Oops,made a little mistake.

[Harter66]

Check your range scrap before it goes in the pot even if you sorted it yourself.

Made a little mistake today. Apparently a 38/357 found its way into my range lead while it was unattended after having been hand sorted into dead soft,jacketed,soft and hard/commercial cast. The "visit from the tinsel fairy" has redecorated the garage,ruined a shirt and probably a pair of pants,and the cast iron melt pot. It dropped about 60 lbs of 600 degree lead on the floor. The missing piece of pot was located 8ft away.

Check your junk before it goes in the pot !!

Minor damages to me.......... more pride injured, than injuries, minor burns from splatter otherwise ok.

Check the junk before it goes in pot !!

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_12338508d9e76b3d50.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=7202)http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_12338508d9e76d96db.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=7203)

[starmac]

We will be calling you lucky from now on.

[Dennis Eugene]

Wow, ruined that pot that's for sure glad the dog wasn't sleeping near by. Dennis

[hiram]

didn't ruin your clothes -- now you have clothes special for casting -- you won't ruin any more.

[rbertalotto]

If that was me, my pants would be ruined, but not from lead!

Glad you are OK

[Harter66]

I figured it was about time for another public reminder about just how quick it can happen.

We were out sweeping up it looks like it was just rattle can sprayed on to vertical surfaces 6' away.

Lucky is right the side and spray direction is 90 degrees from where I was. Quarter sized blogs on the roof,10 ft plus from the pot.

[1Shirt]

Glad you were not hurt, and a lesson was learned!
1Shirt!:coffee:

[NSP64]

Glad you werent hurt.
Kind of reminds me of when I either double charged a 270 win, or used brass that was too long.
Either way, I blew it in half.


On the lighter side, DUKE NUKEM has / had a 120# smelting pot for sale.

[Blacksmith]

Some of our members have had lucky encounters with the tinsel fairy. Would it be possible to gather these threads into a sticky to serve as a caution to new casters?

[Harter66]

I like it !

It is good idea to have the fresh "blood" in the general forums too. It reminds us why we're wearing long sleeves and long pants when its hot,and those annoying glasses the make the ears sore,and gloves.

[oneokie]

Some of our members have had lucky encounters with the tinsel fairy. Would it be possible to gather these threads into a sticky to serve as a caution to new casters?

Open a text document and copy and paste the links to the threads you find while browsing the site and submit to the Staff.

[Mud Eagle]

I take it you mean that a live round was in the pot?

[imashooter2]

As WW disappear and range scrap becomes the new standard material, this will become more and more of an issue. Dud .22's are very common and they get thrown into the berm all the time. Dirty, corroded, blending in with the scrap and still full of powder that might just go boom.

Interesting to see how the pot went away. I always thought that the lead would come out the top. I guess if the force to blow out the iron is less than accelerating all the lead on top of the blast, it will go in the direction of least resistance. This might make a real case for fabricating thick steel pots to contain such a blast and send the bulk of the lead upward and not (potentially) directly at the operator.

Very glad that you weren't seriously hurt. This clearly had the potential to be life changing, if not life ending.

[Harter66]

After much contemplation,I've decided that I had a QC failure. While that much is obvious, I hand sort every piece, every time. This should not have happened. This batch was a 3 can tailgate range sort rather than my usual 6can shop sort (5 for bullets 1 for garbage). There was a young man along on 1 trip and a girlfriend along on another,that yielded the small batches in coffee cans. I ruled out water as it has been a typical dry summer and the cans were pyramid stacked and open in the 90-110 degree garage in mid-September. A wet day is 30% humidity we generally stay in the high teens and low to mid 20s. 1 trip to an older more or less abandoned range gave up enough brass, miss fires and 50 Cal bullets to make an impression. I believe that this was in this batch. I've a couple of different pressure tanks up to 5 gallon propane bottles and smaller lighter helium balloon bottles that will make up the new pot I think.

[firefly1957]

Thanks for the reminder of what we need to do to be safe i am glad you are okay.

[a.squibload]

Glad you're OK and thanks for posting, this is important
info to bring up.

[QUOTE=imashooter2;1898556] Dud .22's are very common
and they get thrown into the berm all the time.

I pick 'em up every time at the range, what are the
chances of a 22 round going off from being scuffed
on the concrete?

Usually pull the bullets & dump the powder, then snap
the primer in a revolver. The primers are mostly still good.
Thinking safety as there are kids at the range sometimes.

[Harter66]

I crushed a few 22s awhile back and was surprised by the number that were hit and still popped when crushed.

Thankfully it was more my pride than my person damaged.

[cdet69]

That could have been a very big OUCH.

[L Ross]

I dumped some wheel weights in a pot that I got from an old bullet caster. Before I could even turn away there was a loud pop and I had a fair amont of molten lead splattered about, some on my left hand. Floating atop the melt was an old .25 Auto case. By old, I mean it had a tiny W stamped in the primer. The bullet was gone, the powder and priming compound consumed and a small puff of blue smokeless powder smoke drifted about the old milk house. Stuff happens when you play with interesting hobbies, I have the scars to prove it.

Duke

[Hardcast416taylor]

Kinda reminds me of what happened at the gunclub where I ran the indoor pistol shooting. I was putting the shot up paper targets into the cut out fuel oil tank that we burned trash in. I lit the last of the targets and stepped back to be sure the fire caught. I got talking to a shooter that helped me when it started sounding like popcorn going off in the oil barrel. We found cover till it was done popping off. We later found 30 .38 Spcl. cases in the ashes. The sides of the burn container resembled someone with a case of the mumps, dents from the inside against the metal sides. We were lucky nothing came thru from the primers cooking off. Still would like to know who and why they were in the burn barrel.Robert

[DRNurse1]

Kinda reminds me of what happened at the gunclub where I ran the indoor pistol shooting. I was putting the shot up paper targets into the cut out fuel oil tank that we burned trash in. I lit the last of the targets and stepped back to be sure the fire caught. I got talking to a shooter that helped me when it started sounding like popcorn going off in the oil barrel. We found cover till it was done popping off. We later found 30 .38 Spcl. cases in the ashes. The sides of the burn container resembled someone with a case of the mumps, dents from the inside against the metal sides. We were lucky nothing came thru from the primers cooking off. Still would like to know who and why they were in the burn barrel.Robert

Interesting event description. We have had fires in reloader's homes (2 I helped work) and found melted led and burst cases but no 'down range' rounds. Could these .38 SP rounds have been j-words? Any similar experience with incinerated rounds?

BTY +1 for the Tinsel Fairy Experience Sticky. As many times as we smelt and reload, we can always learn more from those who have tread this path before.

[colt 357]

I tought I was being anal by double checking everything even after I powder drop.

[imashooter2]

Interesting event description. We have had fires in reloader's homes (2 I helped work) and found melted led and burst cases but no 'down range' rounds. Could these .38 SP rounds have been j-words? Any similar experience with incinerated rounds?

BTY +1 for the Tinsel Fairy Experience Sticky. As many times as we smelt and reload, we can always learn more from those who have tread this path before.


I've burned a few dozen bad .38 wadcutters loose in a #10 fruit juice can. None even dented the can. The characteristics of ammunition in fires has been addressed by the NRA in their "Firearms Fact Book" and by SAAMI here:
http://www.saami.org/specifications_and_information/publications/download/SAAMI_ITEM_212-Facts_About_Sporting_Ammunition_Fires.pdf