Imagine 22,000 lbs of ground-up tires with all the steel and other crap removed,
ground to @ 1/8" pebbles. This is the material in the backstop of a shooting range.
There is a conservative estimate of 10,000 lbs of lead and copper to a much lesser
degree in the rubber. This isn't the first clean-out/rebuild, the last one was five
years ago. The idea is to remove all the material, separate it and reuse the rubber.
One of the ideas we've had is to float the rubber in water and skim it off. But, 1/2
of a sample amount floats, 1/3 sinks and 1/6 stays suspended. In a 1/3 cup of the
material, there was 64 grams of lead! I doubt that there is much lead in the material
above the target line. The sample was taken at the very bottom, about 5' below the
target line. They don't really want the range down for more than a week to do the
clean-out and replace the front which is 4' wide x 3/4" thick conveyor belt lengths
suspended from the ceiling and anchored to the floor and overlap by 8" and screwed
together. The conveyor belting is bulging out close to a foot in the center of each
of the ten lanes. It seems that this type of backstop is excellent for stopping
bullets and keeping the dust to a minimum.

On 2011-02-10, Whole-Wit hhdh9uhh@fsb wrote:
Imagine 22,000 lbs of ground-up tires with all the steel and other crap removed,
ground to @ 1/8" pebbles. This is the material in the backstop of a shooting range.
There is a conservative estimate of 10,000 lbs of lead and copper to a much lesser
degree in the rubber. This isn't the first clean-out/rebuild, the last one was five
years ago. The idea is to remove all the material, separate it and reuse the rubber.
One of the ideas we've had is to float the rubber in water and skim it off. But, 1/2
of a sample amount floats, 1/3 sinks and 1/6 stays suspended. In a 1/3 cup of the
material, there was 64 grams of lead! I doubt that there is much lead in the material
above the target line. The sample was taken at the very bottom, about 5' below the
target line. They don't really want the range down for more than a week to do the
clean-out and replace the front which is 4' wide x 3/4" thick conveyor belt lengths
suspended from the ceiling and anchored to the floor and overlap by 8" and screwed
together. The conveyor belting is bulging out close to a foot in the center of each
of the ten lanes. It seems that this type of backstop is excellent for stopping
bullets and keeping the dust to a minimum.

Get a air blower (like those used to dry carpets). Rig some kind of a
conveyor thing to dump that stuff in front of the blower. The blower
will blow the rubber away, but the lead will fall down.

i

"Ignoramus25972" wrote in message
...
On 2011-02-10, Whole-Wit hhdh9uhh@fsb wrote:
Imagine 22,000 lbs of ground-up tires with all the steel and other crap
removed,
ground to @ 1/8" pebbles. This is the material in the backstop of a
shooting range.
There is a conservative estimate of 10,000 lbs of lead and copper to a
much lesser
degree in the rubber. This isn't the first clean-out/rebuild, the last
one was five
years ago. The idea is to remove all the material, separate it and reuse
the rubber.
One of the ideas we've had is to float the rubber in water and skim it
off. But, 1/2
of a sample amount floats, 1/3 sinks and 1/6 stays suspended. In a 1/3
cup of the
material, there was 64 grams of lead! I doubt that there is much lead in
the material
above the target line. The sample was taken at the very bottom, about 5'
below the
target line. They don't really want the range down for more than a week
to do the
clean-out and replace the front which is 4' wide x 3/4" thick conveyor
belt lengths
suspended from the ceiling and anchored to the floor and overlap by 8"
and screwed
together. The conveyor belting is bulging out close to a foot in the
center of each
of the ten lanes. It seems that this type of backstop is excellent for
stopping
bullets and keeping the dust to a minimum.

Get a air blower (like those used to dry carpets). Rig some kind of a
conveyor thing to dump that stuff in front of the blower. The blower
will blow the rubber away, but the lead will fall down.

i

I would worry that a blower would blow all sorts of lead dust everywhere.

How about a something like a gold sluice box? There are a lot of designs on
the web. You would probably want to re-circulate the water and then let it
evaporate after you are done so you do not contaminate much else.

Or, if you stick with your original idea of dumping it in a water bath, I
bet a little agitation would bring some of the sunk rubber pieces near the
surface where you could scoop them out.

"Whole-Wit" hhdh9uhh@fsb wrote in message
...
Imagine 22,000 lbs of ground-up tires with all the steel and other
crap removed, ground to @ 1/8" pebbles. This is the material in the
backstop of a shooting range. There is a conservative estimate of
10,000 lbs of lead and copper to a much lesser degree in the rubber.
This isn't the first clean-out/rebuild, the last one was five years
ago. The idea is to remove all the material, separate it and reuse
the rubber. One of the ideas we've had is to float the rubber in
water and skim it off. But, 1/2 of a sample amount floats, 1/3
sinks and 1/6 stays suspended. In a 1/3 cup of the material, there
was 64 grams of lead! I doubt that there is much lead in the
material above the target line. The sample was taken at the very
bottom, about 5' below the target line. They don't really want the
range down for more than a week to do the clean-out and replace the
front which is 4' wide x 3/4" thick conveyor belt lengths suspended
from the ceiling and anchored to the floor and overlap by 8" and
screwed together. The conveyor belting is bulging out close to a
foot in the center of each of the ten lanes. It seems that this
type of backstop is excellent for stopping bullets and keeping the
dust to a minimum.


WW:

Rotary sieve shakers that add an upward tapping motion in the process
are used in various
kinds of particulate separation. I offer no assurance this would work
for you. Your hope
would be that the heavier particles would work to the bottom and any
light particles that might
be trapped by adjacent weightier material would eventually find their
way to the top
as the initially heterogeneous bottom layer is periodically disturbed
by the upward tap. After a
period of the described action, a weighted separation of materials
would be the goal.

I am quite familiar with smaller machines that do this but bigger
things are available. Metals
and rubber are a mix outside of my experience.

Sweco and Gilson
are shaker manufacturers you may want to talk to, among others. As a
broader industrial
category, "material separation" might be a starting heading.

Regards,

Edward Hennessey

Regards,

Edward Hennessey

On Feb 9, 10:14*pm, "Whole-Wit" hhdh9uhh@fsb wrote:
Imagine 22,000 lbs of ground-up tires with all the steel and other crap removed,
ground to @ 1/8" pebbles. *This is the material in the backstop of a shooting range.
There is a conservative estimate of 10,000 lbs of lead and copper to a much lesser
degree in the rubber. *This isn't the first clean-out/rebuild, the last one was five
years ago. *The idea is to remove all the material, separate it and reuse the rubber.
One of the ideas we've had is to float the rubber in water and skim it off. *But, 1/2
of a sample amount floats, 1/3 sinks and 1/6 stays suspended. *In a 1/3 cup of the
material, there was 64 grams of lead! *I doubt that there is much lead in the material
above the target line. *The sample was taken at the very bottom, about 5' below the
target line. *They don't really want the range down for more than a week to do the
clean-out and replace the front which is 4' wide x 3/4" thick conveyor belt lengths
suspended from the ceiling and anchored to the floor and overlap by *8" and screwed
together. *The conveyor belting is bulging out close to a foot in the center of each
of the ten lanes. *It seems that this type of backstop is excellent for stopping
bullets and keeping the dust to a minimum.

Usually sand is used, this is the first I've heard of rubber being
used except as whole tires. Sand can be sieved and returned for reuse
easily.

Anything floating or suspended you may take as NOT being all lead, but
may have some contamination, Shaker tables have been used for
separating heavy from light materials, the problem is going be the
dust. Done on an industrial scale, there'd be a cyclone separator and
a bag house for filtering the air. So probably the dust needs to be
removed first, then run floatation or a shaker table. You can see how
a shaker table works in old books on placer gold mining. Fines are
always a nasty refining problem, both for collection and rework.
Right now, you've got 15-16 tons of toxic waste. Hope you've got
bunny suits and respirators.

Stan

On Feb 10, 12:14*am, "Whole-Wit" hhdh9uhh@fsb wrote:

One of the ideas we've had is to float the rubber in water and skim it off. *But, 1/2
of a sample amount floats, 1/3 sinks and 1/6 stays suspended. *In a 1/3 cup of the
material, there was 64 grams of lead! *

I would do the dump in water and separate out the half that floats.
Then add new material to rebuild the backstop. Then in five years
when you do this again, 3/4 of the material ought to float. If you
keep reusing material that sinks, you will have just as much work
every time you do this.

If possible I would sell the material that sinks and stays in
suspension, to someone that is in the scrap business. Not really
worthwhile to make a system you will only use every five years. If
that is not feasible then build a relatively small sluice system and
take your time reclaiming the lead. The range will be up and in use
with the new material added to the material that floats.

Some of your members might even do the work of reclaiming the lead in
return for lead to use in casting bullets.


Dan

Our club is also reclaiming our lead from the 50 year old backstop. In
our case the backstop is just dirt, and plenty of clay as it turns out.

We dug up about 100 cubic yards of dirt and piled it in large windrows
to dry out all summer, tented under tarps. I have put together a nice
line of equipment to sort the bullets out.

We start by dumping the dirt into a Royer 120 dirt shredder which
pulverizes the dirt and throws it onto a vibrating screen machine that I
designed and built. The sifted dirt falls onto a 30' long grain
elevator, which piles it back on the range. The concentrated
lead/gravel/clay clumps roll off the sreeen onto a small wagon, which we
haul into a pile.

So our concentrate is similar to what you start out with. We have one
member who has a lot of gold mining equipment. We have done a test run
using a gold sluice and it looks very promising. When the weather gets
better we will use his larger sluice to trap the lead, leaving a pile of
tailings to place back on the range.

The big problem we have is large clumps of clay which will not feed
through the shredder. I just bought a old hammermill from a landscaping
business. I am looking around for a suitable engine. A Yanmar 22 hp
diesel just sold on eBay which would have been perfect, but it was 300
miles away. There is a huge equipment auction coming up in a few weeks
that has dozens of engines, I'mm coming away with one of them!

I am building two smaller conveyors from parts I got at HGR to feed into
the hammermill and connect the mill to the shredder.

You should keep in mind the environmental issues. The EPA does NOT
regulate operating ranges, but they do regulate the ground and surface
waters, so any wash water needs to go back into the backstop if it has
lead in it.

The EPA does have a very practical manual titled, "Best Management
Practices for Lead at Outdoor Shooting Ranges", which are recommended
guidelines. If you don't have it, you can download it at:

http://www.epa.gov/region2/waste/leadshot/download.htm

As we process our dirt, I adjust the Ph with lime, and add phosphate to
bind any lead that does get dissolved, as per the EPA manual. I add a
measured amount of the chemicals to each load of dirt that goes in the
shredder.

--
DT

"DT" wrote in message
...
Our club is also reclaiming our lead from the 50 year old backstop.
In
our case the backstop is just dirt, and plenty of clay as it turns
out.

We dug up about 100 cubic yards of dirt and piled it in large
windrows
to dry out all summer, tented under tarps. I have put together a
nice
line of equipment to sort the bullets out.

We start by dumping the dirt into a Royer 120 dirt shredder which
pulverizes the dirt and throws it onto a vibrating screen machine
that I
designed and built. The sifted dirt falls onto a 30' long grain
elevator, which piles it back on the range. The concentrated
lead/gravel/clay clumps roll off the sreeen onto a small wagon,
which we
haul into a pile.

So our concentrate is similar to what you start out with. We have
one
member who has a lot of gold mining equipment. We have done a test
run
using a gold sluice and it looks very promising. When the weather
gets
better we will use his larger sluice to trap the lead, leaving a
pile of
tailings to place back on the range.

The big problem we have is large clumps of clay which will not feed
through the shredder. I just bought a old hammermill from a
landscaping
business. I am looking around for a suitable engine. A Yanmar 22 hp
diesel just sold on eBay which would have been perfect, but it was
300
miles away. There is a huge equipment auction coming up in a few
weeks
that has dozens of engines, I'mm coming away with one of them!

I am building two smaller conveyors from parts I got at HGR to feed
into
the hammermill and connect the mill to the shredder.

You should keep in mind the environmental issues. The EPA does NOT
regulate operating ranges, but they do regulate the ground and
surface
waters, so any wash water needs to go back into the backstop if it
has
lead in it.

The EPA does have a very practical manual titled, "Best Management
Practices for Lead at Outdoor Shooting Ranges", which are
recommended
guidelines. If you don't have it, you can download it at:

http://www.epa.gov/region2/waste/leadshot/download.htm

As we process our dirt, I adjust the Ph with lime, and add phosphate
to
bind any lead that does get dissolved, as per the EPA manual. I add
a
measured amount of the chemicals to each load of dirt that goes in
the
shredder.

--
DT



DT:

You may want to look at solvents/detergents that might break down your
clay. There was a proprietary formulation (Quaternary O?) that some
folk had luck with. If you come up with something along that angle, it
would
be good to know.

Regards,

Edward Hennessey

On Thu, 10 Feb 2011 08:16:57 -0800, "Edward Hennessey"
wrote:


"DT" wrote in message
...
Our club is also reclaiming our lead from the 50 year old backstop.
In
our case the backstop is just dirt, and plenty of clay as it turns
out.

We dug up about 100 cubic yards of dirt and piled it in large
windrows
to dry out all summer, tented under tarps. I have put together a
nice
line of equipment to sort the bullets out.

We start by dumping the dirt into a Royer 120 dirt shredder which
pulverizes the dirt and throws it onto a vibrating screen machine
that I
designed and built. The sifted dirt falls onto a 30' long grain
elevator, which piles it back on the range. The concentrated
lead/gravel/clay clumps roll off the sreeen onto a small wagon,
which we
haul into a pile.

So our concentrate is similar to what you start out with. We have
one
member who has a lot of gold mining equipment. We have done a test
run
using a gold sluice and it looks very promising. When the weather
gets
better we will use his larger sluice to trap the lead, leaving a
pile of
tailings to place back on the range.

The big problem we have is large clumps of clay which will not feed
through the shredder. I just bought a old hammermill from a
landscaping
business. I am looking around for a suitable engine. A Yanmar 22 hp
diesel just sold on eBay which would have been perfect, but it was
300
miles away. There is a huge equipment auction coming up in a few
weeks
that has dozens of engines, I'mm coming away with one of them!

I am building two smaller conveyors from parts I got at HGR to feed
into
the hammermill and connect the mill to the shredder.

You should keep in mind the environmental issues. The EPA does NOT
regulate operating ranges, but they do regulate the ground and
surface
waters, so any wash water needs to go back into the backstop if it
has
lead in it.

The EPA does have a very practical manual titled, "Best Management
Practices for Lead at Outdoor Shooting Ranges", which are
recommended
guidelines. If you don't have it, you can download it at:

http://www.epa.gov/region2/waste/leadshot/download.htm

As we process our dirt, I adjust the Ph with lime, and add phosphate
to
bind any lead that does get dissolved, as per the EPA manual. I add
a
measured amount of the chemicals to each load of dirt that goes in
the
shredder.

--
DT



DT:

You may want to look at solvents/detergents that might break down your
clay. There was a proprietary formulation (Quaternary O?) that some
folk had luck with. If you come up with something along that angle, it
would
be good to know.

Regards,

Edward Hennessey

Too late now, the material to use is gypsum. Must be incorporated and
takes time.

Karl

In article ,
says...

You may want to look at solvents/detergents that might break down your
clay. There was a proprietary formulation (Quaternary O?) that some
folk had luck with. If you come up with something along that angle, it
would be good to know.


Interesting, I haven't heard of that. Hopefully our brute force method,
flailing hammers at 20,000 ft/min, will do the trick. One of our members
actually used to run this hammermill many years ago and spoke quite
highly of it. We will most likely be running it at much slower tip
speeds, since we just need to break up the clumps, we don't want to
shred the bullets.

--
DT

On Feb 9, 9:14*pm, "Whole-Wit" hhdh9uhh@fsb wrote:
Imagine 22,000 lbs of ground-up tires... [with recyclable lead and copper slugs]
One of the ideas we've had is to float the rubber in water and skim it off. *But, 1/2
of a sample amount floats, 1/3 sinks and 1/6 stays suspended.

Salt the water. More than half will float.

A shot tower that dribbles bits from above, with a suitable
crossventilation source, can separate the wheat from the
chaff, too.

How do grain separators work? Can you rent a threshing/winnowing
gizmo?

On Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:34:41 -0800 (PST), whit3rd
wrote:

On Feb 9, 9:14*pm, "Whole-Wit" hhdh9uhh@fsb wrote:
Imagine 22,000 lbs of ground-up tires... [with recyclable lead and copper slugs]
One of the ideas we've had is to float the rubber in water and skim it off. *But, 1/2
of a sample amount floats, 1/3 sinks and 1/6 stays suspended.

Salt the water. More than half will float.

A shot tower that dribbles bits from above, with a suitable
crossventilation source, can separate the wheat from the
chaff, too.

How do grain separators work? Can you rent a threshing/winnowing
gizmo?
way too light weight.

That gave me this thought, truck it to the gravel pit and run through
the rock separator. the lead would come out the pea rock dump the
rest would go on through. Then truck it back.

Karl

On Feb 9, 11:14*pm, "Whole-Wit" hhdh9uhh@fsb wrote:
Imagine 22,000 lbs of ground-up tires with all the steel and other crap removed,
ground to @ 1/8" pebbles. *This is the material in the backstop of a shooting range.
There is a conservative estimate of 10,000 lbs of lead and copper to a much lesser
degree in the rubber. *This isn't the first clean-out/rebuild, the last one was five
years ago. *The idea is to remove all the material, separate it and reuse the rubber.
One of the ideas we've had is to float the rubber in water and skim it off. *But, 1/2
of a sample amount floats, 1/3 sinks and 1/6 stays suspended. *In a 1/3 cup of the
material, there was 64 grams of lead! *I doubt that there is much lead in the material
above the target line. *The sample was taken at the very bottom, about 5' below the
target line. *They don't really want the range down for more than a week to do the
clean-out and replace the front which is 4' wide x 3/4" thick conveyor belt lengths
suspended from the ceiling and anchored to the floor and overlap by *8" and screwed
together. *The conveyor belting is bulging out close to a foot in the center of each
of the ten lanes. *It seems that this type of backstop is excellent for stopping
bullets and keeping the dust to a minimum.

Any water used will become HAZ material which you will need to deal
with properly.

Running it on the ground or down the drain will get you prison time.
TMT

On Feb 9, 9:14Â*pm, "Whole-Wit" hhdh9uhh@fsb wrote:
Imagine 22,000 lbs of ground-up tires with all the steel and other crap removed,
ground to @ 1/8" pebbles. Â*This is the material in the backstop of a shooting range.
There is a conservative estimate of 10,000 lbs of lead and copper to a much lesser
degree in the rubber. Â*This isn't the first clean-out/rebuild, the last one was five
years ago. Â*The idea is to remove all the material, separate it and reuse the rubber.
One of the ideas we've had is to float the rubber in water and skim it off. Â*But, 1/2
of a sample amount floats, 1/3 sinks and 1/6 stays suspended. Â*In a 1/3 cup of the
material, there was 64 grams of lead! Â*I doubt that there is much lead in the material
above the target line. Â*The sample was taken at the very bottom, about 5' below the
target line. Â*They don't really want the range down for more than a week to do the
clean-out and replace the front which is 4' wide x 3/4" thick conveyor belt lengths
suspended from the ceiling and anchored to the floor and overlap by Â*8" and screwed
together. Â*The conveyor belting is bulging out close to a foot in the center of each
of the ten lanes. Â*It seems that this type of backstop is excellent for stopping
bullets and keeping the dust to a minimum.

I hate to be a stick in the mud here but if the State or Federal EPA
gets wind of what you are planning to do all H&*@ will break out and
you could see big fines and possible jail time.

Laws were just changed last year requiring full bunny suit and
hazards
waste disposal for the paint chips if the house has lead paint..
Get
caught breaking the rules and the contractor/homeowner sees $33k/day
in fines. You are talking about tons of lead and lead dust.


The company I work for used to have a shotgun range just outside the
gate. Five years ago they decided to develop the land and ended up
spending several million dollars cleaning up the lead. Needles to
say
we didnt get a new shotgun range�


I thnk the lead laws are stupid there are a lot worse hazards that
are
compleatly unregulated.

"Whole-Wit" hhdh9uhh@fsb wrote in message
...
Imagine 22,000 lbs of ground-up tires with all the steel and other crap
removed, ground to @ 1/8" pebbles. This is the material in the backstop
of a shooting range. There is a conservative estimate of 10,000 lbs of
lead and copper to a much lesser degree in the rubber. This isn't the
first clean-out/rebuild, the last one was five years ago. The idea is to
remove all the material, separate it and reuse the rubber. One of the
ideas we've had is to float the rubber in water and skim it off. But, 1/2
of a sample amount floats, 1/3 sinks and 1/6 stays suspended. In a 1/3
cup of the material, there was 64 grams of lead! I doubt that there is
much lead in the material above the target line. The sample was taken at
the very bottom, about 5' below the target line. They don't really want
the range down for more than a week to do the clean-out and replace the
front which is 4' wide x 3/4" thick conveyor belt lengths suspended from
the ceiling and anchored to the floor and overlap by 8" and screwed
together. The conveyor belting is bulging out close to a foot in the
center of each of the ten lanes. It seems that this type of backstop is
excellent for stopping bullets and keeping the dust to a minimum.

I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.

"Whole-Wit" hhdh9uhh@fsb wrote in
:

Imagine 22,000 lbs of ground-up tires with all the steel and other
crap removed, ground to @ 1/8" pebbles. This is the material in the
backstop of a shooting range. There is a conservative estimate of
10,000 lbs of lead and copper to a much lesser degree in the rubber.
This isn't the first clean-out/rebuild, the last one was five years
ago. The idea is to remove all the material, separate it and reuse
the rubber. One of the ideas we've had is to float the rubber in water
and skim it off. But, 1/2 of a sample amount floats, 1/3 sinks and
1/6 stays suspended. In a 1/3 cup of the material, there was 64 grams
of lead! I doubt that there is much lead in the material above the
target line. The sample was taken at the very bottom, about 5' below
the target line. They don't really want the range down for more than
a week to do the clean-out and replace the front which is 4' wide x
3/4" thick conveyor belt lengths suspended from the ceiling and
anchored to the floor and overlap by 8" and screwed together. The
conveyor belting is bulging out close to a foot in the center of each
of the ten lanes. It seems that this type of backstop is excellent
for stopping bullets and keeping the dust to a minimum.

Some of the vendors of this sort of range have auger systems to separate
the lead. My club just installed a new backstop with the auger system
included, but I haven't seen it, so I have no idea how it works. My
understanding is that you can get the backstop without the auger, and
then hire the backstop company to come & periodically clean the lead out.
Another club in my area has a pulverized rubber backstop, and they have
some means of cleaning it, but I don't think they have an auger system.

If you got the pulverized rubber from a commercial backstop vendor, I
would hope they have a means of getting the lead out.

Doug White

On 2/10/2011 12:14 AM, Whole-Wit wrote:
Imagine 22,000 lbs of ground-up tires with all the steel and other crap removed,
ground to @ 1/8" pebbles. This is the material in the backstop of a shooting range.
There is a conservative estimate of 10,000 lbs of lead and copper to a much lesser
degree in the rubber. This isn't the first clean-out/rebuild, the last one was five
years ago. The idea is to remove all the material, separate it and reuse the rubber.
One of the ideas we've had is to float the rubber in water and skim it off. But, 1/2
of a sample amount floats, 1/3 sinks and 1/6 stays suspended. In a 1/3 cup of the
material, there was 64 grams of lead! I doubt that there is much lead in the material
above the target line. The sample was taken at the very bottom, about 5' below the
target line. They don't really want the range down for more than a week to do the
clean-out and replace the front which is 4' wide x 3/4" thick conveyor belt lengths
suspended from the ceiling and anchored to the floor and overlap by 8" and screwed
together. The conveyor belting is bulging out close to a foot in the center of each
of the ten lanes. It seems that this type of backstop is excellent for stopping
bullets and keeping the dust to a minimum.


If too much rubber is sinking, switch to salt water? The more
concentrated, the more the rubber will float. After the piles are
sorted, you could rinse the rubber and lead with fresh water if the salt
bothers you. Since the rubber is ground fairly small, you could use a
1/4" or 3/8" mesh to get the .38 and bigger bullets out first. I assume
the lead doesn't break up very much in your backstop, ours is a steel
plate, much of our lead is in dime to quarter size discs.

toolbreaker wrote:

I hate to be a stick in the mud here but if the State or Federal EPA
gets wind of what you are planning to do all H&*@ will break out and
you could see big fines and possible jail time.

Laws were just changed last year requiring full bunny suit and
hazards
waste disposal for the paint chips if the house has lead paint..
Get
caught breaking the rules and the contractor/homeowner sees $33k/day
in fines. You are talking about tons of lead and lead dust.

EPA or OSHA rules. Our club has no paid members so we are exempt from OSHA. We had an
encounter with a MiOSHA type that was checking up on high lead levels on a member that
*thought* he was getting a lead blood screening to be safe under the doctor patient
privilege. Not so. High levels are automatically reported to the State of Michigan.

This person is a hard core shooter, bullet caster, and has his own indoor range.
Definitely in the 99.xxx% of shooters. Where his lead level came from is hard to tell.

We had a MiOSHA guy intent on throwing his weight around, eventually after some lawyer
time, we sent him packing. So much for doctor patient confidentiality and that was pre
Obama.

Wes
--
"Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect
government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home
in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

"Stuart Wheaton" wrote in message
...

If too much rubber is sinking, switch to salt water? The more concentrated, the
more the rubber will float. After the piles are sorted, you could rinse the rubber
and lead with fresh water if the salt bothers you. Since the rubber is ground
fairly small, you could use a 1/4" or 3/8" mesh to get the .38 and bigger bullets
out first. I assume the lead doesn't break up very much in your backstop, ours is a
steel plate, much of our lead is in dime to quarter size discs.

I tried saturated salt water and it seemed to make no difference. The sampling shows
the lead breaks up more than half the time and jacketed HP bullets fragment, there's
about 25% of the lead that is 1/8" or smaller. It surprised me too! Whatever is
done, the club has many public officials as members and the job will be done all
above-boards with respect to all regulations and safety. We just want to do it as
cheaply as possible and it would be nice to have a good, on going solution. I would
like to get my hands on a few cubic feet of cheap lead.

On 2011-02-11, Whole-Wit oljas@bhy wrote:

"Stuart Wheaton" wrote in message
...

If too much rubber is sinking, switch to salt water? The more concentrated, the
more the rubber will float. After the piles are sorted, you could rinse the rubber
and lead with fresh water if the salt bothers you. Since the rubber is ground
fairly small, you could use a 1/4" or 3/8" mesh to get the .38 and bigger bullets
out first. I assume the lead doesn't break up very much in your backstop, ours is a
steel plate, much of our lead is in dime to quarter size discs.

I tried saturated salt water and it seemed to make no difference. The sampling shows
the lead breaks up more than half the time and jacketed HP bullets fragment, there's
about 25% of the lead that is 1/8" or smaller. It surprised me too! Whatever is
done, the club has many public officials as members and the job will be done all
above-boards with respect to all regulations and safety. We just want to do it as
cheaply as possible and it would be nice to have a good, on going solution. I would
like to get my hands on a few cubic feet of cheap lead.



A few years ago (like 10) I went to a gun range, and they gave me a
bucket of floor sweepings. It probably weighed 100 lbs. I remelted
this stuff into ingots.

i