I can get free range lead

[Avery11]

It's indoor stuff and cleaning the trap was easy - just a shovel and buckets. No climbing around getting covered in dust and grime.

I'd say there must be a good 3000 lbs with some wood splinters, rubber curtain, and jackets mixed in. I t will be easy to smelt as every single round is splayed open by the trap leaving few fully jacketed rounds to squirt.

There is alot of dust in the mix. Will that melt back into useable lead. Should I pick throught for all the little wood and rubber or just get the big stuff out. I think little splinters will just burn up but what about the rubber?

Is this stuff even worth it? I harvested the first batch last night and took about 320 lbs in 15 minutes.

Skip, I read your advice from behind the curtain so you don't know me but I know you a little. I hope you get a minute to chime in.

 

[Alk8944]

You virtually have a old mine!

It will all melt, except for bullet jackets, gas checks and the odd case, just flux and stir it well before skimming.

The wood and rubber will burn off but give a lot of smoke doing so. I would strongly recommend doing the initial cleaning/melting of this outside.

Depending on what the predominating bullets in the mix are you are likely to need an additional 2-3% Tin to alloy with the stuff. Most commercial cast bullets are Tin deficient, as are .22 rimfire bullets and jacketed bullet cores.

 

[gmiller0737]

I would sure recomend wearing a Respirator Mask while retrieving that stuff don't breathe in that lead dust!

 

[Smith357]

I'll come and help you do the work for a few buckets of scrap.

 

[J-FRAME]

Yes the proper mask and a pair of mechanic coveralls- socks and shoes and gloves just for this work. Washing up etc very important and get a annual lead test. I do then I know I,m ok

 

[Avery11]

I did wear a mask and gloves. I shook off my clothes outside then washed immediately. The dust wasn't bad. I left the air handler off so it wouldn't swirl.

I took it slow to keep the dust down but it really doesn't kick up too much as it is so heavy.

Most of the guys reload and shoot non-jacketed so I'd say it may be about 40% hard cast already. I am the only one who is taking this stuff and the range sees about 75 shooters weekly, year around. I imagine it will yield at least 5000 lbs annually but I don't know for sure.

$Free.99 is as good as it gets so I can deal with a little outdoor smoke. I've been very fortunate so far. I'm two weeks into collecting and have 4 confirmed sources for WW and all this free lead from my club. The WW cost me but it is low. For just under 500 lbs I paid $130 and I have much more to collect.

I now have more than 800 lbs to smelt and I don't even have all the equipment to do it. The lead won't stop coming long enough for me to get set up. Is there a market for the surplus or should I keep it all?

Where does one get tin?

 

[GypsmJim]

Very interesting question, as I have the same opportunity.

I cast my own bullets using my own formula. I have 2 ranges at my hunting camp and I often harvest the lead. Butttttt, its MY own and I know what I have. Other than a little dirt and wood fibers, the alloy is a KNOWN quantity. In other words, I'm recycling my own formula.

At my club, I can get lead from the indoor range too. Clean out the copper and junk and the remaining "lead" is a composite of some good bullets, some jacketed bullet cores and a lot of soft .22 lead.

Sounds like a lot of trouble to me if I have to test each batch and maybe add tin to the formula!. Comments?

 

[Skip Sackett]

Jim,
Take your alloying to the next level. What are you after, a certain harness? Ability to water quench? A certain flow characteristic?

Take the range lead and smelt it. Cast a few bullets and test them. Add what you want to get what you want. Seems simple to me. Unless, you are trying to tell me a lead bullet that is made up of x,x and x that tests 15bhn is inferior to a bullet that is made up of 96,2,2 and tests 15bhn!

Will the target know the difference? At 1000fps, I doubt it. Seems like a no brainer to be, get all of the lead you can, melt at less than 750*F where zinc melts, scrape that off and flux. Mix, cast, test.

Richard Lee had a friend that had a real scientific test for testing lead. He would hit each ingot with the round end of a ball peen hammer and look at the indentation left behind. Maybe he listened to the "ring" too, who knows. Somethings don't need to be made more difficult than they are in their simplest forms.

FWIW

If it was me, and I have gotten lead from our indoor traps too, I'd get all I could and sell all I didn't want. Only one request from me, keep it in the sport. Don't just sell it for scrap, unless you absolutely have to. Keep it in shooting sports.

 

[GypsmJim]

Jim,
Take your alloying to the next level. What are you after, a certain harness? Ability to water quench? A certain flow characteristic?

Take the range lead and smelt it. Cast a few bullets and test them. Add what you want to get what you want. Seems simple to me. Unless, you are trying to tell me a lead bullet that is made up of x,x and x that tests 15bhn is inferior to a bullet that is made up of 96,2,2 and tests 15bhn!

Will the target know the difference? At 1000fps, I doubt it. Seems like a no brainer to be, get all of the lead you can, melt at less than 750*F where zinc melts, scrape that off and flux. Mix, cast, test.

Richard Lee had a friend that had a real scientific test for testing lead. He would hit each ingot with the round end of a ball peen hammer and look at the indentation left behind. Maybe he listened to the "ring" too, who knows. Somethings don't need to be made more difficult than they are in their simplest forms.

FWIW

If it was me, and I have gotten lead from our indoor traps too, I'd get all I could and sell all I didn't want. Only one request from me, keep it in the sport. Don't just sell it for scrap, unless you absolutely have to. Keep it in shooting sports.

Being a "Scientist" by nature, I have always read books written by "experts" and followed their recommendations. As long as it worked, I tend to be a creature of habit.

For years, I used Lyman #2 alloy, as described in the Lyman handbook. The bullets are for target shooting only. Both pistol and rifle (with gas checks). As long as the mold fills out Ok and the resulting accuracy is good, I guess that's all I need. I have no intention of water quenching, because that's an extra step to me. My methods have workled out fine for me all these years.

A few years ago I came into a huge supply of used wheel weights so I gave them a try. Also, at the same time my supply of linotype and pure lead dried up. For all intents and purposes, I couldn't tell the difference when I switched to WWs.

I use straight lead for black powder. Once I tried straight wheel weights for pistol and I felt they were too brittle.

Another reason I switched to WWs was because of the ease of handling and no mixing required. THat's why I just figured that using range lead would possibly require having tin or something else to blend at times, and that to me is a hassle.