Ammunition & Hand Loading > Cartridge and Shotshell reloading
RELOADERS: What's Your BLL??
SemperFiGuy:
BLL = Blood Lead Level
As a reloader, you may handle and/or process quite a bit of lead in a year's worth of reloading. Especially if you load shotshells or unplated/unjacketed bullets. Or even moreso if you melt lead, pour, and cast your own boolits. And if you then go ahead and shoot that stuff, the lead really starts flying around.
So....it might be a good idea to eliminate the guesswork and go ahead and have a BLL test.
It only costs about $35-50 to have a separate blood draw for BLL testing when you have your annual physical exam.
A separate special kind of vial is used to do so; otherwise the lab could use part of the blood from the main blood draw. But they can't. They have to use the special vial containing some kind of chelating agent and take a separate blood draw. At least, that's what the Vampires at my clinic said.
Under 5 micrograms/deciliter is considered a safe range. Anything over is getting riskier and riskier. BLL goes up, then risk goes up, too. And.........If the iron in your blood ever turns to lead in your butt................then it's all over. Just blob out on the couch and flip the TV...
For your own peace of mind, it's worth getting the test, even though your medical insurance may not cover it. Mine doesn't. But I'm offering to you that just knowing your BLL is worth the few extra bucks.
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And here's something of especial interest pertaining to national aggregate blood lead levels:
Clair Patterson. researcher, originally developed techniques to measure tiny concentrations of lead in his quest to determine the age of Earth. When he discovered that preindustrial humans had far less lead in their bodies than all modern humans, he wrote:
"It seems probable that persons polluted with amounts of lead that are at least 400 times higher than natural levels, and are nearly one-third to one-half that required to induce dysfunction, that their lives are being adversely affected by loss of mental acuity and irrationality. This would apply to most people in the United States".
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Which means that we finally, finally, finally have a coherent, logical, clear, and acceptable explanation for the current level of leftist liberal nutstuff in the United States.
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FWIW,
sfg
Dan W:
One is exposed to much more lead when shooting indoors where vaporized lead particles fill the air and cover most surfaces the shooter touched.
SemperFiGuy:
--- Quote ---One is exposed to much more lead when shooting indoors where vaporized lead particles fill the air and cover most surfaces the shooter touched.
--- End quote ---
That's pretty much the case in indoor ranges, where the lead problem is moreso than for reloaders.
There once was an indoor range on L Street in Omaha that had its ventilation fans in backwards.
Such that when you shot, a big powder cloud would go out downrange, slowly stop, and then start accelerating back toward the shooter.
sfg
noylj:
I have been casting bullets for over 38 years, reloading for over 40 years, and shooting regularly at indoor ranges for over 40 years.
My BLL is 6 mg/dL. It was 6 mg/dL about 28 years ago. 28 years ago that was considered almost NOTHING.
SemperFiGuy:
--- Quote ---My BLL is 6 mg/dL. It was 6 mg/dL about 28 years ago. 28 years ago that was considered almost NOTHING.
--- End quote ---
Which is pretty much my point for this post.
You're a reloader.
You are also a bullet-caster, long-time.
Nevertheless, your BLL is pretty much zilch. And you know it for sure.
So you can go worry about something else besides your BLL. There's always plenty.
And all those little aches, pains, glitches, tics, whatever in your body have nothing whatsoever to do with lead.
sfg
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