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Thread: Digging for range gold

  1. #21
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    another place I do really well is on the back side of the berm.
    out to about 25 yds behind the berm.

    the shooting them out works pretty good too, I tried it out yesterday.

  2. #22
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Run, did you use a large caliber shovel? I find a 44 mag revolver works quite well. Then again my 30-30 does too with healthy loads.

  3. #23
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    I just pounded about 350 150-165gr 358 diameter boolits into a couple of different areas on the berm.
    I got almost all of mine back, plus another equal amount.

  4. #24
    Boolit Grand Master
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    38s and 357s do well also.
    I do a fair amount of plinking at bowling pins lying on the berm. Those rare moments when I miss I find make a big hole that seems to be made of a never ending supply of bullets.

    I am hoping for a dry summer again, not drought, just dry. Last year parts of the berms were just dust and the pickings were good.

    My goal for the year is 1000 pounds. Hit 600 last year but I want more. I think it is possible but it will take some work. The kid best be ready to pick lead when home from school.

  5. #25
    Boolit Buddy
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    I have access to an old military range, long shut down and deserted. The construction is sand in front of concrete set at an angle, so it should be easy digging. I don't think anyone has ever cleaned it out, as there are lot's of bullets laying on the surface. Should work out good.

  6. #26
    Boolit Bub
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    I was testing some different ways of going about this earlier today. First I picked a container full of by hand only getting bullets, took about 15 mins. Then I took a garden trowel and brushed the the berm and filled a container with all the loose lead stuff that I could get. I could fill the container a lot faster but it took a lot more time to sift and sort it all when I got back to the house. Gonna try a few other ideas out later this week. I like the sifting in water trick I will have to give that a try.

    I was wondering if a rotating media sifter would work? just put a small amount in at a time and crank the handle and get all the dirt out. May be able to find a metal one somewhere like northern tool or something.

  7. #27
    Boolit Master Any Cal.'s Avatar
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    I use a little Fiskars plastic trowel. Gives more reach and lets you scoop several at a time. You can throw everything off the shovel on to a grate if you want, it lets you move faster with the shovel. Certain spots in the berm seem to get more lead, you can keep digging bullets out. Bring a coupl containers and a small bucket or two.

  8. #28
    In Remembrance

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    More than half a ton in 5 hours. The yellow buckets in the background are FULL of bullets. The screen on this screener is 1/4, and we were digging in sand.



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  9. #29
    Boolit Buddy Longone's Avatar
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    Our gun club (private club) is so member friendly that it just past a new law at the last meeting that there will no longer be any shoveling or digging for lead in the berms because it makes holes in the berm. Only in New England, you can't make this **** up. Wonder why we are going to implode?, not any more!!!!!

    Longone

  10. #30
    Boolit Grand Master
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    We have a range near us that doesn't allow anyone on the berm. They site safety issues.
    That club is sort of run by a few and they treat it as their private retreat.

    I shoot at another club these days. I know a few other members gather range scrap there also. I don't hold up others who want to shoot, don't dig holes in the berm, and do all I can to have minimal impact on the berm. I figure that if I don't make it an issue then the club won't.

  11. #31
    Boolit Buddy Longone's Avatar
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    I always brought a rake to leave the berm at least as it was and most times nicer. Now I get to the range earlier before it is open and just pick the boolits that are on the surface, the last few time I did this I had a few other shooters come over and lend a hand, in short order I had a gallon jug of lead. Our club is about run the same, a few set the rules as they see fit. Maybe the next time our club has a work party I should tend the berms.

    Longone
    Last edited by Longone; 04-08-2013 at 05:44 AM.

  12. #32
    Boolit Buddy RoGrrr's Avatar
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    There are 60-some posts in this thread, lots of chatter but some good info:
    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...ghlight=186lbs

    I appreciate what Duke has built but as far as I'm concerned, it's only good for AFTER you get the ore back to your base of operations - like at your home. It isn't something I'd want to haul to the range. I want to sort at my leisure. Also, doing this sorting at the range will have to be done when it's closed to the public. Get in, get the ore, GET OUT quickly. That's my mining motto.

    And I never take a shovel to the range to mine ore. The above thread explains all of what I do.

    I developed a pretty good and efficient sifter basket that gets me in and out quickly.

    I used to wash the ore, a shovelful at a time, in my sifter but that took quite a while. Then I had to spread it out on the driveway and let the sun dry it. That took another day. Then I had to sweep/shovel it up and smelt. Labor intensive, to say the least.

    I have a new method of washing the ore. I spread it out near the front of my 5 ton dump bed trailer, raise it up to about 15 or 20 degrees and use a garden hose to wash at it in an upward direction. This stirs the ore, breaking the dirt loose from it. As the water flows downhill, the dirt washes down with it. Some of the "still round" slugs (like 45 FMJ) tend to roll down and out of the trailer so I laid a piece of expanded metal screen across the bed near the bottom which catches most of those (holy ?) rollers.
    I leave the trailer tilted up facing the sun for a day and the next day my ore is dry. It's easy to shovel into buckets. The next thing I have to do is remove most of the grass/sticks/wads and other crep. I put several stainless steel serving trays (which I get from the scrap yard for $1 per pound. They are about 12" by 18" and are varying depths) in front of a high volume fan/blower (FURNACE BLOWER) and drop handsful into the air stream. The lead drops straight down into the first bin. Many of the copper jackets and some gravel blow into the second bin and the sticks/wads blow into the third bin. I'll post a video of this later.

    I posted pics of my sifter basket in the above thread and with the knowledge gained from my experiences, I'm going to make another basket which will be better at collecting the ore. When I do that, I'll sell the one I currently use.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TC2xTCb_GU

    Have you ever heard of an anchor holding SLOW ?
    As far as some of us on this forum, we don't bite; We shoot !
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  13. #33
    Boolit Buddy elginrunner's Avatar
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    Well I got my first chance to mine a berm. I knocked up a 24x18" - 1/4" screen sifter, and used my wife's garden trowel to dig with......

    some observations: digging in moist sand is no big deal, and sifting isn't too hard either. It's when you run into big globs of clay that is a Son of a gun. Some where there is a sweet spot. A veritable hord of jacketed gold. I found it just about the time my back and hips started to talk to me from sitting/laying on the slanted hill. I was however embedded in a huge ball of clay!! I dug several out of the clay, but decided to quit to ask advise as to the best way to remove from said ball.

    Maybe next time I should wear gloves. Upon returning home and washing my hands I discovered several slivers of jacket material that got under my skin.

    Take water, it's just in the 70's here but digging in the dirt makes you thirsty!!

  14. #34
    Boolit Master
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    Gloves are a must. Those jackets can be like razor blades.

    I've found the dense clay is best worked when dry. It will be hard and you'll need a pick-axe to really bust it up efficiently but its nearly impossible to process when still moist. Wet sifting that I've described above helps either way but you do need to process the clay lumps down to smaller size first.

  15. #35
    Boolit Buddy RoGrrr's Avatar
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    I keep hearing a common thread about others digging plus how the rangemasters/club officers don't like digging; it destroys the slope of the berm.
    My club officers watched me mine the berm and how my rake didn't deface the slope. They were convinced and allowed me to continue as much as I wanted. In the very short time I mined, I filled 6 buckets with mostly ore and very little dirt.
    I had planned to go back out today to do some more mining but with the heavy rain a couple days ago, there's too much mud now so I'll have to wait til things dry up. As I mentioned in the 186Lbs thread, dry and breezy is the best time to mine.

    Get IN, Get it, Get OUT !
    The rake really speeds things up.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TC2xTCb_GU

    Have you ever heard of an anchor holding SLOW ?
    As far as some of us on this forum, we don't bite; We shoot !
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  16. #36
    Boolit Master NewbieDave007's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ryan28 View Post
    I have access to an old military range, long shut down and deserted. The construction is sand in front of concrete set at an angle, so it should be easy digging. I don't think anyone has ever cleaned it out, as there are lot's of bullets laying on the surface. Should work out good.
    Ryan28- Be careful with military ranges. I'm a Civil Engineer and we do a lot of work designing military ranges. One thing that EVERY one that I have ever worked on has in common is that at least part of it has been in Medium/High UXO (Unexploded Ordinance). Most military bases used large areas for live fire exercises in years gone by. Hope this helps.

    Good luck.
    Dave

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