Today was a big day!
I had been collecting lead from the desert shooting range for a while now. The backstop is chock-full of bullets and I've only seen one other guy (and his son) picking up bullets there. Suffice to say that I'm doing my part to save the environment by removing the lead.
Each 5-gallon bucket can only be 1/3 full. More than that and you risk breaking the handle when you pick up the bucket. The bullets are washed and dried in the sun. I've left them sitting for over a week to make sure no water remains. Here's what they look like all nice, clean, and dry.
I found up a very nice cast-iron kettle along with a turkey fryer at the local flea-market a week back. Spent $25 for the two. Turkey fryer worked when I got it home but had a stupid “timer cut-off” that I disabled. Found a couple of strainer-spoons and sauce dipper at the Goodwill. New “square muffin tins” are the single most expensive purchase (can be found at Michaels, use a 40% off coupon!) but create more space efficient square chunks for storage (according to Beaurrr, I tend to agree). Leather work gloves are good enough to protect the hands from heat and splash danger.
Filled the kettle half way with bullets and turned heat up high. Put lid on and sit a while. If you meditate, this is a good time to do so. The weather is 95 F and humidity is 25%. Kinda warm but not terrible. Off and on a breeze comes to cool me off and it's nice in the shade. Not a strong wind otherwise it would play havoc with the burner.
After a while, when most of it have melted, stir the pot to move everything around. You can start removing some of the bullet jackets and dross floating on top now or add more bullets. ATTENTION: this is where you need to be careful that the bullets are completely dry. Wet bullets may become explosive when added to a pot of molten lead.
After you feel you have enough shiny, melted lead and removed most of the dross floating on top (feels so good) throw in a small piece of wax or add wood sawdust and stand back!
Sucker is going to smoke...
...and may ignite!
Smelting Range Lead
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Last edited by Bisbee on Tue Jul 19, 2016 9:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi