consistant alloy from reclaimed range lead

[zorro]

howdy , a brain picker here , but I am sure someone else has had a similar problem , how to get a consistant alloy from reclaimed range lead??
I have about a dozen 5 gallons bucket full of reclaimed lead and I donnot wish to have the bullets weight all over the scale , many thanks zorro

[454PB]

I've never used the stuff, but it seems to me the best way to keep it consistent would be to do very large batches. This would require a big pot and heating source.

[Tom Myers]

howdy , a brain picker here , but I am sure someone else has had a similar problem , how to get a consistant alloy from reclaimed range lead??
I have about a dozen 5 gallons bucket full of reclaimed lead and I donnot wish to have the bullets weight all over the scale , many thanks zorro

Zorro,

Use a big melting pot, smelt aproximatly the same number of ingots each smelt and make separate piles of ingots for each smelt.

When you have smelted all five of the buckets of reclaimed lead into piles of ingots, divide the number of piles into the number of ingots in each pile to get a sample number.

Next take a sample number of ingots from each pile and put them in the melting pot, re-smelt and pour into new ingots.

Continue taking a sample number of ingots from each pile, smelting and re-pouring ingots until all the original piles are converted into one huge pile of ingots that are of a uniform alloy.

Note - When you are doing the last batch, you will most likely have different numbers of ingots left in each pile. just use the smallest pile and take an equal number of ingots from the remaining piles for the last smelt and what is left over in the rest of the piles can be thrown into a bucket to add to the next batch of range scrap that you acquire.

By the time that you have smelted, fluxed and cleaned everything twice, you should have an outstandingly clean and uniform supply of alloy.

Hope this helps.

Respectfully,
Tom Myers
Precision Ballistics and Records

[hunter64]

I basically do what Tom stated. Take hardness tests of each of the batches and write on the ingots the results. Once I have all my separate batches done then I use my alloy calculator and add what ever is needed to bring that particular batch up to my desired bhn. Be very careful with range scrap, do out side and wear full protection. DO NOT add more range scrap into a melted pot of lead, lots of water in range scrap if you live in an area that has snow in the winter or rains alot. So just fill your melting bucket/pot up and slowly turn the heat up and you will have no problems. Do your stirring and fluxing as usual and pour the whole pot into ingots and then start over. I know it takes longer but man o man I tried my normal way of processing lead with range scrap and I had so many lead showers the first time that after about the 5th one I said forget it and just add the scrap once and pour it out until done.

[James C. Snodgrass]

This may sound trite but I would dump all out on a surface I could wash it with a water hose and mix and return to the buckets in order. ie- 1 shovel to each bucket till it is all gone. I do something similar myself with a piece of sheet iron , it is very easy to shovel from the iron. James

[runfiverun]

i wash mine in a milk crate lined with stainles steel window screen only do about 10#
at a time then dump in 5gal bucket with holes drilled in it
it gets the dirt off but i still have small rocks. they just float in the melt.

[targetshootr]

Holy cow that's a lot of range lead. I haven't smelted any of mine but I keep it outside in a milk crate lined with mesh wire to let the rain clean it off. Another thread on here said he was getting about 12 bhn from his range lead which is about the same as my ww bhn.

[1Shirt]

I have ranged from BH of 10 low to a high of 15. A lot I think depends on how much jacketed stuff you have which is almost pure in most cases, to lots of pistol and hi power rifle w/cas stuff.
1Shirt!

[zorro]

thank-you gentleman sounds like a great plan , many thanks zorro

[mooman76]

Another possibility would be to lay them out on the driveway and mix them around but no matter what you do, nothing will be certain. You will need a harness checker. Oh and I go along with the melt in as big of a pot as you can for cosistancy.

[HeavyMetal]

When I get unkown lead the firt thing I want to do is try to get a handle on what it is.

If you don't have a lead hardness tester please get one. Most ranges will have a consistant BHN range in thier scrap lead but you still need to figure out what it is before you try use it as is or blend it into a better alloy.

I'd take a couple of pounds from each bucket and smelt me up a 20 pound batch and make ingots.

From here I'd go to a pot and make a small run of sample bullets to run in my tester. I have a full wadcutter in 44 cal. that works very well with my Lee tester.

The rest of the melt would go back into ingots.

Testing the sample alloy will do a bunch of things for you: 1 it will give you a good idea of what the entire smelt would be in bhn composition 2 this will save you a bunch of time and money( takes fuel to melt stuff) cause you won't have to smelt it all. 3 if you decide at a latter date you might want to do some trading ( thiers always someone with type metal looking for softer stuff to blend with) you won't have all that labor and fuel invested in your tradin stock!

Bottom line is without a tester your working blind.