Goats and salvaging a mound full of lead

[rbstern]

We got three goats early this year. Adopted from a neighbor who wanted to reduce her herd. We built a pen and a house for them, and enjoy them as pets. Everybody who visits enjoys them. They've been a good addition to the family.

That's the good news.

The bad news is, they don't like gunfire. My shooting berm is about 75 yards from their pen, and gunfire freaks them out. Even rimfire noise is a bit too much stress for them. So, I decided to relocate my range deeper into the woods. Picked a spot in a small valley with a good natural backstop. It's 150 yards further away, with thick tree cover between it and the goat pen. It's also that much further from our house, which makes the noise more palletable to everyone who isn't shooting, including my neighbors. Spent a couple of weekends improving the new range, and it's now actually a nicer place to shoot than my previous setup.

And that brings me to a cleanup issue: The old shooting berm is railroad ties, in a flared "U" shape structrue, filled with red clay soil (pictured below). And, as you might imagine, after years of use, its some of the heaviest red clay on the planet. There's a lot of lead in that pile of dirt. Environmental issues aside, I cast bullets, and want to reclaim the lead.

Any suggestions for a good way to reclaim the lead?

 

[alexpops]

FEL and a screen or 2 of hardware cloth?
Maybe add a vibrator to break up the clay?

 

[cqaigy2]

I don't know, but my BIL shoots at a local gun range, and he told me that last year the gun range had a person come in and harvest the lead. Here is their website if you want to contact them. Evergreen Sportsmans Club

 

[dmccarty]

What Alexpops said, though if you are patient, you could just spread the clay on a screen and let the rain wash away the dirt leaving the lead behind.

The range I go to has a pond that collects rain water from the impact berm and the range itself. The pond water has been tested often over the years and lead has not be a problem.

Recently the range had a company come in to "mine" the bullets out of the impact berm which has never been done before. The ranges has been open for many decades so there was quite a bit of metal in the berm. I can't remember how many tons were taken out but it was enough for the company to remove the metal, do some dirt work for the range, AND pay the range quite a bit of money. I don't think you have the much metal in that little berm for a company to come out but it certainly is worth money for you to get that metal.

OnEdit. I see cqaigy2 made a similar comment.

Later,
Dan

 

[Cataclysm]

A small sluice box would work great and not take forever.

 

[npalen]

I thought for sure, when reading the thread title, that someone had discovered that goats eat lead and then deposit the metal in neat piles for salvage!

 

[dirttoys]

I would say couple of sheets of correct size expanded steel, framed on FEL or skid so it can be dumped, and a good pressure washer would be the quickest to build.

Couple of others mentioned calling one of the companies that do this for a living. While that would seem to take all of the fun out of it, it is probably the best idea

Best,

ed

 

[oosik]

A friend and I reclaimed the lead from an old shooting range.

A 2x4 wooden frame with correct sized screen.

Tractor with FEL and bucket

A water supply and method to spray down the dirt and lead

You will quickly make in-the-field improvements as this project get under way

It can be a very fun project

 

[dodge man]

Npalen beat me to the idea of using the goats.