Stretching WW supply with Range Scrap

[Jal5]

I am thinking about doing this 1:1 WW to RS for 45 ACP, 38/357mag, and 9mm boolits.
Does anyone do this and if so how does it turn out? Thanks.
Joe

[tomme boy]

I treat my range scrap as if it were WW.

[bnelson06]

My range scrap is ww but that is only because that's what I shot into my range. On the serious side I don't see a problem with that, I'd try a small batch and check the results. You will probably be fine with just the range scrap in 45 and 38's. Even the 357 and 9mm would work depending on the loads

[tg32-20]

Jal5
I have been doing just that for years, since WW have become pretty much non existent in CA and I hate to use them up.
I mix 50/50 and add just a little tin. It works fine in everything you mentioned plus in some of my slower rifles. I do not push any of them too hard anymore.

[btroj]

The range scrap will be fine without the wheel weights. Range scrap is what I use for the cartridge you mentined

[blaser.306]

Without knowing what your range scrap consists of it is hard to tell what to treat it as! I am fortunate here as a lrge percentage of what winds up in the bullet stop that is at the range here is from plated slugs that have an advertised "hard cast " 6-7% antimony core. So a lot of my range scrap is actually harder than my WW alloy and must be cut with pure for slower lower velocity stuff.

[dikman]

No reason it shouldn't work, although if it was me I'd just use the range scrap as is. It should be at least as hard as the WW, possibly just a wee bit harder.

[Alan in Vermont]

sb 1.49, sn 1.23, bi 2.34, pb 91.94, cu .27, fe .80 is the analysis of my outdoor range scrap with 1% sn added. The alloy calculator gives it an estimated Brinnel(sp) of 10. I shoot it in all my handgun calibers, some at high velocities and 30 cal rifle at 1700+ fps with no leading problems. Plain base boolits have been to 1500 fps with no issues.

[JohnH]

WW was a desired metal back in the day because it was free or nearly so. Tire shops would give it away to be rid of it. A caster could supply himself readily with metal practically for the asking. Those days are gone. Have been for sometime. It has always been a useful bullet metal as it cast readily, was in plentiful supply, and it shot quite well for what it was. I remember when newspapers would sell linotype every year as they replenished their type setting machines with new metal, often for just 10 cents a pound. Those days are gone too. In these days of dwindling lead sources and increased cost, mixing WW with another metal just to "stretch it" makes little sense, especially if the alloying metal is one with the same properties. 100 pounds of metal is 100 pounds of metal it don't matter. If you hunt, and are into using the 50/50 lead /WW then set some aside for that purpose (for hunting, 20 pounds of metal is a life time supply) then shoot the rest as is, or treat it as a known alloy, using it for purposes of hardening for high velocity or high pressure stuff and use the range scrap for your everyday shooting. Seems like we are going to end up treating WW as we once (and perhaps still do) treat linotype, a metal desired for its known properties.

[scottfire1957]

I mix what little range scrap I pick up with the old plumbing pipe I get. With the solder joints, it then should be good enough to alloy with COWWs.

[captain-03]

The range scrap will be fine without the wheel weights. Range scrap is what I use for the cartridge you mentined

Same here ... been doing it for years ...

[Jal5]

Thanks guys for all the tips.

[geargnasher]

I used to cast all my handgun bullets out of clip-on WW + 2% tin. As I've experimented with more odd scrap alloys that tend to be softer, I've found that in a lot of instances it is better to have low antimony, even lower tin alloy for handgun calibers. Something along the lines of 50/50 WW/pure with maybe one percent tin added. It casts better, looks better, and shoots better. I shoot a lot of mixed scrap that contains fishing weights, dive weights, roof lead, sewer lead, shower pan liners, lots of battery cable ends, and various mystery chunks of stuff folks give me or I find at garage sales. There are also a lot of odds and ends from various berms thrown in. I put together a few hundred pounds of that junk, fluxed and fluxed to get the calcium and other crud out of it, and still find that when I cast with it it's too hard and needs to be diluted. I have a bunch of scrap pipe organ metal ingotized that comes out to about 25:1 lead/tin, so I soften the scrap with that at 4:1 and it's about perfect for all my handguns. That's sort of my garbage disposal for miscellaneous lead scrap, just melt it all together and clean it good when I get a big batch together, do a BHN test, and add to as needed to make something close enough for pistol work. For rifles I generally need something a little more "known" and use foundry stuff or things I can identify.

Gear

[williamwaco]

50/50 WW/Range Scrap will work great.
So will 100/0 WW/Range Scrap.
So will 0/100 WW/Range scrap.

So will anything in between.

I have used quite a lot of range scrap over the past couple of years.
It makes good bullets as-is but it is better with a little tin added.

I had one batch tested.
Lead 97.59
Tin 0.09
Antimony 1.1
Aluminum 0.11
Nickel 1.11

Since there are a lot of jackets in range scrap, I was surprised to see no copper.

It goes without saying that every batch of range scrap is going to be a little different.

[fredj338]

For lower pressure stuff like 38sp & 45acp, most range scrap works fine. 50/50 mix with clip wts works for near full power 9, 40 & magnum handgun to 1200fps or so.

[dromia]

All my rifle boolits for up to 1800 fps are cast from range scrap.

I actually find it too hard around bhn 15-18 so I cut it back with plummer's lead to around my preferred 10-12 bhn.

Works absolutely fine.

[sig2009]

Range scrap is a little too soft. BNH about 8 according to my lead tester so I mix in a little linotype to bring it up to at least 12 BNH.

[fredj338]

Range scrap is a little too soft. BNH about 8 according to my lead tester so I mix in a little linotype to bring it up to at least 12 BNH.
That's the issue with range scrap, it's all over the place depending on where it comes from. I get mostly cast & lead cores from FMJ, so my stuff comes out around 10bhn. Hopefully I get to take down a couple black powder range berms this spring. I would expect that lead to be mostly pure & quite soft.

[Kraschenbirn]

I melted and fluxed a batch of freshly gathered range scrap last weekend. Ingots test out at around 10 Bhn (Lee Hardness Tester) which is almost exactly the same as the batch I collected (from the same berm) last Spring. Mixed 50/50 with COWW and water-dropped, I use it for everything...handgun and rifle...up to 1400 fps.

Bill