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Thread: Tips on Salvaging Range Lead

  1. #81
    Boolit Buddy briang's Avatar
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    I would just think of it as "self fluxing scrap" and let it burn off in the smelt.

  2. #82
    Boolit Master Russel Nash's Avatar
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    ^^^Yeah, I thought of that too. There is a bunch of ash to sift through. And I was thinking about trying to keep all the jackets that float to the top, but it is kinda of a pain to seperate the copper or brass jackets from the ash. I was thinking about taking them to the scrap yard.

  3. #83
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    I salvage some range scrap at a local shooting center when I'm the only one around just by picking it up off the surface, fill the lee 20# pot with a small cast-iron lid on top for the TMJs and cook it down. Skim of the jackets for recycle (good way to dispose of lead dross too) and pour 1/2 lb. muffins. I know this is small-time by some standards, but when I bring home more than I shoot it kinda pays off. Only problem I've had with range scrap is it averages 6.0 to 8.5 bhn with my Lee tester, first time I did this a few months ago I was surprised (happens a lot to a noob) to find how soft the cores on jacketed bullets are. I just buy antimony and tin and mix as needed.

    Mr. Nash-- GREAT IDEA! Thanks for letting us see the action. I shot in a couple of IDPA matches a few years ago, forgot how fun it was until I watched some of your vids. Just a shame they wouldn't let me shoot reloads or Boolits...maybe the rules have changed since then.

  4. #84
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    That's kind of strange that they don't let you shoot reloads. It might be a range requirement since all the action games at my club allow reloads. If they didn't, participation would be way down as factory ammo is just too expensive.

  5. #85
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    Quote Originally Posted by sargenv View Post
    That's kind of strange that they don't let you shoot reloads. It might be a range requirement since all the action games at my club allow reloads. If they didn't, participation would be way down as factory ammo is just too expensive.
    Competitors were not allowed to use reloads of any kind and all pistol ammo had to be fmj, tmj, jhp, or some type of "defensive" load. I was told this was IDPA rules (I remember downloading and reading a pdf before competing) because they could not trust handloaders to not load light "target" loads to obtain competitive advantage and that the whole point of "DEFENSIVE" shooting was to practice/compete with full-house ammo. I have no idea why plain lead was forbidden, maybe it was the facility's policy, nor do I have any idea how they felt about stuff like the popular "safety" ammo, seems like it would be "defensive" enough but who knows. I also remember buying a special "legal" holster which had no practical concealed carry use whatever, thought that was strange at the time, too. Oh well, guess I'll check out their "new and improved" rules and see about the reloads, I can't afford to compete unless I can use my Devastator HP boolits or some classic keith swc... that's why I dumpster-dive for lead anywhere I can (except parking lots, of course!)
    BTW on the topic, I have constructed a boolit trap for my short home range which is just 4 pallets nailed together, lined with osb panels, covered with scrap roofing metal, filled from top of back to bottom of front (45 degrees) with play sand from lumber yard. Cost about 50 bucks total and can sift boolits by hand easily and totally safe if you keep shots in middle or below.

  6. #86
    Boolit Buddy redbear705's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hardcast416taylor View Post
    Hello Redbear705. For that amount of lead to be harvested it has to be a old and well used club. Is it Oakland County Sportsman`s Club?Robert

    It was about 30 years worth at Linden Sportsman club in Linden, MI

    JR
    Member Migigan Gun Owners www.MiGunowners.org
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    Member Detroit Sportsmans Congress Utica,MI

  7. #87
    Boolit Mold
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    We salvage lead shot for fun and profit. We would be happy to answer any questions that we can. http://mcneeleyenterprises.com azmike

  8. #88
    Boolit Mold
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    Our club allows salvaging lead in our indoor range. It is a mix of bullets, sand, cardboard, paper, staples, ect.

    Not many do any “mining”, I got two five gallon buckets, I’ve got the first one smelted, and got over 150 lbs of ingots. I got a little over a gallon of jackets and other trash and about a half gallon of sand.

    That is probably why I thought they were a little heavy, I could barely pick them up to get them in the car!!

  9. #89
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    Just recently joined the local range, first question before joining, "Do you allow mining the berms?" Yes they do, but to date I have not seen anyone doing any mining or collecting of lead, and very few picking up brass, all the better for me.
    The one thing I were told not to do was dig down the berms, so off to they grocery store for a course sieve, found on with a handle on it, some what small, but has 1/4" holes in it. I take a gallon milk jug and cut the top, leaving the handle. 5 gallon bucket stays in the truck, go out to the berm and skim the surface with hand strainer, shake it a couple times to get the dirt and some of the other debris to fall through then dump it into the milk jug. When the jug is full it weighs about 40# and gets dumped into the bucket in the truck. about an hour will yield 150# or so, takes about an hour to smelt and pour into ingots, or if I separate the known jacketed boolits for my 45-70, it will take a while longer.
    With the cost of materials going through the roof, I think range mining is going to become one of those things of the past, unless you can find an old one or one that is non-membership.
    The last bucket from the range yielded 70# of lead from jacketed boolits for my 45-70 and 44 c&b, 74# for my other cast boolits (.357, .401, .429, .451).
    The bucket weighed (including the bucket) 183#, the jackets weighed 24# after smelting and I will sell them when I get a 100# or so.
    This may not be the yield that you get from a bucket of WW, and may take a little longer to get the end product, but the pure lead is more than worth the trouble for me.
    As far as bullet core being pure lead, I don't know if this is true or not, my findings go as follows: one of my molds is designed to throw 545gr boolits with 1:20, it does so with great consistency, it throws 563gr boolits with 99.9 lead, it throws 551gr boolits with jacketed core lead. Doing a little math, that comes out to about a 1:16. Any speculation on this? Or maybe someone knows for sure what the core composition really is.
    For those who don't believe range lead is worth the bother, PLEASE STAY OFF THE BERMS.
    Last edited by R.Clem; 04-13-2009 at 04:33 PM.

  10. #90
    Boolit Master sheepdog's Avatar
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    Ok I need some advice guys. I'm fairly new to the casting so my lead stock is low and I love the way range lead casts.

    Don't laugh but right now I'm averaging about a lousy 8lbs of scrap a trip at the range with a high of 15 yesterday after a rain. This is purely standing on the berms and eyeballing boolits one at a time.

    Our range is horseshoe shaped berms with a wooden retainer at the bottom. Berms are in a dry area and roughly a 80/20 dirt sand mix. Berm pickup is allowed but berm mining is frowned apon. I'd like to make sure it doesn't get on unfriendly terms.

    So I need a small setup that I can do some scrap salvage with that's small enough I can stick it all in a 5 gallon bucket 9so I can be stealthy with it) and yet get a least a few times better results. Heck 20 pounds a week sounds like a dream. I thought about taking a gallon bleach or milk container, maybe putting some mesh on the bottom or something but I'm at a loss. I humbly ask the good people of CB to help me dream up an effective but simple solution for a small timer like meself.

  11. #91
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    got to agree. I they banned reloads around here there would probably be about 4 shooters left at a match. especially now when a guy cant even find factory ammo at any price.
    Quote Originally Posted by sargenv View Post
    That's kind of strange that they don't let you shoot reloads. It might be a range requirement since all the action games at my club allow reloads. If they didn't, participation would be way down as factory ammo is just too expensive.

  12. #92
    Boolit Mold
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    The picture shows the little thing I use, with the aid of a gallon jug to put the scrap bullets in.
    I also, have found it to work very well when removing the bullet jackets from the lead when smelting.
    Found this at a grocery store in the utensil aisle, if some one can find a similar with larger holes it will probably work better, as it will allow more of the small stuff to fall threw. I don't dig with this, just skim the surface down 2" or so deep and use a gentle swishing motion from side to side to get the smaller stuff to fall threw, them dump whats left in the jug. Once you have a jug full take it to your bucket (which you have left in your vehicle, the first full jug will be self explanatory as to why you don't take the bucket down range.) and dump it. Be aware that the jug will weigh about 40#, so four full jugs is going to give you 150# or more, you need to be able to get that bucket out of the vehicle when you get home.Click image for larger version. 

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    If your range be similar to the one I go to, filling a gallon jug will only take about 10 - 15 minutes, or a bucket in an hour or so.
    The end product will vary from each session at the berm, so I do a little sorting, then smelting then casting and weighing. As I stated earlier in this thread,
    jacketed bullet cores are much closer to soft lead then the cast ones you will find on the berm, so mixing them in a random fashion will give you different weights of the same bullet from each batch taken from the berm. I assume that more cast and less jacketed will give a harder boolits, but if you are going to try to push these at magnum pressures, you will need to watch the barrel for leading. Range lead is a real good resource for casting lead, but you will have to do some experimenting to get the ratio that gives you the bullet weight and hardness you want.
    Some say range lead is a waste of time and energy, (LPG, natural gas) compared to WW, but I haven't found any zinc boolits yet and they all seem to melt about the same rate. I have a few hundred pounds of WW that I use to alloy to get the boolit weight I desire from a certain mold, as WW seem to cast lighter than what most molds say they will with a given alloy.
    Good scrounging at the range and enjoy the fruits of your labors there, when you go redeposit what you took earlier.

  13. #93
    Boolit Grand Master

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    That same tool works wonders to get the jacket material out of the melt for scrap brass. It also removes the clips and zinc from a WW smelt, before you flux.
    Just be cautious with the rubber handle.

  14. #94
    Boolit Mold
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    I have recovered shotgun lead for sale. Please scroll to the bottom of this page at the banners. This is good stuff!

  15. #95
    Boolit Master at Heaven's Range 2010

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    Scrap

    my clubs indoor range was ccleaned a few yrs ago it yealded 26,000 lb of lead yes thats 13 tons.I used to get lead from the backstop and ended up with a 30 gallon barrel must have weighed 900 lbs.or more.lead in bullet jackets is pure lead
    so are commercial loaded ammo.in target loads range lead is fine.after all bought lead ammo is pure lead soooo.
    WILDCATT

  16. #96
    Boolit Buddy
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    Bucket Sifter

    Someone suggested doing this and it works pretty well. I can get about 100lbs in an hour or so.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Bucket1.jpg   Bucket2.jpg  

  17. #97
    Boolit Buddy cohutt's Avatar
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    Wow it has been a while since i checked in on this thread. Glad to see there are others who are sick enough to want to go bermining.

    Some time back I went back to the berm a did another run but things were too soggy. I ended up scooping up some buckets of heavy lead infested red clay mud.

    It wouldn't separate wet, it was lead adobe dry, so i thought i was stuck.

    I ended up building a sluice box in my backyard that recirculated the water back through with a portable sump pump and eventually i claimed 130 lbs of ingots out of those buckets. Pics below

    "sluicebox" - corrugated drain pipe cut longways in half, in an upside down mitre saw jig on top of a multi folding ladder (you work with what you have handy if you are cheap enough to try and dig lead



    A pot of gold er i mean lead:






    almost maybe worthwhile stack of 6-7 lb ingots from the exercise


  18. #98
    Boolit Buddy
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    That looks like a nice setup. I need to get a bigger pot since mine is only 15-20lbs or so. It's almost too small for the fish fryer burner that I bought.

  19. #99
    Boolit Buddy cohutt's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jon View Post
    That looks like a nice setup. I need to get a bigger pot since mine is only 15-20lbs or so. It's almost too small for the fish fryer burner that I bought.
    Yeah I am spoiled, that is a mega dutch oven I was given for chistmas a couple yesrs ago- 22qt iirc.

  20. #100
    Boolit Master GrizzLeeBear's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by azmike View Post
    I have recovered shotgun lead for sale. Please scroll to the bottom of this page at the banners. This is good stuff!
    Nice operation you got going there! Do you sell reclaimed shot as well as smelted lead? I'm planning on shooting some trap this summer and it would be nice to have a cheaper source of #8 shot than what the local shops want for it ($40 per 25# yikes). I would think you could sell it even cheaper than the 60# for $50 delivered since you don't have to smelt it into ingots.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check