating the volume of air that passed through the filter. There might be other ways to test for indoor air? Not sure.

OK, good. I'd like to run this test (or similar) at the clubs I'm a member to sanity check the systems. Maybe you can give me some pointers on how to do it:


Tygon tubing was easy to find via Google. (McMaster Carr) (why is this special, isn't it on the "dirty" end of the cassette?)

"0.8 micron MCE Cassette" found me a bunch of hits, are they really ~$50 each? Ouch!

How high a flow rate can I pull through one of these? rough order of magnitude, I can compensate for flow with more duration.

Are there lots of places that will process the cassettes?

 

[ReluctantDecoy]

As goofy as it would look, I wonder if wearing one of those paper hospital masks would help reduce inhalation. I don't go shooting as often as I'd like, but when I do go, I make sure to make the most out of it. 300-400+ rounds easily. Makes me wonder if dropping that much lead in one exposure is any different than 100 or so rounds more frequently.