I found a gold mine, er a lead mine today

Exousia

Exousia

Joined
Apr 20, 2008
Messages
1,184
Likes
184
Location
North Central MA
Feedback: 13 / 0 / 0
I have mined lead at my local range and have tried several methods of extracting the lead from the debris (dirt, sand, wood chips, shotgun shells, etc.) but recently I have been placing my targets at the lower part of the berm and then at the end of the session I would recover the lead that I shot. This isn't a big deal since 400 grain bullets are easy to find.

The other day I was helping my wife do some gift shopping and I saw a huge spaghetti ladle. It looked like it could be a good lead sifter so I came home with it.

L1.jpg


The bowl of the strainer is about seven inches in diameter. It is good and sturdy and I was surprised how well it would dig into the berm to extract lead.

Well, today a friend invited me to his club and we shot for a couple of hours. I showed him my new lead strainer and we immediately tried it out in the berm. I was blown away at how well it scooped up the contents of the berm and how easily it sifted the lead.

Here it is showing what I scooped:

L2.jpg


After a few shakes it looked like I had about 30% lead by volume:

L3.jpg


The result was after about fifteen minutes of easy sifting I came home with 45 pounds of range lead:

L4.jpg


I am looking forward to going back on a cooler day when we have more time to get more...
 

Attachments

  • L2.jpg
    L2.jpg
    80.3 KB · Views: 24
Cha-ching!

Sent from the Hyundai of the droids, the Samsung Replenish, using Tapatalk.
 
Careful with these.

I heard that many of these things are made in China and they use high lead content in their materiels, paint, etc.

I wouldn't want you to get lead poisoning over the long run when trying save some money by using something that was made inexpensively in China! [rofl]
 
I'm currently using one of these:

screener.jpg


Here's the brochure for the product:
http://www.soilscreener.com/screenerflyer.pdf

Here's the web site:
http://www.soilscreener.com/index.html

It uses a 1/3 HP electric motor. The stand is able to be tilted for the best possible sifting action. It's very rugged! Either a long extension cord or a portable generator will easily power it.

You use two wheel barrows:
One goes under the sifter to catch the sand. The other goes in front of the sifter to catch the bullets.

With help, I mined 2600 pounds of lead in about 5 hours!!! I'm currently working on a 10,000 pound (lead) pile in my yard.

If anyone is interested, and has a berm that could get mined, I'd be happy to bring my sifter, and split lead with you. It goes as fast as you can shovel into it!
 
Last edited:
The 1/4" screen catches the bullets, while allowing sand, dirt, and mulch to drop through. The sifter comes standard with 1/2" screens, but that allows the bullets smaller than 1/2" to fall through. The 1/4" screens were an extra purchase.

The machines are made in Massachusetts!
 
Last edited:
I don't do anywhere near the volume that DukeInMaine does so I made a much less expensive and much slower sieve than his.

L5.jpg


Rather than a motor I made the legs somewhat loose (it turns out too loose) so I can just shake it manually to separate the debris from the lead. When the 1/4 inch hardware cloth screen fills up with lead I have to dump it into a bucket (actually a second wheelbarrow is a good idea). Another reason the legs are loose is so that I can fold them up and put them in my truck.

L6.jpg


It works fine. I shovel into the screen and shake. At times it works better to just stir the mixture with the shovel than to shake.
 
Thats a neat little tool, like it was made for lead mining. I'm going to have to If I can pick one up.

Now if I just had access to a lead mine.
 
I just came back from shopping at Kam Man market in Quincy and they had one of those noodle strainers that look identical to the one you have for $2.99! I'm not sure if it's the same size, it's 6.5in across but it should get the job done. [wink]
 
Marcus5aurelius said:
I just came back from shopping at Kam Man market in Quincy and they had one of those noodle strainers that look identical to the one you have for $2.99! I'm not sure if it's the same size, it's 6.5in across but it should get the job done. [wink]
Click to expand...

That's awesome. Mine is 8 inches across and quite sturdy. That's why I decided to try it. Let me know how yours works out.
 
Last edited:
Exousia said:
That's awesome. Mine is 8 inches across and quite sturdy. That's why I decided to try it. Let me know how yours works out.
Click to expand...
I can't wait to try it out, thanks again for the heads up on this [smile]

BTW off topic but I don't know what's going on with the 45-70 brass group buy. Still no news on it, so if you need to buy some elsewhere I completely understand so I won't hold you to however many you said you'd buy. I'm not sure if the organizer messed up the order or what, but I'm certainly not holding my breath for it to arrive. I'll still let you know when it does and if you want to wait that's fine too [grin]
 
Last edited:
Mark,
Just hope that the group buy person on the 45-70 Starline brass didn't just skip town with everyone's money. Something doesn't seem right on that one. People who bought directly from Starline after the group buy order went in have already received their shipment.

Getting back on topic..............

Make sure you notice my thread on Open Invitation for lead mining.
 
DukeInMaine said:
Mark,
Just hope that the group buy person on the 45-70 Starline brass didn't just skip town with everyone's money. Something doesn't seem right on that one. People who bought directly from Starline after the group buy order went in have already received their shipment.

Getting back on topic..............

Make sure you notice my thread on Open Invitation for lead mining.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I noticed that too. He's been pretty good to respond to my PMs so far, so I'm optimistic at least on it eventually coming in... Otherwise I'm out $348 [sad2] I saw your thread but it's a bit too much of a hoof for me and I don't think my car would like that gas mileage on the return trip [smile]

John, sorry to derail your thread.
 
Marcus5aurelius said:
Thanks, I noticed that too. He's been pretty good to respond to my PMs so far, so I'm optimistic at least on it eventually coming in... Otherwise I'm out $348 [sad2] I saw your thread but it's a bit too much of a hoof for me and I don't think my car would like that gas mileage on the return trip [smile]

John, sorry to derail your thread.
Click to expand...

Mark, see my PM. That isn't right. I had no idea.
 

Similar threads

Is a "blue card" needed to buy components (shot, powder, primers..) in Rhode Island
Replies
4
Views
153
T-Unit
T
bullet pulling with a 550
Replies
21
Views
248
Malibru
Malibru
Loading bench, thought this was a decent deal. If I had the space…..
Replies
3
Views
218
AMV
A
Found
Replies
0
Views
192
NH Phantom
N
i decided to cast rifle freedom seeds ..
Replies
19
Views
567
Lennypeters
Lennypeters
Back
Top Bottom