Range Lead Recovery/Range Maintenance
- Thread starter Stumpy1
- Start date
jepp2
Gold $$ Contributor
The range I shoot at did that this year. From the comments from one of the board members, they were very happy with the overall project and results. From what I recall:
We were required to put up something like $30K up front. The company brought in all the equipment required and the drums to load the lead into. After they would complete the lead recovery at a range, they would re-berm it to better than before it started. They still have one area to complete past the trap range. An equipment issue kept that from being completed. I think the club recovered around $100K from the lead. The company took care of all the shipping to transport the lead and equipment.
We were required to put up something like $30K up front. The company brought in all the equipment required and the drums to load the lead into. After they would complete the lead recovery at a range, they would re-berm it to better than before it started. They still have one area to complete past the trap range. An equipment issue kept that from being completed. I think the club recovered around $100K from the lead. The company took care of all the shipping to transport the lead and equipment.
The local range had lead removed several years ago. Make certain they do everything they say they will do. I had to bring in a dozer and rework the berms when they were through, something that they were supposed to do. Fortunately, the company I worked for at the time let me use the dozer at no charge, they even covered the fuel for the dozer.
Downhill
Gold $$ Contributor
We had it done several years ago at the recqirement of the city to maintain our lease. It was a real pain finding a company to do it. The project ran on a 60/40 split (40 On our end). The club made just over 43 thousand on the recycled lead. Paid for a lot of range improvements.
Kittitas George
Gold $$ Contributor
Lead removal is a HAZ-MAT project, it can cause the range (owner) and the contractor a lot of grief if not done correctly. All the equipment operators must be HAZ-MAT CERTIFIED. Lead dust in the mining and separating is the problem. Be sure your range management team is fully versed and has your states approval and oversite. The law suits for job caused health problems can be huge. Inhaled lead doesn't come out of the body easily. Paper dust masks don't work. Find the article in the Seattle Times paper (2 years ago?) about the indoor gun range in Bellevue, WA. Please do your home work. I have had a lot of HAZ-MAT training, I know the dangers and suits that can result. I'm sure its changed, probably more stringent. I've been retired more than 23 years.
divingin
Gold $$ Contributor
The range I shoot at (San Leandro, CA) had this done about a year or two ago on the 100 yd rifle range (outdoor, steel-shrouded dirt berm.) Took several days, and yielded a huge number (I'd guess more than a couple dozen) of 55 gallon drums of lead and copper. First time done since the range opened in the 50's, as far as I know.
Yes it is hazmat. I don't believe lead dust/vapor is much of an issue from the impact area (it's more from primer residue, and will be more pronounced in indoor situations.) OSHA may not agree. Pretty sure the workers were using respirators and Tyvek suits. They used a large trencher to dig the berm out, and sifted everything on the apron in front of the target area. Once done, they rebuilt the berm.
I have no idea what the cost was, but can likely find out if you want.
As an aside, the outdoor pistol range shoots into steel plates rather than berms. Lead collection is done periodically by chipping out the collected lead. The indoor pistol range has some kind of weird kinetic trap that disperses energy by forcing bullets through a spiral channel (there's a name for it, but damned if I remember what it is.) Lead collection on those ranges is done by the range maintenance guys. AFAIK, the lead is reclaimed by the metal recycler up the street.
And as another aside, a range 20 miles south (Milpitas, CA) was shut down after it was discovered that they (an indoor range) were simply exhausting untreated ventilated air out the roof. They had contaminated a large number of other buildings in the industrial park (including a few youth dance and sports centers) with deposited lead (likely from primer vapor, but possibly powdered bullet lead as well.)
Yes it is hazmat. I don't believe lead dust/vapor is much of an issue from the impact area (it's more from primer residue, and will be more pronounced in indoor situations.) OSHA may not agree. Pretty sure the workers were using respirators and Tyvek suits. They used a large trencher to dig the berm out, and sifted everything on the apron in front of the target area. Once done, they rebuilt the berm.
I have no idea what the cost was, but can likely find out if you want.
As an aside, the outdoor pistol range shoots into steel plates rather than berms. Lead collection is done periodically by chipping out the collected lead. The indoor pistol range has some kind of weird kinetic trap that disperses energy by forcing bullets through a spiral channel (there's a name for it, but damned if I remember what it is.) Lead collection on those ranges is done by the range maintenance guys. AFAIK, the lead is reclaimed by the metal recycler up the street.
And as another aside, a range 20 miles south (Milpitas, CA) was shut down after it was discovered that they (an indoor range) were simply exhausting untreated ventilated air out the roof. They had contaminated a large number of other buildings in the industrial park (including a few youth dance and sports centers) with deposited lead (likely from primer vapor, but possibly powdered bullet lead as well.)
Liven The Dream
Gold $$ Contributor
Reach out to DRRC in Eagle Creek Oregon.
They went thru a large Cleanup and Law Suits
They went thru a large Cleanup and Law Suits
PatMiles
Silver $$ Contributor
My local outdoor club, Zia Rifle & Pistol Club, will soon be in talks with MT2 (https://mt2.com/) regarding lead cleanup. Zia, with 1700 members, was established in 1959 and has never done any lead reclamation so there should be quite a bit of lead to be reclaimed.
Picked MT2 on the recommendation of another outdoor shooting club here in NM which used them last year and gave them high marks.
We'll see how it works out.
Picked MT2 on the recommendation of another outdoor shooting club here in NM which used them last year and gave them high marks.
We'll see how it works out.
Spacegunr
Silver $$ Contributor
We used Recoil LLC https://recoilllc.com/ a couple of years ago at our club in Georgia. They were there for about a week doing multiple ranges. They use a dry sluice to separate out the lead and copper from the dirt, no water involved. Once the mining is done, they reconstruct the berms so they are as good as new. I was on the board of directors at the time and we were very happy with their service.
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