First time casting from mined range scrap

[wurgerburger]

...and last time. I just wanted to know how it goes. Tons of work, it does work, I got about 20kg of stuff out of the ground. Of that weight, probably almost half was ****.

A pot of .22lr range scrap melts in 10-20 minutes, this took 40 minutes and required tons of mixing in between.
Total Metal Jacket bullets were a pain, they had to be individually damaged to break the jacket.

This was my second time making ingots, and it took more time and in the end of the session I got worse ingots - all gray and frosty - alloy in the pot was probably way too hot.

I now know the process but do not intend to mine range scrap again, as long as I can get lead elsewhere.

Same alloy. Left one : cast "cool."
Right one: cast hot.
146893

[Super Sneaky Steve]

Mining is fun for me. Lots of work yes, but you get to feel like a real miner! Can't beat free lead either. I'm always happiest when finding a big 12ga slug in the dirt.

Ingots look good.

[wurgerburger]

Thank you - yes it was fun once, I was like a kid in a sandbox.

I'm casting 9mm bullets as I write this, and they are much smoother than my first batch. I'd say the learning curve is inverse logarithmic.

I spent two years lurking before attempting casting. I'm getting my sizing dies and the rest of my molds within 3 weeks.

Initially, I intend to only cast calibers that can take .22lr range scrap as-is, ie, low velocity.

Powder coating, I already powder coated 2000 9mm bullets without problems.

I hope .357 magnum can be powder coated (maybe coat twice?) and does not lead.

[wurgerburger]

I mined my private "range" so there were very few 12gauge slugs, but yes, they felt like treasure.

[jcren]

Powder should protect just fine, I load 38 special with clrange scrap plus tin and push them past the point of prudence with no leading.

[bangerjim]

Thank you - yes it was fun once, I was like a kid in a sandbox.

I'm casting 9mm bullets as I write this, and they are much smoother than my first batch. I'd say the learning curve is inverse logarithmic.

I spent two years lurking before attempting casting. I'm getting my sizing dies and the rest of my molds within 3 weeks.

Initially, I intend to only cast calibers that can take .22lr range scrap as-is, ie, low velocity.

Powder coating, I already powder coated 2000 9mm bullets without problems.

I hope .357 magnum can be powder coated (maybe coat twice?) and does not lead.

I shoot 357mag PC'd (+Cu GC) all the time with one coat either ESPC or BBDT. Don't waste your time double coating. If your boolit fits your barrel, you will not have leading. If not.....well good luck! Today, FIT IS KING. PC'ing will not solve any poor fit problems.

Re-melting range scrap is a PITA as far as I am concerned. Been there....done that. I would rather pay a buck a pound at the local scrap yards and get good clean KNOWN alloys than toil digging in the ground! Minimum fluxing and nice clean ingots. Free is not always free. And Manual Labor is NOT the president of Mexico!

banger

[wurgerburger]

The first time I had elaborately pieced candles for flux. This time I brushed the workplace floor for sawdust and just used a pinch of it.

First time, I cleared the surface of the alloy after every flux - this time, I just mixed thoroughly and let the dross sit with the burnt sawdust and dirt on the top. When the time came to add more lead, THEN I removed most of the dirt.

[wurgerburger]

Bangerjim thanks for the comment. I came to the same conclusion concerning range scrap after one try - but think it this way; Learning a skill that approximately 100% of the population of the earth does not have is never bad.

If .357 can be PCd then I'm in awe. My friends think soft lead cannot survive even 9mm or .45acp without skimming through the rifling...
I intend not to add antimony, lead, or linoleum to the mix. Just range scrap.

[bangerjim]

You may find you DO need some Sn (max 2%) for mold fill-out. And a touch of Sb depending on the scrap you have for hardness. You can mix with COWW's to gain some Sb. All the 22LR's I have melted were pretty soft. Too soft to shoot in a 9 or 38/357. But that, as said, can vary a lot! You can test hardness (SWAG) by using artist pencils as detailed very well in a thread on here. Do a search. I use a CabineTree hardness tester.


I cast and shoot 9-12 Bhn for subsonic and 14-15 for sonic and the PC everything. Cu GC's on hot rifle and sonic loads.


And that is why I buy and use only known alloys.

Good luck on your quest!

banger

[wurgerburger]

I may have access to some 300kg rolls of lead plate soon. Now, pure lead is different from range scrap, I may have to find a source for free tin.

But I still intend to go for soft lead only, no antimony. It took me - from the decision to the time I cast my first ingot - two years. Maybe in 2017 I reconsider making hard lead.

Now that I have ventilation in my work area, and all the stuff gathered during the 2 years, any further advancements in the hobby will be easier.

[whisler]

I cleaned out a college rifle team range once where they only used Eley match bullets. Eley have 1.2-1.5% Sb in their bullets. I added 1.5 % Sn and water dropped from the Lee 358- 125 RF mold. Loaded over 14 gr. of 2400 and shot in my Rossi 16 in. barrelled 357 rifle. Hornady manual says that should be 1700 fps from a 22 in. barrel so those should have been at least 1500 fps from a 16 in. tube. Perfectly shiny bore after several passes with a boresnake. Certain types of range scrap really rock.

[Forrest r]

I've used/cast/shot nothing but range scrap for decades in anything from 38spl's to full house 44mag's. Never had to add anything to the mix either to get a good bullet fill-out. I process/use around 300# a year and end up with allot of "****" as you would call it, I call it "$$$$".
Typical buckets of copper jackets left over from smelting lead.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t242/forrestr-photo/bucketbullets.jpg (http://s162.photobucket.com/user/forrestr-photo/media/bucketbullets.jpg.html)

Local scrap yards pay $$$$ for them/#2 copper every year.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t242/forrestr-photo/bulletreceipt.jpg (http://s162.photobucket.com/user/forrestr-photo/media/bulletreceipt.jpg.html)

When I smelt the range scrap down I use a propane turkey cooker base and a propane tank cut in 1/2. If you cut just below the weld and not very deep the assembly ring is left intact and makes an excellent seal when the lids on. The tank will easily process/melt #100+ of lead at 1 time.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t242/forrestr-photo/propaneleadpot.jpg (http://s162.photobucket.com/user/forrestr-photo/media/propaneleadpot.jpg.html)

After the range scrap melts I use a big kitchen ss spoon with holes in it and a small strainer basket to remove all the junk floating on top of the melted lead. With these basic tools I can process #100+ of range scrap in an hour.

I'd try plain range scrap/pc'd bullets, they seem to be working for me and the limited testing I've done with them (only 1+ years & 5,000+ pc'd bullets in 7 different calibers). The "fit is king" motto for traditional cast lead bullets seems to be left by the wayside when it comes to pc'd range scrap. Allot of casters/reloaders tend to oversize their 9mm cast boolits so they work in the oversized/shallow grooved bbl's. I have 3 different 9mm's and the taurus has the worst bbl. But for some odd reason the scrap range lead/pc'd bullets sized to .356 works in the taurus (slugged out @ .357) along with my other 2 custom/target 9mm bbl's. Playing around with mihec 125gr hp's in the taurus/pc'd boolits with one of my favorite 9mm loads, 5.5gr of longshot.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t242/forrestr-photo/9mmtaurus_zpsnlqcm8kg.jpg (http://s162.photobucket.com/user/forrestr-photo/media/9mmtaurus_zpsnlqcm8kg.jpg.html)

No leading, no keyholing boolits, nothing but clean holes and excellent expansion/weight retention.

I had 4 different 44spl/mags and they slugged out @ .430 to .432. Used to use 3 different sizers on them, now I pc the boolits and size them all to .430.

Typical groups playing around with the 44's @ 25yds, 1" to 1 1/12" with nothing more than a rest and a scope.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t242/forrestr-photo/629accuracytargets_zpsd0fd3149.jpg (http://s162.photobucket.com/user/forrestr-photo/media/629accuracytargets_zpsd0fd3149.jpg.html)

I started doing the same thing with boolits for the 38spl's/357's (11 different bbl's). Now I just cast range scrap boolits and pc/size them to .3575". With way too many irons in the fire and limited testing time I managed to get test loads/groups like this from a new 686 pistol with 38spl's/range scrap/pc'd boolits. Figured I'd start @ 50ft and re-test the better loads @ 25yds/50yds.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t242/forrestr-photo/keepers_zpsrmfa629l.jpg (http://s162.photobucket.com/user/forrestr-photo/media/keepers_zpsrmfa629l.jpg.html)

Started playing around with 357's in the 686 using 20+ year old aa452 powder and old beat up brass. Way too many fliers so I ordered/bought 2000 new pieces of 357 brass.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t242/forrestr-photo/neednewbrass_zpsrwuvxmxu.jpg (http://s162.photobucket.com/user/forrestr-photo/media/neednewbrass_zpsrwuvxmxu.jpg.html)

Those groups look like my brass felt when I was seating/crimping the pc's boolits. Some had resistance and some just fell in and others felt like they weren't crimping.

Anyway, enjoy your lead and the pc'd boolits you end up with. You're in for a real eye opener/treat.

[Jal5]

It is a little more work but its free and i have had no problems with any of the calibers i reload including 38/357, 32acp, 9mm, 9mak, 45acp, 223 rem