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Thread: Not what I had planned, range scrap

  1. #21
    Boolit Master facetious's Avatar
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    "Is it worth all the work?"

    I was thinking the same thing when I was about half done.

    But the lead was free if you don't put a value on the time to pick it up and it was picked up over a few years so it wasn't like that was a big part of it and I kind of wanted to get it out from under my workbench. I just retired so I guess my time has gone down in value and having it in ingots in the shed is a lot more convenient than buckets under the bench. If I use it for handgun stuff it will last me a long time as much as I get to shoot any more and free up my WW's and type metal for other stuff. In the end I'm glad I got it done and know that I have a good stash and if in the future if I get some more for no cost I would do it again but if you want to do it to make money it would be easier to get a part time job. I guess that's why thy call it a hobby, just some thing to waste time and money on.
    Last edited by facetious; 07-08-2020 at 01:59 AM.
    We go through life trying to make the best decisions we can based on the best infomation we can find, that turns out to be wrong.

  2. #22
    Boolit Master facetious's Avatar
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    As an up date I I melted a pot full in my electric pot and cast some LBT 150-OWC's .I cast about 5 lb"s worth air cooling half and WD'ing the rest. After sorting I weighed 20 and they ran from the about 151.7gr's to 152.7 with most around 152.2gr's. I have some cast years ago from a mix that was estimated to be 1.77% tin and 3.52% antimony with the help some nice guy's and there LAC . I weighed a bunch of them and they ran 150 to around 150.7 with most 150.2

    I'm guessing there is more lead in there and should be softer but haven't checked to see how thy compare plus I just cast them a few day's ago so should give them so time to age.

    The one thing I have to go back and check is that I thought that thy would have filled out better. I added just over 2% pewter so there should be enough tin and thy did look good and shiny but found that I had to turn the pot up all the way to get them to fill out. I 'm now wondering if the pot may be going out or some thing. I got it used in the mid 80's and if you turned it all the way up it would frost the boolits. I just used it two months ago and had to turn it all the way up but it was in the low 60's this time it was in the mid 90's. I hate to think of having to start looking for a new one. I don't know if you can fix old SAECO furnace's or not.Click image for larger version. 

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ID:	264760 you can see the ware marks were it was normally set. I had it pointing at the F in furnace.
    We go through life trying to make the best decisions we can based on the best infomation we can find, that turns out to be wrong.

  3. #23
    Boolit Master
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    the dross from smelting jacketed bullets may well be mostly copper, having been in the scrap business some scrap yards will test it if you insist, if they have an xrf, could make the difference between $1 and $2.50 lb.

  4. #24
    Boolit Master facetious's Avatar
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    Click image for larger version. 

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    Click image for larger version. 

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    I cast these last summer and thy have had almost a year to age. The wd'ed one is the one with the marker on it. So it show's that you can harden range scrap. But not how hard it is. So I took a old one from 20 years ago and put it head to head with the wd'ed range scrap ( with the marker on it) and even after all these years it was still hard enough to push in to the wd'ed r.s.

    Note: the old ones were WD'ed allso
    Last edited by facetious; 02-23-2021 at 03:23 AM.
    We go through life trying to make the best decisions we can based on the best infomation we can find, that turns out to be wrong.

  5. #25
    Boolit Grand Master

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    It may have been more work than you planned but the end result looks good. You can always put a range lead ingot in with your wheelweights, stretching the wheelweight alloy.

    Some see this smelting process as work, and it can be, but I rather enjoy it. I have a few buddies that come over to cast and we also help each other when we get enough scrap to melt.

  6. #26
    Boolit Master


    Walter Laich's Avatar
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    I grew up as a child of children of the depression.

    I always am on the lookout for lead sources. I get a kick out of casting as well as powder coating. Almost as much as cowboy shooting.

    my next 'adventure' is to mine the cowboy range.
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  7. #27
    Boolit Bub
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    This was great thread for a newbie like me to get a feel for processing scrap into something useful. Thanks, very informative!

  8. #28
    Boolit Master facetious's Avatar
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    Click image for larger version. 

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    HI. Been a while .

    Last year I got a chance to try shooting some groups to see if WD'ing made any difference . Looks like WD'ing is the way to go, at least for this boolit. I know it doesn't tell much about how hard it is but my best guess is WD'ed it's about like AC'ed WW's.
    We go through life trying to make the best decisions we can based on the best infomation we can find, that turns out to be wrong.

  9. #29
    Boolit Master WRideout's Avatar
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    Here is my lead recovery setup.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    This is not a propane tank, but rather a discarded pressure tank to dispense carpet glue (like they use to glue down the carpet in stores.) It had a large warning on it to not reuse for any purpose. I figured once it was cut in half, that would not matter. I dig and screen bullets from the backstop at my club range. After a rain, they are easier to find, but retain lots of mud, so I generally have to wash them before melting. The jacketed bullets I skim out with the dross, and when cool cut them open with end nippers.

    I am too cheap to use propane or gasoline for this, so my preferred fuel is pallet wood or dead branches off our maple tree. I use the recovered lead straight or with added tin for pistol boolits. If extra hardness is needed, I put in some superhard alloy; a tiny bit in a pot.

    Wayne
    What doesn't kill you makes you stronger - or else it gives you a bad rash.
    Venison is free-range, organic, non-GMO and gluten-free

  10. #30
    Boolit Buddy


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    Quote Originally Posted by kevin c View Post
    I don't know about your range, of course, but at mine it's getting more and more common to find non lead projectiles that, fortunately, declare themselves by floating on the melt. They seem to be made of a sintered metal (copper?). They don't deform like lead, either burying themselves intact in the sand, maybe chipping if they hit another slug or small rock in the berm, and will shatter on steel. At first, I mistook them for plated, but they never melt at temperatures for lead. They will break if tapped with a hammer on a hard surface (NOT right after being skimmed out of the melt: you do not want to mistakenly smack an intact plated lead bullet with a molten core!).

    I can only theorize on the reasoning behind it but I can assure you from my personal experience shooting these in a ballistics lab that anything labeled "frangible" and "reduced richochet" and the likes of all the powdered and compressed metal bullets are absolutely barrel killers. I've seen average barrel life cut by upwards of 90% with these projectiles. It became so bad that we saved our older high mileage barrels just for testing with these projectiles so that we didn't kill a new barrel. My theory is that the composition of the bullet doesnt allow for positive engagement but you can visibly watch the pressures go down and the velocities go down on each shot. I won't let them anywhere near my personal guns.

  11. #31
    Boolit Master
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    That’s good to know, Coopaloop86. Thanks for passing on your findings.

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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