Spike-A-Pike Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 A simular thread suggested that gun lub used in the reloading process would cause the lead to smoke when it is melted and that makes sense. I live a few miles from an active military base with a rifle range. Most military ammo is cooper or other metal jacketed rounds. I was just trying to figure if it would be wouth the effort to attempt to recover this spent ammo or if it would pose more of a hazard than savings. The range uses a grass covered sand pile with an open face on the hill side to stop the rounds. With all the exposure to the elements and the mixed nature of the metals, I guess this is one find I should just leave where it is. Opinions welcomed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reeves Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 I did this several years ago, only at an indoor range. All the spent ammo was just laying on the floor to be scooped up. So I scooped and scooped and filled like 15 of the five gallon buckets of the stuff. Lifting them into the bed of the pickup was a real nut crusher. Now that was way more work than I had bargained for. The melting process was no different than say wheelweights, the results were very disappointing. Of all the material I melted down, I only recovered about 25% lead, the rest consisted of the copper jackets and other metals used to make the bullet. I didn't notice that much smoking from the lube as I think it is pretty well spent by the time it leaves the muzzel. I thought about selling off the copper, but had no means of melting it down as it was pretty dirty and wouldn't get much $ in that condition. So, if you really need the lead, and you really need the exercise then go for it. To me it wasn't worth it so I found another source. And this was indoor stuff with no worries of moisture like you would contend with at an outdoor range. Good luck, but not a hard decision to make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike-A-Pike Posted January 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 That's kind of the way I was leaning... I've got enough parts that function at less than 100 precent already... Unless this would be a justification to buy a new Bobcat bucket loader. That could make the whole process "FUN" I live for fun. This issue may not be dead yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basseducer Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Bruce, I did this at a small police range for a couple of years and it worked out pretty well emphasis on worked. You don't get much full metal jackets at police ranges and the stuff you do get usually breaks open on impact. You do get more junk to get rid of in the end as opposed to wheel weights. I have a couple of buddies in the tire business that give me all the weights I can use and it is a lot LESSSSSSS work. TJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike-A-Pike Posted January 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Yeah, this was a kind fo a what if. I know the range is only open a few hours a day for actual firing, but I would need to check with the range safety officer to see if there is any thing to prevent collecting it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basseducer Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 The other thing to consider if they let you in is on a military range you might run into some of that "Fancy" stuff you don't see on the outside. TJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagacious Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Bruce, The best gun range to get scrap lead from is a trap/skeet range. The small lead shot falls out of the sky sorta like rain about 100-150yds from the shooting line. It can be scooped up and sieved out of the dirt/gravel quite easily. You can get a lot of lead this way from a trap range. A friend of mine used to occasionally recover the spent shot from a local trap range, and used it to pour an almost uncountable number of 2.5lb salmon weights. When he moved, he had to sell off the lead ingots from his shot-mining efforts, since it was easier than moving it. The lead he sold off totalled over fifteen-hundred pounds. I myself have melted down a whole lot of range lead. I guess each range is different, but if most of the ammo being fired are cast lead bullets, you get a lot of free, good-pouring lead for your efforts. If most of the ammo being fired is jacketed, there is gonna be a fairly high percentage of jacket scrap to deal with-- and the lead recovery can be disappointingly low. If you have a 22-only range in your area, especially if it's an indoor range, you have a gold mine...... err..... a lead mine, on your hands. However, since most centerfire rifle ammo is jacketed, you are unlikely to get a good recovery for your efforts at your rifle range. Hope this helps. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike-A-Pike Posted January 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Basseducer. I retired from active duty in May, 1995. I'm still a "card carrying" member. Getting on isn't difficult for us "old" guys. There has always been a trading system on military installations and I'm trying to figure out if there is a good angle to get what I want while giving something they want that doesn't cost me a ton... Like a few spinners. If I can get them to actually collect it for me after duty hours, that would be even better. Sergeants have run the military for centuries, I just need a smooth presentation to win a few new friends. As long as it has no value, I don't think anyone cares. Given the current state of EPA cleanup efforts, I may even be able to bid it as part of a clean-up contract. In closing, the following information may be the straw that breaks it... Cartridge, 5.56-mm, Ball, M855. (Used in the M16A2/3/4 and M4-series weapons.) The M855 cartridge has a 62-grain, gilded metal-jacketed, lead alloy core bullet with a steel penetrator. The primer and case are waterproof. This round is also linked and used in the M249. It has a green tip. Cartridge, 5.56mm, Ball, M855, Lead Free. The M855 "lead free" ball cartridge has a bullet with a conical steel insert and a tungsten composite core in a copper alloy jacket. The intended use is to maintain environmentally "clean" ranges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Tungsten is very valuble. Used as nontoxic shot in waterfoul hunting. Your jigs would sell for a higher price if you sold them. More and more places are going nontoxic. There will be a day that we say, remember the good old days when we could use lead! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike-A-Pike Posted January 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 How would you go about retrieving it, the Lead Free has steel, tungsten composite, and copper. How to seperate it part of the issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagacious Posted January 12, 2008 Report Share Posted January 12, 2008 How would you go about retrieving it... There's the rub. No way to reclaim the tungsten for use in lures. It cannot be melted by any simple, practical means. Melting it wouldn't do much good anyway. The tungsten used for fishing lures is sintered from a mix of tungsten powder and other metals. This issue has been covered before, but just for the sake of arguement, if you could recover enough tungsten to make a run of lures for sale, you'd need to have it re-processed into powder (or traded as scrap for powder). Then you'd need the presses, sintering ovens, and associated machinery to form the powder into lures. That would cost over $10,000. Tungsten fishing gear costs so much....... because tungsten is just expensive to work with. It's a minor miracle that lead is so cheap (or free!), easy to melt, soft enough to cut, easy to work with, and fairly corrosion resistant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willie525 Posted January 12, 2008 Report Share Posted January 12, 2008 if youre gonna use the energy to go out and find it, go to a automotive place and get wheel weights, just wash the dust off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
