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Mach_Cat
05-07-2014, 12:36 AM
At my local indoor range today and was given a 50 pound bag of reclaimed lead. this range is only used for 22 or pellet rifles. no center fire allowed. so no jacketed bullets.

so when recasting the rimfire lead for light cowboy loads do i need to add anything or can I use the lead as is?
shooting 38spl and 45lc. the 45lc is both pistol and rifle.

this lead is nice little nickle size pieces that are just a little thicker than paper. should remelt fast I would think.

Thanks Ed

dromia
05-07-2014, 01:14 AM
The range lead I get is similar, I find it a bit on the hard side, I mainly shoot rifle out to 600 yards, with occasional 1000 yard forays.

So for the majority of my shooting I soften it up a bit with roof flashing and pipe.

Best idea would be to do a simple hardness test just to give you some clue as to where yours is at.

dikman
05-07-2014, 07:29 AM
I seem to recall reading that .22 rimfire lead is pretty well just that - pure lead, not alloyed. Dromia's post suggests I may be wrong, so perhaps others can confirm whether it's soft or not.

gtgeorge
05-07-2014, 07:38 AM
The 40# block I was given from a 22 range was very soft whereas my normal range lead is somewhat harder since it can have anything someone mixes up in it. I also seperate out my 22 lead from my backyard range and it is soft as well.

BIGRED
05-07-2014, 07:41 AM
My experience with my own reclaimed 22 and jacketed ammo is that it is on the softer side. I use it for hunting boolits because it is about 10 bhn and I powder coat. Up to 1800 fps it mushrooms very well and stays together. I use it straight with 2% tin for pistol bullets and powder coat rifle bullets.

dromia
05-07-2014, 07:59 AM
I am always surprised at the hardness of the range scrap I get from what is predominantly 22 and air gun. There will be the odd downloaded rifle round in it but those are usually made from the same range scrap however when smelted I am getting something around 12-14 BHN.

curator
05-07-2014, 08:42 AM
According to my LBT hardness tester local range scrap .22 rim fire lead is about BHN 6 the day after casting but hardens to 8-10, two weeks later. Since it is swaged to begin with it can't be too hard. Some authors claim it contains 1-2% antimony probably varying by manufacturer. Dromia on the other side of the pond may be recycling all that good-hard Eley stuff, not our Remchester cheap ammo. That would account for his observation.

dromia
05-07-2014, 08:57 AM
Most of us shoot Eley Tenex, Eley Match, or RWS R50 along with Lapua/SK Magazine for the plinkers and a sprinkling of CCI standard for the semi auto shooters.

Can't shift our stock of cheap Remington for love nor money. Won't be getting that in again.

Larry Gibson
05-07-2014, 09:17 AM
If it's mostly match .22LR and pellet it may have just a trace of antimony in it. If they shoot the high speed .22LR or the domed or "field Target" style pellets it will have 1 - 2% antimony. I would initially just add 1 - 2% tin and see how hard it is after 7 - 10 days. None the less it will be good for mixing or for "as is" (might cast a bit better with the tin added) for the OP's intended handgun use.

Larry Gibson

upnorthwis
05-07-2014, 09:47 AM
As a friend of mine used to say, "You can't make a bad Cowboy bullet" Targets as big as a microwave, and close enough to spit at. Any time I have lead of questionable origin, it goes into Cowboy loads.

Doc Highwall
05-07-2014, 11:12 AM
I had some 22lr indoor range lead analyzed by the x-ray method after I had just melted it down into 20 lb. ingots. The bottom of the bullet trap was sand mixed with the lead and for the first melting I was more concerned with getting it into a more useful shape and that it would be further refined after a 2nd melt as I had almost a ton to process.

This is what the x-ray analysis showed.
Si 2.61
Sb .788
Pd .003
Pb 93.53
Cu .160

I have mixed this with 2-3% tin for shooting slightly higher percentage of tin then Larry has suggested.

BIGRED
05-09-2014, 11:53 AM
I had some 22lr indoor range lead analyzed by the x-ray method after I had just melted it down into 20 lb. ingots. The bottom of the bullet trap was sand mixed with the lead and for the first melting I was more concerned with getting it into a more useful shape and that it would be further refined after a 2nd melt as I had almost a ton to process.

This is what the x-ray analysis showed.
Si 2.61
Sb .788
Pd .003
Pb 93.53
Cu .160

I have mixed this with 2-3% tin for shooting slightly higher percentage of tin then Larry has suggested.

Which gives you about 10BHN...... same thing i am seeing for my range scrap/.22 mix.