Recovering lead

[Jessegreenwood]

Hey, so is there a trick to getting lead from a gravel backstop at the ranger?
Like do I bring a rake or something?
Just wanting to get into casting, and I am cheap, so...
Any tips or advice would be highly appreciated.
Thank you

 

[yomomma]

 

[bertn]

What are you casting for ?
A lot of the yield will be jacketed bullets that have fairly soft lead in them.

I'd probably prefer to stop by a tire place instead. Get a pail full of old wheel weights for 30 bucks or so.
A 5 gallon pail is close to 100 lbs so after processing you likely have 70+ lbs of pretty hard
lead.
Saves a lot of work and still cheap at less than $0.50 per lb.
Cast into 158 grain bullets gives you about 40 bullets per lb so only 1.25cents a piece.

 

[just having some fun]

a tire place will have very few LEAD ww

zinc and steel will be 90 plus% ....... unless you work changing tires and can cherry pick ww

 

[Snider shooter]

I am finding the smaller tire shops in a rural area yield a higher percentage of lead wheel weights. Shops in the city seem to deal with newer cars and most have switched to zinc and steel weights. The last bucket I got from a dealership I only got 71 lbs. Normally I get at least 90 lbs from the local shops. But that bucket was free so really can’t complain.
Screwing with the backstop at a range can get other members upset. I usually just pick up what I see on top and no cares.

 

[gth]

Im buying WW from the local scrap recycler for $0.35/lb

Averaging 70% lead.

Plus when I return the non lead WW I get $0.15/lb. Not much but some recovery of cost.

.......................................lbs......price per..total......Hard Lead...Soft Lead.Trash
march 9, 2021 -XXMetals....240.....$0.35....84.00.........115.......35.............90


One of my pickups in March, about 63% lead, not great. I could be more selective in what I take but the workers there dont have all day for me to screw around.
I use a shovel and fill my pails and get out.

 

[Erick]

a tire place will have very few LEAD ww

zinc and steel will be 90 plus% ....... unless you work changing tires and can cherry pick ww

I'm averaging about 60% lead by volume from the tire shop that I get WW from, the rest is mostly steel, zinc is maybe 1%.
The Lead is half clip on / half stick on usually.

 

[hatman1793]

Join or visit an indoor range. Their range lead is mostly clean, & it’s so much easier than raiding an outdoor berm. Indoor ranges tend to attract a lot of 22LR lead & ruined FMJ’s that smelt down wonderfully.
One range I visit had so much indoor lead accumulation that they smelted it all down into one pound ingots & sold them to interested parties for .75 cents a pound. Think they sold over 1200 pounds for a pure cash infusion for the club.