collecting range lead

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nemesiss45

New member
I was out shooting today and decided to attempt scavenging range lead. I brought a collander and some grocery bags. I hit the steel pistol targets first and scooped up dirt/lead and shook out what dirt I could. I tried a big on the rifle ranges, but it was much slimmer pickin's. all in all I got about 2 gallons of filthy lead, rocks, and copper jackets. I am smelting it down now, and it looks like I'm on target to get about 30 muffin pucks out of it. I am scooping off more junk than I am getting lead, but for the time invested, I am happy with the yield. better than when I got wheel weights from a local shop.

anyone got any good techniques for scrounging range lead?
 
1/4" hardware cloth from Home Depot works pretty good. You can build a little 2x2 frame and nail the hardware cloth to it and shake the dirt through it like you were panning for gold, and get mostly bigger lead chunks that way. I'd wear a respirator since you'll be stirring up lead dust too. Anyway, it works for my own berm here at home.
Do it after a rain while the dirt is in between muddy and dusty and you can skip the respirator. Good luck and enjoy the free lead! :)
 
yeah, I should definitely take a respirator next time.

today at least was pretty windy and I kept myself upwind of the dust, but that's probably not enough.
 
The range I recently joined doesn't appear to have been "mined", other than the lumps of lead under the steel targets, since it opened 30+ years ago.

Whenever I end up on one of the rifle lanes by myself, I take a few minutes to pick up the bullets laying on the surface of the berm, each time I walk out to set up / check / retrieve my targets. I just toss the bullets in a 0.5 liter water bottle, and chuck the bottle in my truck when I get back to the firing line (taking an empty on the next trip down the lane).

So far, just picking up the bullets sitting on the surface, I've averaged 23 lbs per trip. After washing and smelting, I figure the yield will be 16-18 lbs of lead (about 73%) per 23 lb lot.
It's nothing spectacular, but I can't complain. ;)
 
If it's not your personal range, you might want to make sure that's ok with the range administration. A range where I am a member depends on the value of the metals in the berm to pay for the occasional rework that the berms require.

They recently had a company come in and rework the berms at no charge but with the understanding that any metal they recover is theirs.
 
That's a good point.
The range I 'mine' at only cares about the shotgun ranges, as far as reclamation. It's far more profitable to sort the shot out of the dirt, than it is to sort bullets out of the gravelly, rocky berms.

All other improvements and maintenance are paid for with dues or are taken care of by donated volunteer labor and materials.
 
Don't want to dampen your enthusiasm fellow shooter. Just my little experience with lead re-excavation and/ or recovery.

I've never smelted outside lead. But I have done so with a indoor range lead. 50-ft. lane recovery lead to be exact. What I smelted included attention getting un-burnt powder, chewing gum, and some other unidentifiable what-is-it's.

No doubt I applaud your effort for trying. It's truly a Nasty job. But it does in the end have its rewards. Oh BTW you may want to call a salvage yard in your neck of the woods to see if they'll give you a little something someth'in ($) for those twisted up bullet jackets. Pays to ask.
 
Yeah, I was glad I was keeping an eye on what was going in my pot when an unfired 9mm cartrige tumbled out of my bucket and onto the pile in the pot... that could have been the worst kind of interesting.

All in all, I got 32 pucks (standard muffin tin 1/2 full) of clean lead and 2 flower pots full of dirt, rocks, carbon, and copper.
 
range lead

I began digging up range lead last summer.I go to the outdoor range at my club early and dig for bullets.I can fill a 5 quart ice cream pail in about an hour,that will produce about 22 lbs of Lyman ingot bars.I smelt them in a stainless steel pet dish on a colemen stove.I now have over 200 bars ready to cast bullets.while casting I add a foot of lead free solder to the mix.Mold fill out is great but the 230 grain .45 acp leads drop at about 240 grains.If I keep those bullets under 800 fps I get little or no leading,with a good coating of ALOX. Good luck, hdbiker
 
The wife and I were at the club range this past weekend for an hour or so. I started keeping an eye on the ground out in front of the target stands and noting where the lead splats were. Before we left I picked up a water bottle half full of flattened out bases mostly.

I would have had a field day had I went in behind the target holder, but that is a BIG no no there. I might give the steel plate racks a try next trip. However the range patrol kept a pretty good eye on me while I was poking around so I might just leave well enough alone. Sure would hate to jeopardize my membership over 3-4# of range scrap.
 
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