range bullets

[hwevers]

As WW availability is slowly going away, I'm wondering what the general composition of the lead in jacketed bullets might be? I'm just thinking in general terms; I'm sure different mfr's have their own recipes. Or is it just pure lead? I have access to a rifle and pistol range and plan on doing some Sunday morning mining.
Any opinions or suggestions appreciated.
Thanks.

Howard

[btroj]

I fing that in general it will be around 1 percent antimony and maybe 1/4 percent tin. This is for range scrap all melted down together.

Each company uses a variety of core compositions for various bullets. A 45 ACP 230 RN can get by with as often core than say a 300 HP for a 454 Casull.

[blltsmth]

I've tested mine after just smelting out the lead and recycling the copper. Same composition as 20:1, about BHN of 6. Airgun pellets test the same also. Not pure, but dang close. Use mine for swaging cores.

[shadowcaster]

Of the 1000's of pounds of range scrap (mostly jacketed) I've dealt with.. I have yet to see any of the lead be even close to pure. It has always come in between 12 & 15 bhn without water dropping or heat treating.

Shad

[MarkP]

I know one mfg uses the following compositions; pure, 3%, 5% antimony with the highest usage being 3% for most hunting bullets. Pure for black powder and varmint bullets.

[Larry Gibson]

Most rifle bullets are 0 - 3 % antimony and most handgun cores are 2 - 5% antimony. Never found there to be much tin. Add 2% tin and you should get an AC'd BHN of 14 - 17 which makes a very nice GP alloy. If there are commercial cast mixed in then the % of antimony goes up and there is a little tin also but no enough. With most of my RL, which is a mix of jacketed and commercial cast, I had 20 - 30% lead which brings the % of antimony down and then add 2% tin. That alloy will cast excellent quality bullets. That gives a very good balance of lead/ antimony/tin in the ternary alloy for a BHN of 12 - 14 and which WQ's to 23 - 26 BHN.

Larry Gibson

[AlaskanGuy]

I find that mine is pretty much the same as the folks above... I always add 2% tin and then after the boolits mature a bit after water dropping, i end up in the 12-15 bhn... Just fine for my use.... And i live off of range scrap.... For the most part...

AG

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

My hand picked range scrap is mostly from a pistol range, and is around 9 BHN. I bought some range scrap from a member here and his was softer, like 7 BHN.

I suppose it depends on the percentage of 22LR and plated boolits and Muzzleloader balls are in the mix, as they are pure or very near pure Lead.

[dikman]

My only guide to hardness is experience. I must have inadvertently cast some round balls from range scrap, as yesterday I loaded two balls into my 1858 Remmie and the third ball got part-way into the chamber and jammed solid!! End of days shooting. Went home to unload everything and had to drill out the ball to get a screw into it and hammer it out. Thumbnail test indicated it was very hard!

This is pistol range scrap, and I'm guessing a hardness of at least 12, judging by what others here have said. Unless it's collected from a black powder range I always assume the scrap is going to be hard.

(I had to scrap all my cast balls and have started re-casting, this time a bit more carefully!!).

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

My only guide to hardness is experience. I must have inadvertently cast some round balls from range scrap, as yesterday I loaded two balls into my 1858 Remmie and the third ball got part-way into the chamber and jammed solid!! End of days shooting. Went home to unload everything and had to drill out the ball to get a screw into it and hammer it out. Thumbnail test indicated it was very hard!

This is pistol range scrap, and I'm guessing a hardness of at least 12, judging by what others here have said. Unless it's collected from a black powder range I always assume the scrap is going to be hard.

(I had to scrap all my cast balls and have started re-casting, this time a bit more carefully!!).

I would think the drop test would be good enough for your hardness testing, but you'd probably need to use a bar shaped ingot (like from a $7 LEE ingot mold) as compared to a muffin shaped ingot.

after you smelt a batch, drop an ingot onto concrete, if you get a 'ring' like COWW then it's hard. If you get a thud like SOWW, then you should have an alloy soft enough for your 1858.

[kdiver58]

What are you using to alloy up the tin level? 60/40 solder is about $20 a half pound at any of the big retailers..

[AlaskanGuy]

I use the small ingots that Imashooter sells all the time around here.... They are small, individually weighted and very easy to work with... Plus, he is a great guy...

[dikman]

JonB, I use the "drop test" too, and know that the range scrap is hard. My problem was that somehow I managed to use the wrong stuff when casting. I'm a lot more careful about labelling stuff now!

[bhn22]

Of the 1000's of pounds of range scrap (mostly jacketed) I've dealt with.. I have yet to see any of the lead be even close to pure. It has always come in between 12 & 15 bhn without water dropping or heat treating. Shad

That's pretty much my results too.

[mold maker]

Near 3 tons, all from LE range, 12-15 BHN. There are 1 oz shotgun slugs, 0000 balls, and 223, along with mostly 40 FMJ involved.

[bslim]

The largest amount of range lead that I have worked with was from 100% jacketed bullets. Approx. 7,000 lbs. worth. Smelted, I get a consistent 9 brnl across the board. This is a mixture of all calibres combined in one smelting run.

[robertbank]

Just a tad off topic but I just scored about 100lbs of solder scrap from a local radiator shop. Guy was happy to get rid of it. Melted down into 1 lb ingots makes for a neat way to add solder to the mix. The lead containers I get from the local hospital that come with their radioactive isotopes arfe not pure lead and when melted down into ingots have a ring to them when dropped.

Glad to hear the cores are alloys and not pure lead. I mine our local range for lead as well.

Take Care

Bob

[hwevers]

Thanks for all the info. Much appreciated. Hope you are all enjoying Thanksgiving.

Howard