Reclaiming lead shot from trap and skeet fields

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Hunter Dave

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There seems to be some renewed interest in reclaiming lead shot from trap and skeet fields.
Here is the short version of how it's accomplished.
-Analysis of the site and soil to determine concentration.
-Economic feasibility (how much lead can be reclaimed, current price of lead, exchange rate on the US dollar, site conditions, etc.)
-Assuming the project is worthwhile, scrape the top layer of the soil, process it to remove lead shot, return soil to the site.
-Sell the lead shot.

Many clubs have taken a proactive approach to reclaim lead shot for various reasons. The primary reason is financial--the club receives a percentage of the proceeds from the reclaimed lead when it is sold. The second reason is an environmental concern. Being a good steward of your environment helps smooth relationships within the community, local government, etc. The third reason is site maintenance such as removing encroaching bush, extending fields, filling in low spots, creating berms and backstops, etc. The process for site maintenance and renewal is justified since there will be heavy equipment on site to reclaim the lead so why not improve your facilities at the time.

I have yet to find a club president or treasurer who didn't want an extra $20 or 30 thousand dollars for future club projects. A few clubs with "old thinking" are afraid that someone will find out that their club is removing lead shot. Look at it this way, the municipal governments know you are there, the local police and conservation associations are aware, the CFO knows your club inside and out, etc. The problem arises when 'ol Mrs. Smith way the down road says, "You know, my well water tastes kind of funny lately". That's when the red flags go up and the red flag on your range comes down. Send a private message to me if you have any questions.
 
Considering the BC government is now actively looking at “lead contamination” at ranges, the more info for this the better. Would also be interested in bullet removal from rifle ranges.
 
Gatehouse said:
Considering the BC government is now actively looking at “lead contamination” at ranges, the more info for this the better. Would also be interested in bullet removal from rifle ranges.
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Happened at the Pitt Meadows trap range already, from what I understand the BC wildlife foundation stepped up and helped establish some policies/accepted practices. They were shut down until that (lead contamination) was resolved.
 
The MOE has sent letters to all clubs operating ranges that they intend to use the Environmental Management Act and Hazardous Waste Regulation to manage shooting ranges and form a policy for them. Not just for lead, but for clay targets as well.

So the more information out there about this stuff, the better. I know some companies in the states go to ranges and do lead reclamation, and split the proceeds with the clubs. I wonder if there is anyone in Canada doing the same?
 
Gatehouse, please PM me for more info. I can't use this site for promotion.
Here's some additional info.
Reclaiming metal from rifle and handgun backstops usually involves a cost to a club, not an economic benefit. At first glance you may think that because the price of copper ($2.80 lb. US) or brass ($1.50 US) has a lot of value, that it becomes worthwhile to reclaim it. But the truth is the "mixed range metal" is very expensive to refine. For example, lead melts at 620 F while copper melts at 1,980 F and steel is over 2,600 F. Thus the cost to refine and separate the metals affects the prices obtained. The London Metal Exchange (LME) publishes prices everyday for the worlds' markets. Metals reclaimed from trap and skeet fields or rifle backstops is sold to refiners or metal brokers at "scrap prices" which may range from 50% to 70% of the LME price. Also the condition of the metal affects price such as oxidation on lead, how clean the metal is upon receipt, etc.
Some clubs might realize an economic benefit depending on the process used to clean their backstops, the material the backstop is made from, etc. Congrats to those clubs that make a few bucks from mixed metal.
 
We moved a club in 2000 to a new location and the property of the old one had to undergo soil sample testing in case any lead needing removing before vacating the premises. That was 18 years ago. This is not a new thing but one to not take lightly. Clean up costs can get large in a big hurry.
 
The Saskatoon club had to move due to encroaching housing developments, they had a deal with the city, then the city added on a requirement of "remediation" work for lead contamination. All the topsoil had to be moved to the new club location. Very very expensive! I don't know if shot was reclaimed at that time but I don't think so.
 
Longwalker said:
The Saskatoon club had to move due to encroaching housing developments, they had a deal with the city, then the city added on a requirement of "remediation" work for lead contamination. All the topsoil had to be moved to the new club location. Very very expensive! I don't know if shot was reclaimed at that time but I don't think so.
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Reclaiming the lead and leaving the soil in place would have been a much better solution to the problem and wouldn't have cost them anything, unless the city insisted that the soil be removed. There was a lead reclamation company doing a couple of courses in Alberta 2 or 3 years ago, they might have been interested in doing the work.
 
Unfortunately, lead shot recovery is not soil remediation, leaving significant lead contamination behind.
Saskatoon Gun club went with the only viable option, as I understand it.
 
It is the solubility of the lead in the soil that is the issue. You can't "break down" the lead, only reduce the solubility.
Not all of the lead in soil is available to plants (or to the human body, should the soil be eaten). The availability of soil lead depends on how tightly it is held by soil particles and on its solubility (how much of it will dissolve in water). At low soil pH (pH<5, acidic conditions) lead is held less tightly and is more soluble. At near neutral or higher pH (pH>6.5, neutral to basic conditions) soil lead is held more strongly, and its solubility is very low. Lead is held very tightly by soil organic matter, so as organic matter increases, lead availability decreases.

Some lead added to soil may combine with other soil elements to form lead-containing minerals. One such mineral that has extremely low solubility is lead phosphate (pyromorphite). Formation of this mineral is favored by high soil pH and high levels of lead and phosphate, conditions that would occur with the application of ground agricultural limestone and large amounts of phosphate fertilizer to a lead-contaminated soil.
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https://extension.psu.edu/lead-in-residential-soils-sources-testing-and-reducing-exposure
 
Not an easy issue to deal with foresure. Drinking water contamination would be a real issue that some could get a hold of and make it really hard on some ranges and clubs. Not surprising BC is all over this one already.
 
I remember shooting at the Black Canyon Club just north of Phoenix Arizona in the mid 70's and they were reclaiming shot off the desert and selling it at the club to be reloaded again for skeet. It was relatively cheap compared to new shot. I brought 150 Ibs. home. I found because it was so deformed and of course it was not all the same size it varied from #6 to #9 that it did not pattern well. I was shooting rather seriously in those days so you wanted every advantage you could get, so most of us were buying high antimony percentage lead shot to reload. I still have a 100 Ibs. of the reclaimed shot in the shop in bags that I use for weight when gluing things up or anytime I need weight to hold something.
They were not worried about the environment in those days, just making a buck off shot that was just laying there.
 
Hunter Dave said:
There seems to be some renewed interest in reclaiming lead shot from trap and skeet fields.
Here is the short version of how it's accomplished.
-Analysis of the site and soil to determine concentration.
-Economic feasibility (how much lead can be reclaimed, current price of lead, exchange rate on the US dollar, site conditions, etc.)
-Assuming the project is worthwhile, scrape the top layer of the soil, process it to remove lead shot, return soil to the site.
-Sell the lead shot.

Many clubs have taken a proactive approach to reclaim lead shot for various reasons. The primary reason is financial--the club receives a percentage of the proceeds from the reclaimed lead when it is sold. The second reason is an environmental concern. Being a good steward of your environment helps smooth relationships within the community, local government, etc. The third reason is site maintenance such as removing encroaching bush, extending fields, filling in low spots, creating berms and backstops, etc. The process for site maintenance and renewal is justified since there will be heavy equipment on site to reclaim the lead so why not improve your facilities at the time.

I have yet to find a club president or treasurer who didn't want an extra $20 or 30 thousand dollars for future club projects. A few clubs with "old thinking" are afraid that someone will find out that their club is removing lead shot. Look at it this way, the municipal governments know you are there, the local police and conservation associations are aware, the CFO knows your club inside and out, etc. The problem arises when 'ol Mrs. Smith way the down road says, "You know, my well water tastes kind of funny lately". That's when the red flags go up and the red flag on your range comes down. Send a private message to me if you have any questions.
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I've yet to hear of a surface soil remediation for lead shot that was a net positive for the range. The local shotgun club near me got service notice by the land owner that they had to re-mediate because the local bird watching groups were finding migratory birds testing positive to lead toxicity at orders of magnitude higher than normal BLLs.

They did some hasty math to determine the approximately value of lead shot in the field and estimated that 80 years of lead was worth approximately 400,000. They got excited until the lowest quote for remediation came in at over 1.5 million dollars.

In Ontario, 90 percent of shoot ranges are outdoor ranges, 10% are indoor, according to the CFO. According to one of the largest lead recyclers in the province, 100% of his recycled range lead comes from indoor ranges with engineered bullet traps, like a steel scroll trap or a rubber berm trap. This means that 90% of the ranges in the provinces are recycles zero lead. Most ranges aren't required to manage lead levels in their back stops, and those that do are probably not paying the costs associated with environmental regulation compliant hazmat disposal.

And that's with rifle and handgun ranges where at least the lead is concentrated in a small area and therefore more cost effective to re-mediate, certainly compared to a shot gun field.

TO be honest, if our industry is going to save it self from a lead ammo ban, all ranges in the country need to get on board with learning how to manage lead properly, and eventually that will mean only using engineered bullet traps for rifle and handgun ranges that facilitate remediation processes that are far cheaper and more efficient than recovering lead from sand. IE, is actually cost effective and efficient.
 
There are lead recovery services in the USA that offer no cost or even profit sharing to ranges for lead removal. No reason why a service like that can't happen in Canada, too.
 
There is a big difference between recovering lead from a shotgun field and remediation of the soil in the same field.

We looked at recovering the lead from our two trap fields (50+ years worth) and decided that the dollars that the club would get, at that time, was not worth going ahead with the project.
 
Reclamation of shot of a fairly flat barren desert floor is probably must easier, thus more economical than all parts of Canada. A club I shot at for many years had Canadian shield rock as part of the landscape. You could walk around out there and see puddles of shot in the crevice's and low areas of the rock. That club has been in existence since the late 30's. In my opinion to remediate that club property to acceptable lead levels would be next to impossible at any cost.
 
If you are required to remediate the shotfall zone on a trap or skeet field, it can be very expensive. The key word is if you are "required", by an order from a level of government or agency. They would then state a level of ppm to achieve or dictate some other form of compliance. This typically occurs when a club is closing, moving, sold the land to a developer, etc.
Reclaiming lead shot for the purposes of being a good steward of the environment, doing the right thing, maintaining your property, and earning money for your club is completely different. There isn't any government regulation that states a shotfall zone has to meet a certain requirement regarding lead. Essentially, the weekend after the lead has been removed, your members are shooting again depositing more lead shot. Where some clubs could get into a difficult financial situation in the future is if they rent/lease agricultural land or if the shotfall zone lands on a neighbours property and that neighbour wants it removed. Lead shot recovered from trap and skeet fields is not sold to a recycler because they are simply middlemen in the process. Reclaimed lead shot is sold to smelters, refiners and international brokers. Clubs with rifle and handgun backstops are required by the CFO to maintain their backstops for safety reasons.
 
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