Soooo what kind of fairy is this?

[Big Dangle]

I had a few mangled 50 BMG rounds I picked up a range at a while back doing army things. I was more worried about moisture in them so I wore more PPE then usual and covered the pot after putting in stuff with a long spoon.
Ok so I step back to sit down and a TRACER lights up with a loud hiss for a second or so, I unplug the pot (Lee 10lb) wait a while and uncover the pot. It's all black but looks undamaged, hmm all the rounds were fired and mangled so I guess that one didn't light up. Well so melting stuff from military ranges probably isn't worth it.

[Hickory]

melting stuff from military ranges probably isn't worth it.

Depends on the level of excitement you want to experience.

[merlin101]

Do you always melt dirty lead in your electric casting pot?
As for the tracers, I'd just examine the base of them before tossing them in the pot you can tell the tracers by a hollow area in the base. If the hollow really is hollow or solid lead use them if it.s got a hard powder material in there dump it.

[runfiverun]

throw one in the bottom of a half filled pot and I bet you learn how to tell which ones have tracer stuff in them pretty quickly.
a lid is a must have on a melting and cleaning pot, a good lid that fit's and is heavy.
you only gotta have a 30 cal bullet squirt lead 10 feet in the air and have some of it land on top of your head once or twice to figure that out.

[lightman]

Kudos to you for having it covered and not being injured. If I had access to range scrap from a Military range I would still use it. I smelt in a different and larger pot than I cast in and I would just fill it up cold and cover it before melting anything. There have been a few guys that have found some interesting things on Military ranges!

[mdi]

That was a Mil. Spec. fairy...

[Big Dangle]

I don't throw piles of range stuff in couple spoon fulls usually while it's warming up, this time I put in more. I looked at the base and it didn't have the powder stuff and the base wasn't hollow. I have the round in a can outside I'll try to take a pic of it tonight.

[HB0708]

you only gotta have a 30 cal bullet squirt lead 10 feet in the air and have some of it land on top of your head once or twice to figure that out.

Once or TWICE?! Just once for me please... Or, I'll just listen to you and others and start with a lid from the beginning.

Love what I'm learning here before I get started.

[Mk42gunner]

Twice is for those that should be riding the short bus to casting land.....

Robert

[JSnover]

You know what they say about fairy tales and war stories: One starts with, "Once upon a time…," and the other starts with, "And this is No S***!"

[Hardcast416taylor]

Twice burned are those people that forgot what it felt like to be burned the first time!Robert

[flyingmonkey35]

Private SNAFU. States that you should always start with a empty pot with unknown lead sources and heat up slowly.

[gwpercle]

That was The Bad Idea Fairy , don't listen to him !
His ideas sound good but they aren't !

[Smoke4320]

red neck fairy tales start with Hey Ma watch this !!
Or "look MA no Hands"

[mdi]

red neck fairy tales start with Hey Ma watch this !!
Or "look MA no Hands"

Or "Hold my beer, and watch this"...

[StrawHat]

red neck fairy tales start with Hey Ma watch this !!
Or "look MA no Hands"

I thought they ended with "Look Ma, no hands...

Kevin

[victorfox]

You guys.... LOL �� I think there was no fairy but a guardian Angel saying Tsk tsk while you weren't injured or something....

[victorfox]

You guys.... LOL ”9ü7 I think there was no fairy but a guardian Angel saying Tsk tsk while you weren't injured or something....

[blikseme300]

I quit mining berms for lead after I had a live round go off in a melter. Don't know what caliber but the tinsel decoration in my driveway was spectacular. Luckily I was a few feet away when it happened.

[wmitty]

Not sure about the tracers for the .50 BMG, but the .30 cal tracers I have checked have no lead core at all. The ogive portion of the jacket was solid gilding metal.