I was at my local pusher the other day and got a surprise. It was a bucket of range lead! FOR FREE!
That stinkin' thing weighed in at 91# and the handle was broke and............Okay, quite complaining, right?
It did seem to be a bit dirtier than usual though. I had a ton of dust and bullet jackets in this load.
Here is the bucket:
I started @ 2:15 sharp with this:
(Click to watch)
It started to melt. This pot was empty to start with and this would have gone faster if I would have had some lead melted in the pot to start with.
Here:
(Click to watch)
This is a picture of the melt after just a bit:
The first batch of melted lead:
(Click to watch)
That 91# of range lead yielded right at 60# of usable alloy. Here is what the finished lot of ingots looks like.
This is a bit less of a yield than wheel weights usually gives 95% or so.
The math comes out to 65% for this. I will have to flux all of this again when I do my actual casting. I didn't take the time to do it much when I was smelting this. I can sell the scrap as well. I will check it out later.
Next on the list is to cast some boolits from this range scrap and see what kind of bullets (boolits) come from it.
The other part of the math is that those 61# of FREE LEAD will yield:
2625 160gr .358" SWC projectiles
2100 200gr .451" RNHP projectiles
1714 245gr .434" RNHP or SWC projectiles
1500 280gr .452" SWC or SWCHP projectiles
So, in 45 minutes, I got enough lead to cast any one of these bullets (boolits). What does it cost to purchase them? Any one of these amounts and weights?
Now, this lead is not usable projectiles, yet, but it soon will be!
At any rate, this will be an ongoing discussion. Chime in if you want or have something to share!
That stinkin' thing weighed in at 91# and the handle was broke and............Okay, quite complaining, right?
It did seem to be a bit dirtier than usual though. I had a ton of dust and bullet jackets in this load.
Here is the bucket:
I started @ 2:15 sharp with this:
(Click to watch)
It started to melt. This pot was empty to start with and this would have gone faster if I would have had some lead melted in the pot to start with.
Here:
(Click to watch)
This is a picture of the melt after just a bit:
The first batch of melted lead:
(Click to watch)
That 91# of range lead yielded right at 60# of usable alloy. Here is what the finished lot of ingots looks like.
This is a bit less of a yield than wheel weights usually gives 95% or so.
The math comes out to 65% for this. I will have to flux all of this again when I do my actual casting. I didn't take the time to do it much when I was smelting this. I can sell the scrap as well. I will check it out later.
Next on the list is to cast some boolits from this range scrap and see what kind of bullets (boolits) come from it.
The other part of the math is that those 61# of FREE LEAD will yield:
2625 160gr .358" SWC projectiles
2100 200gr .451" RNHP projectiles
1714 245gr .434" RNHP or SWC projectiles
1500 280gr .452" SWC or SWCHP projectiles
So, in 45 minutes, I got enough lead to cast any one of these bullets (boolits). What does it cost to purchase them? Any one of these amounts and weights?
Now, this lead is not usable projectiles, yet, but it soon will be!
At any rate, this will be an ongoing discussion. Chime in if you want or have something to share!