Range spring bounty

[stevesmith7]

I went shooting last week at the public range at Keystone and noticed something unexpected. We've had a really warm last couple of weeks here in Colorado and most all the snow on south facing slopes is gone. The range was plenty muddy but no snow. When I went downrange the first time I noticed the ground was literally covered with fired bullets in near perfect condition. Hundreds of 45s, 9mm, and even 30 cal. rifle bullets everywhere. Most were as near to new condition as possible given having been fired. I was thinking this must be the result of firing into the snow in the preceding months. Anyone else ever seen this?

Steve

 

[Preacherman]

Sounds like reloader heaven - never mind scavenging brass, now you can recycle bullets as well!

 

[Gewehr98]

Isn't that great?

The dirt berms in my old range would wash back after a rainstorm, leaving a bumper crop of cast bullets for me to pick up. I left the jacketed ones, though, because I didn't know what the lead core alloy was inside them, compared to something like Lyman #2 for the cast bullets. I'd wash them well, then let them air-dry before I put them in my bullet casting pot. I'd mark the ingots as "Bullet", to differentiate them from those cast from wheel weights, etc.

 

[riddleofsteel]

We used to fish at a pond next to the police range. If you keept a check on the outdoor shooting area you could find dozens of perfectly good rounds of unfired ammo that had been ejected in nightime drills and never recovered. Plus they were LEO ONLY versions of current ammo types.

 

[entropy]

recovered bullets from snowmelt

Yep, a guy at work brought in some FMJ 9mm bullets last night for our boss to melt down for reloading. My kids invariably find some every spring, now I know what to do with them!

 

[keyhole]

I always just figured that it was a secondary benefit to going to the range, getting more lead to melt down, and reload!

I did have a friend tell me that I saved nothing in reloading. His theory was that by going to the store to buy ammo, I would shoot maybe 50-100 rounds. But if I reloaded, I would shoot 200-300 a trip.

SO what's the problem with that?

 

[4v50 Gary]

Time to get a shopvac and help clean the mountainside. Talk about modern goldmining. You can paper patch the bullets and then the ballisticians will be puzzled afterwards.

 

[PMATULEW]

range maid

Nothing like being the "range maid".

I've got a baggy full of once fired bullets here at my desk. Must be the snow.

Also took along my magnet and collected a 5 gallon pail full of steel cases to recycle.

 

[Bridger]

Yeah I've been noticing that too. Didn't think about the snow though, but now it makes sense! I was wondering how those three .32 fmj bullets were sitting there right on top of the grass right next to each other, rather than buried under it or deformed from impact. Pretty neat!