What if you run the vac W/O a filter, the light stuff might go right out the back and the shot stay in the vac.Originally Posted by shotman
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What if you run the vac W/O a filter, the light stuff might go right out the back and the shot stay in the vac.
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The range I shoot at FORBIDS any metal down range. They also frown on mining the berms. Picking bullets off the surface is okay.The day after a good rain is best. Take the grandkids and offer them an ice cream treat for each coffe can full they get!
Not if it's bigger chunks like parts of targets and such. Dust, maybe (and probably wear the vacuum more than it likes), but the bigger stuff both wouldn't be light enough and probably couldn't get through the vacuum. Remember, the vacuum is designed to stop stuff from going through, not permit it.
I think I may give this a whirl , After a good rain storm,Do a little mineing at the range.
I'd be careful there. Theres quite a bit of particulated lead in the air, sand, etc downrange as well as exposure to handling. I really wouldnt want my kid anywhere near lead, but if youre going to let them make sure they wash thier hands at the range then shower before eating or drinking. A little lead is fine for big folks but little ones it doesnt take much to screw them up for life.
My wife & I have done a little surface picking, we got about a pound a min, just using our fingers to pick them up individually . . . used a 2lb yogurt container, ends up at about 12 pounds, haven't smelted it yet . . . got 45 pounds waiting . . . Also built a trap out of a 5 gal bucket, filled with sand . . . just sifeted it, and got 4.5 pounds out of it, gonna build a box for shredded rubber . . . ww are hard to come by . . .fleabay is about $1 a pound for ww . . .
John 3: 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
I finally got to trying shotman's shop-vac separation method. It worked great! My shop vac is a big one that comes with a 15' hose, and I upgraded to a higher-quality 16' hose, so I had more than enough length to get the job done. So far what I found is I could use a very short hose, coupled with some plastic pipe, to the 15' hose, which I coiled several times before it hit the vacuum input. It still clogged after a couple cups of shot, but I found that, at least with mine, I was able to actually suck a bunch of shot up in the nozzle and tilt the hose up so it stayed in the nozzle. The finer dirt got sucked out and I could just drop the shot back into the tray. The bigger pieces of stuff came to the top pretty fast and I sucked them right up. I got a 5 gallon paint bucket with the hole in the top and put the hose in that when I wanted to empty it so I didn't drop any shot on the driveway when the end of the hose flopped around.
I didn't have much luck with elevating the vacuum a few feet to see if I could get more shot to stay; in the end I wasn't sucking up much anyway. I also tried rigging up a pipe with a hole in it that ran through a can, so the shot would drop out into the can and I didn't have to empty the hose much, but that didn't work. Maybe I'll get a more elaborate set-up and go spend a morning doing some serious mining at the range!
Brick85,
I have access to a shotgun range for lead, but the problem id the shot falls into rocky, steep and treelined backstop. the terain is too rocky(boulders) to use a shovel and grass grows everywhere. I tried sifting using an old window screen. After 20-30 minutes of sifting and seperating I only came up w/ 1/4-1/2 cup of shot. I'll have to see if I can make this shop vac idea work.jmsj
Yeah, jmsj, that's pretty much what I have, but without the trees. Maybe you could sweep/rake it all into one place, and then use the window screen idea. I'm going to make a box maybe 2' by 3', put some 1/4" hardware cloth on one side and window screen over more hardware cloth on the other so the screen doesn't break, and find a way to either shake or pivot it, or maybe throw the dirt right at the box. I'll leave a corner open so I can pour out the shot-sized stuff.
The key, for me, seems to be that you don't want to try and sort it too much at the range, because it's a huge waste of time, as you saw. Don't be afraid to take a bunch of junk home with you in the mix, because the vacuum works really well. I'm working on an even better idea than just a hose, based on a separator for wood shops that makes the wood chips drop out. Basically a half a hose going in a circle with a dip at one point.
With the small haul I got, I found that a gallon of unsorted stuff weighed about 30 lbs, and the sorted birdshot was about 45 lbs per gallon. Haven't figured the weight once I melted and skimmed the crud yet, but it sure does feel like lead at that point.
I've just discovered the berm of our range hasn't been mined - ever!
It is probably several tons of lead there and 45 minutes produced some 200 lbs of lead.
I've bought a bicycle basket made of mesh and scoops some dirt in it. After some shaking, the lead goes into a bucket.
I have probably 500 kg of lead now and use about 100 kg a year, but I still feel the urge to collect more range scrap
If I were you, I'd get all I could while the gittin is good!
"The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man -- and give some back."
Al Swearengen, from "Deadwood"
Philngruvy, my sentiments exactly!
Don't forget to ask for the lead foil plates in the xray film that they stick in your mouth to take pics of your teeth. Here is a 35 lb. bucket of them. Pure lead or nearly so.
"The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man -- and give some back."
Al Swearengen, from "Deadwood"
Free lead is a treasure you can't pass up. If you don't reclaim it, someone else will.
I have well over a 3 tons of it, and won't pass up any source for more.
There will be a time in our near future when it will sell like gold to those who have none. (Remember $60/1000 primers if ya could find any? How about $40./lb powder that was all ya could get?)
Note the new WW alloy that is useless to us.
Note the number of tire dealers that won't sell WW, or want to rob ya.
Sooner or later the Fed. or State Gov. will force the lead removal as an ecology thing. The lead will be gone, the range bankrupt, and bought boolits will be a buck a piece.
Ya better get all ya can while it's there,,, or just tell me where it's at.
Well there's a big new thing about getting "certified" to deal with lead paint when you're doing remodeling/carpentry work. I'm sure other regulation on lead is sure to follow!
Brick85
Thanks for the advise on trying to salvage the lead shot. Now just need time yo get over there and try it out. jmsj
This is one of the most direct, and eloquent statements that say why it's important to build a bullet trap (if possible,) to capture and recycle the lead, that I have seen yet! GOOD JOB, Sir!
Jim Fleming
I will bleed, Red, White, & Blue forever.
USAFR (Retired)
NRA Endowment Member
VFW Life Member
Picket up another 200 lb of range scrap yesterday. Took me about an hour to collect it.
Norseman, looks like you hit the mother lode. Smelt it down and pile it deep!
If you figure $0.40 a pound for the lead, then 200 lbs in an hour is a pretty good pay rate! Salvaging lead saves serious dough.
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