Where does all the lead go?

[Saltlake58]

OK, so doing lots and lots of chrony work lately. hundreds and hundreds of rounds into my trusty shredded tire backstop. Time to rebuild the backstop, so I tried to pick it up. It was a lot heavier than I remember. So, I decided to clean it out.

Working on the principle of Gold Panning, where the heavy stuff goes to the bottom, I put a couple handfuls in an old saucepan, shook it around and scraped the tires off the top. Dumped the lead in a separate pan and repeat. Then, took the pan with lead and some tires and cleaned it out. Results?

and just so it doesn't look like a single layer of pellets:

So, a touch over 9 pounds of lead. Just from doing Chrony work, and most of that was with a Marauder. More to come with other guns in the near future.Not sure how long it'll take, but I'll be cleaning it out again, and probably have that much more lead.

Melt it down and cast it into slugs maybe?

 

[intenseaty22]

Wow! I never really pay it much mind, really. Wish I had the time or ability to cast my own stuff. Even having someone near by that did I’d gladly give it to them. 

 

[marflow]

lead pellets not wanted could be taken to any shooting club or range and someone would take it home for casting bullets or other

even fishermen will cast there own weights

save all you can if you can't use others would be happy to get it, lead is selling .50 cents a pound so at 9 lbs that's 4.50, not I lot but a beach started with one grain of sand

 

[ranedouglas]

.......they do cast their own pellets in s.e. asain places - i saw a youtube video where jsb had sent this guy a pellet mold. lots of work for 5-10 pellets at a time , but i guess their government doesnt allow them to sold in places. other than that , i know guys that recycle their lead into .375 balls (for .380 crosman 1100 shotguns) - or like you said - slugs or "air bullets". ....those .375 balls werent cheap from retail store. how long did it take you to gather 9 pounds of lead, man ? - paul.

 

[D-RIG]

I do all my chronograph testing into a mulch bucket

and recover that lead , or theres people that will buy 

it from you sometimes . 

 

[Saltlake58]

I had a commercial soft target made by Big Green Targets. I do not believe they are in business any longer. But after shooting at just this one target thousands upon thousands of rounds, I gave it to a neighbor so he and his grandson could remove the lead. When all was said and done, they pulled more than 60 pounds of lead from the remains of the target.

I believe it. Most of that 10 pounds is from the last three months. I weighed a tin of Crosman 14.3 gain hollow points (which is what most of these pellets are). I use them on the chrony because they are cheap and I don't mind burning them at a high rate. You can extrapolate the speed of a JSB 18.13 if you do some testing and the Crosman's are a whole lot cheaper!

Anyway, a tin is 17.6 ounces. If it was 9 pounds, that's 144 ounces, so 144 divided by 17.6 = around 8 tins, or close to 4000 rounds. Granted there were some .25 cal and some 18.13 grain, but still between 3500 and 4000 rounds. I think my Marauder barrel is getting nicely broken in. The number sounds about right as well. I have half dozen empty tins next to the Chrony. Most of those tins went across the chrony and some tins are elsewhere.

No wonder I love airguns. Cheap to shoot!

 

[jamlet]

Saltlake58 got any pics of your backstop? Looks like a pretty good trap.

 

[Saltlake58]

Saltlake58 got any pics of your backstop? Looks like a pretty good trap.

It's a box commercial checks came in for a bank. Probably 12 wide x 10 deep x 16 tall inches. Completely wrapped in silver duct tape. Fill with rubber garden mulch, better known as shredded tires, tape it shut and you are off to the races.

.22 running up to 28 fpe only penetrates 3 or 4 inches. .25 at point blank, typically penetrates around 6 to 8 inches. The box is side ways, so shooting into the 10 inch wide side that is 12 inches deep.

No pictures yet, but considering it's a box, pretty simple.

I have two others for different purposes. For my pistol, that only generates 6 fpe, it's a post office flat rate box about 3 inches thick. Pellets never penetrate over an inch. For 50 yard targets, I have a box that is about 4 inches thick, 16 by 18 inches or so. At 50 yards, even the .25 won't penetrate all the way through. Perfect to move around.

I'm just anal about covering the whole thing in a single layer of tape to reinforce the box. The box that received 9 pounds of lead, is just tape in sections. Time to replace!

Nothing has to be fancy, that's for sure.

 

[jamlet]

Heck that's great simple but effective.

 

[Willie14228]

Range Safety doesn't stop when you put your gun up.

Lead Powder is a very real danger when working with backstops and Down Range clean up you should always wear good rubber gloves and a filtered mask I would even go so far as to say disposable coveralls or the like 

 

[Saltlake58]

the real advantage to the mulch (and I did not invent this trap, others did it first), is that when you fire into the shredded tires and make a hole, more of the tires fall down into the hold you just created. That means you don't drill a hole all the way through the box and come out the back of the box.

Most other things like phone books, putty's or anything solid, constant shooting will drill a hole through the catch box till you come out the back. Not so with the shredded tires. Every now and then you need to add new tires to the top as pellets do break down the shredded tires. Not much maintenance, cheap, and it really works.

That description just doesn't seem to flow, but it is 5:45 AM here. But I think you get what I mean.