First time mining

[sigep749]

Went to the range this morning with a shaker box, shovel and a couple buckets. Ended up coming home with 260 lbs in the buckets, once sifted, but still some trash and dirt. I'm anxious to get it all cleaned up and smelted and see how much lead it yields. Time will tell!

[Pmc]

My experience is when I get down to just bullets (minimal dirt encrusting) it will yield about 75% lead 25% jackets.

[frkelly74]

Do not neglect trying to sell the jacket material at a scrap yard. Some places will pay good money for them as #2 copper or as dirty brass if you remove the steel frags with a magnet. Every little bit helps.

[RobS]

I've done berm mining in the past as well and it can bring about some free lead and more shooting :).

[sigep749]

I started soaking and washing some yesterday afternoon. Definitely need to refine that process! I've heard some folks say it doesn't matter, the crud will all come to the top in the smelt. Any opinions?

[Jal5]

I just melt it without washing first. You have to flux several times but all the dirt will come out. Saves time and my back. Joe

[Boolseye]

I recently traded a buddy of mine copper jackets for a pail of wheel weights and lead. Works for me.

[cbrick]

Washing range lead? When you melt it be very sure to start with a completely empty pot . . . DO NOT add anything to molten lead that could have even a remote chance of having water under the jackets.

By starting with an empty pot the water will evaporate before the lead melts. DO NOT take the chance of getting even a tiny amount of water below the surface of molten lead. The result will be extremely painful and take a long time to heal and leave nasty scares.

Rick

[btroj]

I don't wash mine. The water that gets trapped inside expanded bullets is scary. It gets between the jacket and core on jacketed bullets.

No washing for me. I store mine in a bucket in the garage and it sits and dries for months before I smelt.

[bobthenailer]

I recently smelted only the jacketed bullets that i mined , i got 225 lbs of 8 bhn alloy for me and 57lbs of jackets that i got $2.45 a pound for at the local SY = $139.65.

[sigep749]

I knew about water in the smelt, but didn't think about moisture being trapped in the jacket, thanks for the heads up. I live in Southwest Kansas, also known as a desert, so it shouldn't take long to dry out! I think I will try smelting dirty and clean, see if the cleaning process/wait is worth it.

[YunGun]

I too started out washing the range scrap, but quickly decided it took too much time & offered no real benefits. Add to that the increased likelihood of unintentionally inviting the tinsel fairy to stop by, & I quickly decided it wasn't worth the extra time & effort to wash it first. It does require a good bit of extra fluxing & skimming however, so it's always a good idea to remove as much of the extra trash as you can beforehand. As an added bonus, my sawdust flux is free, whereas I have to pay for the water....

[Smokepole50]

Are you guys digging this range scrap from private ranges or public ranges when no one is there?

[btroj]

Mine is airfare range that happens to have separate pistol puts separated by berms. I can use one by myself and go down range when I want without affecting anyone else. I don't mine on busy days as it may tie up that range and prevent another member from shooting. I frequently go on weekday mornings, not many other shooters there at that time.

[sigep749]

Member only range, used by LEO also. I dig early morning, best time to shoot too! We can also reserve the range exclusively.

[YunGun]

+1 "Member only range, used by LEO also."
I'll dig for lead whenever the range is clear and I'm not shooting, scavenging loose brass or looting the brass buckets. [smilie=1:

[Oreo]

Its fine to dump your ore out on concrete and hose it off to get the heavy dirt off. It will save you time skimming. But don't go crazy with it. The goal isn't to get the ore clean but to remove clay lumps & such. Just don't add the ore to molten lead. Let the melt cool and start to solidify. Then its safe to pile on more ore. Put the lid on the pot during melt-down to protect against any residual water in the ore.

By weight I get about 70% lead, maybe a little more, after smelting. But by volume even my cleanest berm ore is only 50% lead by volume. Like melting snow it takes a lot less space once its melted down.

[sigep749]

I'm looking forward to seeing what my ratio is lead produced vs weight collected. 70% is a little better than I was expecting.

[Driver man]

Watch out for unfired rounds also. Nearly got caught out last week. Looked just like the usual mix but was a badly corroded live round complete with primer etc. Nearly got smelted.

[Oreo]

Live rounds are another good reason to keep the lid on during smelting but truth be told it doesn't seem to be much of a problem to me. The round will go off way before its submerged in molten lead and unless its on the very top all the weight of the boolits above it keep it from going anywhere. I had a 45acp go off in my last melt. Other then the dull thud sound it made nothing even budged.

[WHITETAIL]

When I first get home I like to spred
it out on the pavement and wash it with the hose.
Then let it sit for afew hours on the pavement.
Then I shovel it up and let it stay in a bucket
with no top.
It will sit for almost a year.:holysheep

[Boolseye]

Are you guys digging this range scrap from private ranges or public ranges when no one is there?
Yes, with permission from the range.

[Pmc]

Took my jackets in today. Got #2 copper price for them. $2.71 a lb :)

[TES]

See Below

[RoGrrr]

After mining, I filled the buckets with water and let sit overnight to soften the dirt. Then I put a shovelful in my sifter/shaker box and used the garden hose sprayer to wash off the mud. I know you can smelt without washing but it leaves way too much crep in the smelt pot to dredge out so I simply wash most of it away. Pick out the shotgun wads and other crep, like sticks, larger gravel, etc. Then I spread it out on the driveway to dry. In the summer, it dries fairly quickly. If you leave it in the bucket, it will take a week to dry.

What I now do is put it into my dump bed trailer and spread it out evenly on the floor. I incline the bed 15 or 20 degrees and use the hose sprayer to wash UPHILL which does well to break up and get the dirt moving. Washing uphill tends to keep the ore in the trailer better than blowing it downhill. As the water comes back down it carries most of the dirt with it out of the trailer. Granted, not everybody has a trailer so you can call me extravagant. What I also found was that the round slugs tend to roll down and out of the trailer so I laid a piece of expanded metal flat across the floor which would stop those rounders from rolling out while still allowing the dirt to continue out the bottom.

sigep
Did you see my sifter/shaker basket in an earlier post ? I'm curious what yours looks like. Mine started out as wood and evolved to something quite sturdy yet effective. It can be seen here:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?174512-Range-diving-186lbs&highlight=186lbs There are 66 posts in the thread.

[zomby woof]

here is my berm mining experience. I did the screen and sift process and got several buckets of bullets. all were still in-cased in jackets, still intact. It was very difficult to remove all the lead from these still formed jackets. The jackets acted like little cups and keep some of the lead that just wouldn't come out. Also there was little bits of clay pigeons in the mix that made a mess of my melt pot. It was free, my back was sore from the digging and sifting and my melt pot has **** melted to the sides of it. I'll never do it again. I have access to indoor range lead, while dusty is much easier to deal with.

[Nose Dive]

I like to wash my range dug samples. I really have limited time to collect the samples so a square mouth shovel and my small trailer are the collection and transportation systems. Thus, I end up with a great deal of 'DIRT'. If you can dig it, screen it, and then smelt, I guess water washing is a useless step. But, I need it to clean the dirt and rock from the sample. Once home, I spread all on the drive way and 'gently' water wash, pick out 'stuff' and let all sit over night. Then, in a COLD EMPTY smelt pot, I completely fill the pot..really to overflowing as once the heat starts to work,,,the lead lets the copper mound settle. I come up very slowly,,,with Welders leather apron, sleeves and FACE SHEILD and glasses... Get a cold drink...sit about 15 feet away and creep up on the temp. Say, takes about an hour...AND NEVER ADD SCRAP to the pot...It is a hard idea to fight, but,,she can and will BLOW if we dump cold wet scrap into a hot pot. Then...before the smelt is completely melted,,,I flux heavily with saw dust and just keep stirring with safety gear in place. Once she is all melted and hot,,,can begin to dip our dross, trash, casings, etc..etc. Once 'clean',,,flux again and mix... Then into ingot molds. Empty the pot EMPTY,,,,and start again with the same process....Never add Scrap to a hot smelt pot. Always start with an empty pot. ALWAYS WEAR YOUR SAFETY GEAR.

remember.... It ain't fun if your hurtin'.

Nose Dive

Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.

[TES]

here is my berm mining experience. I did the screen and sift process and got several buckets of bullets. all were still in-cased in jackets, still intact. It was very difficult to remove all the lead from these still formed jackets. The jackets acted like little cups and keep some of the lead that just wouldn't come out. Also there was little bits of clay pigeons in the mix that made a mess of my melt pot. It was free, my back was sore from the digging and sifting and my melt pot has **** melted to the sides of it. I'll never do it again. I have access to indoor range lead, while dusty is much easier to deal with.

If you want to clean your range scrap and get 99% lead free of crud use a shop vac to vacuum all the crud out of the the range scrap bucket....

you can turn this...

http://imageshack.us/a/img21/9131/0415131155.jpg

into this.....

http://imageshack.us/a/img255/4995/0415131221.jpg

in 10 minutes.

Then all the crud...

this...

http://imageshack.us/a/img834/4051/0415131221a.jpg

is out of your pot! Should save a lot of skimming and fluxing.

Enjoy!

[sigep749]

Rogrr-
My basket is pretty simple, 1/4" screen sandwiched between 1/2 a 2x4.

TES-
Like the shop vac idea, will definitely give that a try.