Trouble with range scrap.

[turtlezx]

how o how did there ever make boolits over a camp fire

[sgms18]

With pure lead & a round ball mold.

[Winger Ed.]

how o how did there ever make boolits over a camp fire

A fire made with oak of some other hard wood,
more or less pure Lead, and in the frying pan they also ate out of.

In cattle country, the same sort of fire got branding irons red hot.
And it didn't have to be a very big fire either.

[justindad]

Get a thermometer from Rotometals.
*
I have to set my RCBS pot to 820F so that I can cast at 720F. I purchased an analog thermometer from Rotometals for a reasonable price ($20??). I can concur that laser thermometers are worthless for measuring molten lead temperatures.
*
If using an analog thermometer to get your lead to the right temperature doesn’t help and you’re getting a good preheat on your mold - try fluxing the lead with copper sulphate (Zep Root Kill). I do this with all of my COWW alloy. The copper sulphate does an excellent job cleaning the alloy and will pull out any zinc that might get in there. Just don’t over do it, because it can pull out tin as well.

[Recycled bullet]

A fire made with oak of some other hard wood,
more or less pure Lead, and in the frying pan they also ate out of.

In cattle country, the same sort of fire got branding irons red hot.
And it didn't have to be a very big fire either.

"and in the frying pan they also ate out of."

They could afford guns, molds and bullets but didn't have a second frying pan???

[Dusty Bannister]

Probably had no one to warn them about lead poisoning. Just had to be careful about those lead injections.

[Rickf1985]

Frying pans were heavy, remember that they were cast iron. Everything they owned had to be packed in and out on their horse. Nothing extra was brought and as was stated, they had no idea lead was deadly other than coming out of a gun. Probably explains why there are so few old timers stories from those people, their memories evaporated from lead poisoning.

[RichBaxter]

Also, after cooked in that frying pan it was eaten off of a pewter plate.

[Rickf1985]

More likely eaten right out of the pan.

[Charlie Horse]

From now on I am going to pour my range scrap ingots before they get anywhere near the melting point of zinc. I might not even flux. Just skim. Heat from the burning wax might melt any zinc floating on the alloy.

[Nick Quick]

Every time I get my hands on range scrap I use it exclusively for casting sinkers. For sinkers wrinkles are not important. Even for jigheads if I powder coat them they look perfect.

[Wooserco]

More likely eaten right out of the pan.

I've done that! Just not with the one that I cast/melt in. I did have a friend (my casting mentor, a Korean War vet.) that cooked in the same pan that he cast from. He said: "I've been in Japan, I lived through the battle of pusan, sleeping in a foxhole with 11 rounds of ammo between me and Alvin. I'm good eating out of this pan."

I've cut one edge of the pot with a cut off disk in a grinder so that it won't be confused with anything cooking related. It does NOT reside in the house.

[sgms18]

Well, I've got a thermometer ordered & I'm getting ready to send some samples to BNE. I'll be back w/results after my next casting session.

[dverna]

Well, I've got a thermometer ordered & I'm getting ready to send some samples to BNE. I'll be back w/results after my next casting session.

Good luck. Hope you get it resolved.

[BJung]

I use range scrap and this is what I do. First, I use a frying ladle to sift out some loose dirt and pour the remaining wood from the shattered target frame and bullet lead bullets/pieces into a sack. Then, I pour out and pick out the jacketed bullets and cast those separately into ingots marked "J". The cores are more uniform and I cast .38 Special and .45acp bullets with this lead. I pour the rest into my oil pan and remove the wood chips that float to the top then pour out the dirty water and wash out the dirt. I pour this onto a used shower curtain liner and as the water drains down the driveway, rolls of rags catch the remaining dirt and wood chips. The lead stays put. i pick out the large pieces of lead and Hard Cast bullets. I use that for my 9mm and 40cal bullets trying to have an even ration of chunk lead to hardcast bullets. I test the ingots later for hardness and stamp these ingots "R". The rest of the small pieces I bag up and cast lead sinkers for my brother. i pour these into ingots made from a diving weight mold. Last are my .22lr and pellet scrap. I cast each separately and stamp the .22lr ingots "L" and the pellet lead "P". The commercial alloy is more consistent and I've found my bullet weights more consistent than mixing everything up. Maybe my casting has improved too. I am experimenting with my L and P lead with tin and casting LHP bullets. To add, after I cast, I separate my cast bullets by weight. My two cavity HP molds have different pins and the weight of each is different but cast from the same cavity, about the same. My gang molds are separated by weight and outliers are remelted along with bullets with imperfections. As far as molds with wrinkles, I thoroughly wash mold molds and heat them up to temperature. I hot plate is very helpful. I use the edge of the mold into a pot of lead and a propane torch to absorb as much heat first and then set in on the hot plate while I get everything else in place. Then, I might pour 1-2 bullets to get the mold up to temperature and I'm ready to cast. I always set my mold on the hot plate when I'm doing something like pouring the lead sprue scraps back into the pot, refilling my pot..

[TheGrimReaper]

I'm lucky. I've had great results using RL

[Charlie Horse]

Here's what some of the stuff I use looks like. It is full of pulverized bowling pins. And oh, it is a delight to melt. I have to make sure the wind is blowing away from the neighbors. But you do what you got to do if you want to be a cast booliteer.

[Gunslinger1911]

I'm one that has very few issues with RS, so far !
Sometimes needs a little tin.
Rifle boolits get the WW alloy.
I also have a newish Lyman Mag25 - digital readout is off by about 60 deg, I like to cast at 750deg and have to set it at 810.
Your new therm should tell alot.
BNE is a great guy - XRF rules !

[Bill M]

I pick up range lead when it's abundant, but I usually cast from WW, and a little solder.
Several years ago we had a range officer who cast bullets, and after a shoot he commented that he wanted to get some GC bullets to load some "hot" 357 mag. I cast him several hundred and brought them at our next shoot, the way he acted, you would think I brought gold! On the way out, he waved me over, and put a couple of 5 gal buckets in my truck!
I sorted the jacketed, and wadcutters, melted and poured the rest into ingots, I shared with my old friend, Pete. That was the easiest casting we ever did. I commented how well it made good bullets, Pete said it had to be, it was a mixture of everybody's idea of what a good alloy should be!

[sgms18]

I got a chance to do some more casting yesterday & have seen some improvement. I'm still getting some wrinkles well after the mold has warmed up but not near as many. I'd say 90+ percent of this last batch were keepers. 2 things I did differently. 1, increased my lead flow to fill the mold faster & 2, fluxed with candle wax instead of sawdust. I got a thermometer & the readout on my pot is fairly accurate. Within 5 or so degrees of each other so I feel better about that. I've sent samples to BNE for testing & am interested to see what he finds. Either way things seem to be looking up. I appreciate everyone the took the time to offer suggestions.