I'm a Miner Now!

[kmw1954]

I am now officially a lead miner!

Last Tuesday I finally made an exploratory excursion out into the berms at the range I'm now working at. The 25yd rifle/pistol range has 22 lanes backed up by a sand berm that is also about 25yds high! From what I have been told is that these berms haven't been cleaned in about 5 years, and no one else has been digging in them.

So last Monday night we had huge storms blow thru dropping about 4" of rain with flash flood warnings. Made everything very wet but I went out anyways. When I arrived there was still standing water in front of the berm and ruts running down the face. There it was, washed out for the taking. Rivers of shot lead.

By 9am which was the soonest I could get in it was already 80* with 70% humidity. All I had with me was a small garden spade, two small shifters and two 2.5gal. buckets. Scooping it up was easy, needed a bigger shovel, the sand was still soaked and packed which made shifting it a real pain. After about 45 minutes I had to stop and get a drink and cool off then only lasted about another 15 minutes and had to quit.

Ended up with about a half a bucket. Don't know what it weighed but today I spent the morning rendering this down into clean ingots and got almost 22lbs. Haven't had a chance to test hardness but I don't think that makes a big deal. Now with a bigger shovel and screen and of course dryer conditions I most likely could have filled both those buckets in the same amount of time. Will make a second attempt next Tuesday.

[Winger Ed.]

Cool.
Even when lead was 25 cents a pound, I scrounged all the free stuff I could get a hold of.

It's a good feeling when ya beat the system.

With all the pure lead swaged bullets, if there is even a good handful of cast ones in there,
you might be able to cast with it as is for under 900 fps hand gun stuff.

[kmw1954]

Well not exactly Free, still have travel and my physical labor. Wife was kind enough to point that out. I replied that , "but I don't have to pay money!"

[kevin c]

No cash outlay is VERY satisfying.

Of course, your back may disagree...

[kmw1954]

In this case it wasn't the back but the chest.

[GregLaROCHE]

Nothing better than free lead.

[Winger Ed.]

Well not exactly Free, still have travel and my physical labor.

Doing that kind of thing also helps keep me out of those crooked BINGO parlors.

[Targa]

Congrats on the find, range scrap is the best! I stumbled into a free supply of wheel weights and I am appreciative of that but it is a lot of work for very little return, I am talking seven hours of processing for 30lbs of lead. I am going to get back into mining as well.

[sureYnot]

Well not exactly Free, still have travel and my physical labor. Wife was kind enough to point that out. I replied that , "but I don't have to pay money!"And you had fun! Most of what we do, if you break it down into dollars and time, isn't a good deal. I did the math and I "save" $20/hr reloading .223. I'd be better off, financially, to work a bit of overtime and just buy ammo. It would take less hours of effort to get the same amount of pew-pews. But my hours in the garage or reloading room don't suck as much... They're fun hours.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk

[kmw1954]

Just a couple of the prime reasons I came out of retirement and back to work.

1. I get out of the house and do something I enjoy.
2. Every day I meet new people and learn some new things. Actually have made a couple new friends already.
3. Bennies, free range time, huge discounts on purchases, firearms 5% over cost, free firearms transfers and I get to mine the berms!

Folks ask about returning to work and I start singing; "that aint workin, money for nothing, shootin for free". I might have to add that to my signature.

[CLAYPOOL]

Excersizing ( spelling - spell check won't let me correct that) i hate it some times, it's supposed to help you...

[RP]

If you can wait until it is dry take a leaf blower and star at the bottom blowing the sand back up the berm the lead will roll to the bottom nice and free of dirt. You may be able to get your bucket just right and it self fill a little trick I learned over the years

[samari46]

I used to mine the berms on our old pistol range. I made a sifter 2"x2" and used 1/4" hardware cloth. Set one bucket down and put the sifter on top and start mining. Shovel the exposed bullets into the sifter and when the sifter is full transfer into a clean bucket. Could only do this once a month as they closed the pistol range for their high power matches. Ist load of 6 buckets netted well over 400 lbs of range scrap. One extra good thing is that all the 45acp shooters all shot 230 grain round nosed hard cast bullets. So I pulled them out of the buckets and melted them separately. The rest got melted down in 100 pound lots. In fact I still have 3-4 5 gallon buckets still waiting to be melted. The old range is gone and our club bought about 160 acres which is now paid for and they now have a first class range. They do have plans to expand to either a 600 yd or 1000 yd range. Bullet jackets after melting get put aside and eventually get sold for scrap.Frank

[mac1911]

I am now officially a lead miner!

Last Tuesday I finally made an exploratory excursion out into the berms at the range I'm now working at. The 25yd rifle/pistol range has 22 lanes backed up by a sand berm that is also about 25yds high! From what I have been told is that these berms haven't been cleaned in about 5 years, and no one else has been digging in them.

So last Monday night we had huge storms blow thru dropping about 4" of rain with flash flood warnings. Made everything very wet but I went out anyways. When I arrived there was still standing water in front of the berm and ruts running down the face. There it was, washed out for the taking. Rivers of shot lead.

By 9am which was the soonest I could get in it was already 80* with 70% humidity. All I had with me was a small garden spade, two small shifters and two 2.5gal. buckets. Scooping it up was easy, needed a bigger shovel, the sand was still soaked and packed which made shifting it a real pain. After about 45 minutes I had to stop and get a drink and cool off then only lasted about another 15 minutes and had to quit.

Ended up with about a half a bucket. Don't know what it weighed but today I spent the morning rendering this down into clean ingots and got almost 22lbs. Haven't had a chance to test hardness but I don't think that makes a big deal. Now with a bigger shovel and screen and of course dryer conditions I most likely could have filled both those buckets in the same amount of time. Will make a second attempt next Tuesday.


We used to hit the berms after every rain storm. We could not actually dig the berms. We where allowed to pick up any bullets. I used a modified clam rake lined with screen. Just skimming the top inch or so you could get a lot of nuggets. We had one bucket with some drain holes and course screen. filled it up with a few pounds and used the puddles and a shovel to "rinse the heavy stuff off and then into a bucket. With out much effort we could leave there with 100lbs of scrap. I melted down the last of the batch I did about 4 years ago this past week. I have been using scrap range lead for my 9mm/38/45acp

https://i.imgur.com/AVAuoxyl.jpg

The trap range was easier to mine. find that fall out zone and its like a huge vein of ore! shovel and a few sifters and you can get 100lbs in about 15 minutes

[lightman]

It sounds like you are really enjoying your new job! After you mine for a little while you will develop a routine that suits you and the type of berms that are at your range. It just takes a little time and a little extra work until you do.

[kmw1954]

lightman, absolutely lovin it. Past two day were rather brutal though. 88* and about 75% humidity with little wind. Plus the range has been packed solid these past two days. Sure does feel good to get off the feet and sit down.

After talking with my boss starting next week they are going to show me how to lock up the range entrance so I can stick around for a bit after work and work the berms a little.

[mac1911]

Congrats on the find, range scrap is the best! I stumbled into a free supply of wheel weights and I am appreciative of that but it is a lot of work for very little return, I am talking seven hours of processing for 30lbs of lead. I am going to get back into mining as well.

what took 7 hours ?
Heck I did 120lbs in about 1hr 20min that included set up and clean up. I lucked out and the wheel weights where delivered to me so no time lost hunting them down.
Also a bonus is the wheel weights where 90% lead clip ons so sorting time was short

[Targa]

what took 7 hours ?
Heck I did 120lbs in about 1hr 20min that included set up and clean up. I lucked out and the wheel weights where delivered to me so no time lost hunting them down.
Also a bonus is the wheel weights where 90% lead clip ons so sorting time was short

Great question, I am pretty new to this wheel weights scene and it seems like a lot of time to me also. To get that 30lbs it took me processing approx 200+ lbs of wheel weights. So where your wheel weights are producing a good percentage of lead mine are less than 10%. As long as I get them for free I will keep working at it :grin:

[kevin c]

I guess free sometimes isn't. But I applaud your determination.

[mac1911]

Great question, I am pretty new to this wheel weights scene and it seems like a lot of time to me also. To get that 30lbs it took me processing approx 200+ lbs of wheel weights. So where your wheel weights are producing a good percentage of lead mine are less than 10%. As long as I get them for free I will keep working at it :grin:

oh man if your only finding 10% of lead in your buckets thats aweful. If thats the case I would speed up sorting by just grabbing the 1oz or larger easy to spot lead and move on and scrap the rest.
Unless you getting a lot of zinc. I can get decent money for zinc.
Most of my scrap wheel weights are coming in at 30% lead , 30% Zinc , 30% steel and the rest is plastic resin stuff.
Still only takes me a short order to sort a bucket. Again I dont get to picky. I go for the bigger stuff and pass the rest along. I used to melt my zinc dwon and sell it to cannon ball shooters

[kmw1954]

Got back out to the berm this morning but not nearly as early as I would have liked. After arriving I was roped into repairing some target stands so they are ready for tomorrow. Afterwards I once again picked a spot and started diggin. W/O even having to move my bucket I quickly had 100#. Sadly my screen sifter didn't hold up and the staples started pulling loose from the weight so I will have to fix that. Also by 10am when I gave up the temps were already 89* with high clear skies.

[The Dar]

Got back out to the berm this morning but not nearly as early as I would have liked. After arriving I was roped into repairing some target stands so they are ready for tomorrow. Afterwards I once again picked a spot and started diggin. W/O even having to move my bucket I quickly had 100#. Sadly my screen sifter didn't hold up and the staples started pulling loose from the weight so I will have to fix that. Also by 10am when I gave up the temps were already 89* with high clear skies.

If you have a Goodwill or other thrift store in your area, keep an eye open for one of these:

https://www.kohls.com/product/prd-2722534/food-network-grill-wok.jsp?skuid=50970496&ci_mcc=ci&utm_campaign=FOOD%20PREP&utm_medium=CSE&utm_source=google&utm_product=50970496&CID=shopping15&utm_campaignid=9733267189&pid=googleadwords_int&af_channel=CSE&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgaSk_KW86gIVTfDACh2fFwX6EAQYBSAB EgJDaPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I have two of them and paid $3.00 for each.

[kmw1954]

I have looked for those and a few other designs. But thanks for the reminder.

[mac1911]

i used 1" strapping and sandwhiched the screen between the boards i found a small 1 8" size worked good. If you have the the time and back for it you can build a larger unit. Also if you play around with "shaking" the lead/rock mix it will separate to some degree. Watch some videos of the commercial machines and get some ideas.
Few years ago on a windy day we used batter powered leaf blowers and blew off the top 1/2" or so of loose dirt and exposed plenty of lead to hand pick.
Since its " your job" you have some time and maybe resources to improve your skills.
Few tips
I have found alot of bullets nose dive at around 45' after passing through the target backer. I find a horde of alloy about 6' behind the pistol targets. The burm, i find alot of lead above the impact zone. It migrates over time. We can no longer mine lead at the clubs i go to other than hand picking.

[LenH]

At the club my brother belongs to south of OKC is in a river bottom. The berms are sand and easy to mine. He has a a sifting box made out of 2X2's and is about a foot square.
Both of us work for steel fabricators and he got some small expanded metal and made 2 layers and offset the exp. metal so that it even held .22 bullets. With a rake and a small shovel
we filled up a 5 gallon bucket is about 15 minutes. We could have filled a dump truck if we had the time.

I still have about 300# of the stuff to process and am in no real hurry to melt it. I gave a 5 gallon bucket of ingots of the stuff and am in no hurry to process the rest.

[robg]

mining berms is fun .i put sieve at 45 digrees throw shovel loads hard against it saves having to do so much shaking of the sieve.

[kmw1954]

So I have spent the last two days rendering down this 100 odd lbs of scrap in my way too small pan. So far from this I have 60lbs of ingots made with 16# more of scrap still in the bucket.

This evening I took some time and surfed thru craigslist looking for a used turkey fryer with no luck. If this is to continue I will have to upgrade my equipment and technique.

[mac1911]

So I have spent the last two days rendering down this 100 odd lbs of scrap in my way too small pan. So far from this I have 60lbs of ingots made with 16# more of scrap still in the bucket.

This evening I took some time and surfed thru craigslist looking for a used turkey fryer with no luck. If this is to continue I will have to upgrade my equipment and technique.

You can find deals on line for High Pressure LP set ups.
My burner has rotted out over time still works but the flame is no where near as sharp and blue/hot as it used to be.
There where some good deals on line for 150,000 200,000 btu burners. Have not ordered one yet.
Also try looking up used brewing equipment.

[Jtarm]

Here’s my proposal for a group buy:

10 acres of surface + mineral in SE Missouri.

Build a shack and start secretly mining lead a la “Paint Your Wagon”, minus the parts where Lee Marvin sings and the town sinks.

[fredj338]

Well not exactly Free, still have travel and my physical labor. Wife was kind enough to point that out. I replied that , "but I don't have to pay money!"

Sweat equity is free, unless you can make more money working. Most berms will yield 20-30# in about 15min. Go when the berms are dry after a rain. It is where I et most of my alloy since the lead ww dried up. Most berm lead will be about 8-9bhn, depending on what you are digging up.

[fredj338]

So I have spent the last two days rendering down this 100 odd lbs of scrap in my way too small pan. So far from this I have 60lbs of ingots made with 16# more of scrap still in the bucket.

This evening I took some time and surfed thru craigslist looking for a used turkey fryer with no luck. If this is to continue I will have to upgrade my equipment and technique.
Yes you want a high btu turkey fryer & a old cast iron Dutch oven. They hold about 60# worth but I never have mine more than 50% full. Always leave an inch or so on the bottom, makes for faster melting next time.

[kmw1954]

ferdj338 that 8-9bhn is also about what I'm finding. Again my first exploratory trip was after a hard nights rain and the sand was still wet. Made it hard to dig and sift as the sand was still clumping. Though there it was right in front of me, rivers of shiny silver and gold were the sand washed away. That day all I had was a bucket, small trowel and a small sifter and within a 1/2hr I still had over 30 lbs. Then I had to stop because it was getting too hot and humid and was feeling the heat.

Next trip back it was dry and hot again but I had a larger sifter and a regular shovel. Still only lasted about an hour in the heat but came away with over 100lbs and never had to relocate to another area.

Have also been working on a new burner for melting and just cut a helium tank for a pot. that topic is located here; http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?405271-New-burner

[mac1911]

ferdj338 that 8-9bhn is also about what I'm finding. Again my first exploratory trip was after a hard nights rain and the sand was still wet. Made it hard to dig and sift as the sand was still clumping. Though there it was right in front of me, rivers of shiny silver and gold were the sand washed away. That day all I had was a bucket, small trowel and a small sifter and within a 1/2hr I still had over 30 lbs. Then I had to stop because it was getting too hot and humid and was feeling the heat.

Next trip back it was dry and hot again but I had a larger sifter and a regular shovel. Still only lasted about an hour in the heat but came away with over 100lbs and never had to relocate to another area.

Have also been working on a new burner for melting and just cut a helium tank for a pot. that topic is located here; http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?405271-New-burner

This was my favorite mining tool.
Added finer mesh to the basket
https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p/f-jneil-clam-rake-16fneutdrtclmrks1fac/16fneutdrtclmrks1fac

[Hanzy4200]

I usually do this about once a year. We had weeks of dry heat, then the day after I started me 3 week vacation, it dumped 4-5 inches of rain. It's much easier to get at the lead in powdery dry soil. Using a highly modified $.98 plastic Walmart colander, I can usual pull 200 lbs of raw "ore" in less than a hour. I usually get 75% return. 150 lbs a hour. I need to get out there...…..might have a heat stroke.