Time to play: Castboolits, Lets make A Guess!!

[41 mag fan]

Ok heres the deal, I've got 28 buckets of lead I mined from the local berms of the gun range.

After cleaning them up as best I could in 19* weather yesterday, i dumped them in a 55 gal drum. That drum is just a smidge under 1/2 full now.
But I've got maybe a week left before I get released to go back to work, and I plan on getting as much as I can before then.

So if I fill this drum up fully, then smelt it, I will have:

1. How many pounds of lead
2. How many pounds of jackets for scrap.

The winner of this game will get:
Atta boy, heck of a job, good guess, very smart, or a way smarter guesser than I am!
But at this time and date, lets see what everyone says on 1/2 a drum full and I'll post a pic of what I have before I return to work.
With that Let the game begin!!

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n569/91msd92/Photo01241648_zps1e06cd31.jpg
This drum was so heavy I couldn't move it with a dolly, I had to scoot it across the floor in the garage.

[avogunner]

I'll play..............weight of a 1/2 full drum of range scrap - say...4125lbs. I guess 70% lead vs. jacket so roughly 2900lb of lead ingots.

[farmerjim]

Full drum = 3000 lb lead and 250 lbs jackets.

[41 mag fan]

Heck at them weights...no wonder i couldn't move it with a dolly and had to scoot it to get it out of the garage door!

The range i'm mining at, i don't think has ever been mined. I'm still on the 25 yrd range, I've got 3 holes dug and have gotten the 28 buckets from. Each one is 3' W x 1 1/2' D x 4' L.

It's almost crazy the amount of scrap out there just laying on the ground on top.

[**oneshot**]

full--- 5600 total 3300 lead 2200 jacket 100 junk

[44fanatic]

Full Drum: 4480 total weight, 3540 in ingots, 360 lbs in junk/dross, 580 lbs in copper jackets ($1450 at $2.50/lb)

Half Drum: 2240 total weight, 1770 in ingots, 180lbs in junk/dross, 290 lbs in copper jackets ($725 at $2.50/lb)

[btroj]

Yield will be 1738 pounds of ingots, 468 pounds of jackets and debris.

[Sasquatch-1]

I'm going low. 1000lbs lead 350lbs jacket material with about a 1/10th of that steel. This is for half a drum.

The one person I think can get almost exactly, hasn't weighed in yet (pun intended) and that is Jim in Floyd VA.

[7br]

Seems to me that 200lbs+ of jacketing material might be worth close to $500.

Doh, Just noticed someone else made the same comment. Darn the speed reading.

[tomme boy]

I know the answer! You are going to have a bunch of lead, a whole lot of scrap copper @ $2/lb. And a very happy caster for a while.

Oh! and a sore back!

How did I do?

[41 mag fan]

I'm going low. 1000lbs lead 350lbs jacket material with about a 1/10th of that steel. This is for half a drum.

The one person I think can get almost exactly, hasn't weighed in yet (pun intended) and that is Jim in Floyd VA.

Yes Jim could probably get real close. I was/am hoping he'd chime in.


I know the answer! You are going to have a bunch of lead, a whole lot of scrap copper @ $2/lb. And a very happy caster for a while.

Oh! and a sore back!

How did I do?

I went and bought a cement mixer and used it to wash everything, I was pooped. My knees hurt, esp my left since my surgery stills not healed fully, back hurt, but man it felt good to do some work thats similar to my work underground if i'm not inspecting/walking.

[rockrat]

I will put in a guess of 1400lbs lead/150lbs jacket scrap

[runfiverun]

tip it and roll it on it's edge.
you'll probably get maybe 800 lbs of lead.
and 300 lbs of jaxkets.
and 100 lbs of junk.
if you leave that drum outside, tip it up on a 4x4 and punch some holes on the bottom edge.

[41 mag fan]

No, drums in the garage with everything else plus the neighbors kitchen sink.
Just went out and got another 3 buckets full, but this time from the 50 yrd range...da*n people shooting on the 25....gonna be hard put to find anything though on the 50. Looks like someones got the idea i've got and has been mining it some, since the 50 is where everyone pretty much sights there shotguns in for deer season here

[41 mag fan]

Well I'm up to 3/4 of a 55 gal drum full now. Anyone want to take a guess at what i'll get out of this now? The amount of lead and jackets? All but 3 5 gal buckets have came off the 25 yrd lane. I haven't even made a dent in it either

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n569/91msd92/Photo01291716_zpsdce8c09e.jpg

Lots and lots and lots of lead...gonna be a pain trying to get the wood out, I got the majority out. I might just let it burn or skim it off when its time to smelt.
http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n569/91msd92/Photo01291715_1_zps32ebfc30.jpg

[tomme boy]

Leave the wood in it. It will catch fire and you can use it for flux. Make sure to start from a cold pot. You won't like what happens if you try to add more in.

[runfiverun]

yep and make sure you keep the lid on till it's melted.
or you take the chance of a burn on top of your head.

[41 mag fan]

yep and make sure you keep the lid on till it's melted.
or you take the chance of a burn on top of your head.

Sounds like you got a personal experience there run?

[gunoil]

1267 lbs ingots, 567 lbs plated

[Bill*]

3333 lbs lead, 555 lbs jacket mat'l

[41 mag fan]

Dang i like that amount of lead Bill!

[Idaho Mule]

1650 lead, 550 jackets and ?? stuff. JW

[Sasquatch-1]

I hope there are NO VOIDS under the floor from where things settled. I coud see that thing going through a weak spot.

Are we talking a full drum when you are done? If we are I will say 1300 in ingots and 550 in jackets.

[Sasquatch-1]

Just noticed looking at the last few replies, if nothing else everyone seem to think you are going to have between 550 and 575 lbs of jackets.

[xs11jack]

Here in the St. Louis area, ruff copper is going for $2.85 to $3.00 a pound. While the copper you have in that barrel will not get you that new pickup trk you always wanted, it will buy you a really big pile of powder and primers.
Jack

[tomme boy]

I take an old cement mixer and I tumble the jackets in old walnut media. I let it run for about 4-5 hours depending on how much I have. My scrap yard pays me #1 copper for them. Right now it is at $3/lb.

[41 mag fan]

Here in the St. Louis area, ruff copper is going for $2.85 to $3.00 a pound. While the copper you have in that barrel will not get you that new pickup trk you always wanted, it will buy you a really big pile of powder and primers.
Jack


Man and to think i was gonna spend it on an expensive hooker and cheap wine! [smilie=1:

Actually the scrap money will probably go to buying me another gun......

[41 mag fan]

I take an old cement mixer and I tumble the jackets in old walnut media. I let it run for about 4-5 hours depending on how much I have. My scrap yard pays me #1 copper for them. Right now it is at $3/lb.

I'll remember that, since I can use my mixer when I'm done cleaning the dirt of the lead.

[41 mag fan]

Well I finally got my range scrap all smelted down!!!
Took me a week, 5-6hrs a day of smelting but it's DONE...Thank the good Lord.
But my total of smelted lead came out to be 1,280lbs!!
I've already used 120lbs casting while I was smelting.

But it looks like my first pic was deleted so here's a remake.....
3/4 full 55gal drum of scrap range bullets
http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n569/91msd92/Photo01291716_zpsdce8c09e.jpg (http://s1140.photobucket.com/user/91msd92/media/Photo01291716_zpsdce8c09e.jpg.html)

Here is 469lbs sitting on my bench beside my pot and vent
http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n569/91msd92/Photo05281354_zpseed307cb.jpg (http://s1140.photobucket.com/user/91msd92/media/Photo05281354_zpseed307cb.jpg.html)

A little bit better picture of it
http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n569/91msd92/Photo05281357_zps10b55be8.jpg (http://s1140.photobucket.com/user/91msd92/media/Photo05281357_zps10b55be8.jpg.html)

And whats sitting under my bench below my pot 691lbs of lead!
http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n569/91msd92/Photo05281355_zps130e4361.jpg (http://s1140.photobucket.com/user/91msd92/media/Photo05281355_zps130e4361.jpg.html)

[km101]

1/2 drum = 1,150 lbs of lead, 135 lbs of jackets. My guess! And you ain't gonna' fill that barrel full with the holes in it!

Oops! didn't see your post about the final tally. But I didn't use it anyway.
It's amazing what you can do with a lot of sweat and a little ingenuity! Congratulations!

[41 mag fan]

1/2 drum = 1,150 lbs of lead, 135 lbs of jackets. My guess! And you ain't gonna' fill that barrel full with the holes in it!

Oops! didn't see your post about the final tally. But I didn't use it anyway.
It's amazing what you can do with a lot of sweat and a little ingenuity! Congratulations!

Thanks Km! I bet on the copper jackets I have 300+ lbs of them. I know I dumped 6 5 gal buckets into a garden tub each morning before starting up, and last Friday, my last day of smelting I had a full 5 gal bucket also, but to me each bucket felt like it weighed close to 50 lbs, so just as a guess I'm looking at the 300lbs.

[km101]

300 lbs of jackets? Man that at least a new thumbcocker! There must have been way more jackets in there than I thought! Enjoy!