Second Hand Lead Exposure/Pregnancy

[SL8R 1]

Hello all,

 

About two months ago I bought my first handgun, followed shortly by my first rifle, and my second handgun. I get to shoot maybe twice a month maximum, indoors at Shore Shot. My wife is about 7 weeks pregnant with our first child and we are both pretty nervous about making sure we do everything we can to be safe and careful. My concern is whether the second hand lead dust I bring home from the range (on my hands/clothes/shoes) can be harmful to her or the baby. I typically shoot around 150-200 rounds of jacketed 9mm and .38 special, but I do have some LRN .38 special sitting in a plastic MTM ammo box in the closet. If she touches something that I touched after shooting is she in any danger? Can being in the same room with lead ammo (in a plastic ammo box) cause her any harm? I normally take my clothes and throw them in the wash right after going to shoot, and am going to start carrying some hand sanitizer in my range bag, but what else could I or should I be doing?

[Pizza Bob 1,488]

Lead is a cumulative poison. You have to build to certain levels in the body before there is any noted toxic effect. That is all well and good for adults, but the effects it can have on your unborn child may manifest at much lower levels.

 

It sounds like you are taking intelligent precautions now, but I would suggest that instead of soliciting advice on a forum, that you should consult with your obstetrician.

 

Congrats on your expected arrival.

 

Adios,

 

Pizza Bob

[SL8R 1]

Lead is a cumulative poison. You have to build to certain levels in the body before there is any noted toxic effect. That is all well and good for adults, but the effects it can have on your unborn child may manifest at much lower levels.

 

It sounds like you are taking intelligent precautions now, but I would suggest that instead of soliciting advice on a forum, that you should consult with your obstetrician.

 

Congrats on your expected arrival.

 

Adios,

 

Pizza Bob

 

Thanks! We just saw the Dr earlier this week, but I didn't think to ask at the time. I'm definitely going to ask when we see her again about a week and a half from now. I don't plan on going to the range until we do see her. I was hoping maybe someone has been in a similar position and could give me some beneficial information, or at least put our minds at ease a little until then.

[Sonnylee 20]

As long as you wash your hands and remove the clothing after a shoot, wash separate from her clothing.

Having a pregnant wife and soon infant you definitely want to practice lead prevention.

It's on your clothing in a dust particle and easily can be passed on to an infant while holding the child.

If your shooting indoors it's a good ideal to get a lead test annually so your recognize your levels as well.

I reload shotgun and shoot generates a lot of dust once it's poured into tubes or shells.

I clean every time I'm done so I can keep up with controlling the exposure.

I've been tested annually and thankfully I maintain a .02 level. Good luck!!

[Maksim 1,504]

Do yourself a favor and find a range to shoot outdoors. Safer in all regards.

 

Secondly, have a set of Clothing just for shooting. Wipe hands.

 

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[kahout 0]

Another suggestion.... in cool weather, bring a jacket or hoody you only wear to the range.

[GRIZ 3,369]

Washing your hands is a lot better than hand sanitizer. You're trying to remove any lead on your hands not kill germs.

 

As others have said talk with the doctor.

[brocglock23 4]

Look up D-lead hand soap. We use it at our range. I also do the hoodie thing when it's not hot out.

[matty 810]

Call me a tinfoil hatter, but i would be leery of bringing up firearms with any physicians these dyas. Especialy pediatricians and ob/gyns. Their associations are very anti gun. My kids pediatrician asked about iit and i told him myob.

[SL8R 1]

Thanks for the suggestions. I looked into that D-lead and I see they have prepackaged wipes too. Those would be perfect for the range bag. I already tend to wear the same stuff to the range, but I'll make sure I have a set of range clothes just for that purpose. I do plan on looking for an outdoor range as well. OBRPC is pretty close to me, I want to go check it out at some point.

[raz-0 1,259]

I'll give you what I did when my wife was pregnant and right after my kid was born. My kids lead levels checked out fine. The big issue is keeping the residue away form mom before birth, and keeping it away form the baby and most importantly anything they crawl on or might shove in their mouth.

 

1) I stopped shooting indoors. You WILL be bringing back a LOT more contaminants from an indoor range rather than an outdoor range. If you really must shoot indoors, do NOT touch any acoustic tiling or anything that can hold the unburnt powder and dust. Wear a hat at all times in the range.

 

2) Have a dedicated shooting outfit, especially shoes. Leave the shoes out of the house, launder the outfit immediately, get yourself showered, and after the laundry is done, run the washer for an extra rinse cycle. I'm lucky in that I can come inside, hit the basement with the laundry, and then right upstairs to the shower. You do NOT want to be laundering your shooting outfit with clothing you will be handling your kid with, bedding, etc.

 

3) D-lead soap. Keep it right at the utility sink next to the washer. After putting the clothes in, wash hands and upper arms with the d-lead.

 

4) d-lead wipes or hygenall field wipes post shooting before getting in the car. (if your indoor range has a bathroom and dlead soap I wouldn't worry about this, but I was shooting outdoors)

 

5) I reload, so I switched over to bullets with an enclosed base rather than an exposed lead base.

 

There's also some common sense stuff that you should be doing anyway. Like if you reload and tumble your brass, absolutely do NOT do so near your laundry or any where near an air intake for central HVAC. Same goes for lead smelting if you cast your own.

[Smokin .50 1,907]

Hello all,

 

About two months ago I bought my first handgun, followed shortly by my first rifle, and my second handgun. I get to shoot maybe twice a month maximum, indoors at Shore Shot. My wife is about 7 weeks pregnant with our first child and we are both pretty nervous about making sure we do everything we can to be safe and careful. My concern is whether the second hand lead dust I bring home from the range (on my hands/clothes/shoes) can be harmful to her or the baby. I typically shoot around 150-200 rounds of jacketed 9mm and .38 special, but I do have some LRN .38 special sitting in a plastic MTM ammo box in the closet. If she touches something that I touched after shooting is she in any danger? Can being in the same room with lead ammo (in a plastic ammo box) cause her any harm? I normally take my clothes and throw them in the wash right after going to shoot, and am going to start carrying some hand sanitizer in my range bag, but what else could I or should I be doing?

 

Join a private club with an outdoor range. Only shoot outdoors. Then do as Razo suggests. Do this and you'll be able to sleep at night.......

 

Dave

[SL8R 1]

Thanks for the responses. I'm glad I asked because I had never heard of D-Lead before, and the overwhelming consensus seems to be I need to find an outdoor range, which is something I wanted to do anyway. I think I'm also going to shoot less often for the time being. I'm new to owning firearms, and even though I'd love to go as often as I can, less exposure overall will keep the possibility of any damage low. With the price of ammo right now it seems like a good idea in that respect as well. Thanks again, everybody.