Smelting the lead out of a jacketed bullet

[357reloading]

What few jacketed bullets I have put in my lead pot seem to have a almost as much lead stuck to the outside as what was inside the jacket.

Is that normal or just me?

[Ole]

Not just you.

The few batches of ranch lead that I've done, I used sawdust and parafin wax 3x and still had some lead hanging on do the copper jackets when I skimmed them.

I hand sorted some jackets (to try to get a higher price at the scrapyard). About 16lbs of jackets, I was able to recover almost a full pound of lead, just by hand sorting and picking the lead out of the jackets.

[winelover]

Turn up the heat! Make sure you let them stabilize with the melt temp. I use locking forceps to remove mine and gently bang on side of pot to dislodge any stubborn lead.

Winelover

[Mal Paso]

I use a big restaurant slotted spoon to pull them over to one side and roll the pile against the side. The lighter empty ones will wind on top to be scooped out. The rolling spills the lead out and it drains down through the pile without picking up more.

[Harter66]

I sort my range lead,roughly to jacketed,hollow based,commercial cast/hard stuff and mine. When I do the jackets I have a fryer ladle ,really big "slotted" spoon . You can scoop and shake a little and most of the lead falls back into the pot . A fryer basket works even better,you just have to keep it to 25% of capacity(the basket),and the pot low enough to catch the splash from the sides of the basket. I did 80# of ingots in an hour and a half w/15+-lbs of jackets left over . 3 gallon bucket full to all but running over. Been doing it for 3-4 yr that way.

[BulletFactory]

Whatever you do, don't squeeze a leadsafe copper jacketed round. It will pop, and spray molten lead all over the place.

[Harter66]

:mrgreen: Those should be whacked w/a hammer before they go in the pot.

[Guesser]

Plated bullets get smashed before going to smelt, larger jacketed rifle bullets get cut in half before going in the pot, high temp makes the difference.

[btroj]

I just throw mine in the ppt and let them go. No pounding, no cutting. I have never been sprayed.
I do lose a little lead when I skim the jackets but I don't worry about that. My range scrap is all stuff I picked up for free so I am not out any money.
I figure that if I can pick up 100 pounds of range scrap a year I offset over 50% of what I used that year.

[geargnasher]

Normal smelting temperatures (650-700 degrees) and plenty of sawdust should do the trick. Take a slotted spoon and draw a load of jackets up through the sawdust a few times, the sawdust will help reduce the dross oxides that stick to the copper and the resulting lead droplets will return to the pot. The only thing I haven't figured out how to master is getting all the lead to shake out of the inside of the jackets. I think a basket made from hardware cloth would be handy, pour all the scrap into the basket and put the whole thing in the pot, then after some stirring and sawdust fluxing lift the basket up just above the surface with gloves and shake it vigorously.

Gear

[mold maker]

If your lucky enough to have access to free range lead, don't waste any of it. The time is short before it will be collected as a hazardous matrerial.
Smashing with a waffel faced hammer (HF framers hammer) will punch holes in FMJ so that the lead can leak out.
Treat lead like gold now, and you wont run out later.
Soon the WWs will be gone, range lead will be next, followed by all ind lead scrap.
This isn't a chicken little scare. It's comming and sooner than ya think.

[SlowSmokeN]

I have been melting about 50lbs of range lead a week for about the last six weeks. I am using a Coleman camping stove at this point and no lead sticks to the copper. It sounds like you may be running to cold.

[Jailer]

Jacketed range scrap has to be melted HOT. It should be near pure lead so it takes a higher temp to get things flowing like they should.

As others have said, slotted spoons and shaking is what's needed to get it all out. I do like the idea of a basket of some sorts. A fine wire stainless steel one would be perfect. Where can you find something like that?

[btroj]

I haven't used it yet but I found a wire scoop like you might use to remove stuff from a fryer. I have high hopes for it. It may allow some small bits to escape but I can get those with a slotted spoon.

[beagle]

I sorth all of these out and smash them with a hammer on an anvil before I put them in the pot. Why don't politicians leave things alone./beagle


Whatever you do, don't squeeze a leadsafe copper jacketed round. It will pop, and spray molten lead all over the place.

[Harter66]

I found the giant mesh fryer "spoon" at smart and final. They carry an appropiate fryer basket also.

[Inkman]

It all goes into the pot and melted. No hammers for me. Haven't pulled out an unopened/uncracked bullet yet so that tells me they all crack or pop open at some point.

To the OP, i use a wide, slotted spoon (W I D E) and shake the jackets just barely over the pot, till they look empty. Only takes a few seconds per spoonful.

Al