For those who recover range lead

edwardware said:

It's just not anywhere near that dramatic. I added 200# of feedstock, stored outside, covered, to my molten process pot last weekend.

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I witnessed a lead volcano erupt enough to contact a 19ft high ceiling, when lynotype was added to a molten mix, once. Once. I too am a cold pot start guy on non ingots, now.

Be careful about adding water to your lead. Wear safety glasses. I almost burned by eyes out and had my face burnt by 20lbs of exploding lead when I was in high school. I was melting wheel weights using a furnace during the summer. A crude screener was used to remove the clippings. And, another friend began using the screener to dip them in water to cool the lead weights off. I began moving too fast and grabbed the screener and inserted it into the pot of lead before the water burned off. The pot was an 8" pipe with one end welded closed. The water instantly turned to steam and blew the lead 15 feet to hit the shop ceiling. Fortunately my reflexes were quick enough to dodge a direct blast and the skin on my eyelids melted my eyelids shut. The hospital was pulling skin and cutting it off with a scissor. I got lucky. The lesson, be safe.

My smelting pot will melt 400# but to get 400# of wheel weights in it I have to fill it up heaping full and get them melted, skim the clips and add more weights. I turn the heat down after skimming the clips and let the molten lead solidify before adding new weights to the melt. It don't have to be cold, just hard enough that the newly added material doesn't go below the surface.

BJung said:

The pot was an 8" pipe with one end welded closed. The water instantly turned to steam and blew the lead 15 feet to hit the shop ceiling. Fortunately my reflexes were quick enough to dodge a direct blast and the skin on my eyelids melted my eyelids shut.

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And I thought my lynotype/19ft ceiling hit was bad. I only got a dime size burn on my wrist but I did have a full face shield/hat, welding jacket, gloves on.

My source is from a 25yd berm that has everything shot into it from 22 rimfire to 300Win Mag to rifled 12ga. Shotgun.. The lead that I have rendered down has yielded BHN of about 9. I am rendering down about 65lbs at a time in my pot. After finished I add equaled amounts from each batch and melt them all together to more consistent batches.

I have been using this lead with a small addition of linotype for 380acp, 45acp and 38Spl. all lubed with 45/45/10 tumble lube.

I've been using lead from an indoor range for 15 years. We "mine" the lead about every 3-4 months and get 5-700 pounds at a time. The jackets and sand make up about 25 % of the total before smelting. We've measured the hardness a number of times, it averages 9 BHN! The vast majority is pistol bullets and over half are jacketed or plated. I've alloyed up to 12-15 BHN. When properly fit to bores I'm not getting any leading whether 8-10 or 10-15 BHN in 38Spl, 9mm, 38 Sup, 45 ACP, 44 up to 1050 fps!

Smiles,

I get indoor range lead too but haven't melted it yet. It's mostly .22lr and lead pellets.