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Where do manufactures get lead for bullets?
mike55
Member Posts: 3,065 ✭✭✭✭
I'm just curious, and a quick google search did not satisfy my curiosity. I know our last lead smelting company shutdown years ago, but to my knowledge they only supplied a tiny amount of lead for bullets. So, if we are not mining lead, and not smelting lead, then where do the companies get the lead for bullets? Where does the government get lead for their bullets? Curious minds. Please don't make it political.
Mike
Comments
Don't they still mine and smelt lead in MO?
Reclaimed lead pipes, batteries, lead shielding from old hospitals and some imports. Lead can be reused many times, much like steel. There is plenty of lead out there for uses like the few grains of lead used in a bullet.
From what I can find online, and memory from news a few years ago, there are NO active lead smelting companies in the USA.
"The now closed Doe Run lead smelter in Herculaneum, Missouri."
I understand that there is lead everywhere, but how do we get the reclaimed lead if we cannot smelt it in the USA? Is it all shipped out of the USA and then "imported" back?
We would have our indoor range cleaned every six months. Just a small eight lane range and they would get tons of bullets every time.
There are still companies that recycle lead and provide what is needed for ammo makers;
If you think you get a lot from an indoor range to recycle, you should see what we got from our skeet and trap fields. These guys did the reclamation and split the proceeds with the club;
Bob
I did an article years back on plated bullets, and toured the factory of Berry's MFG. They had many 4-ft cube pallets of lead ingots (have no clue what a 4x4x4 cube of lead weighs!) but didn't ask them the source. Nor would they let me snag even one ingot, darn it.
Our club's outdoor ranges were build by the Army Corps of Engineers shortly after WW2. A reclamation company made us a deal to reclaim the back stop dirt; I think the club's share was $30K.
Neal
BobJudy
Never thought about that, probably because i dont have a skeet range. Thats why i ask, good info here. Do they sell the lead and split the money? Or is the "proceeds" the lead that they recover? How in the world do they reclaim the lead from a skeet range, that sounds like a difficult job. I assume they have some machine to collect the lead shot?
Sorry, My pc is slow, i just saw the recovery link you posted. Thanks
A 4 ft cube of lead weighs ABOUT 45,312 pounds, depending on the tin content.
I'm sure the pallet load I saw came in less than that because it was composed of bar ingots with some airspace between them. But it was still a helluva lot of lead.
Our club reclaims every 5 years, but they have a lot of shooters, and IIRC, they get about 300 tons. It is a percentage split with the company that does the work. Reclaiming tit is just a matter of getting the top 6"-1' of soil, and running it through sifters and sieves to get what they're after.
The company we had do the work used a giant tumbler and water to separate the soil from the shot. It worked well and we had several semi flat beds worth of shot recovered. It doesn't take a lot of bulk to reach the semis weight limit. We are probably due to have it done again but are hesitant because it shuts down all the fields for a week or so. The shot isn't going anywhere and there will be even more when we get around to it. Bob
Approximately 45,300 pounds @ 4 cu ft.
As ever,
Dr Pedantic
toad67 I bet you'd get in trouble if this part of your message was taken out of context... "Reclaiming tit is just a matter of getting the top 6"-1'" 🤣