Cast bullets to hard shot

[jsteed]

Posting my question here because this forum gets a lot of traffic. I have over 16K of cast bullets that I'll never use, cast from wheel weights. Could they be used to make hard shot for shotshell reloads? Thanks for feedback.

[Jack Stanley]

Yep ! I used to make a lot of shot that way .

Jack

[reddog81]

I'm pretty sure it's possible but I don't think it's easy or cheap. Hopefully someone with more experience will be able to answer the question. A quick Google search indicates the Littleton Shotmaker is a common way of doing this but the machine cost over $400.

I'd guess your best option would be to sell the bullets and buy shot.

[jdfoxinc]

WW are what both Littleton and the better shot maker drippers are sized for.

[rancher1913]

wheel weights make great shot but it is not considered hard shot as it only has a brinell of 10-14, you would need to add antimony to get true hard shot.

[jsteed]

Some of the ones I tested were 18 which is harder than I expected. If I located someone in Mi. that could make shot out of it, that would be ideal as shipping both products would make it difficult.
As for selling the bullet as-is, I really don't have a feel for value. I did the casting 4 yrs ago and shot a few just for the experience. They have never been sized or lubed (with the exception of the few I used).

[rancher1913]

for a hundred bucks you can make your own shot, look up gosthawks thread on homemade shot, it will walk you through the process and show you were to get the dripper.

[RED333]

Here is gosthawks thread
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?318220-Shot-maker&highlight=gosthawk
I read it and I did it for about 100 dollars
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?338100-Electric-shot-dripper
The process works well once you get all the bugs worked out.

[reddog81]

Maybe you could trade with the guy who started the post below. He has shot and wants to make bullets...

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?340541-Gift-of-hard-shot-now-what-to-do-with-it

[DerekP Houston]

Don't you dare use logic here and discourage someone building a new toy :kidding:

[sawinredneck]

Don't you dare use logic here and discourage someone building a new toy :kidding:
And so it begins, again.....

[runfiverun]

your average bag of shot now days only has 3% antimony.
most of the promo shells only have 2%.
many of the foreign shells are just over 3%
you have to buy the premium shells like STS & AA to get the higher 6% antimony shot.
Federal uses [and re-brands for sale] Rio shot [their standard blue box loads] which is 3.2ish % antimony.
their Rio's premium shells [brown box] have a higher 5ish % of antimony.

so the 3ish% antimony in ww's is about as good as most shot out there, and better than what the top gun, gun club, and the various Winchester offerings use, in their shells.

[beezapilot]

YEP- they will work fine!!!!!!! I'm not too picky on the lead that I run though my dripper, range scrap is what I can get my hands on- if you don't have enough antimony in the alloy the shot comes out big. I run it over a piece of 1/8 wire cloth to separate out the oversized, and either re-alloy the next time I smelt adding a bit of superhard or load for turkey season. Too much tin and the shot comes out "long" and into the smelt pot it goes. Yeah, things go smoothly and well when you use COWW- but they are getting a bit hard to find. I get about 90% usable shot every time I drip a batch from range scrap. I've a friend that belongs to a metal detecting club, for every "golden doubloon" he finds, he digs up half a ton of sinkers- when I smelt that I know I have to add superhard to strengthen the alloy.

[jimb16]

I've been making shot and casting bullets for years. It doesn't seem to matter all that much which I make using the same alloy. I use coww with about 1% added tin. Works well for either.

[jsteed]

Many options suggested. Thanks for the feedback!