Range Lead questions.

EddieCoyle

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Every year, a weird thing happens on the outdoor pistol range at Shirley.

During the winter, the snow on the ground stops the pistol bullets. When the snow melts, the bullets end up just lying there on the ground.

I picked them up yesterday - about 70 pounds of them. They're a mix of hard cast and jacketed, along with a bunch of copper washed .22 LR bullets.

I intend to sort them prior to smelting, and I'm going to be making the following assumptions (correct me if I'm wrong):

  1. The hard cast can be smelted and recast as is.
  2. Whatever melts out of the jacketed bullets will be pure lead.
  3. The .22 LR are pure lead.
  4. The round balls from BP revolvers are pure lead.

Does that sound about right?
 
EC,

While I wouldn't trus Black Powder Balls and Jacketed bullets to be pure lead, they're most likely very lightly alloyed and treating them as pure lead wont be far off.

Even the hard-cast are going to vary a few percent, so what you'll end up with will be in the mid-range of what you started with. Unless you're pushing the limit of hard-cast, you're likely fine.

With some accurate measurements of density you can determine the composition if you assume just Lead and Antimony as the alloying elements. Let me know if you'd like me to put together a composition spreadsheet for density

One note of warning about handling lead that's been weathering for a long time - be careful with the white powder that collects on the surface of highly weathered lead. It can flake off as a dust and be inhaled. In the presence of moisture, it can also be absorbed into the skin.
I'd recommend gloves and a dust-mask while handling highly weathered lead.
 
Jim, this is consistent with my understanding..... Also worth noting that the jacket scrap is valuable at the scrap yard.... I run a magnet over the mix to remove any steel jackets and then exchange what's left for scrap lead..... Copper and brass scrap prices are pretty high right now....

Every year, a weird thing happens on the outdoor pistol range at Shirley.

During the winter, the snow on the ground stops the pistol bullets. When the snow melts, the bullets end up just lying there on the ground.

I picked them up yesterday - about 70 pounds of them. They're a mix of hard cast and jacketed, along with a bunch of copper washed .22 LR bullets.

I intend to sort them prior to smelting, and I'm going to be making the following assumptions (correct me if I'm wrong):

  1. The hard cast can be smelted and recast as is.
  2. Whatever melts out of the jacketed bullets will be pure lead.
  3. The .22 LR are pure lead.
  4. The round balls from BP revolvers are pure lead.

Does that sound about right?
 
The assumptions you're making are most likely close enough, but if you want to test the lead for it's alloy:

I ran the numbers. Each percent Antimony decreases density by about 1/2 percent from pure lead. Make a test cast of a pure lead bullet (the heavier the better, so a 700gn .500 S&W cast would reduce inaccuracies)

You can then make a second test-cast with an unknown alloy and compare the weight to the known unit. for a 700gn bullet, every 3.5 grain drop in mass would represent about 1% antimony alloying.
 
The stopped bullets may also have been stopped by an effect discussed here:
http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=656625&sid=f1ccf8cb0ca3194ea9b0b8eddfeff0e7

Yea everything you said is right, you'll find that it will come in almost pure. Just check the hardness and alloy accordingly. We use 50/50 pure lead to WW and it works fine in bullets that don't have an excessively high velocity

Every year, a weird thing happens on the outdoor pistol range at Shirley.

During the winter, the snow on the ground stops the pistol bullets. When the snow melts, the bullets end up just lying there on the ground.

I picked them up yesterday - about 70 pounds of them. They're a mix of hard cast and jacketed, along with a bunch of copper washed .22 LR bullets.

I intend to sort them prior to smelting, and I'm going to be making the following assumptions (correct me if I'm wrong):

  1. The hard cast can be smelted and recast as is.
  2. Whatever melts out of the jacketed bullets will be pure lead.
  3. The .22 LR are pure lead.
  4. The round balls from BP revolvers are pure lead.

Does that sound about right?
 
I've melted range scrap twice. Once was scrapings off the berm and the other was unknown but it looked like it came out of a range trap.
The berm scrapings came in at my WW hardness (10 BNH) and the range trap came in at 8 BNH. Your guess is pretty close. The only
thing I would question is the hardness of the lead in the jacketed bullets, but no big deal treating it as pure lead.
 
Although I don't think it is what EC stated, I don't think the above link is relevant either though I don't want to crap up his thread with what I discovered when I tested this at harvard's 7 yard. BTW: The 4" of snow is depth in that link, not distance of travel.

You're probably right, I've never been to the Shirley club so I don't know how everything is oriented. I just remember seeing that thread explaining how snow could stop a bullet and thought it was interesting. I would think that if there was only a dusting on the backstop it wouldn't do much to stop the bullet from embedding in the ground. Either way though, the question was answered pretty thoroughly already.
 
I use backstop scrap and wheelweights for most of my casting. I don't get very technical with testing for hardness and such, so I can't address that very much. When available, I will add some linotype to help with tin content in my mix, but if it flows and fills the mold well, I cast until the fire runs out. Can't say I've ever had any significant issues with this base material.
Generally, I'll cull the fully capsulated jackets out and cut them with pliers or a chisel so they will drain. Needless to say, don't attempt to cut these guys while the content is molten! Be mindful of entrapped moisture, too. You'll have alot of dross to seperate with the initial smelting, so simply reduce the scrap into ingots during the first session and then do the bullet casting in another session with the refined alloy.
 
I've never used range lead from the berm as my concern would be if you miss any dirt or sand it would ruin your barrel. I will have to check with someone I know in work to see if he can get me more wheelweights. Last batch was somewhere around 400 lbs. I stretch my supply by mixing it 50/50 with linotype which comes close to Lyman No 2 alloy.
 
I get all my lead for casting from my 22lr club. We usually make a couple hundred pounds of ignots a couple times a year, as well as sell off lots of lead to local scrap yard. It is very soft (I have the Saeco hardness tester) and I use it straight for my black powder cowboy loads - but it is very soft - basically pure lead. If I was casting for other means I would probably mix some linotype.
 
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