Gonna build a shot maker

[Faret]

I have been cutting my wheel weights no less than 75% with pure lead. Straight wheel weights just makes it too hard. Have noticed that targets break a lot better this way too! Sell the zinc back to the scrap yard or build a cannon and shoot it from that. I just need to find a mold!

[Littleton Shot Maker]

ZINC will if not right away over some time plug up the droppers! ZINC is bad for bullets molds and for shot making-

CAN it be done YES- like anything with the right tools an enough money
HAVE I seen zinc bullets --YES they sucked
HAVE I seen with my own eyes zinc shot made? YES but it did not happen on a standard shot maker- It took way more heat to make flow right - the sizes where all over the place and the entire "unit- machine " was sealed up- the guy doing it was in full coverage body suit and air from a bottle - geared up like a BIO HAZARD.
WHY?? I don't know he was the expert ""IS"" but I would never do it even if I WAS being paid...

small amount of tin will harden pure lead- 1/20 makes for a hard enough alloy for shot.

[shootinfox2]

Alan, I noticed a slow down in dripper 3 & 4 today tried cleaning them out, but stoll slower than the others. I suspect heat,many ideas?
Do you have the double drippers in size 7.5?

Fox

[Littleton Shot Maker]

Fox
if you move the dripper from one location to another does it still run slow at that spot? AND does the original drippers now run better or the same?
dripper 3-4?? the ones in the middle?? those should run the best- most folks have issue with the first and last droppers (normally) if the temps get too low in the working area
IF the pan is sitting out to far the middle dripper can run slower but then all the other will too.

HOW did you clean them? If you know the hole size I recommend using a set of 'wire or pin gauge' tools- NOT a TIP cleaner or a piece of thin wire....start with a pin tool 1 or 2 sizes smaller-
GO in- then out - DO NOT go round and round trying to ream out the hole- your #9 will end up a #4 in a couple seconds---
Heat them - try blowing out debris - then if you have to- USE PIN GAUGE tool to pass into and them out of droppers.

IF you have to force it then back up- go to smaller tool. Heat it again, and the poke it out...

DO NOT TRY TO RE-DRILL THE HOLES you will catch the bit and snap off the bit in the hole and now it's trashed.....
FOX- you need more help- shoot me a call or email me direct- I don't go on the forum as much as I did before- busy kicking machines out these days and helping folks on the phone allot- winter always gives folks fits....when they are trying to make shot.

[shootinfox2]

Cleaned out all the nozzles. Replaced the middle two with new reserve drippers. They ran twice as fast as the outside drippers. Tried the fabric softener coolant with poor results. The shot was not falling through the coolant fast enough, causing vertical bridging up to the poor spouts.
cleaned all the drippers and got rid of the softener. Back to the orginal anti freeze tomorrow and I will post the results. The machine is working fine, but the middle drippers were running slow. I cleaned out the whole pan tonight and will see the results tomorrow. Made over two hundred pounds this week, but then the slow down. I was wondering about what you said about zinc. Should not be any in this alloy, but MURPHY?

[Littleton Shot Maker]

FOX
zinc is sorta like Cholesterol, a little bit , you may not notice. AS it build ups (in droppers) it begins to close down the drip hole, BUT it is also sticky- SO if you have zinc , normally all the drippers will have the same issue NOT just one or two...NORMALLY...
NOW, very high antimonial lead can do the same thing as the antimony start to 'scale' inside the droppers and have the same effect .... I say high Antimony as in YOU where using 7-2-93-or 6-2-94 or even higher like 10% Ant.

DO you have any colors in the lead?
Do you have any grey fluff floating in the smelting pot or your shot maker pan??

Should be no higher than 2/3% Antimony for the drippers to work - not plug and not scale up...

[mtgrs737]

Alan,

I add 2% more Antimony into my shot making alloy that starts out as clip on ww lead for handicap distance trap shooting. I have no problem with that alloy and I figure it is running 4 - 4.5 % antimony. For short range targets I use the COWW lead straight as it is about 2.5% antimony and it drips well and breaks 16 yd. trap targets with authority. Zinc is a real problem in a shotmaker, so I suggest being very careful when making shot alloy ingots for your shotmaker.

Best wishes!

Mtgrs737

[SSGOldfart]

Springfield,

Thanks for your input. I have a fairly steady supply of WWs too, I was thinking that if the range lead doesn't work out, I may mix it 50/50 with WWs. This is the alloy I use for handgun boolits. When dropped into water, it is HARD. Not sure if it'll harden if dropped into brake fluid or anti-freeze, which I have read are the best for shotmaking, I guess I'll find out.

Have to do something, not gonna pay $40 for shot when I have free lead.

SSB

you might want to rethink the coolent, and use fabric softer (cheap at wally world by the gallon)

[mtgrs737]

I had no luck with fabric softener as it built lead "towers" to the edge of the drip ramp. I use Sun brand liquid laundry soap from the dollar general store with good results and it washes off easily. I also use a deep coolant drop tank (about 23" deep) so that the shot has time to firm up before the next shot falls on top of it. I only make shot on days that the temp is over 65 degrees and shut down the process when the coolant reaches 120 degrees. Assure that your alloy is very clean and zinc free for best results. Some zinc WW's are very hard to tell from lead WW's so if you think one is a little light check to see if it is marked Zn.

Best Wishes!

Mtgrs

[Fritz D]

I just started making shot with a homemade unit. Some replies to this thread have talked about using sieves to sort shot into the various sizes . . . I've got a fine wire mesh strainer that I use to drain off the coolant, but I can't find any strainers/sieves that will allow me to sort the shot into various sizes. I would appreciate if anyone could post pictures of their sieves, homemade or commercial.

[Sitsinhedges]

I just started making shot with a homemade unit. Some replies to this thread have talked about using sieves to sort shot into the various sizes . . . I've got a fine wire mesh strainer that I use to drain off the coolant, but I can't find any strainers/sieves that will allow me to sort the shot into various sizes. I would appreciate if anyone could post pictures of their sieves, homemade or commercial.

If you use a consistent method of work apart from the odd blob the shot should be all the same size anyway.

[passyric]

I read somewhere in this Forum that by adding antimonium to lead, lowers the melting temperature of the alloy. If this is a fact, can I benefit from that and get a pot with not so hot droplets comming out and better colling capabilities when it goes down into the colling tank?
Also, how to mix the antimonium to lead as they have different melting points? Antimonium on Lead, or the other way arround?

[dondiego]

Wheel weights and linotype have antimony already alloyed in it.

[passyric]

Don Diego, thank you for your answer.
The idea here is to eliminate Tin and increase Antimonium and have a higher surface tension, and if the lower temperature thing is true, have a better colling properties.
I'm going only by teory, I cast regular bullets, shot making is my new retirement project, still in test fase with some teardrops, cookies shape and last time a round with skinny tail, some exploding from inside. That tells me this will be fun! My old lady will love, becouse I'll in the garage and not arround telling the same old stories.
WWs is the source arround here, linotype is a not an option. Antimonium is easy, but how to?

[Springfield]

http://www.ascscientific.com/sieves.html#dual

[bdbruce]

My understanding is that Regular commercial shot is 2-3% Antimony and Magmum shot is 5% Antimony. Around here in the San Francisco Bay Area 25 lbs. runs fron $39.95 to 49.95 for a 25 lb bag.
Anyone ever use "recycled shot" sold by Rotometals?

[dondiego]

I used to shoot a lot of trap and could sometimes get reclaimed shot mined from trap fields. It worked OK at the 16 yard line.

[mtgrs737]

I sieve my shot so that I get shot that is pretty much the same size so that my loads will be consistant in shot weight. I have bought some sieves from ebay but prefer to make my own from wire cloth purchased in 12" squares from Industrial supply houses like Graingers, McMaster Carr, etc. I use two by four lumber to make the frame out of wood, I use epoxy and staples to attach the wire screen cloth to the frame. I then cover up the wire ends with more wood so that I don't snag my skin on the frame. I have found that if given a choice I will choose wire cloth that is made of heavier wire but has a smaller number of openings as that will make the sieve more durable. Also graphited shot will sieve easier than non-graphited shot. Sieving is a lot of work but gives you more consistant shot drops, my drops are usually +/- 3 pieces of shot. Also, my shot is not perfectly round, typically it is .004" TIR out of round, I did make a batch that ran .002" out of round but cannot find out how that happened. I have not found that this little bit out of round effects patterns negatively or does not break targets just as good as perfectly round pellets. Shot size can also be effected by temperature of the lead in the ladle and the height of the lead over the dripper inlets. Faster dripping lead will tend to be larger then slow dripping lead. Coolant choice is also a factor, if the pellet cools too fast it will explode like popcorn. Tin in the alloy is not good as it reduces surface tension, arsenic in the alloy improves surface tension and that is why commercial shot has it at about .1%, Clip on WW's come in around .01% still better than nothing. I use a vibratory tumbler to graphite my shot, I put in about 5 lbs. at a time and set the timer for 20 - 30 minutes. I put in about a large pea sized amount of graphite per batch as more is not better in this process. The shot comes out polished shiny black in color and I have never had a build up of graphite in my loader and never a bridge in the drop tube either. I store my shot in 2 liter pop bottles as they are free, and easy to pour from. I attach lables to the bottles to I.D. shot.

Good luck to all here that journey down this road, it can be a huge cost saver depending on your source of lead.

Mtgrs737

[Vinne]

The Land of OZ knows their stuff. I have been making shot for over 20 years and one thing I can say is that COWWs work the best and shot is good if the coolant is not too cool or too hot. My coolant tank holds 2 gals of coolant and I can make about 25 to 30 lbs in the am but only 10 to 15 lbs with the afternoon heat in the shed even with the fans on. The shot don't like the winter months at all. The best times for me down in the south is April to July and November to January. I make enough during those times to get by and the other times of the year are too hot or too cold and a waste of time.

[ichthyo]

Has anybody ever tried a muzzleloader nipple for shot dropping? Seems it could be easier than drilling bolts.