.22 Bullets?

[robinsroost]

I have a lot of, fired, .22 bullets from a bullet trap. Can I re-melt them and cast them as round balls? Some of them are copper colored and I don't know what with........robin

 

[Billnpatti]

The copper colored ones are actually electroplated with a copper alloy. Yes, you can melt them down and re-cast them into balls for your muzzleloader. When you melt them, all of the copper and other crap will come to the top when you flux and you can just scoop it off and toss it away. Copper has a density of 8.96 gm/cubic centimeter while lead has a density of 11.34 gm/ cubic centimeter so the copper will just float on top of the molten lead. The lead will be just fine.

 

[mooman76]

22s generally are fairly soft and should make real good RBs. Basically what Billnpatti said though. Melt away.

 

[renegadehunter]

Factory store bought roundballs are swaged out of pure soft lead, while rimfire bullets are usually made with .85% lead. So they will be a little harder is all.

 

[F.G. Ford]

Hi,
I would not use the recovered .22 lead for cap & ball revolvers.
The lead being harder most likely will do harm to the loading lever.
The lead I used was from our pistol range that had mostly .22's, .38 wad cutters, and .32 international target guns. It was a non hardball range.
In a smooth bore or rifle it should be great.
I bent the loading lever on a 1851 Uberti Navy, and broke the lever on a Remington pocket .31.
That is my experiences.
Fred

 

[TFoley]

I have a lot of, fired, .22 bullets from a bullet trap. Can I re-melt them and cast them as round balls? Some of them are copper colored and I don't know what with........robin

The copper colour is a so-called copper wash. As noted, most .22cal bullets for standard velocity - 1040/50 fps - are not-quite pure lead, but the stuff from Min-Mags, Expediter, and all the other high-velocity stuff often have at least 15% hardening agent in them and are NOT suitable for melting down for BP rifled arms - patched smooth ball you can do what you like, even glass marbles have been used on occasions, but..............

Here in Yoorup there are many ranges that share facilities with airgun ranges, and they too have pellet traps. THAT stuff is just about the best soft lead imaginable and I use as much as I can get.

tac

 

[BrownBear]

I have over a ton of lead recovered from the traps at a big indoor range, and it melts down considerably harder than lead solely from 22 bullets (I've had that too).

The good news is that I use it all the time for round balls with perfect satisfaction. The ones I cast now are very slightly larger than pure lead, so you just have to use a little thinner patch. But those cast from 22 bullets had so little alloy in them I didn't even need to go to a thinner patch. No change in accuracy or point of impact.

Sure I use pure lead for my hunting balls. But I use the harder balls for most everything else. Why blow off good pure lead for casual shooting when it's getting harder to find? Why not use the alloyed versions for everything else?

After all, how many lead balls does a guy use in a very busy year of hunting? :idunno:

 

[omarick1948]

Factory store bought roundballs are swaged out of pure soft lead, while rimfire bullets are usually made with .85% lead. So they will be a little harder is all.

...and lighter than pure 100% lead. Make good fishing sinkers though!