Chilled lead shot

[jar-wv]

I recently came upon the good fortune of cleaning up a big pile of lead shot. It was at a sportsmens club a coworker belongs to at their turkey shoot range. They shoot thru the target, then the pellets hit a mine belt and drop onto the ground and another mine belt. I ended up with over 750 lbs of lead shot and am reasonably sure it's mostly chilled lead shot. A search of this forum gave me many conflicting views, from almost pure lead to casting bullets as is to just using it to harden or add arsenic to the mix. I cast only for handgun calibers. And by the way I was told by one club member that the pile had been growing for well over 20 yrs and it looks as if I only got about half of it on my first trip.

Can this stuff be used as is for casting bullets or should I mix it with wheelweights or something else?

[The Dust Collector]

I've been pinched for lead in the past for making cast boolits and have used new shot to do so. No problem in my rifle or handgun. Us it as is. Seemed just fine to me!
Back when I could buy a bag of shot for $2.75.
DUST

[beagle]

Darned good score. I wish it was me. The chilled shot makes good bullets but sometimes you have to skim some of the antimony alloy off the top or the bullets tend to be too brittle.

My shooting partner used shot for years and we'd find broken bullets behind his target all the time.

Skim some of the antimony off and save it for later use in alloying pure lead./beagle

[Coastie]

I also have used new shot for casting my rifle and handgun loads. Wheel weights and scrap have been tough to get locally. The shot seems to work well - as least for practice suff. I haven't tried to do any "real studies".

[Scrounger]

I recently came upon the good fortune of cleaning up a big pile of lead shot. It was at a sportsmens club a coworker belongs to at their turkey shoot range. They shoot thru the target, then the pellets hit a mine belt and drop onto the ground and another mine belt. I ended up with over 750 lbs of lead shot and am reasonably sure it's mostly chilled lead shot. A search of this forum gave me many conflicting views, from almost pure lead to casting bullets as is to just using it to harden or add arsenic to the mix. I cast only for handgun calibers. And by the way I was told by one club member that the pile had been growing for well over 20 yrs and it looks as if I only got about half of it on my first trip.

Can this stuff be used as is for casting bullets or should I mix it with wheelweights or something else?

Sure you can use it to make fine bullets, it's just harder than you need, The economics of using more antimony (Which makes it hard) than you need offends some people. It's like hauling garbage in a new Buick. If it were me, I'd cut it 50/50 with wheelweights, throw in about 1% or 2% tin and never look back.

[jar-wv]

Thanks for the info guys. Has got me to thinking I'll mix it with wheelweights. Now to get the rest of it and get to smelting.

jar

[leftiye]

Jar,
Some shot is pure lead, some (chill) has a little arsenic and antimony in it. Magnum shot is 5% antimony with about 1/2% tin and a tech of arsenic. Test it for hardness. If it isn't hard enough, mix it with wheelweights or linotype.

Alloy isn't real critical, hardness is more critical but only in as far as being hard enough for your load (the powder, and gun have their effect on this). Testing through the gun required.

[randyrat]

How about selling some of that recovered shot. i need shot for next years trap shooting. Nope, i don't care if some of it is oblong, i'll role it and the oblong stuff i''l re-use for bullets.