How to mine lead from range?

[mongo]

It never hurts to ask, Maybe you could save the state some money by removing a couple of tons, free of charge of course, just doing your part to save the state some money in these hard times..lol

[Gtek]

I made mine to sit on top of wheel barrel. 2ea 6' 2"x4", 2ea 2' 2"x4", 1/4" mesh nailed on top and belly made in center. Made square about a foot from front. Set on top of cart, fill a little and stand behind cart and grab (handles) and wiggle, jiggle and bang on top of cart. Flat shovel reclaimed into bucket, cart getting heavy, back to hill. Gtek

[jmsj]

I mine a small private range and the one behind my house.
I use a frame with 1/4 hardware cloth mounted to the frame.
I also use this flat shovel that I modified to mine range scrap. It had a fiberglass handle that snapped in two. It laid around till I came up with the idea for using it for mining range scrap. I added another handle and it has made it a lot quicker to gather spent bullets

[Southern Son]

jmsj, that is just genius. I have an old shovel here that I got free with our house that has a busted handle...............

[DukeInFlorida]

Jeff_Holt and I cleaned out 2600 pounds of range lead in five hours using a Dirt Buddy. Was trying to get a group buy going for you guys:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=120437

[WHITETAIL]

I have ben range mining for awhile now.
I use a 16X10 wooden box with 1/4 inch
screen on the bottom.
Get a small garden shovel, and a 1gal.
can.
Then I just go before the range opens
and try to fill the can.
Then take it back to the truck.
Get my gun out and put a little
lead back in the berm.
You know give a little take a little.

[tomme boy]

Duke, does that run off 110V?

[mac1911]

I modified a clam rake with some screen to catch the boolits, beats bending over and the club does not mind as im not digging holes. I find the top 3" of soil around the bottom edge of the burm to have the most. Also you can find the pistol boolits skattered from the 50-100 yard area as the drop off rapidly after hitting the paper targets set at 25yards and just bounce around and settle on top of the dirt.

[jpatm2]

mac1911, pictures please?

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Remember a 1 gallon paint can will hold 20 pounds of scrap boolits !

BvT

[TinCan Assassin]

I will say I think it's scary how many bullets I found around the TOP of the berm when I went mining today. I wonder how many go over it....

[clodhopper]

I will say I think it's scary how many bullets I found around the TOP of the berm when I went mining today. I wonder how many go over it....

Damm..you are on to another of my hot spots!

[testhop]

i like a leaf rake for dry soil
when the soil drys after a good long rain .
the rain washes the soil off the lead . the rake dont mess up the burm .

[Jon]

Not to be critical---I tried this with sand..too heavy, as the sand would often pack and not sift through if it was the least bit damp. I made a 2' X 1' wooden frame and attached the screen to the bottom w/ "U" nails. I placed handles on the frame and would shovel sand onto it and then could scrape the dirt to help it sift better. With a shovel one can "feather" the dirt a bit and it won't compact as it will in a bucket. However I must say yours was very well constructed and you did a great job constructed it.

Thanks for the compliments on the bucket. I do have to be very careful about how much I put in it, and it's probably more work than a different style. If the sand is reasonably dry, and I only put in about half a shovel full, it'll sift pretty quickly. It was one of those first pass things that worked well enough to not need to build something else.

I am able to sift out about 100 lbs in 20-30 min though. That's usually enough to last me awhile.

Do you have some pictures of your setup? I'd like something a little easier to use.

[Wally]

Thanks for the compliments on the bucket. I do have to be very careful about how much I put in it, and it's probably more work than a different style. If the sand is reasonably dry, and I only put in about half a shovel full, it'll sift pretty quickly. It was one of those first pass things that worked well enough to not need to build something else.

I am able to sift out about 100 lbs in 20-30 min though. That's usually enough to last me awhile.

Do you have some pictures of your setup? I'd like something a little easier to use.

Sorry, no camera..I guess if I could afford one I'd not have to worry about scrounging lead....

Take some boards 1" x 3" cut two at 2' long and then make two to make a rectangle, at the right width to fit 1/2" hardward cloth that you "U" nail to the bottom on the frame. I then attach two handles. Much easier than the 5 gallon bucket---that I tried first. You lay the contraption on the ground and shovel in the sand... then lift & shake...then collect the lead... much easier to do then dig out of the bottom of that 5 gal bucket. The drier the and the better.

BTW I only bought the u-nails..found a piece of scape hardware cloth and the wood was from the bottom of a carton that a new refrigerator came in...

Do you have your own range? I have some more ideas that you'll like.

[Jon]

Thanks for the directions. I don't have my own range, but the club I belong to doesn't mind me mining as long as I don't leave big holes everywhere.

[GRUMPA]

Well just read the entire thing here and got me going. Planning to mine some myself soon it's just the distance I need to drive to get there. Hope I have as much luck as some of you did, but I guess I'll find out when I try it.

[evan price]

Here in Ohio the soil is thick heavy clay and screening won't work at all.

What I do is plan my trip so that it is a day or two after a heavy rain. The rain washes away the top layer of loose, dusty soil and leaves the bullets exposed. I thought our berm was gravelled until I discovered it was all bullets. I take a couple of 2.5 gallon buckets and just walk across the berm picking up what's laying on top. I don't mine or dig anything. It's very easy to get the buckets too heavy to haul out so be ready for that. Lots of small loads is better than one big load. The best areas to look are the edges and top and bottom of the berm. I often find bullets just laying there on the dirt and hardly ever have to do more than pick them up. Sometimes they shatter but mostly you can find nearly intact bullets.

I also hit the rifle range after deer season, people sighting in their slug guns on the rifle range leave a lot of 1-oz slugs and copper sabot rounds.

[mac1911]

jpatm2-- sorry no pics right now.
Basically took a clam shovel/rake the one with the basket. lined basket with 1/8 screen.
tac welded some scrap sheet metal across the digging prongs leaving about 1 1/2 in exposed to break up the soil a bit....We can not "dig" at our range but lightly rakeing is OK