I've never asked anything about cast bullets, or thinking about casting my own bullets. However, acquiring a revolver or two sure changes my mind.

The other day I thought cast bullets can only be used once since some company insist making cast bullets with "virgin lead". Then someone said the sands and whatnot will float up and be cleaned away with flux.

That should be the end of story, but unfortunately my brain didn't rest---dusts are ultimately sands, heavier than air obviously, but they can drift in the air for a long time before settling down. Could it also happen in the lead pot where tiny sands "drift down" and don't "settle up" before it's cast?

I sure don't want to fire-lap my barrel every single round. Thanks in advance.

Pyrotek,
cast bullet shooters are the original recyclers...of course you can melt down old bullets and reuse them over and over and over. I very much doubt the term "virgin lead" applies to many bullets at least in terms we think of.
Virgin lead in industry means they buy it from a commercial smelter...who either gets if from a mining firm or a recycler... Many of the recyclers get it from ranges. When you flux your metals properly and prepare them properly, you have nothing to worry about.

regards,
Graycg

No problems using dust that is small enough to remain suspended within a boolit. By the time you lube it and shoot it, dust would have accumulated along the surface of the boolit. Dust is a natural barrel cleaner, and actually helps maintain accuracy over the lifetime of the gun. More of a micro-polish than a fire-lap. The gun barrel will outlast you, so forget your concerns about this. ... felix

Pyrotek

I use range pick up lead as rough material and I fully agree with graycg.

Moreover,if you want be precautious during first casting sessions, consider that there are two ways to take the lead from the pot, you may adopt additional precautions for both:

-CASTING POT AND LADLE
You will see any impurity, sand, etc. on the surface so, you can take it away.
All alloy taked by the ladle will be pure.
Any undesireable material, if it exists, will be lying on the bottom. You may leave some lead at the bottom at the end of the day, and avoid picking up impurities with the ladle.

-BOTTOM-POUR POT
You may use any iron pot, strong enough to handle the high weight of lead, for melting the range pick up lead, flux and clean it, and pour it in the bottom-pour pot.
You will be taking the upper part of the melt.
I do this, but I pour ignots after fluxing and cleanning. First day I flux and clean, add pure lead or linotype if necessary, second day I only cast bullets.

In any case, the key is a good fluxing and cleanning

By the way, range pick up lead has the enchant that it already has expensive linotype included.
The bad news is that you have less control on your alloy mix.

BA Shooter

It's hard for me to see how dirt is going to end up on the bottom of the melting pot unless it's a material of higher specific gravity than the lead alloy. Normal silicaceous soil particles certainly aren't.

Not, scrape the bottom of your pot well when you are fluxing and see what floats up. I dunno how the crud gets to the bottom, but I know it does.

Yeah, I know what you're talking about. Still don't see how it gets there.

All I've been using is range scrap and it makes for excellent bullets. I haven't noticed any dust/impurities of any kind. Not sure where this idea started but if there is dust it would be the same for commercial lead bullets as for the home casters and should'nt be any concern at all. Any impurities in my smelt rise to the surface when I drop a dap of candle wax in it and mix it around a bit. I then just scoop them off...Gary D.

Great, I rest assured, thanks gents.

I also find it much much easier to find and pick up lead bullets on rainy days when water washes sands away, leaving chunks and chunks of grey for me to find...occasionally will find a large chunk of shotgun slug(bonus!). I am sure you all know this already.

Dear Pyrotek,
Here's a giggle for you: I'm at the range feeling pretty happy about the performance of my cast loads in my .45 Kimber SS. One of the regulars waltzes up and asks about my loads....you know the usual friendly banter. I tell him that I cast my own, and he gets this curious look on his face. He doesn't think it's worth the effort, and so on, and he can't believe anyone would use range-srap "alloy". It's too soft, there's no consistency etc. He only shoots these super-dooper commercial hard cast projectiles, which cost just 6.5 cents each if he buys about a million at once.
At the end of the day I go down to the berm and pick up all the unjacketed bullets (except .22s and .38 DEWCs) that have come to the surface. I try to find about as many as I've shot, plus 20% to allow for dirt and waste. I just love finding a mother load of those commercial hard cast bullets! They're the ones that look nice shiny and not too deformed. Now I know that I'm only making an educated guess as to the origin of those bullets, but if I pick up enough bullets from different parts of the range, the law of averages should dictate that my range-scrap alloy will be fairly consistent. I use half WW / half scrap as a rule. I have no real idea as to the hardness of my bullets, but for target loads, you don't need much more than WWs anyway.
Cheeky.

Absolutely nothing wrong with range scrap. By doing several hundred pound at a time, it will be consistent for that batch which will last awhile. And if you pick up from the same range again, another several hundred pounds, you more than likley will not notice any change in consistency. Do it in a big pot and pour off into ingots for later use. I've been doing this for years, and it works.

There's three things to shooting, the shooter, the gun, and the ammo. For the very vast majority, we and our equipment cannot justify the minute changes that we all seem to worry over. Throw it in the pot and go on. That said, there is a difference between roof/shower flashing and lino, with range scrap and WWs in betwixt. Build a batch for a given application, a large batch (for consistency), and go on. Point is, when you have a mix that works, make ALOT of it. Now if you to get down to splitting hairs over EXACTLY what's in an alloy, then go shoot benchrest - just ask Felix. sundog

btw, range scrap does MOA at 200 in my 35 Whelen. It's also got a very nice Shillen barrel and a Simmons Atec scope. Remember what I said - equipment, shooter, ammo...