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. 2024 Sep 5:476:135196.
doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.135196. Epub 2024 Jul 14.

Gas and particle emissions from rifle and pistol firing

Johanna Aurell  1 , Amara L Holder  2 , Brian K Gullett  2 , Tyler D Sowers  2 , Jason Weinstein  3 , Peter Kariher  2 , Kevin McNesby  4 , Yong Ho Kim  3 , M Ian Gilmour  3
Affiliations

Gas and particle emissions from rifle and pistol firing

Johanna Aurell et al. J Hazard Mater. .

Abstract

Emissions were sampled from firing an M4 carbine rifle and a M9 (military issue of Beretta 75 FS 9 mm pistol) to develop sampling methods and assess potential exposures and range contamination issues. Breech and muzzle emissions were sampled from the rifle when firing M855A1 ammunition (lead (Pb)-free slugs) in single- and triple-shot burst mode and from single pistol shots when firing 9 mm XM1152 ammunition (not Pb-free). Emissions were sampled for carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, hydrogen cyanide, ammonia, particulate matter by size, polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons, and volatile organics. Analyses on the particles included elemental composition, size distribution, carbon composition (black, total, organic, and elemental carbon), and particle composition and morphology. Emission concentrations from both the rifle and pistol were characterized by CO/CO2 ratios between, approximately, 1/1 and 2/1, respectfully, indicating incomplete carbon oxidation. The initial particle size distribution was dominated in number by particles smaller than 40 nm but the high particle concentrations led to rapid agglomeration. The abundance of CO and metals of inhalable particle size are noteworthy and indicate that further assessment of exposure would determine potential inhalation health hazards, particularly in indoor firing ranges.

Keywords: Carbon monoxide; Emissions; Exposure; Metals; Particulate matter; Pistol; Range ventilation; Rifle.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Johanna Aurell, Amara Holder, Brian Gullett, Tyler Sowers, Jason Weinstein, Peter Kariher, Kevin McNesby, Yong Ho Kim, M. Ian Gilmour reports financial support was provided by US Department of Defense Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Breech box (red) from which emissions were sampled from the M4 rifle (left). Side view of M4 rifle showing location of breech box (right).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Elements emitted from the pistol, rifle breech, and rifle muzzle. Error bars are displayed as range of data (n = 2) for pistol, rifle breech, and rifle single shot, and one standard deviation for rifle burst.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Emission factors from each test configuration of elements originating from primer and propellant. Error bars display one standard deviation or the range of data when only two data points were available.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Evolution of the bin normalized particle number distribution (dN/dlogDp) for the pistol (left) and rifle, single shot (right).
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Particle mass distribution for the pistol firing, rifle breech, single shot rifle muzzle, and burst rifle muzzle.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Particle fractional composition by size sampled from the (a) pistol, (b) rifle breech, and (c) rifle muzzle. There is a much larger fraction of Not Analyzed for mass because total carbon cannot be determined from the size-resolved filters.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
SEM image for a particle from an M4 burst shot with elemental mass contributions from the circled area.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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