Bird Shot for casting?

[NHlever]

Anyone have input on the pros, and cons of using both chilled, and magnum bird shot for casting bullets? I came across some, and don't have another use for the shot.

[FN in MT]

SELL IT to a trap/skeet shooter or hunter. Shot is currently $35+ per 25# bag. Much more in some areas. You can buy a lot of scrap lead for $35.

fn

[beagle]

Shot, especially in the magnum variety has a pretty high antimony content and as a result, used straight, makes bullets that are hard....and brittle. I've seen .30s and .32s break in two upon empact with the berm and have recovered many broken shot alloy bullets. While this is no problem with paper and metal, it's not so good for hunting.

As has been suggested, it's better to trade off the shot for lead./beagle

[pps]

could it not be saved to "sweeten" a pot by adding Sb and As for potential heat treating?

[NHlever]

Is the antimony content higher than it is in linotype? How about the arsenic?

[Pat I.]

Because of the high arsenic content Veral Smith recommends only using a small amount as a sweetener for WWs so casting it all by itself might not be the best idea. I can't say if he's right or not but sure ain't gonna try to find out.

[NHlever]

Thanks for the quick replies, and keep them coming. These are the things I wanted to know before firing up the melting pot.

[Larry Gibson]

I'll disagree about cast bullets cast of magnum chilled shot not being good for hunting. If you cast them hot and then water quench the bullets they are very good for hunting. The water quenting makes the allloy non-brittle. It is an alloy of with tin in it that makes it brittle. Many .22LR bullets are of lead and antimony alloy. They also are soft and ductile. They harden well enough to be shot accurately at 2000 fps and yet are ductile and expand well. Paco Kelly had an article or two on this and I've also used them with complete satisfaction at 2000-2100 fps.

Larry Gibson

[dwtim]

Sometimes $1.40/pound looks like a good deal compared to having it shipped from out of state. Scrap is hard to come by up here in New England.

It tends to be very springy, and cast oversize. I like this in my pistols, because I have many guns with oversize throats. It typically casts in the 14-15 BHN range with 1% tin. Your call I guess--that's too hard for me for many handgun applications, so I soften it with range scrap alloy. I have shot water-dropped mag shot bullets out of my .303 and so far haven't had any problems.

I am surprised to learn that WQ reduces brittleness. Mag shot alloy isn't going to be brittle to begin with, because it typically has no more than 6% Sb in it.