Does anybody process copper jackets?

[fatelk]

One safety concern I would have about melting down bullet jackets would be vaporized lead. At the temperature copper melts, I'd sure be careful to stay away from the fumes.

[john.k]

Make brass ingots from your scrap copper and scrap zinc.......a little lead wont hurt for the kind of stuff rough brass is used for.Melting brass is not difficult,and a wood fired furnace with a blower is quite sufficient........be prepared for the white heat ....it will burn through a thick shirt at the end of a long crucible tong.......no inexperienced helpers .....you must be prepared to be part roasted as you pour........very lucrative stuff can be made from cheap 60/40 brass.....replica Loco nameplates,machinery plates with famous names ,medium size bells ,etc.

[Stephen Cohen]

I have several 5 Gal buckets of jackets and was considering throwing them into the next big bonfire I have and see if that burns the lead from them. I think the Greenies may hate me though. Regards Stephen

[triggerhappy243]

may I suggest an ammonia solution in a cheap cement mixer? it may bring the red out of the copper jacketing. I will be trying this in a few days................ just for kicks.

[Stephen Cohen]

I would be interested in the results of this test. Regards Stehen

[OTShooter]

Jackets are often gilding metal - a brass alloy of 95% copper and 5% zinc. It's not like they're copper wire (typically pretty darn pure, usually less than 0.1% "other") that can be tossed into the copper foundry's crucibles - that zinc content changes everything for a "pure copper" process. So bullet jacket metal is suspect and often not welcome.

Plated bullets, on the other hand, are plated with pure copper because it's a real challenge to plate lead with brass - you need to flash plate many metals with copper before you start plating with nickel, brass, etc., so why not just use copper?

If you're looking at what to do with a mountain of jackets, melting them down and casting "interesting" stuff is a good idea.

[triggerhappy243]

has anyone made any progress with repurposing/recycling copper jackets? I now have 8 Five gallon buckets.

[ioon44]

I have always been able to sell mine at a local scrap yard as #2 copper.

[durango]

FWIW--Most sophisticated scrap yards will run a magnet through your bucket of bullet jackets and you would be amazed at how many of those jackets have iron in them--the price then plummets to the price of scrap iron. If your 'scrapper' gives you a price around $2.00/lb--take it and run!!! My recycler pays me $.40/lb, so at least I'm getting something back out of it but I have to haul it 50 miles. Steve

[Outpost75]

I sell mine as #2 copper also. Price fluctuates, but you can check here: https://www.877ironmike.com/metal-prices

Scrapper will dump out your buckets onto the scale, then run an electromagnet over them to pull out any clad steel, then pay by weight for the remainder. I get more than enough selling the jackets from range lead to pay for the propane it takes to melt the stuff, currently $2.06/lb.

[richhodg66]

I traded a bunch, plus some scrap brass for lead he had around. One time it was even in Lyman ingots. Last time just a bucket of wheel weights.

[Hamish]

Might want to think about sand casting. There's a fellow over on Graybeard getting serious money to replace the plastic trigger guards on Handi rifles,,,,,,,.

[dragon813gt]

Coper jackets are gilding metal, not pure copper. There’s one scrap yard near me that pays me #2 copper price for them. They should pay red brass price. Regardless there are twelve yards w/in half an hour of me. Only one will take the jackets. Finding a yard that takes them can be impossible if you don’t have a lot of options.

[TheGrimReaper]

Got 250 lbs of range scrap dropped off at my place today. I have tried to take the leftover dirty copper to the scrappers before, they wanted none of it. So i was thinking of building a mini foundry and processing the leftover copper into ingots.

Anybody try this or have experience?

Wish this would happen to me. All I get is junkmail

[fatelk]

I took a bucket full of very clean jackets to the scrap yard recently; I even carefully picked out all the steel and brass. They didn't want the jackets at all, said it was worth ten cents per pound because of the tariffs. I sold them a bucket of brass and some scrap copper I'd gathered over a few years, but brought my bucket of worthless jackets back home.

[Yogi]

I rinsed them off, 3/4 bucket added some lemishine. then rolled them around the yard for a while , drained it rinsed again, dried off in sun for a day. got 1.48 per lb. most yards wont pay more than .40 lb. due to the chance of lead left over in jackets. its still better than nothing. little more work (and I probably looked like a nut rolling a bucket around the yard) but it adds up after a few smelting's. just depends on the scrap dealer I guess.

[triggerhappy243]

i WONDER IF i DUMPED A FEW BUCKETS IN MY CEMENT MIXER............. WATER, AND SOME AMMONIA.

[RP]

The jackets I sold were called red brass have not had any to sell for a good while. I did build a foundry one was oil fired (used motor oil) and it got enough heat to do the job but was messy and I was just doing alum. I am now building one that will run on LP which will do alum fine but I also want to cast some brass I am thinking I may have to use two burners or go back to oil. Sand casting is kind of cool have not done a ant hill yet but making billet for my lathe using pipe for molds is working out well.