Been casting awhile now, started long before the internet was common (1985). Back then it was tongue and check, reading & learning the old fashioned way from mistakes. Used to go to a lot of gunshows & would buy every mold I saw. Glad I did ended up with a pretty good collection of rare molds.
I've always used range scrap to cast bullets with. WW were around & I would use them but I'd typically target range scrap/berm lead. After hard rains there'd be a lot of lead laying on top of the berms. A rake and 5 gallon buckets was all that was needed. I still collect range lead to this day. I don't shoot as much as I used to (+/- 300# of cast bullets a year) but I still burn +/- 100# of cast bullets a year.
150# of range lead will make 100#+ of clean lead ingots.
I use an old propane tank as a lead pot to render the range lead down into ingots.
The top of a propane tank has a bronze valve, I cut that valve off +/- 1/2" above the top of the tank. The end result is that there are 2 1/4" holes in that valve, those holes keep pressure from building up when melting the lead. If you look at a propane tank you will see a welded ring around the center of them. That is there because there is a reinforcement ring that is used to join the 2 halves of the tank when it's made. If you look closely at the picture above you can see the ring on the top 1/2 (lid) of the tank.
After cutting the bronze valve off fill the tank with water via the 2 hole left in the top in the valve body. This will remove all of the propane in the tank. Turn the tank on it's side and use a 4" angle grinder with a 1/16" cutoff wheel and cut below the weld line on the tank. Go slow, you'll feel the wheel cut thru the tank itself and hit the inner ring. You want to leave the ring. It takes about 10 minutes to cut the bronze valve and then the tank into 2 pieces. Heck it takes that long to fill it with water using those 1/4" holes.
I use 1 of those cut in 1/2 propane tanks to render the range scrap lead into ingots on top of a turkey fryer base. That tank will easily hold 150# of range scrap. Simply put the lid on & crank up the propane turkey fryer and walk away for +/ 15 minutes. With the lid on that propane tank there's no smoke, no need to worry about anything popping, etc. After 15 minutes pull the top off and use a slotted spoon to stir the melted alloy and remove debris, jackets, unmelted bullets, etc. Then I flux what's left 3 times using wax 1 time and sawdust the other 2 times.
Typical batches of ingots from 150# of range scrap, 1 run in a propane smelting pot.
I used to use a cast iron dutch oven to melt lead in. The cutdown propane tank works soooooooo much better!!!!
When making a pot of ingots I like to fire up the 20# pot and cast bullets. I get out the gang molds that burn thru a lot of lead. It's nothing to ladle melted lead from the melting pot to the 20# bottom pour casting pot. Used to run a lot of 6/8/10 cavity molds and would easily cast +/- 100# of bullets this way.
Anyway just putting out there where I get lead from, how I clean it and turn it into ingots along with if you're running your casting pot dry too fast with molds that go thru a lot of lead in a hurry. That same melting pot is your friend.
