50 BMG Bullets

[Johnch]

Last night a fellow shooter called to ask if I melted the lead out of fired jacketed bullets

I told him YES
So a little bit ago
He dropped off 2 5 gallon buckets of mostly 50 BMG Ball bullets
That were fired into a sand pit

So when it cools off I will smelt them

But I like to add some started lead to the pot
As it makes the process quicker

Any clue what the normal ball lead core is ?

My first guess is a little harder than pure

John

[rockrat]

Normal ball core, IIRC , is mild steel, with a small piece of lead closing off the back end. Don't think you will find much lead there

[Johnch]

Darn

OH well

John

[btreanor]

Any steel cores you recover make economical and quite effective center punches. Plus, you can trade the scrap jackets for lead, too.

[Defcon-One]

I'd put a torch to one and see what comes out. Could be steel cores, could be lead. Be careful as some could have been tracers which occationally do not burn. Putting a torch to that would get pretty scary!

There has to be some lead in them.

[Johnch]

Any steel cores you recover make economical and quite effective center punches. Plus, you can trade the scrap jackets for lead, too.

50 Cal AP Bullets have a hard Steel core , I have one I use for a center punch

Saturday it should be cooler
So I will look what I have

I guess I can use the bolt cutters on a few to see what the core looks like

John

[Defcon-One]

Yeah, but Ball is different from AP!

The bolt cutters will give you an answer pretty quick. Good luck!

DC-1