I have the opportunity to buy several hundred pounds of clean mixed bullets salvaged from an indoor range. What would be a fair cash price to pay per pound?
Scott

I don't want this to be taken the wrong way but I'm not sure I pay for it at any price. I have never gone to any range indoor or out side and not come home with more casings than I took there. 9mm is out there by the 10,000's. 357 and 44 mag may be hard to find.

Wait a minute, "Bullets" or "Casings"?

He said bullets not cases so I assumed he meant the lead and copper jackets?

Never good to assume!

EDIT offer $0.25 per pound since it's ftf and you're carting it away.

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Scrap lead,,

I see scrap lead usually melted down into some form of more easily handled ingots sold on the Cast Bullet Forum classifieds for $1 to $1.25 per pound plus shipping in a USPS flat rate box.

Some on there now:
-60# of wheel weight scrap for $67 delivered,,another same 20# for $23 delivered.
-Range scrap #28 for $28 plus $7 shipping

I used to clean out an indoor range just for the scrap lead,,but I was a lot younger then!

If the lead is already cleaned from the backstops and just needs removing from the premises, I'd think anything from .50/# and down would be a decent price for a caster. But then I don't cast anymore either.

Definitely cheap.. lots of slag...

I'd be all over it at $.25 and would try it at .$50 per pound. You can find quality lead ingots at $1.00-$1.25 with some searching.

How clean is it? I asked at a local indoor range and the owner told me he'd sell me the bullets from his back stop collection system for $2.00 per pound. I almost laughed. Supposedly he has someone else paying that much, but I can have clean ingots shipped to my door for those kind of prices.

Do you have experiences melting down wheel weights? You need a heavy duty setup to handle the weight of the lead. Also jacketed bullets can be a pain. I have thrown some scrap bullets into my pot and the lead doesn't just flow from them. They need to be cut or smashed in order for the lead to flow out.

The one positive is that you should end up with a bunch of copper scrap you can turn around and sell.

It would depend on what the backstop mat'l is. If rubber, I would pass, jut too toxic to melt the lead out. If a steel backstop, just lead & jackets. Figure 30% waste there, I would go 50c per pound. If you are collecting it, full on HM breathing gear & I would even go throw away coveralls & shoe covers. Lots of lead dust down in the trap.

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Most of the lead from jacketed bullets is dead soft and would need a hardener. 25 cents max.

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It all depends on what the range loads in their ammo & what people shoot. Most jacketed is a bit harder than dead soft lead. Most coated lead is much harder than dead soft lead, so it can be all over the place. My outdoor range scrap comes in about 9bhn.

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I'd check with the local scrap yards and see what they are:

Selling their lead for, a local yard by me sells their lead for $.25 a #.
See if they will buy the copper jackets. That same yard buys my copper jackets at #2 copper prices.

I recently got some range scrap for free. The good news is, it's pretty much the right alloy from the start. The bad news is that there was ALLOT of slag/jackets/dirt, etc. It takes extra time (and propane) to get it usable. Personally, I'd be inclined to offer no more than $.40/lb.

FWIW, you could always call the local scrap yard and see what they pay for the stuff.

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Dave

Beggers cant be choosers. Out here, scrap yards dont even sell lead. So cheap alloy is where you find it. There are guys over at castboolits selling clean alloy for $1/# plus fr shipping. Just drop it in the pot. If i buy, i buy that, but every location is diff.

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Hi Scott.. A few years back l bought scrap from an indoor pistol

range near Rock Hill.. Five gallon bucket usually weighed 150lb.

l paid $20 per bucket... BE AWARE!! Range scrap has DANGER.

lts also labor intensive.. Requires lots of sorting and inspection.

LIVE ROUNDS are always present in the stuff. Esp 22 rimfires:-(

Usually 1/3 being trash or jackets... 0n average, for me, after

ALL the work -cost 20cents a pound... Stuff is pretty soft too..

Around 10BNH, not bad for casting pistol boolits

At the range I go to I can spend the day cleaning up lead..

as you say labor intensive.. but free...

I've been buying clean wheel weight scrap from the junk yard for .60 per lb. Range scrap will contain jackets and dirt. So I'd say dirty un processed range scrap would only be worth about .20 per lb.

I don't cast bullets, but after watching friends that do, I can't imagine actually buying range scrap because of the additional work that would be involved.

Thank you people for the advice. The stuff I'm looking at is pretty clean as it is from an indoor range. I understand that it will have to be carefully sorted for the dangerous foreign objects like live rounds (yikes!). And I've been told to crack open the FMJ bullets so that the lead can melt out. Not sure the best way to do that, hit them with a hammer I guess. I've used bullets cast with alloy from the same range scrap and they work just fine in my .357's and .44's. I think they are about 12 BHN using the pencil test. I'm going to get some and give it a try and see if it is worth the effort but I'll have to get it pretty cheap for sure.
I appreciate everybody's candid comments.
Scott

Side cutters work pretty good on those encapsulated FMJs too..

Referring to live rounds.. l wondered how a LIVE on could get into

scrap from a 25yd indoor range... Watching shooters l quickly solved

that mystery by seeing what they did with a round that would not feed

or fire. F T F... lnstead of dropping the faulty round in the brass bucket

at their side, they would PITCH it downrange towards the bullet trap :-(

wheel weights? Like the ones used to balance rims on cars? Can almost any old lead items be used? like old fishing weights? old lead pipe fittings? Lead from car batteries?

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Generally yes. Some of it is too soft though and will need a hardener (like someone else pointed out).

Battery lead I wouldn't mess with. It's a pain to extract and you're dealing with corrosive materials

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

thanks. I didn't think there was much difference in leads as in hardness... good to know.

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Pure lead as from batteries and fishing sinkers is not alloyed and unless casting for a muzzle loader will be too soft and quickly lead up your barrel. Wheel weights are alloyed and plenty hard for medium speed handgun bullets. Using wheel weights for a rifle might need to have some linotype metal added to increase hardness.

Alloyed? is that why some leads are more shiny than others? Like Wheel weights when they are new?

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Lead wheel weights are banned in many states. Several states that don't have an outright ban have still discouraged their use for many years. Wheel weights made of zinc are becoming more and more common. Don't assume that the scrap wheel weights you pick up from the local tire shop are made of lead.

aww c'mon... just when I learn something new, its changed up again!
lol,lol,lol.... Thanks!

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If you weren't aware that lead comes in alloys that have different hardnesses, I suggest you go to the castboolit forum. very informative. very friendly people who don't mind answering questions (even if they've answered them before.)

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