Range scrap question

[JWFilips]

On any trip to the public ranges when I'm there early & there are no other shooters I take some time to hand collect range scrap ( a little bit every week or so really adds up) Since this is stuff that is hand picked off the berms I don't have any rocks or junk in it (& no live rounds as is always warned about). It averages out to be about 75 % jacketed and about 25% cast pistol slugs. I started to sort out the cast slugs since I know most of the folks that shoot there buy commercial cast boolits. This way I sort of know what's in that mass…… but the question I have for the other 75% of jacketed stuff …Is there anything bad, metal wise, I should look for in this stuff? I have some bullets that look to have a blue (plastic) coating on them ( not the usual green of copper being oxidized) & There isn't anybody manufacturing any weird or bad metals that will mess up a smelt of this range scrap is there?

[Four-Sixty]

I have only done about 150lbs over my casting career, but have not found any bad metals that mess up the melt.

What I would watch for though, is adding range scrap to your melt. If there is even small amounts of water trapped in the bullets, it can 'spurt' when a bullet is submerged under the lead melt. It might be safer to do a batch at a time, and not add more bullets after you get going.

I have also found that some bullets that are deformed, can actually spray a stream of metal out of tiny fractures in the the copper jacket when the lead goes from a solid, to a liquid state. This is particularly problematic in total metal jackets. If you use a torch to aid in melting the bullets, like I do, from time to time you'll heat up what you think is a total metal jacket and it will in fact be a sintered bullet which can burst when really hot.

Although it is time consuming, I try to crush each bullet that is not already opened (the jacket is broken exposing the lead) or that the base is very dirty/oxidized so that the lead melts out fast. That eliminates a lot of these concerns and shakes out a little of the dirt packed in there.

[tengaugetx]

Understand I am very new to this. I have only done a couple hundred pounds of range scrap I have picked from the burms as well. Total metal jackets are a pain. I wouldn't pick them up from the burm if it was quick and easy to see what they were when I was picking them up. I heat my range scrap to a higher temp than I do my wheel weights. It seems to help the ones with alot of oxidation on the base to flow out. I also use a fryer scoop I bought at WM to dip and shake the jackets to get the lead out. I think a higher sided pot works better as well. It makes it easier to shake the lead out of the jackets with the scoop.

[groovy mike]

My recommendation is to put the range scrap on top of a cold pot and then heat it. This will evaporate any water before the scrap submerges and avoid the sudden explosion of steam. Other than that - stir and scoop out the debris. What is left nehind should be good lead.

[andreadavide]

I am an avid collector of range scrap.
I tend to separate the bullets in three groups:
FMJs= usually the core is made of swaged soft pure lead, and those will end in my muzzleloading enterprise
Bare lead= there may be some pure lead from ML, nearly 100% is "hard" lead, I keep them for the "ordinary" bullets.
Plated= A real PITA because to make a good work you need to crush the plating with pliers before melting them. But, when I have time enough, I do it. They end up mixed with bare lead.
Since I work in an University where we have an engineering department, occasionally I take some ingots for brinnell testing.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

On any trip to the public ranges when I'm there early & there are no other shooters I take some time to hand collect range scrap ...

I do the same thing.

To answer your question, nothing bad in recovered J-words.

of all the range scrap I pick, I don't get enough to take the time to separate. I just smelt it all together along with other mystery alloys I have saved up, and use it for plinking loads for revolver. But keeping the cast pistol bullets (which is probably hardcast) separate is probably a good thing for casting for high pressure loads in 9mm Luger or 40 S&W...I just never get enough of those from where I shoot...I think most of the cast I pick up came from my gun.

[merlin101]

I've been collecting range lead for for just a few months now but have melted about 200lbs and have about 300 more to go. I do a quick sift at the range and dump the ore in buckets, after sitting in the dry garage for a week or two i resift them. It's amazing how much dirt falls off the second time around! Thats when I take the time looking for DUDs and ****, FMJs I use a pair of cheap fence pliers to give them a sqeeze, the pointed jaws punch nice holes in the jackets. A lid on the pot helps keep the heat in ( haven't tried a torch on top yet). And last but not least I haven't found anything that messes up my alloy.

[evan price]

I get about 75% yield with my range lead by weight. I do not separate the jacketed, plated or cast, 22s, shotgun slugs, etc. and melt in one homogenous mass. That gets me about 8'ish BHN lead that water quenches to roughly 10-12 bhn. Use plenty of heat and flux it heavily.
The slugs with the blue polymer jackets are probably powder coated bullets. It's going to melt off when smelted.

[xacex]

Guilty! You may find red,white,blue,green,black, or orange polymer jackets in the berms I shoot in.