Lead mining at my Gun Club

[blume357]

I went over and talked to one of the guys finishing up the recovery of the lead shot from the skeet, trap and 5 stands at my gun club today and unfortunately I can't remember the amount in pounds of lead they retreated... but here is a picture of the bags followed by the scraped field.

It does not seem that long ago but he said the last time we did this was 2007.. I remember that the deal back then was the profit from the sale of the lead would be split 50/50 after the companies expenses were paid.. and our club ended up getting $86,000.

 

[Jeepnik]

You'd think they would pony up some to club members that cast.

 

[Mobuck]

^^IMHO, the time and effort involved with cleaning the lead (in small batches) would be excessive.

 

[contender]

There are commercial companies who do lead abatement clean-up at gun ranges. They can work out a contract to the satisfaction of both parties.
They have the equipment,, and the knowledge to safely & properly remove the dirt & lead for future smelting. I would guess those bags still have enough trash, scrap, dirt etc still in them to where it'll take more refinement to get the usable lead.
It costs to have the proper heavy equipment come in & do this kind of work. But with enough lead available,, it can be beneficial to both parties.

Smaller gun ranges,, such as individual private places,, not so much. BUT,,,,,,,, if you do have such a place,, there are methods of lead recovery an individual can do and recover a surprisingly larger amount of lead then they'd suspect. And even that can be profitable if you do it right.

 

[woodsy]

Too bad that the lead is not attracted (magnetically) to anything else, which would make pick-up that much easier.

 

[HumphreyDaBear]

Too bad that the lead is not attracted (magnetically) to anything else, which would make pick-up that much easier.

I don't know about you, but I keep my lead magnet hanging between my Aluminum and Titanium magnets in my garage.

 

[Mobuck]

At one time, I sort of had a reputation of being a 'lead magnet'.

 

[the_leper_colony]

I don't know about you, but I keep my lead magnet hanging between my Aluminum and Titanium magnets in my garage.

What I worry about most are those dang 'money magnets' - more and more businesses seem to have 'em installed, and the new ones even work over the internet!

 

[blume357]

for a number of years I had these long hunks of lead (approximately 2'x2" x 24") that I think came from a large newspaper printing press... seems like I remember giving them to some guy here in town that not only reloaded but cast his own bullets..... I might still have one laying around somewhere and if so I'll bring it to the Ruger Gathering in October.

 

[contender]

Blume,, if you bring any lead in bar or ingot form to the Gathering,, it will get transformed into really nice looking lead objects that we all enjoy!