Range Scrap and Dirt

[jonp]

I've read some of the other threads and while seeing references to this I didn't find a thread that addressed it directly. If there is one someone can post a link to it.
How does everyone clean the dirt off of the range scrap before casting and how much is acceptable when starting to melt? Do you just go ahead and melt and get it with a spoon after the melt and before fluxing or do you flux then scrape the junk and flux a final time?

Thanks.

[ku4hx]

I have a couple of old stainless steel colanders with handles. I used a drill to enlarge some of the holes and if the dirt is really stubborn I use the garden hose and a dowel rod to break up any large clods. I'm sure there are more elegant solutions, but this works for me.

[btroj]

I get the stuff melted first. I then skim the jackets with a wire strainer that works great. I skim most of the dirt with my large cast iron ladle then flux with sawdust. Scraping the sides of the pot and the bottom with the ladle or even a piece of steel rod helps get the dirt to the surface.
I really don't ever want to "wash" the lead as I want it dry as possible. The jackets that are opened hold moisture quite nicely! I know many do wash it but I collect mine then it sits in buckets in my garage for a few months before I smelt it.

I have only been visited by the to self fairy twice in over a ton of range scrap. Once was a loaded round from the sound of it and the other was moisture related. I prefer to keep her away at all costs.

[375RUGER]

I don't wash either. It's no more work, actually less IMO to do it the btroj way as opposed to washing and drying before hand.

[btroj]

Heck, at the bottom of my bucket is a bunch of dirt and some bullets, it all gets dumped into the pot. Fluxing and stirring gets the dirt out.

[USAFrox]

I wash it first. Makes it so much easier when melting. I always put it into a cold pot, so any residual water evaporates as it warms up, and is gone WELL before the lead actually melts, so there is no worry about the tinsel fairy.

[Shiloh]

I rinse things off first. Gets the target backer wood, wads, and miscellaneous trash off.
Removal of dirt makes for easier work. A bigger operation would be less important.

Shiloh

[Shiloh]

I rinse things off first. Gets the target backer wood, wads, and miscellaneous trash off.
Removal of dirt makes for easier work. A bigger operation would be less important.

Shiloh

[btroj]

I don't have wood, target backer, or clay pigeons in mine. I gather by hand so I get just bullets.

[zidave]

I don't have wood, target backer, or clay pigeons in mine. I gather by hand so I get just bullets.

I do the same so I choose to not wash. Pretty easy to just scoop out in the fluxing step.

[Gtek]

I built a 2'x3' frame out of 2"x4" with 1/4" mesh on it. I usually attack the hills when it is raining (cooler and no shooters) and its a little dirty. When home I spread out on wire and hit with hose with little brass nozzle, gets a lot of it first shot. Sometimes let it sit for months on it and let the rain work on it some more until melt day. Little swirl post pot scrape and fluxing makes a junk pancake in middle and out it goes. Gtek

[mold maker]

Range scrap, from a berm, is already inherently full of moisture. Storing it for years, in a bucket, doesn't dry it.
If Hand picked, and you only have a smelting pot full, just start with a cold pot and smelt it. If however your dealing with volume, that was dug and screened, washing is the only assurance that you won't be surprised by a live round. I use a cement mixer with dawn to rid the scrap of dirt and wood. I dry it on the driveway and rake it back and forth to expose any rock and live rounds. Any live round in your pot, from 22 short to 50 cal will really ruin your day.
Besides there is no point in using gas to heat junk.

[1Shirt]

l hand pick, put in tin cans with holes punched in the bottom, and run water thru until it comes out clean.
1Shirt!

[ukrifleman]

I have a couple of old stainless steel colanders with handles. I used a drill to enlarge some of the holes and if the dirt is really stubborn I use the garden hose and a dowel rod to break up any large clods. I'm sure there are more elegant solutions, but this works for me.

If you can pick a time to mine range lead when the sand is dry so much the better.
Washing off the crud with a hose is a good starting point. Smelting and fluxing range lead lets you scrape off the majority of residue from the top of the pot prior to producing ingots.
The final cleaning process comes about when you melt and flux alloy prior to casting cast bullets.
ukrifleman.

[dragon813gt]

I don't bother washing it. Melt it, scoop out the jackets and as much dirt as possible. Then I start fluxing to clean it all up. I hand pick the lead so I'm not worried about live rounds or junk. I also only do two pots at most so it's not a volume operation.

[truckjohn]

I don't wash either...
At first - I tried shovelling and screening to collect bullets...

That was a complete train wreck... I ended up with maybe 25% bullets, 75% rocks, wood, and miscellaneous range detritus....

Since then - I hand pick bullets and store them till I am ready to do a run....

Then - I start with a cold pot and go from there.....

One caution with FMJ's.....

They do squirt when you work the pot when hot...

Thanks

[RoGrrr]

jonp
btroj and others say they never wash. On the other hand, I always wash mine. Less **** in the furnace.
Go to:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?174512-Range-diving-186lbs&highlight=186lbs
and read thru the 60-some posts for some idea of how to mine, clean and....
I always keep a piece of window screen handy and as soon as I pour it into the smelter, the screen goes over it. Pour in enough and if anything on the bottom of the dump is wet, the stuff piled over it will catch the fairy.
I've done well over a thousand Lbs this year and I wash it all. The secret is to let it dry. Depends on your situation (hot outside, sunny,,,,) how long to let it dry. Sometimes I soak overnight, wash it in the morning in my tilt trailer to let the water/dirt drain out and smelt it all that afternoon. Other times (cooler temperatures) I let it dry several days. I've only had one visit from the tinsel fairy but that was early on and I've learned some since then.
I typically mine over a hundred Lbs at a time and smelt it all right after I wash it.

[gimling]

I put it in a strainer and do a once over with the hose just to get the big stuff off. as long as u put It all in when u kick on the pot any condensation will evaporate. just don't throw washed jackets into moltent lead, nasty things happen.

[jonp]

This question arose as I may have a new range to dig at and I have never done that before.

Thanks for the replies

[USAFrox]

One caution with FMJ's.....

They do squirt when you work the pot when hot...

I hand pick up the old bullets as many other folks do. When I get ready to smelt them down, I pick out the fully cased bullets (the ones with NO lead showing) and smash them with one strike of a good-sized hammer. This cracks the case open, and then they melt really easily, with no squirting. Takes extra time, but I don't mind it.

[Westmann]

I used to wash and dry, but now I just toss them in the pot, skim, stir, skim...

The key for me to getting the dirt out is stirring. I use a slotted metal spatula, of a very particular shape:

80177

Note the slightly rounded front (which fits to the contour of the pot), and the un-slotted inch or so between the front and the slots (useful for scooping out dross). I stir like crazy, scraping the bottom and sides of the pot, introducing some air into the melt. The slots in the spoon make the stirring quite vigorous. I flux with beeswax, which seems to help.

Here's hoping we're not mining the same birm, fellow woodchuck, though there seems to be more than enough to go around!

[Oreo]

Someone above mentioned the danger of getting live rounds in the melt. My experience is exactly opposite. I have found on multiple occasions that live rounds in the melt are no danger at all for the same reason that water is no danger when starting with a cold pot. The live round will cook off way before the lead starts to melt and unless the live round is on the very top of the heap the weight of all the lead above it contains it. If it were on the top a lid on the pot would do the same. Now, I'd never toss a live round into a pot of molten lead just like I'd never toss a wet boolit in molten lead.

[btroj]

My live round was in the pot for over 15 minutes before it cooked off. Until the round went into molten lead it did go off. No lid on the pot so the stuff on top wasn't getting that kind of heat yet.

[Stephen Cohen]

I shovel into cement mixer to wash, this floats off all the wood and rubbish, then tip it onto heavy duty screen mesh rake it out to dry and look for live rounds, then smelt it down into ingots when dry. I find it useful to have two large pots one used to dry fully and other for melt. I have a fear of live rounds as I have found several mainly 40 sw.

[shadowcaster]

To all those that wash their lead.. May the tinsel fairy NEVER rear her ugly head as a result of washing lead!

Now with that said, I never wash my lead at any time. All of the dirt and junk will float to the top and gets skimmed off. Purposely adding water to lead, which is porous and will retain moisture, is not a good idea IMO. I have had small snaps and pops from lead that was not washed and was as dry as I could get it. This even happened from some lead pipe chopped into 3 inch sections (with open ends) and spent the winter drying in a milk crate a few feet from the wood stove.

No matter what your technique, a visit from the tinsel fairy can happen at anytime, and it only takes once to become a victim.

Happy and safe smelting to all! :)

Shad

[a.squibload]

Dirt with clay here, washing doesn't do much.
I hand pick to get the trash, unfired 22s & dirt clods out,
smash FMJs with hammer, melt, flux, scoop.

[fredj338]

Regardless of what I am smelting, it gets sorted then goes in the pot. I bring it to temp, flux & skim, then flux & skim the clean looking alloy again before ingots casting. This yields a clean alloy that goes into my casting pot & I rarely flux again, just stir with a wooden paint stick.

[milprileb]

Its been said but I will go at it again.

Better to smelt and skim dirt and bullet jackets off the top of melted metal than to
have any wet bullets pop and invite burns.

I used to wash range pick up lead & spent jacketed bullets but no amount of drying in hot summer sun ever
evaporated the moisture out of them and that presented risk of Tinsel Fairy.

I load my dutch oven up cold, smelt the stuff and then repeat. I never "add" to a molten pot and risk
a moisture induced explosion.

Slower is better, safer is better. Trust me on that.