Scrap Range Lead Experiment

[Soundguy]

as others said. homogenize your scrap.. then go from there.

[fredj338]

I go 4-1 scrap to lino if I wan something a bit harder. Though range scrap works fine for all my handguns needs up thru midrange magnums. IT runs between 9-10bhn. Though I am now PC & water drop out of the oven, bumps them to 11-12bhn.

[SoonerEd]

I've got 2,700-2,800 lbs i washed this past spring stored in 33-36 5 gallon buckets in a storage building all summer to dry. I'll be smelting it in February after deer season and before crappie. So, got quite a project ahead of me. My test batch of 50 lbs i smelted tested between 10-11 BHN.

[243winxb]

Pick one.

[Soundguy]

I've got 2,700-2,800 lbs i washed this past spring stored in 33-36 5 gallon buckets in a storage building all summer to dry. I'll be smelting it in February after deer season and before crappie. So, got quite a project ahead of me. My test batch of 50 lbs i smelted tested between 10-11 BHN.

Nice... I foresee lots of spare ingots in your future.

[fal_762x51]

My mined berm lead is usually 12-14. I have been getting six 5 gallon buckets every six months. I should have stopped at 1k pounds, but I can sell or trade it in the future.

The goal is to make a snail trap and keep reusing the lead.

[Soundguy]

My mined berm lead is usually 12-14. I have been getting six 5 gallon buckets every six months. I should have stopped at 1k pounds, but I can sell or trade it in the future.

The goal is to make a snail trap and keep reusing the lead.

If you are averaging 12-14 bhn lead.. you must be getting lots of hardcast shooters. 14bhn is almost lyman #2.. which would likely be cast rifle bullets. Most lead from jacketed bullet cores I have seen are in the 10 bhn range.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

If you are averaging 12-14 bhn lead.. you must be getting lots of hardcast shooters. 14bhn is almost lyman #2.. which would likely be cast rifle bullets. Most lead from jacketed bullet cores I have seen are in the 10 bhn range.

Most large Manufacturers of cast pistol bullets use hardball alloy, BHN 16.

[Soundguy]

Most large Manufacturers of cast pistol bullets use hardball alloy, BHN 16.

Yeah.. i said they must be using hardcast.. And yes.. I know many commercial casters are making bullets darn hard.. and using darn hard lube.. so the bullets and lube look good after shipping.

[Bnt55]

Out of curiosity...would lead from an all rifle range (no pistol) have a higher BHN?

[imashooter2]

Probably lower. More jacketed, less commercial cast.

[Soundguy]

Out of curiosity...would lead from an all rifle range (no pistol) have a higher BHN?

If it was cast rifle only..yes..but as said.. Commercial jacketed rounds won't have super hard cores.

[Kraschenbirn]

If it's anything like the club range I shoot on, scrap from the rifle berms may have a LOWER Bhn than from the pistol berms. Why? Because most of what's mined from the rifle berms is jacketed commercial and milsurp with (nearly) pure lead cores. There are only two or three of us (from 250 members) who shoot cast in 'modern' calibers and, maybe another dozen or so who shoot 'cowboy' leverguns and/or BPCRs.

Used to recover a lot of commercial cast from the pistol berms but, these days, we have very few reloaders and those who don't reload shoot mostly jacketed 9mm or .22s.

Bill

[P Flados]

Bnt55,

No.

Most rifle ranges have a very high percentage of low BHN jacketed bullets. Your yield of lead per pound of scrap is also less as many rifle bullet jackets are quite thick and the longer bullet are more prone to trapping lead in the bullet as you skim the jackets out of your melt.

Commercial hard cast pistol bullets and plated bullets use very hard lead and are used at a much higher percentage of rounds fired in a typical pistol range.

Now if you have a rifle range that is more popular for large bore cast bullet shooting than a typical rifle range, you may get lucky. The big cast bullets for guns like the 45-70 are a great find when harvesting range scrap.

[Bnt55]

yeah, Im guessing its mostly deer hunting rifle calibers. I may get a bucket and see what I come up with, but it may be more work than what it's worth.

[P Flados]

If rifle range scrap is your only choice, it is still lead.

With the heavier jackets, it is potentially worth more effort to get them as clean as possible and try to sell the jackets to a scrap yard.

[imashooter2]

Call around before you put a lot of work into the jackets. Many folks report good prices selling them, but the yards around here won’t touch them.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Out of curiosity...would lead from an all rifle range (no pistol) have a higher BHN?

If it's anything like the club range I shoot on, scrap from the rifle berms may have a LOWER Bhn than from the pistol berms. Why? Because most of what's mined from the rifle berms is jacketed commercial and milsurp with (nearly) pure lead cores. There are only two or three of us (from 250 members) who shoot cast in 'modern' calibers and, maybe another dozen or so who shoot 'cowboy' leverguns and/or BPCRs.

Used to recover a lot of commercial cast from the pistol berms but, these days, we have very few reloaders and those who don't reload shoot mostly jacketed 9mm or .22s.

Bill

Adding to what Bill said about Rifle berms...
My club's rifle range gets a good dose of 22LR, Muzzleloader projectiles, and shotgun slugs...all of which are usually soft lead. Actually, besides the large percentage of 223/556 (police qual shoots), there is actually only a small percentage of centerfire rifle bullets in the recovered mix.

[fredj338]

Clip ww by themselves are hard enough for most handgun needs. Adding 1# lino makes them pretty hard, probably good for many rifle loads. I use range scrap 4-1 with clip ww for most handgun needs. If powder coating & water dropped out of the oven, plenty hard for even magnum handguns.

[Sasquatch-1]

If the rifle range you are mining is anything like the club I belong to, you are probably getting mostly .22 cal bullet such as used in the 223. Other then the members who show up just before hunting season and a cast bullet shooting group. Most of what I see on the rifle range is AR based. Using 1/4" hardware cloth screen will let most of those fall through with the dirt.

Our pistol range, on the other hand, has never been professionally cleaned out. Lots of big bullets and easy to get half of a 5 gallon bucket in 20 minutes or less. This is all I've cast with for pistol for the last 10 or 12 years. Occasionally I will add tin and almost never add Lino.