Reddit reviews 3M Particulate Respirator 8233, N100 (1 Piece)

a post I made last year:

I have tried

• Respro Sportsta
  
• 3M 8511 Particulate N95 Respirator
  
• 3M 8233 Particulate N100 Respirator
  
• 3M 6391 P100 Reusable Respirator Gas Mask
  
  
  The Respro is okay. Certainly the only stylish one i tried. One common feature of the masks is a moldable metal nose piece, that allows you to shape the mask to your face. The one on the respro is both the most durable, and the worst. Its stiffness makes it tough to form and reform. That said, the seal it forms seems to be fine, but getting a really good fit is hard, because it lacks a strap that goes over the ear. I'm sure you can get this style of mask in n99 or whatever.
  
  The 3M n95 is the cheapest (by far), and the lightest. The fit is good, and the seal is adequate, although the seal is the worst of the four. The filter is more stiff like paper.
  
  The 3M n100 is probably my favorite so far. The filter is more flexible like cotton. I generally don't worry about crushing it in my bag, except for the metal nose piece. The fit and seal are both excellent.
  
  The 3M p100 is certainly the most hardcore. It's cost is the highest, but the replacement filters are cheap enough. I haven't used it much, but it's the one that the bicycle collective sells, which I consider to be a good marker.
  
  
  Also I recently reached out to the American Lung Association about masks. Here is the last, most detailed response.
  
  > USEPA sets a PM 2.5 annual air quality standard at 15ug/m3
  This is a rolling 12 month average. There is also a 24 hour limit of 35ug/m3
  These numbers are established for air quality in the air shed and not necessarily in the breathing zone – which is the most item relevant to your question.
  These numbers are not extractable to breathing zone concentrations.
  A healthy person should not have a need for any respirators, the respirator is recommended for those with impaired systems.
  In addition, lung cancer is complex and there are other factors, which include air quality (type of pollutant), genetic disposition, and duration of exposure.
  
  
  > Saying all this, it’s hard to make a recommendation on when to use the N95 disposable respirator to prevent lung cancer (knowing that the three factors above play a large role in the equation and outcome). If in doubt, or if you feel there is a need, wear the respirator (with proper fit) when there are air quality concern days).

This is my go to: 3M Particulate Respirator 8233, N100 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008MCV43K?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

Throw a bandana on over it. You can pull both down and back up pretty easily while not looking like you are cooking out of your basement.

Agree the respirators are your best bet, but I personally find them really uncomfortable and sweat a lot in them. I like these masks for dust protection while woodworking - they have a gasket on the back to form a tight seal and are pretty comfortable IMO. Then use the respirator for painting / finishing to protect against vapors.

N95 and N100 masks are appropriate for fire/smoke particulates but not for gasses or carbon monoxide/dioxide. They are also only good for about 8 hours of heavy usage before they need to be replaced.

I walk a lot, so I picked up a couple of these when the air quality was creeping up on 200 the other day during the worst of it. Didn't end up needing them, but keeping them on hand since these burns are a yearly occurrence.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008MCV43K

This is also nice to have bookmarked (air quality map with multiple sensors):

https://www.purpleair.com/map#12.29/34.07144/-118.3271

Wear a respirator while doing any work. Not a dust mask, but an actual N100 rated respirator.

Sounds like a horrible idea, but for safety reasons, it's best to keep everything moist as you clean it, to cut down on dust. Use a 10% bleach solution to moisten areas before cleaning, scoop and sweep up all the shmoo and dispose of it.

The smell will go away over time once it's clean.

Not sure why you're getting downvoted OP, over exposure to lead is no joke and being concerned about it doesn't make you any less of a man.

I've actually just been doing some research about this myself. I'm no expert but from what I gather, if you take some simple precautions you'll probably be good to go and don't really need to be concerned. If you still are, you can always get your blood lead level checked by your doctor for cheap.

• Try to avoid indoor ranges even if they have a modern filtration system.
  
  
• Don't use regular soap, which studies now show doesn't remove lead from the skin well at all, and according to one study can actually increase absorption of certain forms of lead into the skin. (The tested soap was Ivory, which uses sodium lauryl sulfate as a surfactant like most soaps do -- you can Google for the study). There's a company called Hygenall which makes soaps and skin wipes which were proven to remove most lead from skin; the technology was actually developed by and licensed from the CDC. There are other companies that make similar products as well but I don't know if it's the same CDC-developed formulation. I just purchased two canisters of Hygenall's FieldWipes from Brownells. There a bit on the expensive side but worth the peace of mind for me. The US Military and law enforcement uses them too if that matters to you.
  
  
• Designate a pair of clothes/shoes specifically for wearing at the range, as lead does stick to clothing and regular detergents don't easily remove lead (I think Hygenall and some other companies make special detergents too).
  
  
• You can also consider wearing a respirator while shooting if you want. If you do get one it needs to be either P100 or N100. I just bought one from 3M for $8 on Amazon and it will last me several range trips at least. I may not be able to wear it when shooting my rifle but at least I will for my handgun. It'll probably make me look like a weirdo but who cares? At least I won't be breathing in lead that I don't need to be breathing in.
  
  They also make practice rounds that use lead-free primers (apparently the primers are the biggest source of lead exposure, not the bullet especially if it's jacketed). Check out PMC's eRange line for example. I decided against this -- for now -- because one I'm counting pennies and it was $50 more for 1K rounds, and my rifle rounds have lead primers anyways. Two, I wanted to do more research on what other possible health risks (if any) come from the alternative primer. Three, despite hearing good things about eRange, I read this about DDNP (the lead-free primer that most manufacturers use these days) and decided to hold off on purchasing 1K rounds of the stuff: https://wstiac.alionscience.com/pdf/WQV11N2_ART01.pdf‎
  
  Some of the PDFs I found interesting during my research:
  
  www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA487506
  
  www.hygenall.com/Skin_Absorption.pdf‎
  
  http://www.researchgate.net/publication/239522749_Handwipe_method_for_removing_lead_from_skin/file/e0b4951c1b0eb5ee68.pdf
  
  tl;dr; be concerned, take some simple precautions, but don't go crazy over it, and have fun shooting.