Raking lead

[Curly James]

Yep,

Raking, not mining, digging, or sifting. We hold monthly CAS matches at my range and also have quite a few steel dueling trees, silhouettes, and plate racks for our members to shoot at with lead bullets. I have been trying to come up with a simple solution to the layer of flattened/shattered lead bullets on the ground. Our pistol bays are sodded and then maintained for drainage/safety reasons. We also have an active lead abatement program in place to curtail any problems with the EPA boys and girls. So today I decided to try raking the lead up using a certain type of rake, namely one with a lot of heavy plastic tines that are closely spaced. This worked better than I ever thought possible, even though I only raked, gently I might add, for approximately 15 minutes I garnered about 25 pounds of lead. There are some grass clippings, empty cases, and dirt in the buckets but that will easily burn off or wash out. There is the danger of scooping up a live round but due caution in sifting before smelting should alleviate that problem. I will go back on a day when the temps aren't in the high 90s and try a little more raking. Quite a bit easier than mining or sifting lead and dirt dug from a impact berm. I also like the idea of all that lead being smelted and cast into ingots being and mine, all mine, Bwaaahahahaha. CJ

[Johnch]

I bet you could suck it up with a shop vac if power is close enough to strech a cord

John

[Freightman]

After a hard rain at my range you can get 100's of # by just a little raking and sifting. I have several five gal buckets waiting for cool weather to smelt down.

[Curly James]

I'm going to hit the fleamarkets/yard sales tomorrow in hopes of an old shop vac. The shot fall out areas from the Skeet/Trap fields have lead shot lying all over the ground. I think i can use the shop vac there and thanks Johnch, I'll have to give it a shot [smilie=1: on the lead on the pistol bays. IF it would rain here I will go back to what I call my big bullet honey hole. All the lead from the Quigley Buffalo Gun matches goes into two areas. One .50 Sharps bullet makes a whole lot of 38/357 boolits. By the way, I won't try to smelt any lead down until the temperature drops to below 80, it was 100 degrees here today. Take care, CJ.

[jhalcott]

At my club they will ask you to leave and NOT take your ill gotten gains. Every thing that lands on the ground becomes club property. People pay for the priviledge of "mining the lead."

[Jim]

The prez at our club will not only thank you for raking up range lead, he'll buy you lunch and praise you at the next meeting!

[Freightman]

Isn't that the truth, the secretary tresure told me yesterday that they were going to have to stop shotguns except for slugs because of the lead problem. Seem like the lead in the berms do not bother the EPA but lying on the top of the ground does.

[C1PNR]

Isn't that the truth, the secretary tresure told me yesterday that they were going to have to stop shotguns except for slugs because of the lead problem. Seem like the lead in the berms do not bother the EPA but lying on the top of the ground does.
Years ago our club hired a guy to come in and "mine" the lead from the Trap impact area. IIRC, he took up about 6 or 8" of the top layer of dirt, ran it through a separator of some sort to get the dirt out, maybe washed it, too. It then went through a process that lightly coated the shot with some sort of powder.

The club ended up with half a dozen or so 55 gallon barrels of assorted size shot. It was sold back to the members for just enough to pay for the service. Win - Win situation! :drinks:

I used that stuff in all my 16 yard reloads. Worked very well at that range, but if you moved back to 20 plus for handicap you tended to get a few missed birds.[smilie=1:

[Curly James]

Lead in the berm is a problem only if your berms wash out into a water way. Lead or lead shot on the ground is a problem because it oxidizes and the oxidation travels easier via rain wash or air. That's the EPA's theory anyway. However, liming the ground where the shot/ lead lies alters the soil ph and prevents oxidation. The EPA has a large manual available to assist ranges in maintaining compliance. I test our soil/waterways twice a year and maintain a record of the levels. There has been no detectable lead levels in our waterways. Hint, test the waterway at the point it enters your property first. I also am going to try a shot collection box(s) placed in our shot fallout areas to salvage and resell the shot to our members. We have recently renovated our pistol/rifle bays and held the "contaminated soil" in an area where it will not wash and our club members can sift for lead to their hearts content. Well, I like to do that, I can't speak for our other members:) . Also, to dispose of the "lead contaminated" soil requires paying for it to be taken to a specialized toxic dumping area. You can hold it in a secure :roll: area for as long as needed or until I can reclaim all the lead possible and then it's not "contaminated" anymore. So by raking, sifting, and vacuuming I'm simply doing my job and meeting EPA guidlines. CJ.

[Joey]

I use a small rake with close togather tines. I do scoop up a lot of debre. When I get home I dump this in a large colonder and rinse it off till I get all the dirt off. Pour it on the drive way to dry, then melt it down.