Reloading and lead exposure
I have been reloading for under a year and reload rifle only for now and have been thinking about lead exposure. I reload in an apartment so I have a few concerns. I understand that the spent primer is pretty much the main source of lead. So I take my once fired brass from the range and leave it in hot water with soap to get some of the carbon etc off. I then dry using a hairdryer and lube (lee lube) by hand and de prime resize and trim. The de primed case may or may not get another hot water soak to get the lube off and then the dried cases get tumbled. The tumbler runs inside but I have used a plastic bag to cover the lid which has holes it. It’s a layman tumbler. I then prime charge and bullet seat as per normal. I keep the spent primers in the press and empty them once I have a couple of hundred in there and bin them and I end up handling a few by hand. I pick the brass out of the tumbler by hand and have started using gloves. I am going to start reloading 9mm as well and am wondering is it worth de priming before tumbling? (I load single stage)
My question is how high is the risk of lead exposure airborne lead from tumbling and touching spent primers and tumble media. Also the buckets I use to wash the brass are used for other things like moping the floor etc after rinsing out ofcourse. Are the buckets safe after washing out?
Posted Jul 10, 2012, 4:42 AM UTC