singleshotbuff
07-31-2007, 02:22 AM
Gentlemen,
I have been kickin an idea around, to sort of avoid reinventing the wheel.
With the price of shot at $40.00/bag and rising, and with a Littleton shotmaker being near $400.00, what about a group buy for a shot making sieve??
Here's the idea, we design a sieve type device that will drop say #8 or #9 shot (or any size for that matter) when molten lead alloy is poured through it. The how's and why's of the heat source and the shot recepticle would be up to the indiviual member to determine.
Then we prevail on a machinest, preferably a member here, to make a run of the sieves and we split the set up, material and /or tooling costs. Of course, said member should factor in a profit for his time/effort.
I'm sure it could be done, we'd just need to set parameters as far as distance the shot is dropped (onto a ramp), and the size of the sieve holes to assure the proper size of the shot and so forth. Some testing will be required to determine the proper hole size, but once we determine it, it will be easier for a machinest to duplicate it than it would be for individual members.
The way it would work would be;
You buy your GB sieve.
YOU provide a suitable heat source for the alloy, as well as for the sieve (to avoid alloy plugging the holes), and a way to support the sieve above your ramp and shot container.
You build a ramp (the best way to make round shot according to my research) for the shot to fall onto.
You fashion a container for the shot to fall into and fill it with brake fluid, anti-freeze (again, considered the best options from my research), or whatever you'd like to try.
Then you're on your own to tweak the set up to produce round shot of the size you need or want.
Making shot is not rocket science, man has been doing it for at least 2 centuries. If we can cast boolits from lead alloy that will shoot good groups at 100 yards, I'm confident we can make round pellets en masse.
What do you gents think? Is this worthwhile? Do you shoot enough shotshells to make it worth your time? I COULD build a shot dropper myself, through trial and error, but the hardest part would be getting the holes drilled once the proper size is determined. This is due to the small size of the holes (for #8 or #9 target shot), and the ever increasing difficulty to drill an ever smaller hole. This is why I think it would be best left to a machinest type, or at least a learned amateur with the proper machines and tools.
Please post your thoughts here and we'll see where this goes. I'll also post this idea on some other "shotgun" boards to see if we can lessen the individual cost for a group buy.
Thanks
SSB
I have been kickin an idea around, to sort of avoid reinventing the wheel.
With the price of shot at $40.00/bag and rising, and with a Littleton shotmaker being near $400.00, what about a group buy for a shot making sieve??
Here's the idea, we design a sieve type device that will drop say #8 or #9 shot (or any size for that matter) when molten lead alloy is poured through it. The how's and why's of the heat source and the shot recepticle would be up to the indiviual member to determine.
Then we prevail on a machinest, preferably a member here, to make a run of the sieves and we split the set up, material and /or tooling costs. Of course, said member should factor in a profit for his time/effort.
I'm sure it could be done, we'd just need to set parameters as far as distance the shot is dropped (onto a ramp), and the size of the sieve holes to assure the proper size of the shot and so forth. Some testing will be required to determine the proper hole size, but once we determine it, it will be easier for a machinest to duplicate it than it would be for individual members.
The way it would work would be;
You buy your GB sieve.
YOU provide a suitable heat source for the alloy, as well as for the sieve (to avoid alloy plugging the holes), and a way to support the sieve above your ramp and shot container.
You build a ramp (the best way to make round shot according to my research) for the shot to fall onto.
You fashion a container for the shot to fall into and fill it with brake fluid, anti-freeze (again, considered the best options from my research), or whatever you'd like to try.
Then you're on your own to tweak the set up to produce round shot of the size you need or want.
Making shot is not rocket science, man has been doing it for at least 2 centuries. If we can cast boolits from lead alloy that will shoot good groups at 100 yards, I'm confident we can make round pellets en masse.
What do you gents think? Is this worthwhile? Do you shoot enough shotshells to make it worth your time? I COULD build a shot dropper myself, through trial and error, but the hardest part would be getting the holes drilled once the proper size is determined. This is due to the small size of the holes (for #8 or #9 target shot), and the ever increasing difficulty to drill an ever smaller hole. This is why I think it would be best left to a machinest type, or at least a learned amateur with the proper machines and tools.
Please post your thoughts here and we'll see where this goes. I'll also post this idea on some other "shotgun" boards to see if we can lessen the individual cost for a group buy.
Thanks
SSB