Range Lead.. What would you do with it..?

[pdgraham]

I just got nearly 50 lbs of range lead for $14.64 delivered... to my door.. :-D

Should I render it up, ingot it up and keep it seperate from my Wheel Weight Ingots?

Should I render it up, mix it 50-50 with wheel weights, ingot it up and keep it seperate from my Wheel Weight Ingots?

Does it matter if I keep it separate?

I'll be casting 45acp, 38/357, 40 cal and 9mm..

I'm thinking.. for 38 and 45acp it doesn't matter how hard the lead is... for 9mm and 357 I might want something a little harder..??..

What would you do?

Does it matter?

[felix]

smelt it down and keep it seperate. Mix and match based upon application. It is more fun this way because you tend to learn more about what goes with what and for what reasons. ... felix

[pdgraham]

Thanks.. :-D I'm "Smelting Away".. and keeping it seperate..

[versifier]

I'd render it up into ingots, cast some, see how a couple of different sized molds fill, and figure out how hard it is before I started mixing it with anything.

[Kragman71]

I would smmelt it and pour it into ingots.Then I would check it for hardness.By all means,keep it seperate from any other supply,because it may be contaminated.I was given a couple of buckets of range reclaimed lead that was contaminated.Fortunitly,I tried casting with it before trying to add it to anything.I suggest that you do the same.
Frank

[pdgraham]

I would smmelt it and pour it into ingots.Then I would check it for hardness.By all means,keep it seperate from any other supply,because it may be contaminated.I was given a couple of buckets of range reclaimed lead that was contaminated.Fortunitly,I tried casting with it before trying to add it to anything.I suggest that you do the same.
Frank

What was it contaminated with? :confused:

[sundog]

PD, Felix has got it. If you ever get to a point where you have alot of it (I get hundreds of pounds at a time just for going and getting) cull the jacketed stuff for soft lead - for muzzle loaders. If it's out of a mostly pissola range then most of the cast stuff will prolly be commericial - a little harder, maybe - you know, that 'hard cast' stuff everyone talks about all the time and most of them don't even know what a BHn is (can you tell this is a pet peeve?), but they, by golly, got 'hard cast' boolits. Small batches like you're talking about, dump the whole pot in the smelter and make one run of it, separate from WWs.

If you've not done range scrap before I can think of a cupple safety warnings. First is errant material, especially live rounds that might cook off. Next is cutting your fingers on torn copper jackets. And last is moisture hiding between jackets and cores. Wanna know how I know about all this stuff? Well, never mind, I do. Here's another one - pressure inside a jacket squirting liquid ally out of the pot. Huh? Yea, seen that more than once but luckily never been hit on bare skin.

Nowadays everything that goes into the cooker gets dumped out on a sheet of plywood, gets a good visual, trash removed, then goes to the pot. Seems like the older I get, the more fun I have doing it, time is not a big issue, because, after all it's supposed to be a hobby (well obsession for some of us), and because of all that, the mishaps have dimished.

Range scrap is GOOD STUFF! sundog

[mroliver77]

Definately keep it seperate! I have a small pile of indoor range lead. I use it for .38, 45 and .45-70. It does heat treat!! I do not have a hardness teter but water dropped and non water dropped are diferent in hardness if squished together. I see little evidence of anything but jacketed bullets in the pile but it is harder than lead and does respond to heat treat. It is softer than WW. With some tin and heat treat it makes good .45 Colt Ruger class bullets. Jay

[TCLouis]

What could be descibed as range lead can vary over so much of the specturm that it woul hard to suggest the thing to do without somewhat of a descriprion.

Keeping it separate and IF it is melted in one melt will give a unique alloy for use by itself or to alloy with other "lead" to harden or soften it as needed.

ToO hard is more of an issue with what I shoot than too soft.

Of course lead to me means 1,000-2,000 fps.

[pdgraham]

Thanks for all the input guys.. this forum is a gold mine of information.. :-D

I started smelting it.. It seems to yield more lead than the same weight of wheel weights....

I'm keeping it separate in a can marked "Range Lead"..

This is a "FUN" Hobby... :lovebooli

[JDL]

A friend gave me some boolits he had cast, checked, and lubed out of range scrap. BHN runs 14-15 and they shoot good but, seem to be rather brittle indicated by a hunting incident. Another friend shot a deer a few weeks ago with one I had loaded for him and said the deer bounced on the ground it hit so hard. He found his shot got into the shoulder bone, the boolit fragmented and his discription was," looked like a grenade went off in her". He wants some more loaded but, beliving them to not be as brittle, I convinced him to use some of mine of w/w alloy instead and told him to keep them off bones. :-) -JDL

[Kragman71]

PD,
Sorry,don't know,for sure.I could not get the bullets to fill out;probably zinc.
I made a Friend by casting a bunch of deep-sea sinkers for him,and dribbled the rest in with lead for PPB's which are easier to cast (no grooves).
Frank

[buck1]

I use it when I mix up a bunch of unknown scrap lead. I find it runs a little softer than WW most of the time. But I just throw it in with all the unknown ,and add 2% tin and type alloy to taste. I make it in to big batches so its all the same. I find that with a low temp melt , I can pull the floaters out before they mess up the mix. FWIW....Buck