Good range lead haul today

[wyrmzr]

I went out to the outdoor range today, and after firing a few rounds downrange, decided to see if I could easily scavenge some of the range lead at the berms. This was easier than I thought!
I ended up with a whole lot of lead just sitting on the berm, a mix of cast, jacketed, slugs, pretty much everything. After half an hour just sorting between what was bullets, and what was rocks/dirt/wads/etc, I walked away with 22 lbs of the stuff.
Much of the jacketed is wholly intact, aside from dirt on it, you would hardly know it was fired. That will have to be broken open, I assume, to make sure I can melt the lead out of it without issue.
I'm very surprised that there was as much cast as there was out there, as I thought someone would have picked up the cast, particularly since it didn't require any digging at all.
The only question now is what kind of hardness I'll wind up with if I smelt it all together. I'm not sure if I should just pick out the cast from the rest of the lead, and I'm not sure what kind of hardness shotgun slugs will have. I won't get any smelting done tonight on this, since it wants to rain, and my smelting setup is outdoors, but it looks like I've hit a good source of lead, for just some labor picking it up.

[canyon-ghost]

With copper jackets: I've read where some guys fill the pot with it before getting up to temperature, the idea being to melt it without the moisture (water) it collects, turning to steam and going pop. You basically melt the lead out of the inside of the copper.

The rest will end up hard enough if mixed.

Good Luck,
Ron

[wyrmzr]

I was thinking of just cracking the jackets open with a hammer if they're intact. I avoid adding anything into a hot pot, as well, when I'm smelting. I'm always afraid I'll add water into the mix. Once I've got ingots, there's less of a chance, but it looks like the "tinsel fairy" is an equal opportunity visitor if you mess that up.

[el34]

I've smelted lotso jacketed bullets, no problem. I give them a shake when skimming them out of the pot to be sure all the lead runs out. Some had total jackets but I didn't bother busting them open one at a time just for a small amount of lead.

[btroj]

I smelt well over 500 pounds of range scrap per year. No way am I gonna hammer every bullet. The lead flows out just fine.

Only issue with collecting range scrap I find is the addiction. I sometimes question if I go to the range to shoot or gather spent bullets.

A 44 Mag makes a great shovel for digging up more lead......

[TES]

Hardness on average is 11 to 12 BHN.....great for cast.

[allen16323]

I got I got about 1200 lbs of range scrap from indoor range and will have another 1000 to 1200 in a month when we sift the indoor pits again. Now need to figure out how to post pics. Will post when I get it uploaded.

[merlin101]

[QUOTE=btroj;2871636

Only issue with collecting range scrap I find is the addiction. I sometimes question if I go to the range to shoot or gather spent bullets. [/QUOTE]

I know just what you mean!! I have 4 five gallon buckets full to the top and working on the fifth one now, Gonna have to fire up the fryer soon.

[dbosman]

I've not yet run into a jacketed bullet that the lead didn't find its way out of.

[wyrmzr]

I feel that addiction; as I was out there just picking up the loose bullets from the top of the berm, I couldn't convince myself to stop. If I had been the only one out there, I'd have filled the ammo can I was tossing them into. As it was, it was 22 lbs when it was 1/4 full, and I could easily have filled it to the top.
I'm glad it was just an ammo can; next time I go out there alone, I'll take the same one. If I took a 5 gal bucket I'd hurt myself.

[Frank46]

We lost our old range about 5 years ago. Railroad wanted someone with deep pockets as there were two unlicensed dumps on the property. Anyway we have a better place now. The old range had been in operation for over half a century. And got shot heavily at for many of those years. I got 4 5 gallon buckets in about an hour just raking up bullets, screening them to get rid of the dirt and filling the buckets. Talked to one of the board members and mentioned the lead. He jokingly mentioned bringing a bulldozer to knock down all the trees that have grown since it closed. Now if you could get down to where the range was and had a few buddies and some tools you'd stand a good chance of filling up a whole bunch of 5 gallon buckets. Don't forget the bulldozer you might need it. And watch out for the snakes. Frank