why range scrap is harder to smelt than coww?

[Skullet]

Hey y'all,
I just ran a batch of range scrap (inside not dirt) today and I noticed that it seamed to crust over after I got all of the full sized gas checks out of the melt. It seemed to skim over while I was ladeling it into ingots with what I could best desribe as a light tan powdery dross that kept forming as I ladeled it out. Is this normal for range scrap as I have not seen it in any of the COWW I have done previously.

I am sure it is something that I am screwing up but any pointers you all could provide would be really helpful.

Thanks
Skullet

[thegreatdane]

For range scrap, flux hard, flux often.

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[b2948kevin]

Probably dirt or other contaminants that you don't get on COWW.

[Oreo]

How hot was your melt? Were you using a thermometer?

[40Super]

I got several hundred lbs of indoor range lead that was pulverized from hitting a steel backstop.It is a mix of cast, plated and jacketed+quite a bit of .22lr . I just melt the pot full and fluxed with sawdust as normal, all of it pours and solidifies in ingots just like all other lead sources. I don't get any as your describing.What backstop are they using? Is there a lot of floor dirt mixed in?

[DRNurse1]

I agree with the frequent fluxing. My range scrap has oil mixed in so I use that to flux initially then lots of wood shavings. I leave a layer of ash on the top so I would not see this residue on my melt.

For range scrap, flux hard, flux often.

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[imashooter2]

Well over a ton of indoor scrap smelted here and I too have never seen this crust or even excessive dossing. I melt it, pull the trash off the top, flux it good one time with chainsaw chips and a lump of paraffin and then pour ingots. No issues. Picture of my scrap below. Does yours look like this? trying to think of what might cause what you describe. Does your range have rules requiring the use of sintered / frangible ammo for rifles maybe?

[I'll Make Mine]

Light tan powdery dross sounds a lot like pulverized remnants of sintered copper bullets. These things are designed for "lead free" ranges and to be easy on backstops, but very little of that material will dissolve into lead alloy, especially at reasonable smelting temperatures for swaged and cast bullets. It's probably not practical to try to recover this stuff, even with the current prices of copper, because it'll be so contaminated with lead that scrappers won't want to take it; if you can verify that it is in fact copper, you could try dissolving it into high content tin alloy to make a copper alloy for hardening boolits, but otherwise all you can really do is keep skimming it, and try to get as much out as you can before you cast your ingots.

[btroj]

Just one more reason to like outdoor berm lead? I don't have all that powdery stuff to contend with. I just deal with plain old fashioned dirt.

More heat and lots of fluxing may well be the answer. Flux, flux, flux. Lots of sawdust used.

[Skullet]

Thanks all for the advice

Just as an FYI i triple and quadruple fluxed the next batch I process they came out much cleaner and easier to work with. So the Flux Hard and Flux Often was the best advice. Thanks again for all of your input.

Thanks
Skullet

[thegreatdane]

Glad it's working out for you



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