Range mining

[John in WI]

Finally got out to the range for a couple hours this morning. They don't allow shooting until 9AM, which I didn't know (got there at 8) so I took my coffee can out by the berms and got to work.

I learned 2 things--You can fill a half a can in about 10 minutes if you find the place where they sight in slug guns. I found a sweet spot--just plunking ounce after ounce into the can. Every form of slug I've ever seen--even some of the Lee Key drives, and some weird looking foreign stuff. That and a bunch of .50 and .54 smoke pole stuff.

I also learned what the best part of about jacketed bullets is. We got a light rain--and thier jackets were shinking in the sun. I was plunking them into the can 150 or 200 grains at a time.

The other thing that surprised me is that when I melted it down, 1 coffee can was able to make 11 muffin-tin ingots. Maybe made a few bucks on copper.

Anyway--I think that's the way I'm going to get my practice in--kind of the "Zen of Shooting Boolits"

Get out there early, get my head in the game crawling around on the ground looking for boolits, then shoot a bunch of boolits, then melt down a bunch of boolits....

[aarolar]

Finally got out to the range for a couple hours this morning. They don't allow shooting until 9AM, which I didn't know (got there at 8) so I took my coffee can out by the berms and got to work.

I learned 2 things--You can fill a half a can in about 10 minutes if you find the place where they sight in slug guns. I found a sweet spot--just plunking ounce after ounce into the can. Every form of slug I've ever seen--even some of the Lee Key drives, and some weird looking foreign stuff. That and a bunch of .50 and .54 smoke pole stuff.

I also learned what the best part of about jacketed bullets is. We got a light rain--and thier jackets were shinking in the sun. I was plunking them into the can 150 or 200 grains at a time.

The other thing that surprised me is that when I melted it down, 1 coffee can was able to make 11 muffin-tin ingots. Maybe made a few bucks on copper.

Anyway--I think that's the way I'm going to get my practice in--kind of the "Zen of Shooting Boolits"

Get out there early, get my head in the game crawling around on the ground looking for boolits, then shoot a bunch of boolits, then melt down a bunch of boolits....

Nice ain't it, my issue is my source is a public range and no one follows the shooting hour rules or shooting day rules. Makes it very uneasy because you always have to be worried about someone coming up behind you to shoot.

[Alan in Vermont]

I had to go to our club range early the other morning to put up new backers at the 25 yd line. I had plenty of time to swap off digging holes for the uprights and berm mining. I came home with over 100 lbs of "ore" for what was a little over an hour mining.

I tried to get a start on smelting it this morning but had to go for propane for the plumbers pot first. By the time I got organized the temperature was rapidly climbing out of the comfort zone so I only got one small load done, 20 lbs of metal and a bunch of jackets. I shut down after the first batch and tried cleaning the orifice, the pot wasn't making the normal jet engine roar and it took just shy of (what seemed like) forever to get up to temp where the jacketed cores would melt out cleanly. It is supposed to be cooler tomorrow morning than it was today so maybe, especially if the pot is making better flame, I can get the rest of the haul cleaned up.

[fcvan]

Oh the joys of berm mining. I used to mine the berm at work with a 1lb metal coffee can, a plastic colander, and a 3lb coffee can. It only took about five minutes to fill the 3lb coffee can as the range hadn't been touched in 25 years.

I can remember the armory guys calling me and saying 'it's getting thick here and the slugs are rolling back on the 3 yard line, can you come thin it out?' Later, I started using a large expanded metal screen and shovels. We could get 3-5, 5 gallon buckets filled in no time. I sure cast a lot of slugs back when the pickins were so good! Frank

[Alan in Vermont]

My mining equipment is pretty basic, a garden trowel, the basket from an old deep fryer and several small buckets. When I find the right spot I get a couple pounds of ore from every 3-4 trowel scoops of berm dirt. In some places it's hard to dig with the trowel because there are so many nuggets it's like trying to dig in coarse gravel.

I finished the last of my smelting this morning. I did a couple batches last night, after the sun went down. Thought I was gonna melt! Welding gloves and coat, hard hat with face shield and 80-ish temps. This morning it was under 80 so I lit the fire again and did out one big batch and one small one. Used my new weapon for skimming jackets, an ice fishing skimmer. It won't fit in the small pot I have, about 20-25 lbs cap. but it works great in a 10" cast iron dutch oven.

The big batch this morning had some additions to the range scrap. There was a big piece of about 4" lead pipe and what felt like equal weight of linotype. I'm guessing 6-8 lbs of each, checked in the left and right hand scales. The range scrap was running a bit soft and I didn't want it any softer after adding the lead so I hoped the lino would offset it. Apparently it did as the batch rings instead of the thud I get from the straight RS ingots. There is pretty well to 50 lbs of that mix so it's enough to use for something all by itself.

[btroj]

I just melted down a heaping 5 gallon bucket full. I use a wire mesh skimmer like they use in a Chinese restaraunt for skimming jackets. Works quite well.

I use just my fingers for picking up range scrap. I can easily get a pound a minute or so. Makes it easy to get some each rane trip.

This years goal was to bring home more each time than I took. One trip saw 55 pounds come home.

I don't do this for sale, just my own use. Makes the fingers quite satisfactory for my needs. No extra stuff to take out with me either.

Just weighed the ingots- 183.8 pounds. that is a bit of shooting. I have gotten almost double that this year.

[WILCO]

my issue is my source is a public range and no one follows the shooting hour rules or shooting day rules. Makes it very uneasy because you always have to be worried about someone coming up behind you to shoot.

Go at night with a flashlight.

[aarolar]

Go at night with a flashlight.

The thought has crossed my mind more than once







Seriously...

[GilaMonster]

Go at night with a flashlight.

Sounds like you've never tried that!

I've tried lighting the berms with headlights, flashlights and those hi-intensity shoplights - yep, hauled a portable generator out to the range one night!

None of them works as well as sunlight. Too much direct contrasty light...couldnt tell a rock from a bullet.

[WILCO]

None of them works as well as sunlight. Too much direct contrasty light...couldnt tell a rock from a bullet.

I have lots and lots of answers. Never made claims they were good ones........

[Ramslammer]

G'Day All
Well I had a call this week and myself and a mate were given all the lead from a indoor range. Packed in 40kg bags (100lb) and about 25-30 of them. Looks like we've got a bit of work to do. Also been offered a 50 gal drum full from the local smallbore club.
Juddy

[Wal']

I hate you Juddy.

[JoeTheMechanic]

i just got about 200 lbs of range scrap last night at the public range in the national forest. get out there an hour after dark and go to town. trick is to find a good dry spot higher up so it falls right through the sifter. bring a dust mask.

i use it for target and full power loads in .38 spl with 50/40/10 paraffin/alox/olive oil and i get NO leading even after 1000 rounds.

[dRok]

Just built this for sifting dirt at local range. They built a new range and left the old pistol berm in place, should be lots of lead there. Going to give it a try tonight after work. Hopefully this works, bottom is high enough that I should be able to just dump lead right into a 5gal bucket. Thinking when there is dirt in it, should be able to lift it like a wheelbarrow and shake back and forth to clean it out. Ill post how it works, didnt take long to build.

[btroj]

How well it works is largely a matter of soil type in the berm.

A dive like that works best for sandy type soils. The berms I go thru are of a clay type soil and that would be worthless on them.

I use just my good old fingers and manage to easily get 2 five gallon buckets full each summer. That gives me around 350 pounds of range scrap in ingot form. That is a whole lot of shooting.

[John in WI]

I need to talk with the president of my club and see what's the official rule on range scrap. I asked if it was ok to "mine" it, and he said "as long as I don't know about it". So I've been keeping it REALLY on the down-low. Collecting in a coffee can modified with a 1/8" screen JB-welded in place, and tossing the boolits into another coffee can. If I got an official ok on it, I would build something a little more efficient. Of course, even with this small setup I can easily collect 15-20 pounds which is many times more than I shoot on a given day.

[km101]

G'Day All
Well I had a call this week and myself and a mate were given all the lead from a indoor range. Packed in 40kg bags (100lb) and about 25-30 of them. Looks like we've got a bit of work to do. Also been offered a 50 gal drum full from the local smallbore club.
Juddy

If you have more than you can handle, just ship it up here!

[btroj]

I need to talk with the president of my club and see what's the official rule on range scrap. I asked if it was ok to "mine" it, and he said "as long as I don't know about it". So I've been keeping it REALLY on the down-low. Collecting in a coffee can modified with a 1/8" screen JB-welded in place, and tossing the boolits into another coffee can. If I got an official ok on it, I would build something a little more efficient. Of course, even with this small setup I can easily collect 15-20 pounds which is many times more than I shoot on a given day.

I would stay small scale. My goal for this year was to always come home with more than I took. My daughter and I set a record of 56 pounds one day. All picked by hand.

I figure that as long as I don't tie up a shooting pit and don't damage the berm it is all ok. Being a good club member is important too.

[canyon-ghost]

I hate you Juddy.

In case you miss the translation, that's an abbreviated way of saying he's jealous. It's sort of a good-hearted teasing.

Good Luck,
Ron

[John in WI]

I would stay small scale. My goal for this year was to always come home with more than I took. My daughter and I set a record of 56 pounds one day. All picked by hand.

I figure that as long as I don't tie up a shooting pit and don't damage the berm it is all ok. Being a good club member is important too.

I think that is what the president was saying--leave the place in decent condition and nobody has to know anything. And why not? There is a TON of useful scrap within an inch of the soil. Not using any tools at all, I can collect about #20 in maybe half an hour.

You can bet I'll be out there after the shotgun "sight in days" coming up. It's easy to add some pounds if you can collect it an ounce at a time.