Recovering/smelting jacketed bullets?

[Markbo]

I am going to the range today or tomorrow and thought I would talk to them while I was there looking over brass, what they do when they clean bullets out of the berms.

Is it possible to smelt jacketed bullets? I am sure the vast majority of bullets will be jacketed and I don't know if it's possible by whatever means they use to remove it from the berms to pick through it or not for non-jacketed material.

[docone31]

Jacketeds are like lead. Some fight back, but not too many.
If there are some that are completely encased, beat them with an hammer. The jacket did not start that way.
The lead comes out.
It is near close to pure.

[Harter66]

I have a fryer basket for my cast iron pot that is a godsend for getting the jackets and keeping all the lead in .it is of the aluminimum sort with drilled/punched holes it will let you shake (gently) it around to let the trapped lead out of the jackets. I've taken to sorting my pickup into several buckets as I go (generally at home),everything in jackets, everything that was in jackets, hard or soft cast and slugs M/L balls buck shot. In this way I have more useable materiel of more certain hardness . Out of 50 lbs of pickup I get about 5# each of WW and 7BHNor softer ,30# of 10-12 bhn plus 10# that I don't have to put in the basket to get the jackets off of. I'm told that there is good trade in value for the jackets as long as you get the steel out.

As for pick up there are several threads with many meathods of collection from just picking up the loose stuff on top to actual mining equiptment .I've used a 5gallon bucket with 1/4" mesh over the cut out bottom to good success in the blowsand berms around here . My job has allowed me to put up simple traps on a range and incress my take and decress my work to get it.

[Shiloh]

Is it possible to smelt jacketed bullets?

Yes.

Most of my lead now comes from the berm. With the diminishing WW supply, it is a reliable source. Make sure your supply is dry when adding additional metal to the pot!!

Shiloh

[mold maker]

To make pre-sorting easier use something like a deep fry basket or a framed piece of 1/4' hardware cloth to wash the dirt and muck off the range berm lead. It drastically reduces the amount of dross involved and give the chance to find a live round before it finds you with hot lead.
Just pour the washed bullets, on the cement, in the sun, to thoroughly dry before smelting.
Scrounging for lead, while it's still free. will mean your still shooting when others can't afford to buy bullets.
Even range lead will no longer be available in the not too distant future. All it takes is the stroke of a pin, and ranges will have to pay to have, and keep, lead out of the environment.
Today's free picked up lead will be like gold tomorrow.

[Papa Jack]

I pick up a lot of lead after the snow melts....boolits laying everywhere at shooting areas. I also dig em out of old stumps, and also dig em out of road banks or what ever...
Good idea to clean em up good prior to putting em in the pot and I suggest you put a "lid" over the pot til they melt. I have had several blow molten lead all over the shop, they looked dry, but there was either moisture or an air pocket inside, ya never know.
I used to get old Wheel Weights ( and Batt. cable ends) from a wrecking yard, back then, they wern't worth much and they'd let me wander around with a screw driver and a pair of pliers and I'd get more WW's than I wanted to carry... Offer em a few bucks and we'd both be happy.. Now the price is up soo high, I don't think you could get away with it..."PJ"

[Fugowii]

I am going to the range today or tomorrow and thought I would talk to them while I was there looking over brass, what they do when they clean bullets out of the berms.

Is it possible to smelt jacketed bullets? I am sure the vast majority of bullets will be jacketed and I don't know if it's possible by whatever means they use to remove it from the berms to pick through it or not for non-jacketed material.

I just melted 75 pounds of berm scrap. I got a little over 40 pounds of ingots from
them. The residue was 25 pounds of scrap casings and unmelted jacketed stuff. I
sorted this over a screen to get rid of the small stuff and then sorted it by hand to
get out the jackets and the pieces of lead. I got around two pounds of lead, 20
pounds of jackets, and the rest was more scrap and rocks. I'm about to sort the
jackets with a magnet to pick out the steel. It's a lot of work and I wouldn't
recommend it if you don't have a lot of time or you just need free lead. I'm
questioning the future use of the stuff as well. My range scrap is culled from the
surface of the berm and it is a 9.5 - 10 BHN hardness consistently. Just as hard as
the WW I melt. Melting WW is a lot less work.

[Harter66]

Seems like I'm gettin more lead and less scrap than some. I use trap boxes also , its tough to pick up any volume of lead when our backstop is at least 50yds wide and and tall. My boxes make my recovery fairly easy and the wood fiber just becomes flux.