Processing scrounged Range Lead

[solman]

Hi all, I posted previously about the lack of free lead in the form of wheel weights. Some suggested picking up spent lead off the range berm. Sure enough today I was doing some shooting at my range and checked out the lead situation. There is some lead to be had for sure but, I was wondering how to best pick it out and then clean it for the pot? What about Jacketed stuff?
Any tips would be appreciated
Thanks

 

[LUCKYDAWG13]

this is what i used it worked great i would pick up #60 of scrap in about a half hour http://www.landmsupply.com/departme...MIsf2vz7a42QIVWuDICh0VOQ9rEAYYBSABEgKpafD_BwE

 

[Patocazador]

The lead in jacketed bullets is soft like pure lead. Best for muzzleloaders.

 

[SamT1]

I’d just wash it all off, let it dry and then throw it all in a pot and melt it down. Buy some lino off eBay to harden it up if needed.
(Don’t put water in a hot lead pot it will explode lead on you!, but letting any moisture burn off at it heats up from cold is ok)

Once it’s melting, stir it best you can. The jackets will float to the top. Once the big crap is skimmed off, throw a couple old crayons or some of the wife’s candles in there and light them on fire. After they burn stirr it all in and skimm the top and your ready to make Ingots or whatever.

 

[ewlyon]

You can make a great sifter out of 1/4" hardware cloth and a couple 2x4s. You don't want to go too small on the sifter. Mine is probably about 2'x1.5', maybe a bit bigger.
Don't bother cleaning or washing the bullets, it just adds time and work. Just toss the dirty bullets in the pot and flux it well and all the dirt/sand/whatever gets scooped off easy. Also don't bother sorting/splitting jacketed stuff. Once it is heated up the jackets are so soft they come apart from being stirred.
For flux paraffin wax works well (candles), sawdust works, my new favorite is used motor oil. Burns and smokes a lot but it is free and does an awesome job.
Depending on the type of shooters at your range the lead may go from purely jacketed bullet lead to mostly cast bullet alloy. Until you can find a method to test hardness I recommend adding tin until you get good fill out from a heated mold and then treating that as a about 10 bhn.

 

[ReloaderFred]

A plastic milk crate with 1/4" hardware cloth makes a great sifter. Just shovel in the loose soil and shake. My partner and I spent about 5 hours on the pistol berm at our range and came home with 2,200 pounds of recovered bullets.

When smelting them down, make sure there's no moisture added to a pot of molten lead. As mentioned, it explodes. I use sawdust or wood pellets for flux. Because my casting pot holds 40 pounds of alloy, I pour 8 pound ingots, which is perfect for my pot, but if you're using a smaller pot, you'll probably want to pour into 1 pound ingots for ease of use.

All the jackets and debris will float to the top of your melt and can be sifted out with a slotted spoon. I get them at the restaurant supply store.

There's lots more that can be written, but that's the general idea.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[LUCKYDAWG13]

this type of spoon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004RDSYH...t=&hvlocphy=9021493&hvtargid=pla-335366265284 and what type of pot do you have to smelt in
I use a propane tank that was cut in half

 

[edwardware]

I use a large motor end cap as a colander, a trowel, and a bucket. That lets me leave most of the dirt right there in the berm.

At home I wash and air dry. Note that rendering is really messy with all the dirt, rocks, and jackets. Also note that clay pigeons, when melted, produce a huge volume of amazing yellow smoke; it's not hazardous, but it is smelly.

My range scrap lead has proven quite satisfactory for 9mm and 45 ACP bullets, coated with HiTek.

 

[243winxb]

If allowed to dig into the back stop with a shovel, i have seen this work well at my club. Use lots of heat and ever the jacketed bullet lead cores will melt out. A few may not and need to be hit with a hammer. Copper bullets and jackets may be sold as scrap to the junk man.


After a hard rain, bullets can be seen laying on top of the ground.

Bullets may contain up to 2% antimony, even some jacketed ones.

 

[blue32]

I use a stiff section of gutter guard with tape around the edges to keep from getting cut. I'll scrape the top of the ground with a garden trowel and sift the dirt through the screen. I'll remove the remaining dirt from the melt in a large cast frying pan over a Coleman propane stove.

 

[jmorris]

Anything other than lead will float to the top once melted and you scoop it off. After that I mix it up and throw a few bullets from my “standard” mold. If the mix is too heavy I add in some Linotype.

Pure lead drops 240 grains from my “standard” 230 gn mold, wheel weights drop 232 gn. Just cut in lighter alloys until they drop right then pour them into ingots ready for casting.

I save the neat looking ones like this one. Only in the movies would you see two bullets that impacted nose to nose.




I will say this, and it’s important, I always reclaim range bullets from a cold start pot. Meaning there is no molten lead anywhere around when I dump bullets in. In other words zero chance for molted lead to pop and splatter everywhere, if there is moisture present on/in the bullets. If there is any moisture in the pickups it will turn to steam before melt begins, starting from a cold pot.

The reason I do this is because I had some Linotype I was turning into ingots years ago and added some to an already molted pot. The residual ink on some of it erupted into a lead volcano. I was wearing a full face shield/hat, welding jacket, gloves, etc so I was lucky to only burn my wrist where some ran down. There is still some lead on that 19 ft high ceiling. Be careful.

 

[Itzdapig]

Also watch closely for live rounds! A lid for the smelting pot is also a good idea!

 

[jmorris]

^. Yeah, that would be less than desirable for sure!

 

[ReloaderFred]

Had that happen with some lead salvaged from an indoor range. I believe it was a .22, but still sent molten lead flying. When dealing with 700 degree plus temperatures, you can't be too careful.

There is a way to introduce damp lead into the large smelting pot without blowing it everywhere, but I'm not going to detail how it's done, for two reasons. First, there would be those who would argue about it, but I've successfully been doing it for thousands of pounds of smelting. Second, someone would try it, without taking the proper steps, and get themselves burned, or worse. Just suffice it to say that with the proper techniques, it can be done, but I don't recommend it for everyone.

Hope this helps.

Fred