procesing range lead.

[Maine1]

Did some bermining in the past, and smleted earlier this year, and i am getting ready for another un at it.

With the range lead, i easimate i did not get 25% of the lead that was there, due to TMJ and jacketed/plated rounds. have you guys come up with a way to do this efficeintly?
flattening them with a hammer might work, but will be slow as heck with 400# to process.

any ideas?

[williamwaco]

Did some bermining in the past, and smleted earlier this year, and i am getting ready for another un at it.

With the range lead, i easimate i did not get 25% of the lead that was there, due to TMJ and jacketed/plated rounds. have you guys come up with a way to do this efficeintly?
flattening them with a hammer might work, but will be slow as heck with 400# to process.

any ideas?


I tried it once. Never again. My scrap came from a handgun range. At least ten percent of them were FMJ - completely copper enclosed. No way to get the lead out. Another ten percent were jacketed with an opening at the base but the core was not lead and would not melt.

From 75 pounds of scrap I managed to reclaim only 28 pounds of lead.

Never again.

[30CAL-TEXAN]

All of my alloy comes from the berm.

It is an outdoor range with dirt berms and I only mine from the pistol bays. I have a galvanized bucket with the bottom cut out and a piece of expanded metal welded in. I skim the top 2-3 inches off of the bottom 3' of berm and shake it though the bucket. I get most of the bullets 35 cal and larger along with rocks, sticks and clay bird pieces. After about an hour worth of digging I can get enough scrap for about 300 pounds of good ingots. It seems that the scrap I get is about 20% cast projectiles and 80% jacketed. Most of the jacketed ones are already split open or deformed.


As for the processing, I have tried 2 different methods. One is the tried and true Dutch oven over a turkey fryer (with a lid). I find that most of the TMJ or fully enclosed bullets that are not already torn open will rupture or bleed out in the Dutch oven. I figure the few that are left are just not worth my time.

The other method is a torch directly on the scrap over a grate allowing the lead to drip through into a pan. This is effective but it is slow going and when those enclosed jacket do decide to give up the goods they can spray you with molten lead.

Don't give up on range lead just yet; it may be your only source someday.

[Defcon-One]

I use a dutch oven, covered, and run it hotter than normal for WWs. (Wear good eye protection and heavy clothing!)

There's no Zinc to worry about so 800 degrees F or so seems to pop the TMJs most of the time (with the cover on!). The FMJs with the open bottom are my biggest problem, I have tried a mesh laddle and shaking them out as I remove them, but I still don't get all the lead out. Picking out one at a time with pliers and dumping out the molten lead works, but is time consuming to say the least.

The heat softened copper jackets can be squished easy to get more lead. I just keep saying, get what you can, since it is basically FREE you don't have to get it all.

[tomme boy]

OK, this is how I get all of the lead out as I can. Get an old frying pan. When the lead is up to temp, scoupe the jackets into the fry pan. Before the lead has time to cool off in the pan, keep shaking it front to back. All of the lead will come out. It will look just like the junk you scrape off the top. Now I pick out the jackets in the pan and dump the dross looking stuff into a coffe can to put back in to the pot later. This takes some time, but you will get every bit if lead this way.

After I get all of the jackets out of the lead pot, I dump the dross back into the pot and stir and flux like crazy. After the jackets have cooled down, I run a maget to get out the steel ones and then I take the rest to the scrap yard for the copper.

[a.squibload]

tomme, that sounds good, don't have to grab each one out of the pot.

Funny how the jacketed ones heat up when you smash 'em with a hammer,
they get pretty hot! Haven't tried smashing a non-jacketed boolit??


edit: yep, figured they would but had to go to the garage and smash one.

[evan price]

I have a mesh strainer, I run my pot with turkey fryer wide open temp since no zincs to worry about...that's about 1200 degrees according to my infrared thermometer- I have melted aluminum in this burner... Once we have liquid it starts to oxidize fast so I turn down the heat, then I flux with used motor oil, the lead runs out of the jackets, I scoop them up and shake/tap the jackets on the side of the pot, gets almost all the lead out.

[Jailer]

You need a lot of heat to get them to melt. I have processed 3 five gallon buckets of them so far and netted 100lbs of lead for each bucket.

Once they melt, flux with sawdust while the jackets are still in the melt. It will help clean the jackets off when you remove them. Scoop them off with a strainer and shake the remaining lead out of the jackets. Dump the jackets off and save them for later.

After I was done I turned my jackets into the scrapper and walked out with $305 for my trouble. It's a lot more work than WW but well worth it.

[caseyboy]

The money I get for the copper jackets helps to keep me in primers and powder.

[evan price]

You need a lot of heat to get them to melt. I have processed 3 five gallon buckets of them so far and netted 100lbs of lead for each bucket.

Once they melt, flux with sawdust while the jackets are still in the melt. It will help clean the jackets off when you remove them. Scoop them off with a strainer and shake the remaining lead out of the jackets. Dump the jackets off and save them for later.

After I was done I turned my jackets into the scrapper and walked out with $305 for my trouble. It's a lot more work than WW but well worth it.


+1 to that, my full 5-gallon bucket got me about exactly 100# of ingots when all was said and done. Plus 20# of copper jackets. Roughly 70% yield of lead from berm bullets is what I have been getting according to my notes. Flux multiple times to get all the lead. I prefer used motor oil for fluxing but I have it available.

[Jal5]

I use a slotted spoon instead of a strainer but otherwise follow what Evan does. I get just about all of the lead out of the jackets that way. Cover that pot with a lid though.
Joe

[thegreatdane]

I recently processed a boat-load of range lead. I had great results and am using the product for cast HPs. The softer lead is fantastic for expansion with no fragmentation.

I liked it so much, I've built a sifter for the local range guy. He said he was picking 'em by hand, and if he had an easier way, he'd sell me more.

I think I'm on to something. Bottom line, range lead is cheap and GREAT for HPs.

[caseyboy]

There is also something satisfying about collecting the lead from the berm. Occasionally I even find my own boolits. Interesting to see the engraged lands, etc. Very green, the pinnacle of recycling.

[Boolseye]

I love outdoor range lead. I don't even worry about the HP's, I'm just very wary around the smelting pot 'til they've all melted or popped. I go after the shooting has stopped–I've been known to be out there sifting in the full dark. Besides, those copper jackets are worth good $!

[Old Caster]

When scooping large quantities and not checking it all, be careful heating it up because some fool might have thrown a bullet that wouldn't go off on to the berm and you can dig it up. I don't have first hand experience but I would think that it would blow the lid off even if it was a small rimfire. One of them would be mighty hard to see since everything seems to be the same color even when washed before smelting.

[mold maker]

I run the range lead in a cement mixer to get rid of the wet red dirt. I have found several live rounds while drying them on the drive. The cleaned lead produces lots less dross, and the wear of the mixer opens more of the distorted FMJ.
I also get ~ 100# of lead from a bucket, with 20-30# of #2 copper. I trade the copper to the scrapper for lead. In the end I usually get a total of 190# from a bucket of Free rang lead.
With lead ingots worth near a buck each, I figure my pay at about about $14.00 per hr, doing something I enjoy.
Now that's tax free money, with good healthy outdoor excersize to boot.

[thegreatdane]

...Very green, the pinnacle of recycling.

this made me LOL.