Melting down range boolits

[dave1909]

Hello all! Happy Thanksgiving! Question for you, I have alot of bullets that i picked out of the backstop at my club and i want to melt them down. Some of them are copper plated. When I melt them, will the copper plating surface, or will it mix with the lead?

[docone31]

I doubt the plating will be alloyed in. It will just turn to slag on top of the melt.
You need a way to get the melt to absorb the copper.

[crmike]

Dave -

They will float. Nice to see another local on the board!

[GBertolet]

Any copper plating or jackets will seperate and float to the top of the pot, ready to be skimmed off.

[dave1909]

Thank You!

[Jim]

I dug almost five tons of boolits and bullets out of a gun range and smelted it for sale. One of the things I learned is that the copper plating on bullets will break down into a fine particulate. It can be skimmed off, but is very difficult to do so. I found it impossible to get it all out.

When I finished my project, I brought home with me the last 250 lbs.. I have been casting with some of it and the plating particulate is still showing up on the surface of the melt. I find that I must run the pot very hot and skim very slowly to get as much as possible off the surface. Even then, I continue to see the particulate at the surface.

[mdi]

If you're gonna melt plated/jacketed bullets, I'd suggest breaking the shell/jacket so the lead will seep out. I've never had it happen, but I've thought that mebbe pressure would build up in the closed bullet and pop in the melt...

[Nobade]

And sell the jackets to the local recycler to pay for the propane to melt them....(or trade for more lead)

[WILCO]

Use a lid on the smelt pot. Don't want a visit from the tinsel fairy due to moisture in a fmj.

[Larry Gibson]

Use a lid on the smelt pot. Don't want a visit from the tinsel fairy due to moisture in a fmj.

+1.

As mentioned the jackets will float. Also empty the pot of molten alloy each time a pot is melted, don't put any recovered bullets, especially ones from an outdoor berm, into molten alloy as there may be trapped moisture and an explosion may result. I melt a pot, stir well and then skim off the jackets and majority of dirt. Then I flux 1-3 times (depends on debri in alloy) before puring into ingots.

Larry Gibson

[soldierbilly1]

If you're gonna melt plated/jacketed bullets, I'd suggest breaking the shell/jacket so the lead will seep out. I've never had it happen, but I've thought that mebbe pressure would build up in the closed bullet and pop in the melt...
In my old club, we mined the berms on a reasonably regular basis. Yes, +2 on this, crack the Cu jacket or cut it with a pliers so that the Pb can seep out. This is on a full jacket, if the Pb is exposed just melt as is.
I have made bojillions of casts using reclaimed bullets for my 9, 38 and 45.
billy boy BTW, Reading Pa area.

[dave1909]

Thanks Friends, As we speak, I am melting down my first pot. I plan on doing alot of fluxing to remove dirt and gunk. I have candle wax, can i burn shreded paper?

[dragonrider]

When smelting I use sawdust by the handful, not only is it an excellent fluxing agent it also keeps your pot clean, waxes or petroleum products will not do that.

[tomme boy]

Jim, do you think what you are seeing might be from the plated 22rf???

[fcvan]

Over the years I have cast with a lot of range scrap. At the time I was living in high desert country of Kern County, Calif. Most of the lead was hollow based wad utters so the bullets had a lot of debris. Using a Lee 10 lb pot I would cast about 5 lbs and refill the pot. Being as dry as it was there the debris was pretty much dry so no tinsel fairy. I had a buddy who would collect a lot of the lead too and smelt with my pot. He would rinse the bullets and dump them out on the driveway so they would dry in 30 minutes or so. He never had a problem with sizzling or popping.

The last time I did bulk smelting I used a propane stove, a metal coffee can, and a metal shroud around the can to focus the heat. I fluxes with used ground walnut media and poured ingots with a stainless ladle. The pot started half full so any moisture was cooked out before the metal was molten. I would pour out and add more scrap by slowly ladling in. The scrap was in the two burner stove next to the smelting can so it was preheating before I added to the melt.

I held the ladle with a pair of pliers to reduce heat and wore welds gloves and safety glasses. Skimming the slag/dross/jackets/debris was pretty easy with the ladle. I was able to smelt 200 lbs rather quickly, being slowed only by having one ingot mold. The next time I do a big batch I will make up some ingot molds with angle iron. I've never saved the jackets for recycling but will do so in the future. I have a buddy with a forge and he wants to smelt the copper and throw away brass for a project he has in the works. Frank

[40Super]

I smelted about 150lbs this fall of my berm picked bullets, they were a pain, both figuritivly and litteral, I had to really watch for those fmj's that slipped by. I had one pop when the cover was off and I was grabbing another scoopful, lead sprinkles down the back of my neck, splatters on the roof, ect.. all just little droplets but burned non the less. Full facesheild a neccessity. It turned out to a really nice soft lead though(I picked out all cast boolits to smelt seperate). Took a lot longer than my indoor range scrap that is all pulverized and I can pick out the jackets beforehand without them getting in the dross, my recycler gives best price for clean copper jackets.

[btroj]

I just dump them in a Dutch oven, put on the lid, and wait. I use a wire mesh strainer to get the jackets out.
No snipping jackets, no sorting, no nonsense like that. Have done about 400 pounds this year and have about 250 left to go.

Mine are mined by me at the range I belong to. Doesn't take long to get 20 pounds in a shooting trip.

I find that range scrap makes a pretty darn good pistol bullet for about any cartridge I care to shoot.

[prs]

I have not encountered the hard to skim CU dross, but if I did I would add a half inch layer of clay based floor sweep granules to blanket the mix and then thoroughly stir in a flux agent to clean the lead. I believe the granulated clay would trap the dirt and offending copper slush/dust for easy removal. Worth a try and cheap.

Regarding range mined scrap, are the new lead free bullets a risk to the finished product. Are they zinc or some other lead unfriendly material? If so, can we melt slow and keep the temp down enough to skim the offending "stuff" off? Some of it may be as heavy or heavier than lead, that would be a problem if necessary to remove it? No experience with such greenie-weenie bullets, yet.

prs

[rcav8r]

I've thought about saving the copper jackets, setting up a smelting setup for it, and pouring something in a sand casting mold. Might be kind of neat to have some useful or artistic made from the jackets.

[Frosty Boolit]

I always hit the plated bullets with a hammer so there is a split or crack for the alloy to leak out of. Although I usually only have 30- 40 pounds. Be careful, I have seen them squirt through pinholes in the plating or thin "jacket".

[zomby woof]

This spring I dug several hundred pounds out of the sand berms at our range. I've smelted indoor range before with smashed jackets. The jackets were all intact with the outdoor stuff. When I sifted the jackets out of the pot, little bits of lead stayed in the jackets. it was a real pain to smelt. Seems like the lead percentage was very low. It was free, took some digging and a sore back. I'll never do it again. too much of a pain all the way around. I pay very little for indoor scrap, lots easier.