Rifle Range Berm Lead

[Hot Lead]

I have collected quite a few pounds of lead bullets from the rifle range berms. My question is their anyone who has also collected berm lead for casting? Do you have any data on the castability, shootabilty, etc. ? After casting and shooting spent lead from the berms, would the results of your shooting warrant another trip to the berms?
I am in the process of collecting all the parts and pieces to begin my incredible journey of casting hot lead !!@
Obtaining lead alloys could be an interesting journey in and of itself in my search for the ultimate cast round.

[44woody]

Hot lead you can make good shooting bullet alloy out of it if you can get some lino type and tin you could make a very good bullet alloy out of it as to the % of each I am not shure of but I know it can be done :castmine: 44Woody

[JeffinNZ]

Yes indeed.

I must have about 30# of 'recovered lead' that I have picked up over the years and batched.

Depending on the usage on your range you will likely end up with a veritable pot pourri of alloys but I figure a big batch tends to even things out.

Plenty of fluxing is the topic of the day and make sure you get all the grit and dirt to the surface. Of course washing first is prudent and thorough drying prior to the melt.

I tend to be a bit discret when I pick up lead however as some shooters seem to object to it. Can't imagine why. They obviously didn't want it.

[tom barthel]

Hot Lead, I pick up all the range and other lead can. You may want to get a leed hardness tester. My blasten lead bullets run from about 17 to 28 BN. I shoot mostly gas checked bullets. The biggest headache I have with range lead is removing the jacket material from the melt. I flux the mix more than once. Don't know how much is needed. The fluxing doesn't seem to hurt anything. If the bullet seems too soft, I just drop in some monotype or linotype into the mix. I try to keep my hunting bullets in the 15 to 17 BN range.

[beagle]

Kind of depends on what kind of shooting is going on at the range and how you process the scrap.

I use lead from the general purpose range and it's probably 50/50 cast and jacketed with a lot of .22 scrap. Makes pretty good pistol alloy as is as I like soft bullets in my Ruger SAs as most are HP bullets.

I also glean for another range where a high percentage of the lead is commercial cast from bullseye shooting. By culling out the jacketed stuff, this alloy which is mostly .38 and .45 wadcutters, makes pretty good rifle alloy and is fairly hard.

So, it depends on your needs and how much time you're willing to invest in the project./beagle

[9.3X62AL]

The first couple hundred pounds of alloy I used was from range berms. It was fairly soft, being composed mostly of factory 38 wadcutter firings. It took a lot of fluxing to get it clean--three times usually--but the stuff shot well in revolvers and 45 ACP.

[dagamore]

Question


How do you get the lead out of the berm?

are you just using a dirt rake and a sifter when the range is clear (i.e. no one else there)?

or do you get it when you are doing some other type of maintinace to the berm (i.e. filling in low spots/removing hot-overshot spots)?


also how deep in to the berm is the lead normaly? (i.e. under 2 inches, more then 6 what)?

[Cherokee]

In my experience, lots of lead will be lying on the surface of the berm or on the ground at the bottom of the berm and I just pick it up. No digging or sifting. Start digging into the berm and the range owner would probably be unhappy. YMMV

[PerversPépère]

With all the environment things going on, I think the range owners would do well to take the lead (pun not intended) and salvage all the bullets they can from their berms.
And when designing new berms or relocating old ones, they would be well advised to put some kind of permeable membrane or geotextile cloth under the berms.
There are some Texel brand ones that are specially made to allow water through while retaining microscopic metal particles and avoid leaching out of lead in the waters.
I have seen some ranges in Quebec closed because of a "water table contamination risk".
It was, for the most part, unfounded but the clubs had not enough money to fight back and they closed their doors.:(
PP.

[JohnH]

Ah yes, range scrap, the ideal lead, it's already been trained ;)

[ron brooks]

I find that looking over the berms after a good rain also improves the pickings. I have a good amoujnt I am going to melt from the local shooting pit when I get a chance to melth them down. Probally at the end of the month since I have a few days off. Gawd, I hope the weather doesn't get miserable for it. I really, really need to get after smelting and casting.

Ron

[jhalcott]

yes ,range scrap does make fine bullets. My range doesn't allow "mining" for the scrap, but I can pick up a 3 pound coffee can in a couple minutes after a good rain. I must have shot a ton of it when I was into Silly wets. I would take a few neices and nephews to the range and buy them soda for each can full they picked up. We had a muzzle loader shoot one weekend and I and the kids were there tuesday morning as it rained all day Monday.

[mag_01]

:coffee: ---Hot Lead I like to use range scrap--easy pickings right after rain--only thing is its dirty to say the least---I let it sit in a jar filled with water a few days---helps to get some of the dirt off then mix it 50-50 with wheel weights depending on what I want for boolit hardness I will add tin or Babbitt or Linotype if I need a hard boolit---In most cases the 50-50 mix is good enough for most shooting, like 38s 45s 45 long colt and mild rifle loads. I have plenty of lead and most cases---- but I'm a junkie------- cant resist a case or piece of lead--sometimes I ask myself why are you wasting time picking this stuff up--I could be shooting----well I guess its in the blood---:castmine:

[georgeld]

Strange your berm lead being soft.

Til I got into the indoor range, used to "pick pellets" from the 100yd rifle berm. half hour and could get enough in a 5 gal bucket it was too heavy to carry back to the trk. Picked up a couple buckets 4" deep about everytime I went. These berms are shot so much there huge pockets blown into the five feet deep. They haven't been refaced in over ten yrs. Pellets are laying all over the place, even on the backside of the berms where they've jumped. Lot's of guys shoot pistols there too and you can watch them hit the ground, then the berm. sometimes more than two hits.

I'll bet a person or crew could pick up off the surface an easy thousand pounds in half a day. and this is hard enough to just cast as it come's. I never washed it, just melted and stirred it up good, then draw off the melt. Flux it when the ingots are melted just before casting. Perfect for pistols. Can't mark it with a thumb nail. Can you RON??

Hey, Ron, do you have access to a hardness tester? I'd sure like to know what it tests. Sure won't lead a barrel any with alox.

At least half what's shot on this range is jacketed factory bullets, but, there's a lot of muzzle loaders fired there too. Good mix of everything.

Far as getting jackets out of the lead melt. First thing you need to learn about that is, don't get it in there in the first place. Go to a scrap yard, or gravel company and get a piece of "sand screen". Lay that over your kettle. Put the scrap on top the screen and melt it from there with another torch. I use a weed burner. What melts runs thru the screen, the jackets, rocks and hard trash you just brush it, or dump it off. Keep it clean and you can sell it for brass at the scrap yard and more than pay for your fire's gas. Not long ago it was selling for $2.80 a pound here, same as copper. Wish I had a couple ton of it now, sure could use the extra money.

[shootrj2003]

Most of my original leads came from berms ,I separated the muzzleloading balls and the shotgun slugs and what .22 rimfire I picked up into one container and everything else in another as the former seemed to be almost pure soft,lead. I used it for my muzzleloaders and just saved the jacketed stuff and cast pistol and rifle in a can until I started casting for other uses.My first lead pot was a cast iron sauce pan over a heat source[outside] but it was a bit of a dicey situation and when I found a old lymans lead pot at a yard sale I enered the electric age!
When I melt the jacketed stuff I just melt it and scoop the trash off the top until clean.I use beeswax as flux and lube mixing it with crisco or lard for my muzzleloader stuff,I mix it with more beeswax for other cast bullets.

[dagamore]

thanks for the massive and quick replys. adding more info to my store of stuff so when i move back, it should be easier to get back in to the casting world :D