Lead Shot Salvage

[Alstep]

Friend of mine had a fire that destroyed his home. He had a pile of led shot that melted down into a big blob. He offered it to me. What's the composition of lead shot and would it be good for casting rifle & pistol boolets? What would be a fair price to offer him?

[megasupermagnum]

I've never used it, as lead shot is expensive. I do know it makes great bullets though. Good shot, like Lawrence brand, usually has around 6% antimony, I do not know how much tin. A quick search shows Lawrence sells "bullet alloy" that is 92/6/2, the exact same as hardball alloy, and is likely what they make their shot out of.

$1 a pound is pretty standard for lead alloys, although lead shot in good form is around $2 a pound.

[Winger Ed.]

A buck a pound is a good deal for both of ya.

You ain't going to find it any cheaper, and he probably can't get much more anywhere else.

[Dusty Bannister]

You may be interested in this link as well, especially if you know who made the shot. If the maker is not known, then melt a sample, clean up the graphite and other dross and send a sample to BNE to XRF scan and know for sure the percentage of antimony. Likely NO tin in the shot.

http://randywakeman.com/WhoPutstheHardestShotinLeadTargetShotshells.htm

[ole_270]

Yeah, shot varies by maker, shot size, chilled or magnum.

[lightman]

A dollar a pound sounds fair, buying from a friend. I would try for less if it wasn't from a friend thats recovering from a house fire. Most shot is hard. You can cut it with pure lead and add some tin and have a nice alloy.

Last Summer a buddy scored about 400 pounds of reclaimed shot and I helped him melt it. The shot was old, heavily oxidized and still had some graphite on it. It was the hardest thing I have melted to date, in terms of difficulty. I would have thought that with the high % of contact with the pot that it would have melted quicker. The oxidation and graphite insulated it and we found that we had to stir it aggressively and mash it against the edge of the pot to get it to melt. He added about 2% of tin. I kept one ingot to have tested but have not done so yet. It is very hard.

You may not have these problems melting yours if its been in a fire and is in puddles and pieces. But expect it to be hard as in BHN.

[rsrocket1]

I get reclaimed lead shot at $1/pound and use it to load both shotshells and melt it down for handgun and rifle bullets, shotgun slugs and muzzleloader slugs. They all shoot fine. The only extra effort is scooping out a few spoonfuls of graphite when the shot is melted.

[GregLaROCHE]

I always heard that arsenic was used in shot to make it extra hard. It might be best used to mix with soft lead to increase the hardness.

[rking22]

1$ per pound is what reclaim costs around here. I use it about 50:50 with plain lead then add tin, there is virtually none in shot. Look at the alloy calculator in the stickies, gives nominal comp of several varieties of shot. Already melted is a plus, it’s a pain!

[megasupermagnum]

1$ per pound is what reclaim costs around here. I use it about 50:50 with plain lead then add tin, there is virtually none in shot. Look at the alloy calculator in the stickies, gives nominal comp of several varieties of shot. Already melted is a plus, it’s a pain!

You're lucky. Even though brand new Lawrence shot is down to about $45 a bag, I have never found reclaimed shot for under $35 a bag here. At least our scrap lead is cheaper than a lot of the country.

[rking22]

Our club has about 20,000# from the last reclaim cycle. No one is buying it at 1$ a lb, can’t understand. They are going to sell it for scrap, I intend to buy 3000# barrel for shotgun use and bullet alloy. Will be lifetime supply for me. I still buy 8 1/2 on the club order for 28 and 410, reclaim is aggravating to drop thru the small drop tubes.
It makes good bullet alloy and loads fine in 20,16, and 12 bore loads. We use it for skeet and sporting clays, trap when I have to suffer thru a round of that too. Breaks targets just fine, kills doves too.

[Green Frog]

I bought a few hundred ponds of #12 shot from an old indoor turkey shoot range. Most was for a couple of customers, but I’ve got about a hundred pounds or so to render into ingots. The seller insisted that the lead is dead soft, but the graphite and corrosion coating it have made my customers have to work extra hard melting it and ending up with a lot of slag. :???:

I just found about 10# of corroded shot in a storage shed I’m emptying out and I’m pretty sure it’s hard alloy, so I guess I’ll throw it in with range scrap for a little hardening of that batch... more decisions!

I’ve got a lot of lead in line in front of this so I can just let it set and fester for now, but I guess I’ll have to use it sometime. Maybe I’ll have some down time and do a lot of rendering all at one time... we’ll just have to wait and see.

Froggie

[stubshaft]

I go to the local trap and skeet range and mine lead periodically. It is a pain to melt down and clean. But the price is right! I usually mix a big pot of alloy (300#) mixing it with pure lead and some tin.

[h8dirt]

I've never used it, as lead shot is expensive. I do know it makes great bullets though. Good shot, like Lawrence brand, usually has around 6% antimony, I do not know how much tin. A quick search shows Lawrence sells "bullet alloy" that is 92/6/2, the exact same as hardball alloy, and is likely what they make their shot out of.

$1 a pound is pretty standard for lead alloys, although lead shot in good form is around $2 a pound.

I recently had some Lawrence Magnum shot tested ... 3% antimony, no tin and 1% arsenic. Reclaimed lead shot is closer to $1 a pound (as is high quality scrap lead). For my use in making bullets, I’d much rather have quality lead scrap (sheeting, for example) than shot. Melting and alloying reclaimed shot is dirty and it’s hit or miss on the composition. Just IME.

[rking22]

I recently had some Lawrence Magnum shot tested ... 3% antimony, no tin and 1% arsenic.

Quick question, what shot size was analyzed? My understanding is that the smaller sizes, 7 1/2 and under are higher in antimony.

[TheGrimReaper]

I would snatch it up

[Ituk]

My experience using shot is that you get wrinkly bullets. No matter how hot i let the mold get ( up to 10 sec sprue solidifying time) i seem to get wrinkly bullets. This didnt happen using range scrap but i ran out.

[ioon44]

"wrinkly bullets" That is why casters add 1-2% of Tin, I am sure the range scrap had some Tin to cast with out wrinkle's.

[OS OK]

Here's what you can expect to have ...

https://i.imgur.com/ghQeOVX.jpg

Here's what I actually measured with a variety of shot I had in bags...this measurement was taken about 48 hours after ingotizing, I expect it to get a bit harder after sitting around for a month and longer.

https://i.imgur.com/xhrFIui.jpg

I didn't have any problems smelting this stuff, just a lot of graphite to skim off...

https://i.imgur.com/5dYyNox.jpg

What I'd be thinking about is how I'm going to break down one big clump and get it into my 50 pound pot?

[GONRA]

GONRA sez GregLaROCHE is correct! Arsenic is the TRADITIONAL hardening agent for Lead Shot folks!!!

[Winger Ed.]

What I'd be thinking about is how I'm going to break down one big clump and get it into my 50 pound pot?

I've done big chunks with a hardware store propane torch.
Hold it up, cut through it from the bottom up.

Catch the drips in/on a pan. Carve chunks off the blob with the torch that will fit in a pot.

For really big stuff, I've chopped it up with a rough toothed blade on a Sawzall or even an ax.