Thought I would brag and gloat

[Curly James]

I recently scored over two(2) tons of used range lead. Here are the first products of that find. Makes for a slightly harder bullet than ACWW. The stuff in the bucket is the before picture. My wife thought I was nuts for getting that excited over this, but I know ya'll understand...........

[mroliver77]

I recently scored over two(2) tons of used range lead. Here are the first products of that find. Makes for a slightly harder bullet than ACWW. The stuff in the bucket is the before picture. My wife thought I was nuts for getting that excited over this, but I know ya'll understand...........

Wow!
I know how it feels. I brought home a few loads of this stuff myself. Good job. What did you use for a mold on the long half round ingots?
J

[Lead melter]

Curly James, did I ever mention how much I hate you?:kidding:
When your wife sees how much of this stuff is piling up somewhere that she feels would be better occupied by a flower garden, let me know and I will help you haul it off.

[Blackhawk Convertable]

Just tell her that some people are paying over $1 per pound for lead and let her do the math....

[VTDW]

Jeeze Batman. Way to go there you luck dawg.:drinks:

Dave

[xr650]

eggsellent find.

[opentop]

you are one lucky DAWG!

[DLCTEX]

Allright!

[Curly James]

The long half rounds are from an old cast iron cornbread stick pan I bought at a yard sale for a dollar. They work perfectly with a bottom pour pot. Now, as they say, for the rest of the story.

I was so excited about my treasures that i forgot my own precautions. My normal method of melting range lead (learned the hard way after a live .22 round was dumped in the pot) is to fill the pot as full as possible, turn on the heat and leave. This time I was so in love with that clean mix of jackets and lead core that I was "building" a pot full of lead a scoop at a time. I dumped a scoop full of scrap into a pot 1/4 full of molten lead and actually watched as a live 9MM round sifted out of the scoop and into the lead. I had time to turn and start away when it blew. I do take safety precautions and had on a sturdy fleece jacket, a hat, gloves and good boots. Thank the Lord for well made Carhartt canvas work pants. The back of the fleece was spattered with dozens of small drops of lead as was the hat and the pants. I was outside so there was no tinsel on the ceiling. The weird part was, it blew lead so high that it pelted back down in small pellets already hardened. Hell of a way to make shot. The worst part is..that was a brand new pair of underwear and I ain't never gonna get them clean now.

[Dale53]

Congratulations on your find and I am quite happy that you came out of this ok. There is not ONE of us that, if we have done this long enough, that something like this doesn't happen on occasion. THAT is the reason for protective clothing (remember the fellows with flip-flops on here a couple of days ago:confused:?)

I take a piece of plywood, lay it next to my smelter and spread the stuff out to look before I shovel it into my pot. Yep, I have seen first hand what can happen when all precautions are NOT taken.

Keep safe fellows and gals!

Dale53

[softpoint]

Tinsel on the ceiling. I had some of that in my loading room once. Most guys here probably know how that is aquired. Accurate description you gave of what it looks like........How did you know?
We ought to have a thread on eruption experiences!

[Curly James]

Thanks guys,

Dale, I will spread all range lead out or go back to my old method. Range lead makes very good boolits but there will always be the risk of something in the mix that shouldn't be there. This is twice I have had a live round go off in the pot, I guess my Mom was right when she said Once ain't enough, I gotta get hit twice in the head before I'll listen. CJ.

[imashooter2]

I always turn my buckets out into a wheel barrow and then load my pot with a long handled garden shovel. Gives me one last chance to look for duds and if I should miss one, I'm not standing over top of the pot.