In praise of backstop lead

[fortrenokid]

Howdy Pards

A large, outdoor shooting range I’ve used for years has tall, dirt berms for backstops. They are possibly 20 feet in height.

The berms are tall enough that various shooting clubs have their target sheds behind them.

Years back when our club was retrieving target holders from a shed, I noticed an abundance of brown and black pebbles on the ground.

Not brown and black pebbles. Nope … spent bullets. All shapes and sizes but 38 and 45 wad cutters are the most frequently encountered. Plenty of 9mm and 45 FMJs too. I suspect they skid along the ground and slide over the berm in the manner of a roller coaster.

They form an abundant, seemingly endless supply of casting lead. I’ve made use of them for decades.

I cast them into ingots and label them as “range lead”. While probably useful as is for low-velocity reloads, I typically add some linotype or 60/40 solder for additional hardness and to improve pouring quality.

Recently with time on my hands I took 30 minutes to pick up range lead … about all my complaining back would permit. I was rewarded with 19+ one-pound ingots. That’s a whole mess of 70-grain 25 caliber bullets and no small amount of 40, 44, and 45 bullets.

I frequent a near-by indoor range. They probably have a “ton” of backstop lead. While I suspect they sell it to a recycler, a next step would be to determine if they’d part with some of it for me.

I’ve been casting for several decades. For most of that time my primary lead source was used wheel weights. Tire stores gave them away free or charged a nominal amount. Now they sell them to recyclers. When asked about availability of used wheel weights, their reaction is not unlike asking them to donate a kidney.

So … backstop lead is my source of plentiful, free casting lead. The only expense is my time.

Mention this to alert Pards to a lead source of which they may not have been aware.

Keep on the sunny side.

Adios

Fort Reno Kid

[00buck]

I remember when tire shops gave bucketloads of free wheel weights away and were happy you took them off their hands.
Ahh … the good old days.

[BJung]

I suggest separating your jhp bullets from other lead. My ingot bhn has been more consistent because you don't know the source of all of the lead you salvage

[Winger Ed.]

Heat it up slowly and stir like the pot owes you money so when the Lead melts,
if there are any new generation Zinc boolits in there,
they'll float up before they melt and not contaminate your alloy.

[R-71]

Range lead is all I use for pistol bullets, I use purchased lead for my Paper patch sharps bullets but have used the range lead with some pure lead added to soften the mix. Last range trip I picked up about five lbs of bullets that were laying on the ground after the snow melted.

[lightman]

Range lead is fast becoming "the new" wheelweight. Even then you better get it while you can.

[GregLaROCHE]

You’ve struck gold! Time to start melting, fluxing and pouring ingots. Keep in mind that range scrap can vary in composition.

[Sasquatch-1]

I collected from my club's pistol range berm for several years. With the abundance of pistol shooters, we have I was able to take a screen and a rake and get half a 5-gallon bucket in about 20 minutes. Due to age and joint problems, I have stopped collecting. Since I have enough to last me for the rest of my life, I will leave the collecting to the younger guys.

[Targa]

My range has a company clean out the berms and they set aside a 5 gallon bucket of range lead every time they do it….they spoil me..

[RogerDat]

Berm Mining has certainly become a thing. Reuse is the highest form of recycling and I'm happy to do my part. Even the best places I know of for WW's are at best 50% lead and the rest steel and zinc. Not ideal for sure.

I would hope that folks that have access to lead from berms or other sources would do what they can to reclaim it and see that it gets into our casting community.

Myself I have sort of shifted to either premium lead or soft lead. The richer stuff is not often found but when I do find it I snatch it up. The soft if I can get a decent price because soft is like the flour in the bakery. If I have that I can buy or find something to alloy it with. Soft can provide the "bulk".

Happy Scrounging. Although prices are sort of high it doesn't spoil and it isn't getting easier to find.

[35 Rem]

When I shot on public ranges I always picked up some bullets to at least make up for what I shot that day. However, it's been years since I went to a range - I shoot on my own land now. I think I heard that picking up lead was not allowed on the range I used to use anyhow?? That don't make any sense unless somebody was digging big holes in the berm and not refilling them and knowing how some people are that may have happened and ruined it for everybody.

I always hear casters talk about getting free wheel weights in the past. I guess it depends on where you live. I started casting in 1978 and I never found anybody who would give them away. It was always 25 or 30 cents a pound, which I was more than happy to pay considering how much cheaper that was compared to jacketed bullets.

[RogerDat]

My WW's were never free. I got them by offering 5 cents or so more than the scrap yard would pay. That nickel difference translated into many hundreds of pounds of lead I purchased for just a touch over wholesale price. Worth thinking about where those opportunities are today. Ranges and berms. Look for those opportunities to network with the folks that can make that berm lead you casting lead.

[LenH]

I have come across range lead a time or two. When I visit my brother in the OKC area and we go to the gun club he is a member.
The club is located in an old river bottom and the berms are river silt. When it rains out there it exposes lead. The last time I got any lead
all I had were 4 or 5 plastic coffee cans (the big ones). it took every bit of 15 minutes to fill those cans full. It surprised me that most of the bullets
were of the jacketed verity. I melted that load and yielded about 90 pounds of ingots. I still have about 200 pounds of the stuff yet to melt.
It was testing about 9.5 to 10 BNH and that surprised me since it was mostly jacketed.

It is a never ending process of them dressing the berms out there. The club I belong to in the Memphis frown on mining the berms. Out ther in the OKC area
the guy that does the maintenance told us last time that if we were getting lead to get it that Saturday because he was going to derss tghe berms.

[fredj338]

Berm lead is about it in most places now days. I can get all i want every week if i want to render it down. Beats ww, which are hard to come by.

[higgins]

Several years ago I mined a cople of berms used mainly by action pistol shooters so it was mainly jacketed and plated bullets, but there was also a good number of cast bullets. These bullets were so thick that they gathered like gravel in the small erosion gullies on the berm. I sorted them into cast, jacketed, and plated. Cast ingots were always pretty hard, jacketed cores were very soft (and probably still are), and plated bullet cores could be soft, medium, or hard. The plated bullets could be mixed together for a medium hard alloy suitable for .38 spl. and .45 acp mid-velocity loads. Jacketed bullet cores needed to be mixed about 50/50 with cast bullets or wheelweight metal. Cast bullets that were obviously harder were set aside for rifle bullets.

[Charlie Horse]

Berm lead gives off a lot of dust during processing. Scooping it back and forth, and skimming. It helps if you can put it in a hardware cloth basket and wash it at the carwash. I won't process it anywhere near a living area, like a patio. My friend has a body shop/junk yard. I smelt my ingots there.

I've thought about mixing some kind of oil into buckets of berm lead in order to settle the dust. Even used cooking oil. Haven't tried that yet.

[BJung]

Can lead shot just be scooped up, cleaned, and just reloaded into the hull compared to pistol and rifle bullets that need to be melted and cast again?

[Winger Ed.]

Can lead shot just be scooped up, cleaned, and just reloaded into the hull compared to pistol and rifle bullets that need to be melted and cast again?

More or less.
You might want to make a sheet metal ramp with a slot in it to help sort out the ugly children.
Roll the shot down, and the round ones will make the jump.
If they have flat spots or aren't round, they'll fall through the slot.

[imashooter2]

I’ve gotten well over 2 tons of indoor range scrap over the years. Split some with my partner Pstew, but kept the lions share. Still have over 3,000 pounds in ingots stashed in my garage, shed and basement. I have used it without addition for both pistol and .30/30 class rifle loads with complete satisfaction. Here’s a picture showing the typical scrap. It came with plenty of free flux.

[frkelly74]

I agree, for years I collected lead from a public range where we lived. Here i collect range lead but not with the same diligence as when I was younger. I probably have enough but still can't resist grabbing the easy , available lead when i go shoot.