Plated bullets ??? How?

[mjes92]

How are you old timers smelting down recovered plated bullets? Cut through plating with wire cutters???

Thanks

[Vance]

That's the way to do it. You have to pierce the plating somehow.

[Nathan]

Won't melting get it separated?

[snuffy]

You must be recovering them intact from soft mud or something where they haven't hit anything hard enough to deform/break the plating. An intact plated bullet will NOT allow the molten lead inside it to escape unless the plating is penetrated.

Plated bullets I recover from my club's indoor range have hit an angled steel plate to deflect into the sand trap. They're badly deformed, never intact.

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

If they don't melt. So be it. But salvaged from a bullet trap usually plated are damage enough which requires no special treatment by its smelter person. Personally I don't care to re-smelt range lead. Just too dirty having to bother with. Maybe if and when lead becomes impossible to come by I'll change my tune. But at this date and time I prefer to buy my lead from a seller. Reason to: I know prior to my purchase just what type or where the lead came from I'm about to pay for. Range salvaged lead is a mix of who knows what?

S/S

[FrankenMauser]

If the bullets are intact, you need to cut the plating.
For 'TMJ' style and plated bullets, I use the cutters on some hefty linesman's pliers to notch the jacket, or actually cut the bullet into two pieces.


Sure Shot-
I use different alloys for different purposes. For some things, range lead is perfectly fine. It isn't difficult to clean, either. A quick wash and some time to dry, are all you need before smelting.

I know what's in the range lead just as well as (or better than) when I buy supposed alloys from some random dude on an internet forum (which I trust far more than places like Gunbroker or eBay).

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

Well FrankenMauser just a little clarity concerning what I commented prior. Absolutely no critiquing will you read.
The range lead (raw material) I've gotten in the past always came with bullet jackets & un-burnt powder and what ever else ended up in the bullet back stop catcher trays. Spent more time scooping junk off the top of my furnace with so little lead melt then it was worth in my time and/or electricity to heat. I have no qualms with anyone who wants to smelt raw range lead. It's just that I don't care too. As far as buying soft lead or W/W material. I have two trusted sellers I've purchased from in the past and both are quite popular with the fellows over on the Cast Boolits site.
I guess in all the years I've been casting. As an old geezer I'd rather take a road that's perhaps a little less troublesome when it comes to my casting sessions. I'll leave that hard work of smelting (raw) range lead to those younger fellows who have the patience too give it a try.

S/S

[GP100man]

This is how I smelt range stuff (dirt,paper jackets ,unfired rounds)

I place it all in a small schedule 40 pot (8" pipe pot)with a heavy lid)

When I see smoke (temp is hi enuff to cook off any live rounds) I lift the lid off & throw in a chunk of parriffin wax ,it flashes into flames burning anything that will, then skim all the crude, then flux & stir ,flux & stir ,flux & stir !!

So far I`ve wound up with some purty soft stuff , good for a base alloy !!

My problem these days is finding time !!

Oh yeah , if the bullets are`nt melted from the jackets (rare from indoor stops)I just let em kool them peirce em with a nail& hammer.

[mjes92]

Thanks for the info gentlemen.

[JohnMoses]

any pregnant pumpkin balls are laid out on concrete and smacked with a hammer. They go in the next melt. Lead is free. Tin - not so much.