Done with my final batch of range lead

[Huskerguy]

We have a small indoor range and we are allowed to gather the lead from the backstop. I have been doing this off and one for several years. The mix the lead with lino or COWW and it works great for me. The drawback is it is VERY dirty and has everything but the kitchen sink in it. Our range uses a fiber belting to stop bullet ricochets and it is mixed in the lead.

In the last 2 days I melted 7 buckets about 3/4 full of range lead the smoke and crap was just too much. I wear a mask the entire time as I have had lung issues in the past. I got around 400 lbs of nice clean lead but frankly it is no longer worth it. I am 67 and with what I have stashed around, this is going to have to do me because this stuff is just nasty dirty and stinky stuff. While I was cooking some off and the smoke was rolling off it I was sure some neighbor was going to call the FD. I started hearing the firetrucks and they kept getting louder and louder, so I am asking myself it they are coming to my house. They didn't but I was wondering for a while. So I am done, my stash will now have to last.

[Froogal]

I've never had that much range scrap at any one time, but I know how much of a stink it can make. I'm out in the country. Closest neighbor is a good 1/4 mile away, so I don't worry about it.

[Dusty Bannister]

Burning off the smoke can be very helpful. Burning candle wax or saw dust, it all can help reduce the smoke.

[mroliver77]

I am out in the country also. I smelt outside over a customized wood stove. I wait for the right wind direction and put used motor oil in the scrap and light it up. Much less smoke.
The older I get the more like work it is becoming!

[FLINTNFIRE]

I do it outside late afternoon into the night , start the propane burner on a 3/4 full half a propane pot of range scrap , throw in some limb and cedar bough debris from tree in corner of yard let it heat while I hit the brush with flame , after awhile some old motor oil dumped in , after it gets melted I throw in some more wood debris and more oil stir skim and any grease drippings from cooking go in, skim stir flux repeat , I agree it is work , but those clean ingots look good the next day .

[Huskerguy]

I do agree that the garbage in the mix works as a flux of some kind. But regardless of what is mixed with it, it has to burn. I generally use sawdust and old candles to flux. Yesterday I remembered that I had purchased some bees wax with the intention of using it to flux. It really worked well, of course, now that I am done!

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I have to admitt to enjoying the smelting operation. But I have only done about 500 lbs. so far. I have way more lead than primers now so I have not been scrounging. If I ran into a bunch of that cable sheathing again I would by a half ton if I could.

[Huskerguy]

I have to admitt to enjoying the smelting operation. But I have only done about 500 lbs. so far. I have way more lead than primers now so I have not been scrounging. If I ran into a bunch of that cable sheathing again I would by a half ton if I could.

I told my reloading buddy I was done with the dirty range stuff but would gladly melt wheel weights or lead pipe all day long. They are like two totally different worlds of clean.

[slim1836]

Huskerguy,

Won't the fiber belt material float in water? If so, throw all in a wheelbarrow with detergent and water, skim off the fiber material, stir and rinse the lead and its much cleaner. YMMV

Slim

[DavidB56]

I use a wax toilet gasket. they are only 2$ and work good for scrap lead.

[Forrest r]

I use a propane tank that has been cut in 2. I left the re-enforcement ring on the top/lid when I cut the tank apart using a 4 1/2" wheel grinder cutting just below the weld line. The top of the propane tank has a brass valve that I cut flat using a sawsall. The end result is there's 2 1/4" hole in the lid of that tank.

I put 150# of range scrap it that setup at 1 time and set it on a propane turkey cooker base and fire it up. With the lid on it there's hardly any smoke, everything gets contained/burned off. After 1/2 hour I pull the lid off and start scooping with a slotted spoon. After all the junk is spooned out I flux 3 times then make ingots & typically get +/- 100#'s of ingots from the 150# of range scrap.

Used to use a cast iron dutch oven, what a smoky mess!!! not any more with the propane tank smelter.

[imashooter2]

I’ve done a fair bit of range scrap myself. This is the last big cleanup I’ll ever do. It was 2012, and a lot of work then.



I have more than a good stash in clean ingots at this point. I suspect my daughter’s husband will be muttering about his crazy father in law as he hauls it out of the basement when I’m gone.

[Huskerguy]

Huskerguy,

Won't the fiber belt material float in water? If so, throw all in a wheelbarrow with detergent and water, skim off the fiber material, stir and rinse the lead and its much cleaner. YMMV

Slim

I have thought about doing this and read where others have. It seems like a pretty big hassle. Get the water out, put lead in the water, scrap off floaters, now get the lead out, dry it, a lot of lifting and sorting. The fewer times I have to handle the stuff, the better.

[Huskerguy]

I use a propane tank that has been cut in 2. I left the re-enforcement ring on the top/lid when I cut the tank apart using a 4 1/2" wheel grinder cutting just below the weld line. The top of the propane tank has a brass valve that I cut flat using a sawsall. The end result is there's 2 1/4" hole in the lid of that tank.

I put 150# of range scrap it that setup at 1 time and set it on a propane turkey cooker base and fire it up. With the lid on it there's hardly any smoke, everything gets contained/burned off. After 1/2 hour I pull the lid off and start scooping with a slotted spoon. After all the junk is spooned out I flux 3 times then make ingots & typically get +/- 100#'s of ingots from the 150# of range scrap.

Used to use a cast iron dutch oven, what a smoky mess!!! not any more with the propane tank smelter.

So 150 lbs of scrap nets about 100 lbs of lead. So that is about a one third waste, two thirds good lead which is what I get. Sounds like your system cuts down on the smoke but the end result is the same.