db22
10-30-2007, 07:39 PM
Yep, I know that berm bullets may have any darn metal inside their jackets, but wheelweights are getting harder to come by around here . . .
So, I was trying to smelt down a batch of recovered jacketed pistol bullets from the club berms last weekend, and as I removed the empty jackets from the pot, I noticed a weird reddish dross collecting on the surface at around 800 degrees F. The more I skimmed, the more floated up. No amount of fluxing stopped this. Just to see what might happen, I turned up the heat, and watched the dross sorta melt away, and the whole mix begin to roil with funny colors, a sort of pinkish-green glassy substance coursing around on the surface. So, maybe aliens have been using the pistol range to practice with their blasters, or somethin'. When I turned the heat back down, the same reddish crust re-appeared on the surface.
Nope, no aliens shooting extraterrestrial alloy into the Western Wisconsin sand -- more likely some unwanted metal that was in the cores of the cheap ammo that gets used for practice. Any ideas what it might be? Poisonous? (most likely) After all that, I ended up with 2.5 pounds of some stuff that is shiny, but has blue streaks in the ingots. Should I cast with it, or what?
So, I was trying to smelt down a batch of recovered jacketed pistol bullets from the club berms last weekend, and as I removed the empty jackets from the pot, I noticed a weird reddish dross collecting on the surface at around 800 degrees F. The more I skimmed, the more floated up. No amount of fluxing stopped this. Just to see what might happen, I turned up the heat, and watched the dross sorta melt away, and the whole mix begin to roil with funny colors, a sort of pinkish-green glassy substance coursing around on the surface. So, maybe aliens have been using the pistol range to practice with their blasters, or somethin'. When I turned the heat back down, the same reddish crust re-appeared on the surface.
Nope, no aliens shooting extraterrestrial alloy into the Western Wisconsin sand -- more likely some unwanted metal that was in the cores of the cheap ammo that gets used for practice. Any ideas what it might be? Poisonous? (most likely) After all that, I ended up with 2.5 pounds of some stuff that is shiny, but has blue streaks in the ingots. Should I cast with it, or what?