is 3 yrs old too young to help dad clean ar?

[RMiller]

I'm for it. It's good education. Prevents accidents.

[foxtrotx1]

Maybe I can offer an opinion from the perspective of a biologist (Specializing in comparative physiology).

I think 3 is too young from a chemical safety perspective. Heavy metal contamination is a much larger risk when the organism being exposed is as small as a 3 year old. Damage from heavy metals is cumulative throughout the lifespan of an organism, but due to the rapid nature of early childhood development there is a higher chance of mutagens (the organics and salts in gun cleaners) affecting them as well. The faster an animal is dividing it's cells (growing) the more likely it is to be influenced by toxins and mutagens.

There is an excellent paper the effects of varying levels of lead exposure in children done by J. Hunters in 1985. The paper is likely behind a paywall so I can tell you that results showed children with elevated lead levels showed a significantly lower reaction time than those without.

There is another paper (H.L. Needlemen 2007) documenting significantly reduced IQ scores in children with anywhere from high to low concentrations in their teeth. Auditory response tests also showed lower, as well as reaction time.

I hate to be the debby downer here, as I think it's important for children to be exposed to gun from an early age. But, perhaps giving them hands on practice at three may be too young.

[foxtrotx1]

i was wondering if there was lead exposure. i mostly shoot 855 and 193. he will be 3 in oct. does anybody out there know the approx chem composition of the gunk we clean out of our rifles. again, i clean and lube w fireclean.
thanks gents

Most of the lead comes from the lead styphnate in the primers, not the base of the bullet. So as you can imagine, all that gunk in the rifle is impregnated with deposited vapor from the detonated primer.

[markm]

Most of the lead comes from the lead styphnate in the primers, not the base of the bullet. So as you can imagine, all that gunk in the rifle is impregnated with deposited vapor from the detonated primer.

I recently read an article that said the exact opposite. The primer lead was almost negligible, and the Bullet base vaporization was significant.

[Digital_Damage]

A simple risk analysis will show this is not a good idea.

List the Potential benefits
-You get to tell people your 3 year old cleans your gun

List the Potential detriments
-Unknown long term health issues

I'm just dumbfounded at some of you....

[markm]

Yep. I get pissed when a kid goes and picks up empty cases... cuz I have to stop and clean their hands up.

[TAZ]

Seriously?! How much actual cleaning is a child going to do? Are they going to be breaking the dirty gun down and licking the surfaces clean? Or are they going to sit by you, watch you clean. Maybe hand you a patch or brush. Maybe you hand them a clean part and they wipe it with a rag or run a qtip around on it. Unless you're a total slob and require a hazmat team to clean you work area, just how much chemical exposure is the kid going to get?? I'm obvioisly doing the whole cleaning thing wrong cause I don't get crap all over the place. And I'm not a neat freak.

[foxtrotx1]

I recently read an article that said the exact opposite. The primer lead was almost negligible, and the Bullet base vaporization was significant.

I could be wrong, I'd like to see the article if you can find it.

[cutter_spc]

Personally I think two is a bit young for helping with the cleaning, but as has been stated before, it's your kid. I let my three kids decide for themselves when they were ready to learn things about firearms, I just waited until they asked me about them. My mom treated me the same way, when I asked about anything, that's when she decided I was old enough to know, maybe not in every detail, but enough to satisfy my curiosity,and it has worked well for me and my kids too.

[RMiller]

The kid can wear PPE (ie gloves) while helping.

There's a lot of contaminants, carcinogens, and other harmful things out there.

Go for it, just be smart about it.