Lee Loader

Anybody here ever melted down fired plated bullets? Lotta' lead in them things just wondered if the copper(?) plated would create any problems in the melt. Where I shoot here at home my "backstop" allows me to retrieve most of what I shoot and I've recycled a lot of lead bullets I've fired over the years. Helps keep what little alloy I have last a bit longer. I never really thought about it but not only do we shoot "once" fired brass but some of my bullets have been fired way more than once, sorta.

Sure. Scoop out the copper.

I seem to remember reading that the lead in plated is pretty soft.

Yup, soft lead. Just be sure to open the plating up with a pair of cutters
if there not already ripped open.
I've got a bunch of plated & fully jacketed stuff to smelt, guess now would
be A good time. Trouble is, no sawdust?????? Got a bit of wax though,
Just never cared for it as a flux, I like pine or cedar.

I've melted a bunch of jacketed and some plated bullets. Just as a precaution I'll cut the jacket or plating with dikes just in case of a "pressure bomb" (pressure build up inside a "sealed" jacket or plating), and just clean/flux as usual. I have a stock of my "mystery metal" lead that is range scrap, wheel weight scraps, and any misc. lead. I'll check the BHN and mark the ingots and use it for my "everyday" casting reserving my known alloys for heavier loads or rifle bullets....

Thanks for the responses guys. As far as the bhn of the lead, RMR states their "cores" are 12bhn which is just about the same as WW's. Guess I'll go out and see what I can find that I've fired. Pretty close to 1,000 230 grainers plus some of my cast that I've shot over a couple years. I have a pretty good size smelting pot.

They're plated not jacketed. Smash them with a hammer first. It's more fun and easier to boot.

I've melted out a bunch of them .
Those that I did seemed to be a 30-1 alloy . The high tin is a good thing here as the tin will hold the copper in solution at about 1/5 to the tin . The copper changes the lead/tin/antimony interact . I shoot a water dropped 75/25 wheel weight /plated core alloy and comparatively it acts like a 22 bhn in the barrel and a 14 bhn on target with a tested value of 18 .
You get a tougher bullet more shear resistant that is more plyable on impact and holds together better .

RBHarter wrote:I've melted out a bunch of them .
Those that I did seemed to be a 30-1 alloy . The high tin is a good thing here as the tin will hold the copper in solution at about 1/5 to the tin . The copper changes the lead/tin/antimony interact . I shoot a water dropped 75/25 wheel weight /plated core alloy and comparatively it acts like a 22 bhn in the barrel and a 14 bhn on target with a tested value of 18 .
You get a tougher bullet more shear resistant that is more plyable on impact and holds together better .

Very good information, thanks. But just to make sure I understand, you DO clean out the copper material from the melt prior to casting.........the "holding the copper in solution" and "the copper changes the lead/tin/antimony interact" kinda throws me a bit.

Pretty sure it takes twice the temp to melt copper than lead. Make sure the plating is broken by smashing them with a hammer or shooting them then smelt them. Scoop out the copper and pour the lead to ingots.