Anyone got a WAG on how much lead you recover from jacketed range scrap?
This is a local indoor range that only allows j-words.
Printable View
Anyone got a WAG on how much lead you recover from jacketed range scrap?
This is a local indoor range that only allows j-words.
Well the copper jackets are very light by comparison, so I'm going to say at a guess that at least 98% of the recovered metal's weight should be a soft lead alloy.
I recovered a lot of j-words a few years back and smelted them down, but I didn't weigh them before and after...
Also, a side note, You can possibly sell the jacket material back to the scrap yard for brass or maybe even copper prices. This is not true everywhere but it is worth asking about. It must be pretty clean and have all the steel sorted out of it to get the better price.
I sold mine to a scrapyard as #2 copper (which was generous of them) but all steel has to be removed and you want to get any hint of lead out of the jackets - bounce them a lot.
I reclaim lead from an indoor range. The last big batch I did I think made around 65-70% of lead. Lots of garbage in there, even though it was inside. I also attempt to pull out the jackets but they are not all the same material. If you want top price you have to separate them and make certain they are clean. I lump them all together and take less for them. They take forever to amount to much money. I am not sure they are worth it. I do have some old bottles full of jackets on some of my reloading room shelves.
Pound wise or size wise ? Amount wise the jackets and garbage fill up my pot , pound wise I am losing as not all jackets are releasing all the lead and the dirt rock and sand adds up , but as I did 2 batches last few nights and ended up with 240 lbs or more from about 1-2 hours of sifting and picking at the range .
If the berm was drier it would have been less waste , still worth it .
Well it probably comes down to how much you value your time , or disposable income , I find it takes a fair amount of time rendering the scrap , but I kind of enjoy doing things for myself so its just part of the do it your self for me .
$1 a pound for the scrap ? If I was needing it maybe , but if I could source other scrap I would go that route unless I had a scrap yard willing to buy the jackets , I do not have a yard willing to take the jackets so that is all waste for me .
I average around 60% lead return and 20% jackets and 20% trash. I smelt with a woodburner with a half of a Freon tank inset into the top of it. I fill tank with scrap and then a pint or so of used motor oil and light it on fire. I flux and stir and scrape the dickens out of it with oil, wax and sawdust. My scrap guy gives me dirty brass price for jackets.
I think that $1/lb is worth it, especially if you don't have any other local sources for bullet casting alloys.. indoor range stuff is usually nice and clean and if you got a scrap yard that is honest there should not be any problem getting #2 scrap copper price for the bullet jackets after melting the lead out.
I've learned through the years not to walk away from resources I have use for that are reasonable priced as long as I can afford it. if you pass it by you just might regret it if you got nothing but much more expensive options in the future. But at $1/lb I'm pretty sure you could resell it just as it is, folks can see exactly what they are getting, and get your money back from fellow casters right here on this site.
I have found that IF you don't flux at least 2 times with wax you won't get all the lead out of the jackets.
Sorry never weighed before and after.
Yeah, guess I need to get off my butt & start calling around to the scrap yards.
I’ve seen several threads about estate sale scores, so my wife, who is an estate sale junkie, turned me on to a phone app.
No reloading stuff yet, but I did score a nice old Coleman lantern, Army sleeping bag, and machinist vise at one.
I wish you luck in your pursuit of lead and alloy , I still have a stash of wheel weight from before this state banning lead wheel weights , but I like to get range scrap and other when I can .
I find that with the amount of bullet scrap I am processing that even fluxing 2-3 times or more I still have lead mixed in , but with all the debris and jackets that are not compromised it is going to be that way , as its just my time digging and sifting I am okay with a loss of alloy and after a few hours of kneeling stirring and scooping and all I am glad to be done with it .
I would rather get my scrap from cast only and the bigger the bullet the better , but I take what comes and keep casting and coating and putting aside for the future , on scrap yards the one I had bought lead from and sold old cartridge brass to closed down , still kicking myself for not buying more of what they had .
Have cast and coated some in exchange for scrap , mainly as a favor to a few , not my preferred way of getting lead unless it is making larger sinkers instead of bullets .
Huskerguy is spot on. 65-70% by weight will be your recovery from a berm. Indoor range should be closer to 70-75%. You will have some bullets that are complete FMJ that will not release the lead unless you put a hole in the bullet. Flux it and cast it. It is harder that you think. Range lead comes in at 98.3% lead 1.6% antimony .1% tin.
Copy that. Back when I was a small-time caster, I bought from a scrap shop that let me pick through 55-gallon drums full of COWW and lino. I’d fill a 5-gallon bucket & call it a day. Sometimes I’d find huge, clean tractor WWs.
In hindsight, wish I’d taken whole drums. But, I was young, poor, and married to a flake I later sent packing, so I doubt I’d have been able to keep em.
I once got a load of range scrap like this, You need to cut or smash all full jacketed bullets or they will explode. I had a cover on my pot so it didn't do any damage. I'm sure it would at least make a big splash of molten lead. I found not only that I had to flux 2-3 times but I had to get the jackets pretty hot to get them clean. What I did was took the jackets & dross out and put it to the side, when I was done I smelted the jackets & dross a second time.
These day's I wouldn't turn lead down at that price but I would stock pile it in buckets and if I had other lead or cleaner lead I would start with that & keep the range scrap smelting for later use.
"A local range is selling $1 per lb, so I’m trying to decide if it’s worth it."
I would pick up maybe 45-50 Lbs. smelt it see if it's worth it.
I agree, I'd give it and try and see what you end up with.
I get almost all my lead from range scrap. I used to think jacketed bullets all had pure lead cores, but have since seen comments say often they use hard lead. I guess range scrap is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get. Mine has surely varied in hardness.
As someone pointed out above, what is your time worth? How much are you going to get? What is your goal in all of this? As I said earlier, I remelt a bunch of range lead. I probably have 6-8 full buckets ready to melt right now, just waiting for the right day. It is a lot of work and there are fuel costs involved. I use an old plumbers pot that works OK, doesn't do big batches but keeps the lead from getting too hot. I have used a friends turkey fryer and that gets with the program.
If range lead yields about 70% you will have around 11/12 ounces of lead per pound. I know how crappy our range lead is, there is everything in it from shotgun wads, paper, to matting that is used to deflect bullets. A range that allows the bullets to stay more intact may yield more. If you have the equipment and want to spend the time, I say give it a go. Buy enough to give you some good results and set a side a nice windy day and start melting. You will find out how much work it is! However, it does look nice when you have piles of ingots setting around to admire! :)
$1/ # for raw range scrap? No way!
You can buy clean ingots here from our guys for that price!
Too much waste and effort
My local outdoor range lets me pick up scrap on the pistol range on Sundays. Apparently I’m the only one who does. What I thought was gravel appears to be lead bullets. I can fill a gallon coffee can with fairly clean lead every 15 minutes. When I get home, I hose everything off, pick out any obvious rocks, and get rid of as much dirt as possible. It then goes into a 5 gallon bucket to dry for months.
I’ve never weighed it, but it appears that I get at least 75% lead by volume from the melting pot. I toss the copper. I make fairly clean ingots, which I flux again when I’m casting. But I don’t think there is a consistent alloy. Most of the ingots are pretty good, but every now and then I seem to get brittle lead, perhaps because they’re hot when I fill mold. So I mix a few pieces of lead from other scrap, someone else’s bullets, COWWs, some shot, and toss in a little bit of tin solder. I’ve never had cast ingots from range scrap that I cannot scratch with a thumbnail. But I’m only casting for revolver, and everything is loaded under 1000 ft./s. Still a beginner caster.
If I had to pay a dollar a pound I wouldn’t do this. But it’s free, it works, and it’s fun, making bullets out of free lead.
I get range scrap from an indoor range that is probably 99% jacketed bullets. Almost all of it is 9mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, and .223/5.56mm. The backstop is metal and the bullets more or less disintegrate on impact. So far I’ve smelted a total of 174 pounds with a yield of 85 pounds of nice clean lead, so pretty close to a 49% yield. The ingots are very soft - probably 6 or 7 bhn, so nearly pure lead. I guess if your scrap was from a range with a lower percentage of jacketed bullets you’d probably have a higher yield and harder lead, but this stuff is free so I’m not complaining.
Edited to add - I’ve been here for almost two years and this is my first post! I’ve learned a lot!
Sierra makes the core of the bullet from four lead alloys: 6% antimony-4% tin, 6% antimony, 3% antimony, 1 1/2% antimony and pure lead.
All that crappy stuff in range scrap turns into flux or at least floats to the top. I used to remove all the paper pieces from targets and wood chips, until I realized it made good flux and I didn’t need to take the time to remove it. If you’re mining a dirt berm, the dirt is a problem. Best to wash it with water over a screen before melting.
IT depends. A 230gr/45 FMJ has a 200gr core. Me, I dont bother even melting anything smaller in jacketed. When I do collect range scrap at my local range, I pick up only lead bullets ore 230gr/45 FMj.
Attachment 279386
Attachment 279387
This is what I ended up with 169 lb's lead and 64 lb's of jackets and stuff.
If you can find a source of Wheel Weights, I'd go there first. I can get a 100 pound bucket of used wheel weights here for $5-$10 per bucket. That leaves a lot of room. I used to get 85% lead yield from that after hand sorting and smelting. Today I get about 60%, with much more Steel and Zinc. However, the Zinc can be cleaned melted and cast into ingots using the same equipment (different pot) and sold as higher grade scrap.
I tried scrounging fired bullets at the rage, and while yields were similar at around 65% lead, I had no idea what kind of lead that I had. Worse yet, I ran into a lot of weird alloys including some Bismuth. The work that I had to put in on both ends made the whole process too labor intensive to be worth the effort!
Either way, it is fun! Good luck with it.....
DC-1
I get my lead from indoor and outdoor ranges. The indoor ranges have primarily .22lr lead and all I an say is that it melts much faster than the jacketed bullets I get at the outdoor range. The outdoor range lead takes maybe 2x longer to melt and doesn't scratch as easy as the indoor range lead alloy. I'm assuming it has more tin and antinomy in it since I notice hard cast bullets mixed in the batch. I use lead art pencils to get an idea of the hardness and separate my ingots by hardness, then use the softer alloy for my .38 and .45 and my harder alloys for 9mm and .40. The softest lead ( indoor lead )is used for other projects and the uniquely hardest for rifle. I tend to break up my ingots of similar hardness and blend them together so I'll have a more consistent alloy when I'm casting large batches of bullets.
The current price lead is on the top of the forum webpage …Wallaces
I do 150# batches of range lead and end up with 100#+ of clean ingots. Typical batches and up with this, +/- 130 bars. Some weigh 1# others less.
[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/Yj0Qjnh.jpg[/IMG]
I tell everyone that I render 150# of range lead to get 100# of clean ingots. Anything over 100# is a bonus.
I have previously read similar statements (different pot) insinuating zinc will forever contaminate pots and/or molds. Call me a sceptic, but I find the idea of zinc contaminating a cast iron or steel pot/mold to be balderdash. I have suspicions that zinc vs aluminum stories have developed a life of their own and the many retellings have created a distorted reality.Quote:
However, the Zinc can be cleaned melted and cast into ingots using the same equipment (different pot) and sold as higher grade scrap.
That said, exposure to some science or actual experience could easily change my opinion.
This was 20-25% trash by weight:
http://imashooter2.com/pictures/scrap600.jpg
I get around 70% from outdoor that is mostly jacketed.
I would guess I get about 2/3 yield on the outdoor range lead I pick up. Last batch (from handgun range) contained a LOT of bullets that appeared to be FMJ and never leaked out their lead in the melt, so after they cooled down, I tried cutting a few in half but some of them just broke and appeared to be sintered copper or a copper alloy. After that experience, I'm not sure I'll bother trying to chop up the ones that don't melt in the future...
I pull the scrap from my local indoor, We have steel deflectors and a sand trap. I average 30-40% waste from it. Tend to get about 600-700# of ingots for every 1k of range pickup. Sometimes more or less, depending on whose helping me clean the range. If I'm real selective about what I collect, I've gotten to about a 10% waste. but that leaves a lot of junk (and lead) in the backstop that just builds up that much faster.