How do you reclaim your lead?

[tenneesse]

My neighbor came up with an idea whether his or someone else's don't know doesn't matter but it works. He uses a 5 gallon plastic pail and packs it full of rubber mulch and reattaches the lid. The target goes on the lid end and at 15 yds and .45acp 230 gr at 930 fps all his lead is contained and goes back in the pot.

He has to pull the lid about every 100 rds and fill the hole by just reshuffling the mulch and has at it again. Im in the process of doing the same thing. No more diggin it out of the berm. Whooo Hoooooo :Fire:

I shoot .45acp, .44 mag and 9mm will be interesting to see how it acts with my .454 casull.

He pops the lid dumps out the mulch on a tarp and picks out the lead after a few hundred or so rounds. He generally casts 2000 at a time (and reloads)

[Alley Cat]

I tried the bucket filled with mulch but didn't like it. Part of the trouble was that some of my lead went right on through the bucket but I partially solved that by putting a round steel plate in the bottom. In the end, I decided it was too much hassle and I moved to shooting steel plates hung on flower pot rods. I simply pick up the lead pancakes when they accumulate below the plate. The down side is that I probably only recover about 30% of lead I send downrange.

[waksupi]

As soon as the rest of a snow berm melts I'll go out and pick up a bunch of pistol boolits.

[jonas302]

I love those lead piles when the snow melts

[legend 550]

I use buckets filled with concrete sand. 9mm will only penetrate 6 to 8 inches and 45's 8 to 9 inches. fill the bucket with sand then place a cut circle of old conveyor belt under the lid. I'm also working on 2 steel snail traps.

[grampa243]

the club i shoot at has a hill for a back stop. i just go down range after shooting and no one else is there. and pickup what i can find. after the snow and before the grass grows is the best time of year ;) 62646

the picture is about 5 lbs. i picked up in about 20 minutes.

[btroj]

I just up from the berm. No bucket, no mulch. I bring home way more than I take with me.

[DrCaveman]

I've been shooting a stump for several months now. It's about 20" diameter (we have a lot of clearcut shooting spots available) and I've penetrated about 30% through.

The coolest thing is when I move my target, brush around the pile of wood debris, and find a few boolits that I haven't cast nor shot in the last 2 months. I am sure they were mine when they came out the barrel, since there is little evidence of anyone else shooting in my spot.

Last weekend, came home with about 10 lb recovered. Shot prob 100 45 rounds, 75 357 rounds, and about 50 rds rifle for chrono work. Pretty sure it was more than I shot that day, and I still was able to peep down the (growing) cavity in the stump and see a nice wall of lead that my hand couldn't pry out.

This weekend's shooting will remove a bit of that.

[1bluehorse]

I'm hi tech like DrCaveman, I take a BIG chunk of firewood (like 24in dia 3ft tall) set my target holder in front and blast away...after a few hundred rounds (or the "bullet catcher") starts getting a bit "worn", a screwdriver and a hatchet reclaims pretty much all of the lead....I realize that this may not work for everyone but I live in the back country and tree "chunks" are pretty easy to come by. Took 32 down in the last two days in my upper pasture just thinning. BUT, if someone comes up with a easy to make dependable trap I sure wouldn't be above trying something a bit different. :Fire:

[BCB]

Like a couple of guys said about shooting into stumps or wood...

I have sections of red oak (24" diameter and about 36" tall) at each distance at my range...

I shoot into them and eventually the log gets so shot up that the lead begins to drop out. I just pick it up as I do shooting there...

I think I recover probably 50%. But the rest is in the log just waiting to be used again...

Sometimes a 452490 might become a 311041 in future casting...

Neat how 700 degrees will size a 0.452" down to 0.310"...

Good-luck...BCB

[sthwestvictoria]

I would like to find some rubber mulch to try but does not seem as common here in Australia. What I am using at the moment is two car tires, with the side walls removed and the tread cut into rectangles. This pieces get packed into a cardboard box, some pieces lying down on the floor, most of it standing upright and some more pieces horizontal on top. Then a generous taping and away you go. My first one lasted a year and now onto second box, same bits of tyre. Only down side is the work of cutting up the tire and the steel radial wires trap some boolits and need pliers to remove from the rubber. Most boolits are just found in the floor of the box.

[farmerjim]

I invite people over to shoot into the berm on the range in my back yard.
I will mine it when I think it is full.

[winelover]

I invite people over to shoot into the berm on the range in my back yard.
I will mine it when I think it is full.

That's exactly my plan.

62659

Winelover

[TheGrimReaper]

I just up from the berm. No bucket, no mulch. I bring home way more than I take with me.

That is what I try to do. Leave with more lead and brass than I arrived with!!!!

[JeffinNZ]

That is what I try to do. Leave with more lead and brass than I arrived with!!!!

That's how I operate too. There wouldn't be many days I don't go into positive lead.

[williamwaco]

Bucket full of sand works for me.

Have also used cardboard boxes.

The cardboard box is pretty much a one time deal.


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