While reading the chapter on bullet metallurgy I encountered this observation, of which I was skeptical:
Recovered range scrap varies from range to range, depending on the nature of the shooting at that particular locale, but it commonly runs fairly soft (in the BHN range of 8 or so) as a result of all the .22 Long Rifle and swaged .38 wadcutter ammo deposited in with the jacketed and hardcast bullets.
I should not have doubted. Yesterday I went out to the Talladega National Forest, Talladega Division, over near Mount Cheaha, to verify some finer points of geography for the final chapter of Absolved and stopped by the Shepherd Branch firing range to see if there was anything (boxes, brass, lead) worth picking up. I always try to make the gas money count. Anyway, I spent about an hour on the range, which was empty of shooters and rangers, and got a thin yield of about eight and a half pounds of range scrap bullets washed to the surface by recent rains. (I don't dig out backstops for folks take a particularly dim view of that.)
After washing and sorting between cast and jacketed (which is advantageous because the jacketed stuff is very soft compared to the cast), the percentage of cast to jacketed was significantly higher than other ranges whose backstops I routinely mine. Go figure. The fellow knows what he's talking about.
Cooking down range scrap.
Here's a description from the Cast Boolits forum on the experiences of others with range scrap.
3 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Just remember to cut the TMJ (total metal jacket) rounds so they can vent when melted. Failure to do so could potentially cause a small explosion in the melting pot when the core melts but the encapsulating jacket is still intact. I'm told a big pair of diagonal cutters is useful for that purpose.
It's worth mentioning that one can also scavenge non-lead metals for bullets. Such as zinc, commonly used for electroplate, and that is found in pennies. The only important note is, you need to wear a mask(even outside) as the zinc fumes can be very hard on the lungs.
Some other details here. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?136800-zinc-aluminum-bullets
3 comments:
Just remember to cut the TMJ (total metal jacket) rounds so they can vent when melted. Failure to do so could potentially cause a small explosion in the melting pot when the core melts but the encapsulating jacket is still intact. I'm told a big pair of diagonal cutters is useful for that purpose.
RSR
Makes one wonder how many kilotons of lead could be recovered from KCR.
It's worth mentioning that one can also scavenge non-lead metals for bullets. Such as zinc, commonly used for electroplate, and that is found in pennies. The only important note is, you need to wear a mask(even outside) as the zinc fumes can be very hard on the lungs.
Some other details here. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?136800-zinc-aluminum-bullets
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