TargetTalk

Hey,
What do you guys do after you use your pellets? I was thinking that i should collect them and melt them back into a ball that could be used for other things.

currently mine bounce off the target trap and go all over the floor in my garage so its hard to keep them. when i was using a different trap though, i emptied it out and kept them in a container.

i havent saved up enough for it to be worth getting rid of.



our local rifle club on the other hand accumulates at least 100lbs of lead a year in the trap. we empty it out maybe once a year or every 2 years. im not sure what we do with it.

i am sure you could sell it or melt it down and use for muzzle loaders.

Great for fishing sinkers, if you like fishing!
The sinkers I made today are on the way to the Jersey shore for some great bass fishing.

If you do melt it down do it outdoors and wear an N95 respirator at a minimum.

We have a guy here that salvages lead and brass from the range, including the stuff from the air gun range.

He suffers slightly from lead poisoning.

if you look around on the internet you can find a pellet mold for useing the lead pellets that been melted down and you pour the molten lead into the pellet mold and it will make new pellets not a good as the machine made ones ..but there good enough for basic use in a air rifle..

If you don't know anybody that casts, take them to the range and dump them down-range.
I love pellet scrap for casting muzzleloader balls.

We sell the lead to the local cowboy shooters who use it to mold bullets.

R.M. wrote:If you don't know anybody that casts, take them to the range and dump them down-range.
I love pellet scrap for casting muzzleloader balls.

Just how pure is the pellet lead, anyway? I need dead soft lead for Minie balls, and have about 15 lbs of once-shot pellets I dug out of my trap.

Short of going out and buying pure lead, pellets will be about the next best thing there is a little Sn alloyed in pellets I believe.

would it be wise to make bars to make it easier to sell?

I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that analysis of Civil War battlefield pickups revealed that the alloy of Minie balls was none too pure.

Government work, I guess.

Air pellets melt down to make very nice blackpowder balls, even better if they have been caught in a trap because there is no soil or sand mixed in with them.
From past melts they are not quite pure lead but are very close (slight hardness, weight and colour difference), but make no difference in my blackpowder revolvers.
Hard part is getting rid of the old target card/paper bits of ash as they burn in the pot.

Before getting all excited about selling recycled pellets, has anybody checked the spot price for lead these days?

Hint: on Friday the London price was $0.92/pound. Need a lot of lead to make it worth packing it up and selling it, considering that's a selling price, not what a metal dealer will give you for it.

Scrap dealers will give .25-30 cetns a pound. I brought back about 1000 lbs of lead from local university indoor range yesterday, while I was up there testing pellets in their air rifles.


Many high schools and clubs bring me their lead when they drive to shooting matches where we will be at.


Silentfury, you are in Tennessee, how much lead do you have?

Scott,

With 1000 lbs to sell, it's worthwhile. But most of us generate a pound or two a month shooting in the basement. Very worthwhile for clubs and schools and commercial ranges!

Richard H wrote:If you do melt it down do it outdoors and wear an N95 respirator at a minimum.

Very good advice - inhaling the fumes is very dangerous - also do far away from where children play or are around.

The scrap dealers around here will only give us .15 cents/lb. That's why I sell mine to the cowboy shooters who give us the current mkt rate of .45 cents.

pilkguns wrote:Scrap dealers will give .25-30 cetns a pound. I brought back about 1000 lbs of lead from local university indoor range yesterday, while I was up there testing pellets in their air rifles.


Many high schools and clubs bring me their lead when they drive to shooting matches where we will be at.


Silentfury, you are in Tennessee, how much lead do you have?

Right now, i only have a little bit of lead, but i can also harvest all of my clubs lead for free.