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jmra wrote:Concern about "lead exposure" is one of the reasons I carry a gun.

Agree with your idea! I'd only be concerned about lead exposure if I caught one from a fast moving object...

MotherBear wrote:I wash my hands well when I come off the range, and I make sure my clothes go in the laundry (as opposed to "eh, my jeans aren't really dirty, I can wear them again tomorrow"). When we clean guns we do it over packing paper and throw it away outside when we're done.

Ditto ...

No. I just handle some bullets, shot and pellets from time to time. I don't eat 'em.

I have quarterly blood work done for my diabetes. Roughly every six to nine months, I have him test for lead as well. My levels have always been quite low.

One reason I keep an eye on it is I handle it substantially more than a normal recreational shooter. First, I reload and that means I have tumbled tens of thousands of spent cases and deprimed a similar number of cases (primers also have lead).

Second, I cast my own bullets from lead.

Aside from the above-mentioned hand washing, I also change shoes before going into the house and hose the soles of my shoes off outside.

I worry about this constantly. I am so paranoid about it that my kids think that the slightest exposure to lead will cause instant death. Then I think about how when I was a kid, I used to "chew" on lead sinkers all the time.

I'm not concerned about lead when shooting outdoors.

Indoors is a bit of a concern. I wear an old pair of shoes. I also wear a hat (helps prevent skin exposure :-) )As another said, I get home and toss the clothes in the washer.

Shooting indoors from the line--One's not downrange where the ventilation system is pulling the smoke and dust. One's not walking around downrange where all the dust settles.
But-- shooting an IDPA-style match indoors is a bit different. One is standing downrange where all the smoke/dust is headed. Walking around on the floor kicks up the dust as well--hence the old shoes.


I"ve had several folks I know decide to curtail their indoor shooting when testing showed they had slightly elevated lead levels (above the "background" levels). This being said, these folks were shooting 2-3 times a week at indoor matches.