Guys, take a deep breathe, [bad pun]. I ran a lead type foundry for 15 years, in a small 1,000 foot warehouse. My casters ran 8 hours a day but not every day and I got my blood checked every year for lead levels. There was never any itty bit of lead in my system. My lead was kept at a constant 700 degrees when casting. Here is the thing: do not BOIL lead, that will certainly ruin your health. And be very careful with the oxides [the whitish powdery stuff] which can be left behind when smelting lead. For this you should wear gloves and a mask when cleaning up the slag and leftovers. Don't eat after you have handled lead: wash your hands well first. Use common sense.
Thank you, just like to add few things that might be important > lead tend to resides not in the soft tissues but rather in bonny structure and blood test some times would not provide full picture about lead poisoning right away. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_poisoning
Except if you are inhaling it on a daily basis or eating with residual lead on your hands on a consistent basis then it would go to your blood before it got into your bones.
question mate. Why has lead been taken out of petrol? why has lead been taken out of paint? Could it be that we now have a better understanding of the hazards presented by lead. FOR CRYING OUT PAL WE USED TO USE ASBESTOS IN HOUSES, FACTORIES,AND SCHOOLS.Now know better. Why would any sensible person risk their health for a few pounds of lead. ANYONE WATCHING THIS POSTING PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS. YOU ONLY GET ONE LIFE.
This dude was on the cutting edge of resolution. Definitely NOT shot on a potato. This 8 year old video has significantly better resolution and audio than a ton of channels today. I’m impressed
@Nexy honestly homie alot of my home videos are on these kinds of cameras and they look like current videos and I always forget they are also recording at the same 1080p that I watch my vids at 🤣
@Pro Tengu im aware....im just pointing out that its rare to see home made videos this old have this type of quality post-upload. i'm not a complete noob...bruh
@Robin Nilsson with such a huge market in the US, I'm surprised there isnt a few national vendors that collects the lead & valuable copper to reuse in manufacturing their own ammunition.
@Robin Nilsson - I was wondering the cost effectiveness, but the personal satisfaction of a job well done cannot be measured simply in dollars and cents.
I will never have to watch another range lead processing video ever again. I understand the entire process from start to finish. From the various hazards involved when handling molten lead, to the barriers used to prevent injury to one’s health. I don’t have a single question left in my head about the processing of range lead. Thank you sir, you’ve cracked the code. PS: I am awaiting my certificate of accomplishment “Expert in Range Lead Processing”. Thank you
Use a lid , a 22lr case will be over looked exploding showering you with hot lead ( I have helped people do this , and heard them pop, dont put scrap in a hot pan , again for unfired casings . Also dont rinse the lead due to runoff it will Inevitably end up in lakes and rivers , especially in the sink you wash dishes and prep food in.
HOLY CRAP … Someone give this man an award almost 8 years an he's still checking comments ?? that's love for his community an Sub's .. the best creators are not shown by the main stream
I've seen this video five times in the last five years, it's always recommended around this time of year. Congratulations, your video is now a holiday tradition.
I lost my father in January. I can remember as a child watching him do this. Many many hours I sat on a tree stomp and watched him do this process and many more watching him cast slugs. This video was very nostalgic. I'm sure he explained all of the ins and outs of it to me but as an 6, 7, 8 year old child I didn't understand it nor do i remember much beyond "don't reuse the pots and ladle for anything but this." he had my great grandfather's cast iron ladle and pan. So, thank you on many levels for this video. I too was not looking for such a video but am very glad that I found it. :)
UA-cam work in mysterious ways. From watching a random guy build a boat in Vietnam from scrap to a Turkish guy making a pizza over to a Turkish guy making a bath room tiled with marble I then ended up here. 53 minutes later I can confirm that I was entertained AND at the same time stunned over the fact that this video is 9 years old but still has a superb quality in resolution.
I too wasn't looking for this and I watched it to the end, but I'm amazed at the number of people commenting on this video. I don't remember watching any other video with this many people, who weren't looking for this, but watched it to the end and thought it was good/interesting. I am a 78 year old widower with a physical disability and a permanent resident in a nursing facility I don't think I'll be doing this any time soon, but I enjoyed the video.
Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts I've learned many things since filming this video and my technique is much different today. Blessings from Arizona!
@@jiujitsu2000 ur definitely still reading comments im with this senior i was looking for this video either and im sitting here like a dumbass watching a video i wasnt looking for but it kept me entertained
AHHhhh - "SMELTING" = purifying or in other words removing all that is not Lead from the metal. What you really wanted to say was "CASTING BULLETS" from previously shot bullets.
Watched the entire video and I don't even cast or shoot. Gotta love when UA-cam's recommendations actually give you something unexpectedly interesting.
The lesson here is, with the help of UA-cam, literally millions of people with no real interest in your content will still watch your video in its entirety
It's sad when the algorithms even run out of ideas for stuff to produce and put out... The world is truly washed up and has run its course time for a global reset.
I wish I'd seen this video a few years ago. I've been melting and reclaiming lead from wheel weights and a local range for years and I'd like to give this gentleman a bit of advise. 1) Skip the washing. Anything you can wash off is going to float on your lead as it melts and there is no danger of getting water in your molten lead when you add to your initial melt. Getting water in your molten lead will ruin your day. 2) Skip the cast iron frying pan and use a stainless steel 2 quart or larger sauce pan. Stainless steel doesn't give you all that crud that seems to form when you do your melt in cast iron. It's easier to remove your molten lead and you haven't ruined an otherwise good frying pan. I got mine for a couple bucks at a garage sale. 3) Turn your heat down once your lead melts. When the lead in your pot starts to change color and form a scum on top, you're way hotter that necessary and you can do it without fluxing and removing said scum. A thermometer would be a good idea to use. 4) Although I too have made an ingot mold from angle iron, I now use another garage sale find in the form of a muffin pan. They make nice sized ingots and release easily from the pan.
Good advice, i never washed lead balance weights and bullets and roof lead, pipes just melt it, Poured mine in a old pot, garage sale stuff, I did mine out side because smells I did this when lead was 13 cents a pound to sell Before the sinkers and tire lead was changed
Also most of the dross you collected after the initial coarse crud was out was freshly formed lead oxide. Each time you stir up that lead you give the oxygen of the air a nice chance to get in contact with metal. Same for when you "fluxed" with paraffin: you just let more lead oxide form. As soon as you see a shiny metallic surface you are good to pour.
I've been muzzleloading for almost 10 years now. I recently got into casting my own shot and this is exactly what I needed to watch. I'm going to do this today, right now. I've got about 60lbs of lead scrap that I salvaged from a plumbing job that involved me ripping out a house full of old cast iron drain pipe. Gonna cast 60lbs worth of .50 and .72 cal round balls. Thank you
Wait 10Years.. Facebooks going to be Filled with DeadPeoples Profiles.. and this Videos STILL going to get 300 views, 100 Comments, and 3 PublicShares a week.
all you need is a brake drum from a semi trailer, some steel pipe, and a way to force air into the fire. weld some of the bent pipe to the bottom of the brake drum, add some sort of grate to keep your coals from falling through, and attach the pipe to some sort of blower. fill the brake drum with charcoal, fire it up, and turn on your blower and you'll have a fire hot enough to melt lead and aluminum at the least. with a little fine tuning you can get it hot enough to melt gold, silver, and copper.
Yes, YT is the original reality television. I'd rather watch this guy figure out 1000 ways to cast bullets than watch dancing with the stars. My wife doesn't understand any more than I understand why she wants to watch some Hollywood type turn circles on a dance floor. To each his own I suppose.
dito, had several beers while watching this... and i have no idea how i landed here... i have absolutely no buisiness in salvaging anything. It was entertaining though :D GG
this is the 5th year ive been recommended this before deer season starts. idk what prompts the algorithm, but i watch it on thanksgiving night every year lol
Just want to say thanks for taking the time to put this video together. It's helpful and what I like about it is it's a "blue collar" home grown way of doing things. I used to make lead sinkers for my off shore fishing quite a bit, not to mention crabpot weights, etc. I've been reloading for a long, long time and though I've reused recovered brass and bullets I'm always looking for different ways of recovering the lead from the range bullets. Thanks for your input... eight years earlier. It's still a viable alternative. Good job.
6 year later, some 1.2 million + views later, your educational video is still doing its job. If youtube doesn't get stupid, people will still be learning from you, long after your gone. Hope that 1.5 & 2 million views comes quickly. the video is well worth it. The difference in metal & smelting handling has changed so much for safety by general layman in just 6 years is smazing
I have to say that while I enjoy firearms as a hobby, I personally don’t see myself repurposing lead, or even pressing my own ammo any time soon. However, you present your information in a very digestible and enjoyable way, and I couldn’t help but watch the whole thing. Excellent video!
Thank you for sharing this information with all of us you gave me the confidence in smelting lead and I bought 1325 pounds of wheel weights and separate them and cleaned them up poured bar's and now alloying them for pistol and rifle thank you again for your helpful video.👍
You're welcome my friend and thank you for the kind words and support that you get my channel. My process of rendering lead has changed tremendously I don't wash it anymore
@@jiujitsu2000 I put it in the cement mixer for 30 minutes with dish soap and put on a screen for a couple of days to dry mine had road grime oil etc this helps reduce smoke and fumes.your process makes the most sense to me I ended up with over 728pounds of lead that will keep me busy for a while.please keep up with the videos God bless.
this is so relaxing, I used to work with lead and never got tired of the mirror-like surface. Also, i once droped humid lead into the foundry that already had some in it and it was like a mini volcano spewing lead everywhere for a few minutes.
You won't believe this, I watch this video and the second part reloading video before I go to the bed. I don't have any guns, but I love anything related to guns, and bullets. Very good video and excellent demonstration, I have learned how to before and after reloading stages.
This is the third time ive been brought here by the algorithm, and the third time ive watched it all the way trough, quite the soothing experience every time.
I hope you are still around after ten or twelve years. I’ve watched about five of your reloading videos. You do the best most informative videos on UA-cam and I’ve seen a lot. Getting into M1 30 06 and 45 acp. You dot all the i’s and cross ALL the t’s. Thank you.
I went to an old shooting range collected 9. 5 gallon buckets of range scrap cleaned up and well over 350 lbs of lead. I also get old lead pipes and sheet lead from old Dr and dental offices that contractor buddies pull out and bring to me. in all on hand now got 500 lbs cleaned up that I cast flint lock round ball and Minnie balls with. this video I watch many times. best video for the process out there.
Thank you for the very kind words and support that you give my channel.. The process that I do now is much different than what I've showed in this video. The biggest change now is I don't wash the lead at all I just melt it down!
@@D3THM4N No, if anything he'd be contaminating wastewater, nobody's getting supply from that. But this is on such a small scale that there'd never be a noticable increase of lead in wastewater. And no matter what, supply water is treated and filtered to be sufficiently clean and free from toxic chemicals, so this wastewater being unnoticeably contaminated is no problem.
Containting the water supply and safety , I see he has never had an unfired 22lr make it past his visual screening , many people have similar , non-water contaminating very safe videos . Never rinse scrap in your sink you prep food you eat in there, Put the scrap in a COLD pot , with a lid (a must have) wait for a dropped 22lr case you missed to explode (hence the lid) DO NOT add more (IN CASE YOU DROP A LIVE ROUND IN HOT LEAD CAUSING IT TO EXPLODE SHOWERING YOU IN HOT LEAD ) screen off brass , steel bullet cores (from m882 5.56) and copper jackets other than that a good video.
the phrase you're looking for at 42:15 is "pride of workmanship." it's when you make something and feel like you did a good job. Not silly at all. pretty awesome, actually.
Hey, Just wanted to say that I did a similar vid but vhs back in 1987 for my boyscout group. Back then we used bees wax to remove what we called skim. and went bass fishing with the lead we then poured into molds for jig heads. We did the same except we collected tire weights back then. It was nice to see a similar method and a bit weird at the same time hearing a voice that sounds like mine. I know I didn't do this video but that was good and strange at the same time. Hey no biggie just glad to see some old school recycle done right :)Just so everyone knows that is not me. Have a great day :) PS: My name is Jamie an i'm from Virginia :)
I keep bees and so have a lot of bee's wax. I'm wondering if bee's wax is less flammable than the petroleum candle wax because bee's wax has a higher melting point than petroleum candles. I have lead that I want to melt into ingots because I target shoot with airguns. Thing about lead from airgun pellets is that it can have antimony in it which makes the lead harder and I wonder how that will affect this whole lead reclamation process.
@@tombourne7184 He didn't, actually. The Nazis actually deregulated the buying and selling of firearms in 1938 (to everyone but their enemies and Jews, of course). The only people they took guns from were Jews and political opponents, but many Jews and dissidents continued to own their guns well into the 30s.
@@vaisakhchandran4822 we associate GUNS with Freedom because it's the ONE right as humans to defend oneself they have tried to take over MANY TIMES OVER, and because the people we armed it was never successful. The globalist are in India as well, and when they make their move you better hope you can stand up to the one world government, bc they will have guns, and unless YOU DO, your either dead, or you will comply with what THEY dictate you do.
Because of your very well explaining the procces I have been buying Wheel Weights from a small tire shop and gathing things to start processing lead so I can cast some bullets and balls for my black Powders rifle thankyou for sharing your knowledge and experience.
I googled the. melting point of copper, nearly 1800F I could see saving them if you had a furnace that could achieve that temp consistently. I was impressed with your strong adherence to safety. I am a believer in safety as well. I am a retired driver with 4 million miles accident free. The balance between being productive and being safe become second nature, if you survive the lessons, lol
It was very refreshing to watch a video that was very informative and relaxing to watch. But the best part was that he was not trying to get attention, not once did we see this gentleman's face.
Estimated the weight of the starting and finished product EXACTLY. This is a guy that knows his stuff! Thanks for this video. I've never used range lead but I figured this would be the process.
My father was a major in the air force who was in charge of the rifle range. He new in advance that some day he would build a sailboat and would need lead for the keel. So he had the enlisted men dig out all the bullets for this project. When finally started that boat he melted those bullets and poured the lead into a cast iron corn muffin mold laid each casting into the keel.
This is kind of an old video but super informative. I just got my first mould fir .45 so ive been gather as much knowledge as possible. Your video has boosted my confidence to start casting!!! Thank you!!!!!!!
@@richardmendoza738 thank you! It's all good. I'm always having typos. I used to have a bunch of excellent bullet casting videos but UA-cam pulled them all down
Kind of interesting to see this done on this level. In my early teens I came across a guy renting a space in an industrial center, he made bullets similar to this. He had a slightly larger setup, big kiln-like thing for melting down the stuff he got from the ranges, etc. Process was basically the same though. Melt down spent ammunition, sieve off the copper to recycle, clear off the slag/dross, and then make both ingots and new bullets. He had these interesting tools that were two halves on a hinge which encased the cavities that would form the bullets, and a top part on a swivel where he poured the lead in and was channeled to each cavity. He'd use a mallet with a head of lead he casted to tap them open, breaking off the lead sprue from the top, then tap it open and drop out 8 or 10 new bullets. It was fun and interesting watching and learning, listening to him tell me the ins and outs and whys of the whole process. He'd make his quota for the day then make ingots out of the rest, dropping one in every so often to keep the pool at whatever level he preferred.
I don't shoot, never been to a range. This information serves no purpose to me AND YET I return to this video every 5 months or so because I love it oh so very much ♥ It's hypnotic. Thanks for the upload!
When you were skimming it was interesting to see how the impurities that were floating on top of the lead would fall out bone dry. My mind is so used to thinking in terms of liquid and things that flow being wet. Very interesting content thank you!
Great directions. Really like the sieve for taking out the jacket's! Have to get that. Like that big scoup for pouring ingot's too! What I do to remove dross is I have a big serving spoon with a lot of hole drilled in the spoon, drains hot lead. I use old candels to flux with but never thought of those little one's you use. Gonna get them! I might suggest for dumping water making a sieve with metal window screen. I din in dirt for range bullet's and dump shovel fulls of dirt in a screen to get the bullet's out. Super caution on water around melted lead water get's into melted lead and it will explode, don't ask how I know! Super video!
Never throw away copper, always bring it to a scrap yard for money. Been saving copper and aluminum since I was a kid, and now my son does it with me. Great video, very informative 🙂
So interesting. Brought back memories……. My dad was a melter in a steel mill so he knew the process/dangers etc. He was also an avid fisherman with a great sense of humor. He would melt lead in the basement from the flame of the hot water heater. Then he would pour fishing sinkers in the shape of a hamburger in the bun and give them to his fishing buddies. Wish I had a few of those sinkers.
Best way is : 1- do not wash , just take it as is from the range to the pot ! Moisture can be a disaster when melting , dust will float 2- No need to cut or sort , lead always find it is way out of the jacket !
OK, I have to comment cause everbody else did. Loved this. I shoot frequently and reload but the closest I ever got to melting lead was as a kid drilling a 2x4 full of 3/4" by 3/4" holes and melting tire weights, pouring it into the holes as I insert a paper clip in each one, then hose them down with the water hose before the whole board ignites. They made great trot line weights growing up on the brazos river. Ate lots of catfish. Thanks for the lead lessons. //ji
Never mind that. If lead is $1/lb, and you cast out 158gr bullets, you're getting 44 bullets per pound (1 pound is 7,000 grains). To get 250 takes about 6 pounds, or $6. To buy 250 cast bullets at that weight is about $40. That's $34 *saved.*
Just imagine a day when you cant go to a store to buy all that led for a buck a pound.. It may be closer than we think.? God Bless & Bless others in turn..
Nice try, but lead (pronounced “leed”) is a present tense verb in your past tense sentence. “Thumbs up if a UA-cam recommendation _led_ you here.” Yes, I got tired of seeing the recommendation for the longest time so I finally clicked on it.
A friend and I were shooting at an established club that had a sand bank as the bullet stop. We noticed that the sand was displaced in those positions where targets had been placed. In the 30 years of it's existence no one had ever bothered to recover the lead. We dug for a couple of hours, sieved with a garden sieve and recovered many kilos of projectiles. My friend was an engineer and also enjoyed raku firing clay pots. He had already constructed a rockwool lined kiln in a 12 gallon drum, put a 2 inch air pipe energised by a throttled down vacuum cleaner output air blast.. and a 1/4 inch copper pipe near the middle of the air pipe fed by a 20lb LP cylinder with no regulator. In the hole in the top of the drum he welded up and placed a section of 2x4 steel RHS with the bottom welded shut... with two large steel pipes as handles also welded onto the RHS at the "top" end that stuck out above the drum about a foot. He made ingot molds out of the same right angle steel as this vid shows...just 24 inches long x 4 moulds... also with handles welded on both ends. Those ingot molds fit a a steel tubbed wheelbarrow filled with 30 litres of water.... The great advantage was 5 minutes in this kiln with the jet aircaft cound of the intense flame had the lead melting and the dross and projectile jackets floating to the top. We did no real purification as we intended to sell the lead......there was just so much of it and scrap lead prices were good. So after scraping off most of the rubbish we lifted the whole RHS out between us, rested the end on the concrete exterior pad where we were doing this and tipped the lead into the moulds... Then after a few minutes picked up then lowered the ingot molds into the wheelbarrow of water..... where it rapidly cooled enough to allow us to pick up the ingot moulds and flip them allowing the ingots to fall out and continue cooling in the water. After the second go around we had to immerse the bottom half of the LP bottle in a basin containing some of the heated water from the wheelbarrow as the rapid use of the LP pouring out caused ice to form on the outside of the bottle degrading the volume of expanding LP vapour and affecting the flame in the kiln. When we took the proceeds in to the scrap merchant he gave us top price for the cleaned lead which funded other shooting activities. We stopped doing this when his wife said it might not be too healthy if we continued....she might have been right... but we had also taken all the easily recovered projectiles and now it would be hard work recovering shotgun pellets. Speaking of which when a shotgun (clay shooting) range closed down they imported a machine to sieve the soil on the range... and recovered 190 tonnes of lead pellets.. just about broke even with the cost of importing the machine but it was part of the deal with the local council to allow the land to be sold.
Guys, take a deep breathe, [bad pun]. I ran a lead type foundry for 15 years, in a small 1,000 foot warehouse. My casters ran 8 hours a day but not every day and I got my blood checked every year for lead levels. There was never any itty bit of lead in my system. My lead was kept at a constant 700 degrees when casting. Here is the thing: do not BOIL lead, that will certainly ruin your health. And be very careful with the oxides [the whitish powdery stuff] which can be left behind when smelting lead. For this you should wear gloves and a mask when cleaning up the slag and leftovers. Don't eat after you have handled lead: wash your hands well first. Use common sense.
blatrug thank you! Finally someone who understands!!
Well said 5 years as a caster in lead plant blood checked every 3 months always clean wear gloves and mask when cleaning off dross
Thank you, just like to add few things that might be important > lead tend to resides not in the soft tissues but rather in bonny structure and blood test some times would not provide full picture about lead poisoning right away. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_poisoning
Except if you are inhaling it on a daily basis or eating with residual lead on your hands on a consistent basis then it would go to your blood before it got into your bones.
question mate. Why has lead been taken out of petrol? why has lead been taken out of paint? Could it be that we now have a better understanding of the hazards presented by lead. FOR CRYING OUT PAL WE USED TO USE ASBESTOS IN HOUSES, FACTORIES,AND SCHOOLS.Now know better. Why would any sensible person risk their health for a few pounds of lead. ANYONE WATCHING THIS POSTING PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS. YOU ONLY GET ONE LIFE.
This dude was on the cutting edge of resolution. Definitely NOT shot on a potato. This 8 year old video has significantly better resolution and audio than a ton of channels today. I’m impressed
Better quality than pewdiepie lol
@Nexy honestly homie alot of my home videos are on these kinds of cameras and they look like current videos and I always forget they are also recording at the same 1080p that I watch my vids at 🤣
wait what do you mean *look at the release date* WHATAFAK
@Nexy the guy obviously has a bit of extra cash would not suprise me if he had a decent camara in 2012 and did not use his HTC desire
@Pro Tengu im aware....im just pointing out that its rare to see home made videos this old have this type of quality post-upload. i'm not a complete noob...bruh
So those are free range bullets made from free range lead. 100% Organic.
@Robin Nilsson with such a huge market in the US, I'm surprised there isnt a few national vendors that collects the lead & valuable copper to reuse in manufacturing their own ammunition.
Bonus: All lead recycled in this video was certified to be Non-GMO.
@Robin Nilsson - I was wondering the cost effectiveness, but the personal satisfaction of a job well done cannot be measured simply in dollars and cents.
Ethical Lead
More like barn laid rather than full on free range👍
I will never have to watch another range lead processing video ever again. I understand the entire process from start to finish. From the various hazards involved when handling molten lead, to the barriers used to prevent injury to one’s health. I don’t have a single question left in my head about the processing of range lead.
Thank you sir, you’ve cracked the code.
PS: I am awaiting my certificate of accomplishment “Expert in Range Lead Processing”.
Thank you
Thank you for the kind words and support. I do the process completely different now, I need to do an updated video
Use a lid , a 22lr case will be over looked exploding showering you with hot lead ( I have helped people do this , and heard them pop, dont put scrap in a hot pan , again for unfired casings . Also dont rinse the lead due to runoff it will Inevitably end up in lakes and rivers , especially in the sink you wash dishes and prep food in.
Get your lead from a recycler. It's about a dollar per pound. When you figure your labor into the process, that's really cheap.
Been seven years and the creator is still reading comments
100% accurate!! Thank you... I try... it's extremely difficult... Merry Christmas !!
HOLY CRAP … Someone give this man an award almost 8 years an he's still checking comments ?? that's love for his community an Sub's .. the best creators are not shown by the main stream
The Golden Chariot
That’s class
The Golden Chariot that also tells me lead fume does not cause enough brain damage to affect your language ability.
Yes he’s alive.. Seriously though why wouldn’t he be? He still gets the notifications obviously.
I've seen this video five times in the last five years, it's always recommended around this time of year.
Congratulations, your video is now a holiday tradition.
Careful you’ll shoot your eye out with all that DROSS!!!
Aye, back here too. Guess we get to do a get-together annually
UA-cam comment status: won by this lad
me too & i have No Idea why. Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, Happy New Year, Happy early Birthday & i’ll reply next year. Cheers *clink
@@corporalclegg914 See you boys next year.
I lost my father in January. I can remember as a child watching him do this. Many many hours I sat on a tree stomp and watched him do this process and many more watching him cast slugs. This video was very nostalgic. I'm sure he explained all of the ins and outs of it to me but as an 6, 7, 8 year old child I didn't understand it nor do i remember much beyond "don't reuse the pots and ladle for anything but this." he had my great grandfather's cast iron ladle and pan. So, thank you on many levels for this video. I too was not looking for such a video but am very glad that I found it. :)
I can remember watching my dad make sinkers when I was a kid, I like to watch these type of videos to bring back the memories of time with my father.
@@davidlarocque2137 yes exactly, of happier times.
Sorry for your loss of your father.
@@stevesalisbury8206 thank you very much
I get it. Still dealing with those feelings. You don't get over it, you just get used to it.
UA-cam work in mysterious ways. From watching a random guy build a boat in Vietnam from scrap to a Turkish guy making a pizza over to a Turkish guy making a bath room tiled with marble I then ended up here. 53 minutes later I can confirm that I was entertained AND at the same time stunned over the fact that this video is 9 years old but still has a superb quality in resolution.
I too wasn't looking for this and I watched it to the end, but I'm amazed at the number of people commenting on this video. I don't remember watching any other video with this many people, who weren't looking for this, but watched it to the end and thought it was good/interesting. I am a 78 year old widower with a physical disability and a permanent resident in a nursing facility I don't think I'll be doing this any time soon, but I enjoyed the video.
Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts I've learned many things since filming this video and my technique is much different today. Blessings from Arizona!
@@jiujitsu2000 ur definitely still reading comments im with this senior i was looking for this video either and im sitting here like a dumbass watching a video i wasnt looking for but it kept me entertained
I have a math test in 10 hours, amazing vid, I'll go to bed
@@jiujitsu2000 What are you doing differently?
Hope you are well sir
So glad UA-cam recommended this to me even though I've never showed any intrest in smelting
Thank you! Please tell a friend!
@@jiujitsu2000 will do 👍
maybe you should show some more intrest
UA-cam thought you had a bad case of lead poisoning.
AHHhhh - "SMELTING" = purifying or in other words removing all that is not Lead from the metal.
What you really wanted to say was "CASTING BULLETS" from previously shot bullets.
Watched the entire video and I don't even cast or shoot. Gotta love when UA-cam's recommendations actually give you something unexpectedly interesting.
i've watched it like a cooking video :d
Yeah I was watching a lock picking video, then this came up after! UA-cam really must know me and my interest in different things lol.
Enjoyed very much thank you for sharing nice tip about the wax hope your bullets fly true keep ya powder dry x
You're the neighbor to have in this world. Actual useful people who know how to do things! Thanks for another outstanding demonstration.
The lesson here is, with the help of UA-cam, literally millions of people with no real interest in your content will still watch your video in its entirety
Knowledge is badass.
Libterds are searching for his name to call the police.
7 years later and its still getting this many hits, i dont even really watch metal casting or gun shooting videos more than a random rare video!
It's sad when the algorithms even run out of ideas for stuff to produce and put out...
The world is truly washed up and has run its course time for a global reset.
Yep watched in 2020 during covid-19 Pandemic. Bored silly
I wish I'd seen this video a few years ago.
I've been melting and reclaiming lead from wheel weights and a local range for years and I'd like to give this gentleman a bit of advise.
1) Skip the washing. Anything you can wash off is going to float on your lead as it melts and there is no danger of getting water in your molten lead when you add to your initial melt. Getting water in your molten lead will ruin your day.
2) Skip the cast iron frying pan and use a stainless steel 2 quart or larger sauce pan. Stainless steel doesn't give you all that crud that seems to form when you do your melt in cast iron. It's easier to remove your molten lead and you haven't ruined an otherwise good frying pan. I got mine for a couple bucks at a garage sale.
3) Turn your heat down once your lead melts. When the lead in your pot starts to change color and form a scum on top, you're way hotter that necessary and you can do it without fluxing and removing said scum. A thermometer would be a good idea to use.
4) Although I too have made an ingot mold from angle iron, I now use another garage sale find in the form of a muffin pan. They make nice sized ingots and release easily from the pan.
Muffin pans are probably more useful as casting molds than as baking vessels. Wax, resin, aluminium even.
Just make sure the muffin tins are all one piece and not the type that had cups soldered into the top!
*advice*
Good advice, i never washed lead balance weights and bullets and roof lead, pipes just melt it,
Poured mine in a old pot, garage sale stuff,
I did mine out side because smells
I did this when lead was 13 cents a pound to sell
Before the sinkers and tire lead was changed
Also most of the dross you collected after the initial coarse crud was out was freshly formed lead oxide. Each time you stir up that lead you give the oxygen of the air a nice chance to get in contact with metal. Same for when you "fluxed" with paraffin: you just let more lead oxide form. As soon as you see a shiny metallic surface you are good to pour.
I've been muzzleloading for almost 10 years now. I recently got into casting my own shot and this is exactly what I needed to watch. I'm going to do this today, right now. I've got about 60lbs of lead scrap that I salvaged from a plumbing job that involved me ripping out a house full of old cast iron drain pipe. Gonna cast 60lbs worth of .50 and .72 cal round balls. Thank you
When you say muzzle loader ypu mean like a musket ?
Never thought I would watch an almost hour long video of someone making the forbidden soup
the soup isnt that hot the soup
@Peter Parlee-Carr ua-cam.com/video/XICKGE1hHxY/v-deo.html
A seven year old video has my attention so thoroughly that I never realized it was an hour long.
Well done.
Wait 10Years.. Facebooks going to be Filled with DeadPeoples Profiles.. and this Videos STILL going to get 300 views, 100 Comments, and 3 PublicShares a week.
Wait this vid was an hour long
Um....it's NOT an hour long....only 52 minutes!
Me: 43 min in I guess I need to learn what to make with led
@@TheCometHunter I can make minute rice in just 59Seconds..
I'm not going to watch this...
(Fifty minutes later)
How can I make my own foundry?
No doubt, I'm looking up buying foundries as I type this lol
I'm not going to watch this...
But I'll give it some minutes to proof it's worth
(Fifty minutes later)
damn
all you need is a brake drum from a semi trailer, some steel pipe, and a way to force air into the fire. weld some of the bent pipe to the bottom of the brake drum, add some sort of grate to keep your coals from falling through, and attach the pipe to some sort of blower. fill the brake drum with charcoal, fire it up, and turn on your blower and you'll have a fire hot enough to melt lead and aluminum at the least. with a little fine tuning you can get it hot enough to melt gold, silver, and copper.
if it gets hot enough to demagnetize steel it's hot enough to melt lead, aluminum, gold, silver, copper, brass, etc
I been wanting to have one for awhile to melt all this gold I have that’s broken
man i watched this and had a couple beers. legitimately more entertaining than most television! haha, thanks for the upload.
Ha ha, you rock! Thanks
Hey, unlike television, at least this is real!
Yes, YT is the original reality television. I'd rather watch this guy figure out 1000 ways to cast bullets than watch dancing with the stars. My wife doesn't understand any more than I understand why she wants to watch some Hollywood type turn circles on a dance floor. To each his own I suppose.
dito, had several beers while watching this... and i have no idea how i landed here... i have absolutely no buisiness in salvaging anything. It was entertaining though :D GG
Right there with you man. 5 beers in am glued to this shit!
this is the 5th year ive been recommended this before deer season starts. idk what prompts the algorithm, but i watch it on thanksgiving night every year lol
Just want to say thanks for taking the time to put this video together. It's helpful and what I like about it is it's a "blue collar" home grown way of doing things. I used to make lead sinkers for my off shore fishing quite a bit, not to mention crabpot weights, etc. I've been reloading for a long, long time and though I've reused recovered brass and bullets I'm always looking for different ways of recovering the lead from the range bullets. Thanks for your input... eight years earlier. It's still a viable alternative. Good job.
Why is it so satisfying to watch other people work? I love this guy's energy, he is the definition of zen, chill, cool.
Thank you! I'm pretty laid back!
6 year later, some 1.2 million + views later, your educational video is still doing its job. If youtube doesn't get stupid, people will still be learning from you, long after your gone. Hope that 1.5 & 2 million views comes quickly. the video is well worth it.
The difference in metal & smelting handling has changed so much for safety by general layman in just 6 years is smazing
Back in the late 50s and early 60s, my dad and I did this process to make fishing sinkers with hand moldes. Thank you for bring back the memories.
This guy is like a life coach imparting wisdom: “the last thing you want is lead in your face.”
…Or in your lap!
The last thing you want to do is have wet lead going into the melting pot !!
I have to say that while I enjoy firearms as a hobby, I personally don’t see myself repurposing lead, or even pressing my own ammo any time soon. However, you present your information in a very digestible and enjoyable way, and I couldn’t help but watch the whole thing. Excellent video!
FIFTY MINUTES OF PURE ENTERTAINMENT, GOD BLESS YOU MAN.
i don't know why i just spent an hour watching this, because i will never do this in my life, but i'm glad i did
I remember watching my uncles do this when I was a kid. This is a blast of nostalgia, and is what made me interested in metallurgy and chemistry.
Who lead me here?
I see what you did there! lol
Masterchef lead you here
@Khb 888 Don't worry man. Maybe some people in the comment section were mislead.
@Khb 888 #feelsbadman :(
Perhaps you've been lead astray?
Very cool how the brass melts away at a higher temp than the led. This video was what kept me up past a normal hour of going to bed.
Thank you for sharing this information with all of us you gave me the confidence in smelting lead and I bought 1325 pounds of wheel weights and separate them and cleaned them up poured bar's and now alloying them for pistol and rifle thank you again for your helpful video.👍
You're welcome my friend and thank you for the kind words and support that you get my channel. My process of rendering lead has changed tremendously I don't wash it anymore
@@jiujitsu2000 I put it in the cement mixer for 30 minutes with dish soap and put on a screen for a couple of days to dry mine had road grime oil etc this helps reduce smoke and fumes.your process makes the most sense to me I ended up with over 728pounds of lead that will keep me busy for a while.please keep up with the videos God bless.
@@bobsunkees3392 Excellent! God bless you and yours!
this is a weird cooking show
Song Listener DeatGrips 😂😂
This has got to be the best iron chef I have seen yet
@@willbianco8931 oriental cooking class!
Megatron need does for breakfast
SEX video ne Rodolfo hacker good ebenseya Rodolfo NOT TED Google hacker good BAY area
This man is going to be a valuable asset and a very rich man in the apocalypse.
this is so relaxing, I used to work with lead and never got tired of the mirror-like surface. Also, i once droped humid lead into the foundry that already had some in it and it was like a mini volcano spewing lead everywhere for a few minutes.
You won't believe this, I watch this video and the second part reloading video before I go to the bed.
I don't have any guns, but I love anything related to guns, and bullets.
Very good video and excellent demonstration, I have learned how to before and after reloading stages.
This is the third time ive been brought here by the algorithm, and the third time ive watched it all the way trough, quite the soothing experience every time.
“You wanna be careful putting your hands in here” *Plunges hand blindly into bowl*
He didn't push with enough force to get a full hand of it though.
No he plunged it carefully 😜
I noticed that too lmao
@@ryanr3071 Yes, with that open wound on his index finger. Where did he buy those invisible nitrile gloves?
Exactly what I was thinking
Her: Omg can you cook?
Him: ... Yes
i bet everything he cooks is burnt to shit lol
Are you .45 or 9mm?
@@hibahprice6887 9mm because 45 is for looozers
Good job young man. Informative with no fluff or bullshit and no aggravating music. Thank you.
Came here from Imgur. Stayed for the whole 52 minutes mesmerised. Like... This is perfect watching thing for me. 5/5, would recommend to a friend.
🤔 *Started off watching a 'baking cornbread' video. Two clicks later; 😒 "Casting lead?! This will do..."* 😌
Well now you know it all.
I hope you are still around after ten or twelve years. I’ve watched about five of your reloading videos. You do the best most informative videos on UA-cam and I’ve seen a lot. Getting into M1 30 06 and 45 acp. You dot all the i’s and cross ALL the t’s. Thank you.
I went to an old shooting range collected 9. 5 gallon buckets of range scrap cleaned up and well over 350 lbs of lead. I also get old lead pipes and sheet lead from old Dr and dental offices that contractor buddies pull out and bring to me. in all on hand now got 500 lbs cleaned up that I cast flint lock round ball and Minnie balls with. this video I watch many times. best video for the process out there.
Thank you for the very kind words and support that you give my channel.. The process that I do now is much different than what I've showed in this video. The biggest change now is I don't wash the lead at all I just melt it down!
Probably the best video I've seen on UA-cam, doesn't matter the cost, the whole process was very interesting to watch,
copper melts at just under 2000 degrees F
when the world ends this dude is on my team...👍👍
Your more like to be killed him, by he’s not going to be on your team, your more likely to be on his team
@@atf8501 you must be fun at parties huh
@@obiwankenobi1608 I only like search parties.
Ps halos better than doom
@@atf8501 ha...haHahah...AHAHAHAHAHAH Bro for real you really have a one sided perspective don't you?
Just like grand mama used to make
Skillow lead cakes. And cornbread with lead sprinkles.. Mmm how i got so smart as a kid
Turned out to be the most legendary lead video on UA-cam
How can anyone dislike this, this man is so informative and interesting
it's the lead companies trying to sabotage him lol
I didn't dislike but I mean he is contaminating the water supply.
@@D3THM4N No, if anything he'd be contaminating wastewater, nobody's getting supply from that. But this is on such a small scale that there'd never be a noticable increase of lead in wastewater.
And no matter what, supply water is treated and filtered to be sufficiently clean and free from toxic chemicals, so this wastewater being unnoticeably contaminated is no problem.
Containting the water supply and safety , I see he has never had an unfired 22lr make it past his visual screening , many people have similar , non-water contaminating very safe videos . Never rinse scrap in your sink you prep food you eat in there, Put the scrap in a COLD pot , with a lid (a must have) wait for a dropped 22lr case you missed to explode (hence the lid) DO NOT add more (IN CASE YOU DROP A LIVE ROUND IN HOT LEAD CAUSING IT TO EXPLODE SHOWERING YOU IN HOT LEAD ) screen off brass , steel bullet cores (from m882 5.56) and copper jackets other than that a good video.
@@OrionCrusader except when it inevitably due to run off ends up in lakes and rivers
the phrase you're looking for at 42:15 is "pride of workmanship." it's when you make something and feel like you did a good job. Not silly at all. pretty awesome, actually.
Hey, Just wanted to say that I did a similar vid but vhs back in 1987 for my boyscout group. Back then we used bees wax to remove what we called skim. and went bass fishing with the lead we then poured into molds for jig heads. We did the same except we collected tire weights back then. It was nice to see a similar method and a bit weird at the same time hearing a voice that sounds like mine. I know I didn't do this video but that was good and strange at the same time. Hey no biggie just glad to see some old school recycle done right :)Just so everyone knows that is not me. Have a great day :) PS: My name is Jamie an i'm from Virginia :)
I keep bees and so have a lot of bee's wax. I'm wondering if bee's wax is less flammable than the petroleum candle wax because bee's wax has a higher melting point than petroleum candles. I have lead that I want to melt into ingots because I target shoot with airguns. Thing about lead from airgun pellets is that it can have antimony in it which makes the lead harder and I wonder how that will affect this whole lead reclamation process.
This man is a wealth of knowledge, thank you sir!
Thank you!
i wish my college teachers were as informative as you..... really nice work....
So this is how you make freedom soup
freedom ? its just lead. its sad that you guys associate freedom with guns.
@@tombourne7184 dude im from India. I am not looking down on you. just saying that that freedom with a threat of violence is not really Freedom
Best comment ever
@@tombourne7184 He didn't, actually. The Nazis actually deregulated the buying and selling of firearms in 1938 (to everyone but their enemies and Jews, of course). The only people they took guns from were Jews and political opponents, but many Jews and dissidents continued to own their guns well into the 30s.
@@vaisakhchandran4822 we associate GUNS with Freedom because it's the ONE right as humans to defend oneself they have tried to take over MANY TIMES OVER, and because the people we armed it was never successful. The globalist are in India as well, and when they make their move you better hope you can stand up to the one world government, bc they will have guns, and unless YOU DO, your either dead, or you will comply with what THEY dictate you do.
You’re definitely not silly, it’s far more satisfying to use tools that came from your own hands. Thanks for the video very cool
Because of your very well explaining the procces I have been buying Wheel Weights from a small tire shop and gathing things to start processing lead so I can cast some bullets and balls for my black Powders rifle thankyou for sharing your knowledge and experience.
Today on the Food Network: Cooking with Chuck Norris and his Bullet Soup.
Today Chuck Norris makes range lead fondue
Lead cover protein bars
trackerrrr 😂😂😂😂😂
😂🤣 this is too good!
I googled the. melting point of copper, nearly 1800F I could see saving them if you had a furnace that could achieve that temp consistently. I was impressed with your strong adherence to safety. I am a believer in safety as well. I am a retired driver with 4 million miles accident free. The balance between being productive and being safe become second nature, if you survive the lessons, lol
This is what brass vultures graduate into when they’ve collected all the brass at the local range
It was very refreshing to watch a video that was very informative and relaxing to watch. But the best part was that he was not trying to get attention, not once did we see this gentleman's face.
Congrats your the first to not waste 52 minutes of my time this was very satisfying
When will I ever do this? Never.
Was it enjoyable and interesting? Yes!
Thank you!
this is super relaxing, i don't even shoot and watched the whole video!
Same :)
***** ;-)
uetzel I gonna melt some lead. Looks like fun.
its his voice and the way he talks. He would have a future in documentaries.
did the saee thing hhhhh
Estimated the weight of the starting and finished product EXACTLY. This is a guy that knows his stuff! Thanks for this video. I've never used range lead but I figured this would be the process.
My father was a major in the air force who was in charge of the rifle range. He new in advance that some day he would build a sailboat and would need lead for the keel. So he had the enlisted men dig out all the bullets for this project. When finally started that boat he melted those bullets and poured the lead into a cast iron corn muffin mold laid each casting into the keel.
@Evocati Slightly officious there, buddy. But don't worry, it didn't happen.
This is kind of an old video but super informative. I just got my first mould fir .45 so ive been gather as much knowledge as possible. Your video has boosted my confidence to start casting!!! Thank you!!!!!!!
My phones auto correct butchered all that, Jesus christ lol
@@richardmendoza738 thank you! It's all good. I'm always having typos. I used to have a bunch of excellent bullet casting videos but UA-cam pulled them all down
Kind of interesting to see this done on this level. In my early teens I came across a guy renting a space in an industrial center, he made bullets similar to this. He had a slightly larger setup, big kiln-like thing for melting down the stuff he got from the ranges, etc. Process was basically the same though. Melt down spent ammunition, sieve off the copper to recycle, clear off the slag/dross, and then make both ingots and new bullets. He had these interesting tools that were two halves on a hinge which encased the cavities that would form the bullets, and a top part on a swivel where he poured the lead in and was channeled to each cavity. He'd use a mallet with a head of lead he casted to tap them open, breaking off the lead sprue from the top, then tap it open and drop out 8 or 10 new bullets. It was fun and interesting watching and learning, listening to him tell me the ins and outs and whys of the whole process. He'd make his quota for the day then make ingots out of the rest, dropping one in every so often to keep the pool at whatever level he preferred.
I don't shoot, never been to a range. This information serves no purpose to me AND YET I return to this video every 5 months or so because I love it oh so very much ♥
It's hypnotic.
Thanks for the upload!
When you were skimming it was interesting to see how the impurities that were floating on top of the lead would fall out bone dry. My mind is so used to thinking in terms of liquid and things that flow being wet. Very interesting content thank you!
Really is weird
.o.o😊
The girlfriend asked me what I was watching during this video. I said it was a cooking show.lol
ha ha!
Delicious!
Mine never asks anymore LOL. She got tired of me explaining all the wierd shit I come across.
When all the copper was still in it, it kind of reminded me of beef stroganoff. :-)
So was "breaking bad"
30:20 "The last thing you want is lead in your face." Words to live by.
last thing u want is lead juice in ur stream wher ur kids swim or fish
UA-cam always recommending old videos, it's random but welcomed.
I enjoyed EVERY MINUTE of what you said. Thank you so much for taking the time to put all this on video. CHEERS !
Glad you enjoyed it! This is my worst video! lol
Thank you!!
What girls do in the kitchen:
*Cake Wars*
What guys do in the kitchen:
this
Man this trip has taken me somewhere I never though I'd be. Sunday night youtube.....never fails.
Great directions. Really like the sieve for taking out the jacket's! Have to get that. Like that big scoup for pouring ingot's too! What I do to remove dross is I have a big serving spoon with a lot of hole drilled in the spoon, drains hot lead. I use old candels to flux with but never thought of those little one's you use. Gonna get them! I might suggest for dumping water making a sieve with metal window screen. I din in dirt for range bullet's and dump shovel fulls of dirt in a screen to get the bullet's out. Super caution on water around melted lead water get's into melted lead and it will explode, don't ask how I know! Super video!
Very pretty when melted.... Love the way liquid metals look.....
Wife: “honey what are we having for diner?”
Husband: “LEAD”
@Matis H yes that's the joke
Light emitting diodes
@@Crack_quality_tester, no, it seems the joke is he's melting lead in a pan like it's dinner
how do you misspell lead when it's literally in the title of this video
I watched your videos while back when I got into reloading. Now for the first time I’m thinking about casting. Great videos man
Thank you!
2023 great video got some good info , I’ve reloaded but never cast and always wanted to . This will be my year to start, got my equipment
Excellent. I had some great casting videos and they ALL got taken down unfortunately.
For sale: one well seasoned cast iron pan
Give it to the in laws lol
Exact reason I would not buy a “vintage” cast iron pan... you never know what it has been used for before you got it
@@scottl5910 lol yeah but the in laws might trust you. I myself would never buy it either.
@@scottl5910 Considering how cast iron is just cast... iron... you shouldn't be buying that second hand anyways. Shits cheap.
@@DamienDarksideBlog I have never understood how cast-iron pans go for a good $50-$60. Wtf is that.
as long as you didn't freeze or microwave this, I think Gordon Ramsay would approve of this!
lol, most likely
when you removed large amounts of the dirt it was surprisingly satifying
+Erik Gustafson ASMR
Never throw away copper, always bring it to a scrap yard for money. Been saving copper and aluminum since I was a kid, and now my son does it with me. Great video, very informative 🙂
So interesting. Brought back memories……. My dad was a melter in a steel mill so he knew the process/dangers etc. He was also an avid fisherman with a great sense of humor. He would melt lead in the basement from the flame of the hot water heater. Then he would pour fishing sinkers in the shape of a hamburger in the bun and give them to his fishing buddies. Wish I had a few of those sinkers.
I must have seen this video like 20+ times. Cool learning video.
Thank you, Blessings from Arizona!
Me: oh... lead smelting.
Reality: Today we are going to make bullet lead soup with freshly strained jackets on a grill.
That picture is a gift from god.
This is the most thorough instructional video demo I have come across...the wax trick is awesome....👍
Best way is :
1- do not wash , just take it as is from the range to the pot ! Moisture can be a disaster when melting , dust will float
2- No need to cut or sort , lead always find it is way out of the jacket !
Is that a special ladle? A leadle perhaps?
***** your comment has not gone unnoticed, i chuckled
false I noticed and found it quite funny :P
Jan Šinkovec
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣👍🏻😉
I thought it was punny.
no he said he was waiting for the special leadle to come through the post.. cappa. ;) :)
This is the magic of youtube that i miss. This video was awesome. I hope the uploader is doing well these days
Thank you! Blessings from Arizona!!
OK, I have to comment cause everbody else did. Loved this. I shoot frequently and reload but the closest I ever got to melting lead was as a kid drilling a 2x4 full of 3/4" by 3/4" holes and melting tire weights, pouring it into the holes as I insert a paper clip in each one, then hose them down with the water hose before the whole board ignites. They made great trot line weights growing up on the brazos river. Ate lots of catfish. Thanks for the lead lessons. //ji
Forbidden soup
Brian Jonik ha ha ha ha
Are you related to that crazy Jonik family that put their hired hand in chains then hacked him to bits with an ax?
I’m happy that UA-cam recommended this to me in 2020
all you guys talking about he wasted money, lead is $1/lb bla bla bla. meanwhile hes making bank off a 1.6m view video
Don't forget to mention that he clearly loves doing it.
2 mil now!
Never mind that. If lead is $1/lb, and you cast out 158gr bullets, you're getting 44 bullets per pound (1 pound is 7,000 grains). To get 250 takes about 6 pounds, or $6. To buy 250 cast bullets at that weight is about $40. That's $34 *saved.*
Just imagine a day when you cant go to a store to buy all that led for a buck a pound.. It may be closer than we think.? God Bless & Bless others in turn..
@@hahhuli You don't understand do you?...
It's savings over time. Do it long enough, you save more than your initial investment cost.
I'm glad there are people like you who recycle stuff like this.
I love this video. It’s very relaxing to watch and it looks like a ton of fun.
"You gotta be careful sticking your fingers in there"
Immediately sticks his hand into the abyss...
Do as I say
Not as I do
My ex said that!
Careful, not cant
Thumbs up if a UA-cam recommendation “lead” you here.
Nice try, but lead (pronounced “leed”) is a present tense verb in your past tense sentence. “Thumbs up if a UA-cam recommendation _led_ you here.” Yes, I got tired of seeing the recommendation for the longest time so I finally clicked on it.
You’re overthinking it
boo, hiss, etc
*BADUM TSS*
Hey o!
A friend and I were shooting at an established club that had a sand bank as the bullet stop.
We noticed that the sand was displaced in those positions where targets had been placed.
In the 30 years of it's existence no one had ever bothered to recover the lead.
We dug for a couple of hours, sieved with a garden sieve and recovered many kilos of projectiles.
My friend was an engineer and also enjoyed raku firing clay pots.
He had already constructed a rockwool lined kiln in a 12 gallon drum,
put a 2 inch air pipe energised by a throttled down vacuum cleaner output air blast..
and a 1/4 inch copper pipe near the middle of the air pipe fed by a 20lb LP cylinder with no regulator.
In the hole in the top of the drum he welded up and placed a section of 2x4 steel RHS with the bottom welded shut...
with two large steel pipes as handles also welded onto the RHS at the "top" end that stuck out above the drum about a foot.
He made ingot molds out of the same right angle steel as this vid shows...just 24 inches long x 4 moulds...
also with handles welded on both ends.
Those ingot molds fit a a steel tubbed wheelbarrow filled with 30 litres of water....
The great advantage was 5 minutes in this kiln with the jet aircaft cound of the intense flame had the lead melting and the dross and projectile jackets floating to the top.
We did no real purification as we intended to sell the lead......there was just so much of it and scrap lead prices were good.
So after scraping off most of the rubbish we lifted the whole RHS out between us, rested the end on the concrete exterior pad where we were doing this and tipped the lead into the moulds...
Then after a few minutes picked up then lowered the ingot molds into the wheelbarrow of water.....
where it rapidly cooled enough to allow us to pick up the ingot moulds and flip them allowing the ingots to fall out and continue cooling in the water.
After the second go around we had to immerse the bottom half of the LP bottle in a basin containing some of the heated water from the wheelbarrow as the rapid use of the LP pouring out caused ice to form on the outside of the bottle degrading the volume of expanding LP vapour and affecting the flame in the kiln.
When we took the proceeds in to the scrap merchant he gave us top price for the cleaned lead which funded other shooting activities.
We stopped doing this when his wife said it might not be too healthy if we continued....she might have been right...
but we had also taken all the easily recovered projectiles and now it would be hard work recovering shotgun pellets.
Speaking of which when a shotgun (clay shooting) range closed down they imported a machine to sieve the soil on the range...
and recovered 190 tonnes of lead pellets..
just about broke even with the cost of importing the machine but it was part of the deal with the local council to allow the land to be sold.