Cleaning Salvaged Lead

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  • Last Post 18 August 2019
Pepe Ray posted this 11 March 2017

Howdy Ladies and Gents,

Cleaning Salvaged Lead - click below to download & read. 

Click here to download

Pepe Ray

 

Only in His name.

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4570sharps posted this 12 March 2017

Can't see a damn thing!

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David Reiss posted this 12 March 2017

Once you click on the “click here to download", it downloads to your computer. You will see the download at the bottom of the page. click on it and it will open so you can see it. 

David Reiss - NRA Life Member & PSC Range Member Retired Police Firearms Instructor/Armorer
-Services: Wars Fought, Uprisings Quelled, Bars Emptied, Revolutions Started, Tigers Tamed, Assassinations Plotted, Women Seduced, Governments Run, Gun Appraisals, Lost Treasure Found.
- Also deal in: Land, Banjos, Nails, Firearms, Manure, Fly Swatters, Used Cars, Whisky, Racing Forms, Rare Antiquities, Lead, Used Keyboard Keys, Good Dogs, Pith Helmets & Zulu Headdresses. .

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RicinYakima posted this 13 March 2017

Nope, doesn't work for me either. New screen pops up. After about 3 minutes I get a notice that I have a new downloaded “word” document. It is in my "downloads” folder.  Then I can double click on it and it opens.  Then I can read it.

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David Reiss posted this 13 March 2017

 That is the way it is suppose to work, but taking three minutes may be a function of your computer. I have tried it on a laptop, phone & tablet. Works on all three fine, downloading instantly. However it will not open to read when you click on the “click here to download", hence it is a download. You have to open the download to read.

David Reiss - NRA Life Member & PSC Range Member Retired Police Firearms Instructor/Armorer
-Services: Wars Fought, Uprisings Quelled, Bars Emptied, Revolutions Started, Tigers Tamed, Assassinations Plotted, Women Seduced, Governments Run, Gun Appraisals, Lost Treasure Found.
- Also deal in: Land, Banjos, Nails, Firearms, Manure, Fly Swatters, Used Cars, Whisky, Racing Forms, Rare Antiquities, Lead, Used Keyboard Keys, Good Dogs, Pith Helmets & Zulu Headdresses. .

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JeffinNZ posted this 13 March 2017

Copied from link:

 


Smelting; It’s been argued that the word, as used by most of our
fraternity, is not correct. If we all understand its context, we’ll continue
to use it. (The process should be called “CLEANING” .

The process is so much different from casting bullets it needs to be
addressed. Many bullet casters don’t need to smelt. They purchase clean, pre-alloyed
lead from a commercial supplier. Casters using this material should be able to
cast on the kitchen cooking range if it’s not needed for dinner at the
moment. I’ve done it. It works. True, you should have a cooperative partner and
you always clean up your own messes.

Smelting is a dirty, noxious, and sometimes, dangerous job. No thinking
person would try to do it in an enclosed area. Extraordinary venting may allow it but
that goes far beyond the resources of a hobbyist handloader.  The scrounged materials by
their nature is Junk. Wheel weights from the local garage will contain cigarette butts,
chewing tobacco plugs, razor blades, syringes, chewing gum and wrappers, truck
tire valves, nuts, bolts, urine etc. Depending on the source, the degree of
contamination will vary.

Other scrounged junk includes lavatory traps, roof jacks, chimney
flashing, water main joints (sewer main included), battery posts and clamps, Babbitt from
various industrial applications, type metal of various alloys, target range reclaim, diving
weights. sail boat keels, machinery counter balances.

It’s beyond the scope of this post to try to describe the many different
alloys found in this assortment of junk. That’s work for another horse.

Smelting inside will coat all exposed surfaces with a black carbon like
residue that will tempt you to torch the building. Smelting is an outside job. You
should do it on a day when a breeze will dissipate the obnoxious smoke. 

Are you a gambler or a thrift nut? A gambler dumps all his junk into a
large pot, turn UP the heat and hope that all the impurities will float to the top to be
skimmed off. This is faster but includes the risk of contaminating a lot of good alloy. Once
you pour the Coca Cola into the Jack Black you’re done. That mistake can’t be corrected,
pass the beverage to a gal who may appreciate it, and try again.

A thrift nut spends a lot of time and worn out gloves to separate the good
junk from the bad junk. Within a few hours, you’ll be able to tell the Zink (Zn) from the
iron (Fe) from the lead. One of the advantages of separating now is that you can get a
better price for the junk that you take to the recycler. The affirmation of having contaminate
free alloy is a big plus when trying to investigate the causes of poor bullets dropping
from that new mold. Trying to make bullets while smelting is a waste of time. It’s doable with
a dipper and experience but when using a bottom pour pot it fouls the pot and the pour
spout.

 

Cheers from New Zealand

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max503 posted this 16 August 2019

We had torrential rains last week.  Over seven inches in one hour in some locations!  

I went to the range today and it seems the rain washed away the surface dirt and left the backstops covered with bullets.  I'm thinking of going back with a bucket and picking some up. 

Anybody use much range scrap?  This seems like a good opportunity to score some free lead.

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Qc Pistolero posted this 16 August 2019

 I use range scrap.When the berm looks a nice blue/gray color,I simply take a shovel and get the surface bullets.I dump the content on a contraption I built(old peck board)with  3/8'' holes so the sand will flow through and will retain the deformed bullets.I dump 5 or 6 shovels on it(it is aprox 18'' X 18'' and 2'' deep)shake it for 30 seconds then dump the content(aprox 3 to 5 pounds)in a 5 gal pail.

I get aprox 100#s of stuff in 20 to 30 minutes.After smelting,I get between 55 to 60#s of nice casting material aprox 8BHN...perfect for handgun bullets and free!

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offhand35 posted this 17 August 2019

I have been buying lead from an indoor 22LR only range every couple years.  I try to get 2- 5gal buckets full. I smelt in the backyard on a nice day with an outdoor burner and a large iron dutch oven. Yield is between 70-80%  , maybe 150 lbs. approx BHN 8 (also)   it was exciting the day I missed spottig an  empty 22 shell that  got into the mix  Make sure you wear long sleeves, jeans and safety glasses!  There must  some copper and tin in it, the round balls I cast for black powder are bright and shiny for a long time, not dull gray.   I add a little tin for handgun bullets at BHN10 and mix w/ foundry type for rifle at BHN15.

The problem has become that I have more than a fewl 3# coffee cans of dross that they will no longer take at the hazardous waste day drop off.  They don't want that or my spent primers at the  scrap metal drop at the recycling center either.

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RicinYakima posted this 17 August 2019

"The problem has become that I have more than a fewl 3# coffee cans of dross that they will no longer take at the hazardous waste day drop off.  They don't want that or my spent primers at the  scrap metal drop at the recycling center either."

Go to a big box store and buy Plaster of Paris. Mix it thin and pour it into the coffee cans and let it harden. Then put it in the garbage. You can do the same with primers, if it goes into a sanitary landfill, it is ok. That will stop lead leachate for about 1000 years.

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Ross Smith posted this 17 August 2019

Do you all flux the melt before or after you skim the junk on top?

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max503 posted this 17 August 2019

"The problem has become that I have more than a fewl 3# coffee cans of dross that they will no longer take at the hazardous waste day drop off.  They don't want that or my spent primers at the  scrap metal drop at the recycling center either."

Go to a big box store and buy Plaster of Paris. Mix it thin and pour it into the coffee cans and let it harden. Then put it in the garbage. You can do the same with primers, if it goes into a sanitary landfill, it is ok. That will stop lead leachate for about 1000 years.

 

Thank you this is good to know.

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Rich/WIS posted this 17 August 2019

Before our range was remodeled our berms were sand and easy to mine.  Made a 18X18 screen using scrap 2X4s and 1/4 in hardware cloth.  Took less than two hours to collect bullets and when smelted down yielded in excess of 250 pounds. 

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RicinYakima posted this 17 August 2019

All of our berms have old tires laying flat on the ground and a second layer overlaps. "The NRA Plan" from the 1970's, so no ricochets, but can't mine it for the rattlesnakes that have set up vacation condos there.

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gpidaho posted this 18 August 2019

Ric: That would be a good example of a timeshare condo,  and some thought they lived in a rough neighborhood. Gp

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