Tools for berm lead

[MikeACP]

Do you guys use anything to skim range berms with? Do you pick up individual bullets or what?

[buyobuyo]

Currently, I just pick what I can find on the surface and what uncovers from moving the soft stuff around a little.

I'm wanting to make some sifters out of a couple of ammo spam cans I have laying around but haven't decided on what size of holes to drill. I'm thinking 1/2" for one and 1/4" for the other.

Not to hi-jack, but do those sizes seem reasonable to you that berm mine?


PS: Make sure you wear gloves, those shredded jacketed rounds can be sharp buggers.

[MikeACP]

Sounds like a good size, but I havn't tried it yet.

[Colorado4wheel]

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r215/98sr20ve/DSC_3491.jpg

[MikeACP]

What did that basket start life out as?

[buyobuyo]

What is the size of the openings in your basket c4w?

[Defcon-One]

I did some scrounging and after filling a bucket and seeing what I had, I decided on a 3/8" hole mesh to get most of the bullets and the least of the sand & dirt. Rocks are a problem, especially at 1/4" and you loose a lot of good lead at 1/2". So, 3/8" seems to be a good compromise.

Too bad nobody makes hardware cloth at 3/8". Still looking for the right sifter.

[Jailer]

I use the aluminum basket that came with my fish fryer. Works perfectly. Scoop in a shovel full from the surface and twist back and forth until all the loose dirt is gone. I can fill a 5 gallon bucket in about 15 minutes with this.

[btroj]

I use my fingers. Our soil is full of clay and wads of dirt would end up in my bucket otherwise.
What I would give for a nice sand berm for sift thru!

Brad

[tomme boy]

This is what I use. I have two of these, one I use to sift for range lead. And the other is for sifting brass and cleaning media. I got both at cabelas. Seems like everyone I know that reloads has one of these.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v21/tommeboy/100_0769.jpg Works just like panning for gold.

[Colorado4wheel]

What is the size of the openings in your basket c4w?

I have two. That one is 9.5" wide and about 9 tall (basket not feet). The other one is a little taller and more narrow.


What did that basket start life out as?

Flat metal. I didn't make it. It's very, very well done. We have a local guy who makes them.

[truckjohn]

I just pick them up in my bare hands...

I made a fancy screen box - A full 60% of what I recovered was rocks and sticks.... It actually took me longer to screen it out, then pick out all the swarf than it does to just pick up bullets and dump them in an empty shell box. About 10lbs will fit in a shotgun shell box....

Thanks

[myfriendis410]

I made a screen out of 1/4" hardware cloth and two by fours. Shovel in one load, shake it down and dump in the bucket. At our old club we had a shaker table that used the same galvanized 1/4" hardware cloth on a frame that you could rock back and forth vigorously until the dirt was gone, and tall enough to put over a wheelbarrow. That way you could return the berm dirt to where it belongs.

You're always going to have other kinds of cheese in there including shotgun wads, clay targets, loaded .22 shells etc. It can get kind of exciting when you put fire to that stuff..........

[markinalpine]

Since I take my dog with me a lot of places, I have one of those pooper scooper sets in the back of my truck. It has a small dust pan kind of collector on the end of a 2.5' handle, and a companion paddle with a 2-3" wide blade that's sort of shaped like a wallboard taping blade. Use it with a plastic laundry detergent bucket that I set down, and also use the bucket to mark where I start my search. Use the same arrangement for brass.
Mark :coffee:

EDIT: Saves bending over!

[fredj338]

I made a screen out of 1/4" hardware cloth and two by fours. Shovel in one load, shake it down and dump in the bucket. At our old club we had a shaker table that used the same galvanized 1/4" hardware cloth on a frame that you could rock back and forth vigorously until the dirt was gone, and tall enough to put over a wheelbarrow. That way you could return the berm dirt to where it belongs.

You're always going to have other kinds of cheese in there including shotgun wads, clay targets, loaded .22 shells etc. It can get kind of exciting when you put fire to that stuff..........
This ^ You only need to dig down about 6" to get all the bullets you need. Just make sure you rebuild the berm.

[evan price]

Where we live the dirt is clay and thick and clumpy. Sifting it wouldn't work- I experimented briefly with water panning but it turned out to be too much equipment and work to bother with. I was just as fast picking up loose slugs off the ground than digging for them. If I want to dig I'll get a permission slip and come out with real equipment. Failing that, picking up with the Mk0Mod1 Eyeball & Fingers works fine for me.

[Harter66]

The places I'm working now are mostly blow sand I use 2 lost 5 gallon buckets .1 w/1/2 inch mesh for slugs and trash and I put 1 w/ 1/4 under it ,they catch probably 80% of what's there to be had . What has suprised me is the volume of plain odd bullets I've found along w/full APs from 22-50,100s of steel jacket hps,and lately dozens bullets in 9mm and 45 , I pick up what I think was from the like of a 460 Barret solid copper 1 1/2 oz.

[Ithaca1911]

I use a modified trailer, with a front-end loader fed hopper, electric motor vibrating a screen, and a blower to remove the rocks and clays.

:-)

[Nora]

I just pick up what is laying around the wood crib style back stops at my local range. Looking for a fresh "chip" piles around the back sides of each will usually have IMO a decent yield. a normal day will give about 5 to 8# in about a half hour of picking it up. I'll use the same (RCBS) stainer as tomme boy shows in his post, and a garden hose to clean of the loose dirt before turning it into muffins. The way I figure it is if I can go home with more lead than I left I'm doing all right.

Nora

[shotman]

Last year saw a club member.he had 2 kids with him. He used a garden rake and a back pack leaf blower . would rake and then blow a section. the kids would hand pick bullets. He was there about 2hrs and had about 3 5gal buckest full. kids had a 1 gal paint can and when it got to where yhey couldnt carry he would dump it in the buckets .
the blower worked good but was a little dusty. Bet mom give him down the road. kids didnt seem to care

[perimedik]

Last year saw a club member.he had 2 kids with him. He used a garden rake and a back pack leaf blower . would rake and then blow a section. the kids would hand pick bullets. He was there about 2hrs and had about 3 5gal buckest full. kids had a 1 gal paint can and when it got to where yhey couldnt carry he would dump it in the buckets .
the blower worked good but was a little dusty. Bet mom give him down the road. kids didnt seem to care

The health risk there seems to high. lead mixed in with all that dust and kids handling it? Wow...

Does anyone wear a respirator when they berm dive?

[Freightman]

The medical mask are cheap and disposable, and even if the lead is not a problem the fine dirt will stop you up, or at least it does me.
I cut the bottom out of a 5 gal bucket and replaced it with 1/4 hardware cloth, a five galon bucket yields around 135/150#