Rubber in the mix

[jforwel]

I have just acquired about 40 lbs of range scrap from a range that uses shredded rubber for the backstop (indoor). I sifted it through hareware cloth but it still has a lot of rubber dust and particles in it. Have any of you ever melted something like this? I am wondering about the potential mess, smoke and whatever else might come out of this. If it works okay there is tons more scrap to be had. Any advice would be appreciated.

[felix]

Finely divided rubber generally floats enough to capture the majority of it. Wash the lead by whatever means feasible. Garden hose with simi-strong nozzle; public car washing port; etc. ... felix

[lunicy]

Rubber will float on brine. Get a drum, fill with water, dissolve as much rock salt as you can. Boolits will be at bottom. Impurities will be up top

[Marlin Hunter]

As felix said, rubber floats. Fill a 5 gallon bucket with soap water and slowly pour your range scrap into the bucket. Every few often skim the rubber off the top. when you have cleaned off all the rubber, tip the bucket to remove most of the soap water and refill with clean water. you will need to be carfull about putting wet lead into molten lead. bringing wet lead up to temp in the pot is OK. The water will steam off before the lead melts, but there still may be some pooping, so don't stick your face over the pot.

AND ALWAYS WEAR SAFETY GLASSES

[Jim]

Marlin hunter,
With all due respect, Soap decreases surface tension and bouyancy factor. Better to use plain water if not salt water.

[357maximum]

I have doen this twice.....once I just burned it off with the melt......if you can have a tire fire that is the way to do it.

The other time I used a salt brine as water alone would not float the rubber off from the material I had given to me. Soap would do the opposite of your agenda.

I much prefer the burn it off outside scenario....it stinks but it works with no extra foolins around.

[felix]

If the majority of that lead is from competition games, it can be assumed that the lead is fairly soft and not more than WW in composition. Load it in a heavy duty pickup and drive it to Tulsa for refining. We need manipulative horsepower to make the MOAS more useful and you are selected. ... felix

[beagle]

You might use a strong fan and blow the rubber particles out out as you pour in front of the flow. If it's .22 scrap, you might lose some but if it's bigger, you'll be all right.

I once picked up some scrap from a range that used heavy rubber for a target backer. It was mostly .38 wadcutter but the fumes from some of the particles I missed were really obnoxious. Kinda like missing a valve stem when you render down WWs./beagle

[Shiloh]

Rubber will float on brine. Get a drum, fill with water, dissolve as much rock salt as you can. Boolits will be at bottom. Impurities will be up top

Great Idea!!

Water conditioner salt. It'll smell really rank if there is a lot of rubber in the dross.

Shiloh

[Cadillo]

You might use a strong fan and blow the rubber particles out out as you pour in front of the flow. If it's .22 scrap, you might lose some but if it's bigger, you'll be all right.

I once picked up some scrap from a range that used heavy rubber for a target backer. It was mostly .38 wadcutter but the fumes from some of the particles I missed were really obnoxious. Kinda like missing a valve stem when you render down WWs./beagle

I used to shoot at an indoor range. One day as I was leaving, the crew that mines the lead showed up and I stayed to see how they did it. They used a large hoe and rake to pull down a portion of the rubber backstop. They then spread it out over the concrete floor and then used a lawn blower to blow the chunks of rubber back up onto the backstop. This left the bullets on the concrete free of most if not all the rubber.

[BrianB]

you will need to be carfull about putting wet lead into molten lead. bringing wet lead up to temp in the pot is OK. The water will steam off before the lead melts, but there still may be some pooping, so don't stick your face over the pot.

AND ALWAYS WEAR SAFETY GLASSES

I'll guarantee if that happens there will be some "pooping"!

[Down South]

Me, I'd just dump it all in the smelting pot (outside of course) and melt it down. The rubber that hasn't burned off will be floating on top and can be skimmed off with the rest of the junk.

[Ricochet]

Smelt it outside and stand upwind.

[AZ-Stew]

Be sure to get all the rubber out or your boolits will be VERY prone to ricochet!










:kidding:

Regards,

Stew

[ghh3rd]

I used to be careful to keep any of the valve stems and rubber gaskets, etc that were in my wheelweight pail from getting into the melt. Then one day I decided to see what would happen if I dropped some in. Nothing -- they just floated around and didn't melt!

I don't know for sure if that's what would happen with shredded tire chunks, but I have a feeling it would be the same. Just get the majority of the rubber out, and melt a batch and see.

Randy

[XWrench3]

i guess none of you guys are hot rodders. smoking rubber is one of the best smells on earth, along with burning nitro-methane (just dont get it in your eyes!), and raw gasoilne! my hot rod used to smell like roasting rubber from spring till fall. of course, part of that was due to all of the freshly "smelted" rubber all over the wheel wells.

[jforwel]

Thanks for all of the ideas. Washing will have to wait awhile, tomorrow's high is supposed to be 20 degrees. But when I collect more I'll save it for spring cleaning.

[Ricochet]

Just call the rubber "flux."