Please don't flame me, but I think this is a valid question.

I've been a shooter/hunter/collector/reloader a long time, but have just started casting- which doesn't seem as "awful" as I have been told or thought it would be. Kinda fun, if you like it.

Anyway, with the high price of lead, I have heard that some people get the lead from indoor ranges and "recycle" it by melting it down and recasting it.

Well, we don't have an indoor range here, just our old outdoor ones. There is enough lead just sitting on the ground, in my estimation to keep a caster busy for quite some time. Of course, if you have the money, you can keep buying lead- cause it isn't worth the time to pick it up.

Hypothetically, what has to be done to clean the dirt and trash off the lead? Wash it, and then air dry it for a few days to be certain there is no moisture present, and then cast into ingots?

Comments, questions, concerns?
Just curious.

You're probably going to need a source of tin to add to the range scrap, since it tends to be close to pure lead.

Other than that, I just "smelt" outdoors and skim the dirt and etc. off, like I would with wheel weights.

You could do a hardness test on the ingots to make sure of what you end up with and mark them so you don't forget. I use a set of metal stamps, which will make a mark that doesn't come off. I stamp "WW" on wheel weight ingots and "PB" for pure lead, but any system you can devise would still work.

Paul's advice is good. Use a marking system to identify your ingots.

I would add the step of thoroughly fluxing and stirring the melt to get homogeneity, and adding tin to get the desired alloy (1-20, 1-15, etc).

Years ago, when I had unlimited access to Navy shooting ranges, I used nothing but range salvaged bullets for my lead pot. The jacketed stuff was something like 2% antimony, and rather hard compared to pure lead. Added some tin/lead solder, and it made a wonderful pistol and moderate velocity alloy.

With the modern trend toward swaged lead, JSP, and JHP pistol bullets, I would think the alloy is closer to pure lead, and would definitely use some 50/50 solder bars to bring up the tin content.

Range lead can be an interesting mix.
the end alloy is ultimately a metallurgical average of what if fired at that particular range.
It would be a fair foundation to use as a base for higher alloys more suitable for your tasks after a little trial and error.
Cleaning any lead should never involve dihydrogen monoxide solvents (water) as any water that might be trapped in the "dry" scrap can get nasty in a hurry.
just melt it down and let the crud float off. its much safer as a practice.

Ditto on the soft lead answers. I used a lot of reclaimed lead from an indoor range I once had access to. I didn't have a hardness tester, but it seemed about as soft as scrap lead. I made a lot of low velocity bullets by mixing it 50-50 with wheel weight lead.

When you melt it - just about anything will "float" on molten lead. I have a supply of cleaned bee's wax that I flux it with.

Range lead is great for part of your alloy. Like Paul said you may need to add to it. One of those sources is like armadillo said, wheel weights.

Take all you can get. The jackets will sell for scrap too. Copper is a valuable material as well!

Get a second pot for smelting. I know this can be an added cost but it will help in not producing gray hair later!

The nozzle on the bottom pour pots will thank you! Even though stuff floats in lead smelting in the pot you want to cast bullets out of is a poor idea. Or is it a "pour" idea? Pun intended!

If nothing else maybe you can find other casters that are looking for soft lead to mix with their alloy and you will have a bartering tool.

Soft lead, with the right size is a good thing. It can be driven up to 1000fps with no problem with a good lube. Bullet base type is a factor too. Plain base will work well with the softer material. It will obdurate at lower pressures and you will have a good seal in your barrel.

Be careful with range lead, and most definitely do NOT wash it. Any trace of water on that lead -- perhaps even a drop inside a crack or fold that got there from the last rain -- can cause a steam explosion in the melting pot, with very unpleasant results. If you're melting range lead I'd recommend doing it outside, and with great caution.

I use a lot of range lead and have found with the recent popularity of commercial "hard cast" bullets, its not as soft as it was years ago. I melt in a separate pot to keep dirt out of the casting pot. I do also use water to roughly clean the bigger clods off first. This is not a safety issue IF you start with a cold pot. As it heats up, the moisture is driven off long before the lead melts.

+1 75R90S! The water is long gone before the lead ever thinks about melting.

Adding wet lead to a melt is a different story.

Range lead is a great source, just melt it and cast it.

Paul:
Tell me about it .. water + molten lead = secret Nazi death camp toy.
While it is true that starting a water washed melt in a cold pot is safe, I still advise against it as batches of lead may span several pots.
the temptation to keep on truckin' can cause a live demonstration of what I refer to above
Sweet merciful Zeus Im not kidding

quote:

Adding wet lead to a melt is a different story. Eeker

That just sounds like BAD mojo.

Dirt and scud floats to the top, so why bother washing it and introducing water?

If you weren't around Herculanium when Vesuvius erupted, you could get a right nice representation of the event by tossing wet lead into the pot.

Here's my smelting operation.



There's about 90 pounds of lead in the old cast iron pot and to tell the truth, that one pot load was all I wanted to do at one time. I had a sufficient number of ingot molds (muffin tins) to do all of it without emptying and refilling any of them.

Some of the lead was dripping rain water when I loaded the pot, but all of the moisture cooked off when it got a little over 212 degrees F, about half of the temperature needed to melt lead alloys.

Water on the top of a melt will vaporize instantaneously with little harm. It's water that gets into the melt or in the ingot molds that creates real problems.

I get quite a bit of range lead and has been said previously, its not as soft as it used to be. I usually do one 5 gallon bucket at a time, flux it 3-4 times, I never wash it, just skim the dirt and stuff off the top. Usually will cast one or two bullets and wait for a day or two, then test it with my hardness tester to see what kind of brinell hardness I get from each batch. Then mark my ingots with a permanant marker for each batch. If I need tin I usually just buy a roll of 95% tin solder from the discount store and add that.

Great source of lead if nobody else wants it, its a shame to leave it go to waste.