Airborne Lead Testing
Rainier LeadSafeTM bullets reduce your exposure to harmful lead vapor.
Overexposure to lead vapor can cause serious health problems, including brain and kidney damage, nervous and reproductive disorders, hypertension, and paralysis. Once lead has been absorbed into your bones and organs, it can remain there for as long as 40 years.
Results of numerous studies confirm that disturbingly high blood lead levels are found frequently among shooters, range workers, and others in the shooting area at firing ranges.
In one recent study, for example, 89% of the shooters exceeded the OSHA permissible exposure limit for occupational exposure to lead, after firing non-jacketed lead bullets.
Another study by the U.S. government found the average airborne lead concentration in a group of ranges was 53 times greater than the OSHA limit.
Other studies have found elevated blood levels and numerous symptoms of lead poisoning among shooters at outdoor as well as indoor ranges.
Protect yourself and your business with Rainier LeadSafeTM bullets.
Over the past several years, a number of ranges have been cited or closed by the EPA and OSHA due to excessively high lead vapor levels created by shooting both lead and traditional full metal jacket bullets.
Now you can protect your employees, range users and your business by modifying your ammunition to use Rainier LeadSafe™ Total Copper Jacketed (TCJ) bullets. TCJ bullets have been shown to dramatically reduce lead emissions in both indoor and outdoor firing ranges.
An independent study found that using ammunition loaded with copper plated bullets reduced airborne lead levels by more than 95% in the area of the range where the shooters were located, as compared to ammunition using non-plated bullets.
California’s OSHA – which has among the most restrictive lead vapor standards in the nation – has conducted tests using Rainier LeadSafeTM bullets and confirms their low vapor emission rate. As a result of such tests, many ranges now require that copper plated bullets be used by all shooters.
Traditional jacketed bullets are not LeadSafeTM
The jackets of traditional full metal jacket bullets only cover part of the bullet – and solve only part of the lead vapor problem. As a result, the base of the lead bullet core is exposed to hot gases, causing the formation of lead vapor as the ammunition is fired.
But Rainier LeadSafe™ bullets have no exposed lead surfaces to come in contact with hot, propellant gases. This is because each bullet is electroplated with a pure, copper jacket that covers the entire surface of the bullet.
The electroplating, process used by Rainier Ballistics produces a molecular bond between the jacket and the lead core – a bond so strong, that the plated jacket will not separate from the bullet core when fired.
Less lead vapor means cleaner shooting, too. Rainier LeadSafeTM bullets can help prevent barrel fouling problems, and help scopes and sights stay cleaner and last longer. So they help shooters protect their investment.