Be careful out there

[ksfowler166]

I just heard today that a guy I know had a casting accident that I though I would share. When I first heard the words casting and accident I immediately thought his lead had moisture in it. Well I was wrong. It turns out he received some jacketed bullets from a friend to melt down. So he puts the bullets in the pot and brings it up to temp, then BOOM. I the pot explodes. At this point I am still thinking moisture or a TMJ, but neither were the case. What happened was that some of the bullets were incendiary rounds and the phosphorous had exploded when heated. The explosion blew out his hearing so he is now deaf, though I did not hear how much damage the lead did. Maybe we should add hearing protection to the list of commonly recommended safety precautions.

Stay safe and always check what lead you put in the pot.

[Iron Whittler]

One should use extreme caution when melting fmj bullets. Bullets with a seal on base are almost always tracer or incendiary rounds. If you want to find out for sure, I would put a few in a pot outside well away from anyone or thing that could be damaged. Light burner and get away for 30/45 min. If safe, you have molten lead with copper jackets floating on top. If NOT safe you will have fireworks. In any case, when melting fmj bullets of unknown build, The danger Can Not be Ignored. Proceed with EXTREME CAUTION and at YOUR OWN RISK.

[firefly1957]

When you find out more please let us know i am wondering what caliber they were most of all.

[buckwheatpaul]

Thanks for the headsup......

[tomme boy]

Had it happen to a 50 cal one time. The lid was on the pot when it happened. I was using a trommel to clean out part of a hill at the local range and ran into about 100 of the 50 cal bullets. Did not think anything about it till one popped in the pot. Now all the rifle bullets are sorted out. Its not too often that I actually even find them anyway.

[CGT80]

Thanks for the heads up. I have a bunch of hand picked range scrap to melt down. Last/first time I did it, I might have used ear muffs when I had the burner going full blast, as it gets quite loud. I did use a full face shield, respirator, gloves, and pants. I use a fish fryer and cast iron dutch oven. 75+ pounds of molten metal that could have live rounds or other unknown substances in it is no joke. I look through the scrap as I fill the cold pot, but I have found a live round mixed in. Incendiary ammo isn't allowed on our range, but it doesn't mean it couldn't happen. Maybe I should stay a bit further away when smelting. I worked in the garage while the lead cooked just outside the walk through door. Once in a while I put on all my gear and lifted the lid to check on the progress.

I have thought about using electronic muffs when reloading and just plugging them into my phone to listen to music. Some people have had primers or entire primer tubes detonate. I don't need to do any more damage to my hearing. It really sucks that that guy had so much damage.

Some precaution may look stupid, but once an accident happens, you can't go back and do it over again while protecting yourself. I decided to seat some proud primers on ammo I already had loaded, there was about two hundred rounds, otherwise I would have just used it for practice if it was a small amount (dillon 1050 presses load very fast, and they will seat primers exactly as deep as you set them to). I have a bench priming tool with a decent length handle. I knew the odds of setting one off were very low, so I suited up with a full face shield, muffs, and welding gloves and seated the primers with one hand on the handle and the other to my side. If one went off, my underwear would have taken the most damage. It went off without a hitch..........the process, not the pistol ammo.

What we do has some risk, but caution and protective gear can really reduce what may come of an accident.