Considering sacrificing old buckshot to my bullet alloy needs. Long. Sentimental

[Tallbald]

Back in the early 1970's, my Daddy and I would travel to our little family farm together each weekend to shoot, "rough it" in our little un-plumbed weekend cabin and just be together. Somewhen, Daddy bought a couple 25 pound bags of 00 buckshot for six dollars each. I loaded 12 gauge at the time and had fun rolling our own buckshot loads, and Daddy thought about using buck for fun .32 ACP loads (which didn't ever happen). I've been packing with me about 20 leftover pounds of the very same buckshot these long years, figuring that one day I'd start loading 12 gauge again. The old Texan FW loader we had is long gone. Even the Lee Loader I started with so many years ago disappeared to time. Back then I was sure proud of each shell I cranked out (grins here). And I sure miss daddy. He passed away when I was twenty, back in 1978. Bless Daddy he was only forty six. His open heart surgery didn't work so well. I think of him when I'm reloading and now casting. We'd have had so much fun doing this together had he survived.....
In the here and now I have happily begun creating my own slugs for .357 , just as Daddy and I had wanted to do. Kindness of folks here has provided me with a springboard to casting skills. This same kindness has also provided me with some alloying components via a generous gentleman who asks only that I pass on his thoughtfulness to another new caster when I am presented the opportunity. And I shall do so.
Today I ran across the partial bag of buckshot to which I've referred. I never expect to reload 12 gauge again. Things change and my body doesn't handle recoil in stride as it used to do. Reading here, I see that bird shot seems to offer some really advantageous character to cast projectiles. I suspect that buck shot would too Since I have not found a use for my vintage buck shot I am seriously contemplating doing what Daddy and I would have done in the same situation had we been presented with it years ago. ...melting it down to improve the characteristics of the slugs I now cast and use.
Thoughts as to percentages of buck to add to a mix of pure lead and WW would be appreciated. I haven't been able to find on the forum whether or not 1970's vintage buck was made with the same components as that available today. And I realize it could make a difference.
Melting Daddy's and my old buck shot and making something I can use will in a manner be completing a goal he and I had set but never realized.
Thanks. Don

[5Shot]

Buckshot is pretty soft...not the same as magnum birdshot.

[Tallbald]

I didn't know that. So is it essentially pure lead like I already have? Back then I don't remember cushioned buck shot loads and thought it might have to have been made harder to prevent deformation.

[NavyVet1959]

Do you have a 30ish caliber rifle? Resize them and use them for cat sneeze loads in a .308, .30-06, .30-30, etc. Makes for cheap plinking these days.

[bruce381]

put a jar of them on your bench to remember the story you just wrote, god bless dads

[Tallbald]

Like so many others feel toward their own fathers, my Daddy was special. I was arranging my ammo cabinet last night, taking a factory load head count. I keep Don Sr's. last Kentucky driver's license, issued May of 1977 taped up inside the steel cabinet door. I pause and say a prayer for Daddy each time I look at it. He'd have been proud I've added a new facet to my learned shooting hobby. He and I never got to cast together. Don(Jr).

[dtknowles]

I have my Father's Bronze Star on my night stand. When the time is right it will go to my nephew, his only grandson who just made Chief.

Tim

[5Shot]

I didn't know that. So is it essentially pure lead like I already have? Back then I don't remember cushioned buck shot loads and thought it might have to have been made harder to prevent deformation.

Not pure lead, but nowhere near as hard as Magnum Shot. I tried to heat treat some Remington OO and it doesn't work, so not the correct formula for that either.

Save some as mentioned above and sell the rest to fund something you can use.

[nagantguy]

Or just use it as a kick in the pa ts to load 12s again, there is a reason you've moved it all these years while other things have come and gone you still lug that 20 pounds with ya. Keep.a jar as others have said and load the rest up in the the best buckshot loads the world has ever known.

[Forgetful]

Keep them, share the reloading with your children. Harvest game with them to honor all of our lost fathers and celebrate.

[Jack Stanley]

I know what you mean ..... I think of Dad whenever I use his ancient Craftsman table saw or his jack plane .

Jack

[claude]

For what it's worth, TB, I don't know you, and I didn't know your dad, but I bet he laughs like hell every time you drag that bag of shot out and wonder what to do with it.

I bet he bought it to be used, and I also bet if you don't load shot shells anymore, he would be more than happy to see it used rather than be a ball and chain around your tall bald headed old ankle.

Claude.

[Tallbald]

Folks I have enjoyed reading the responses here. I think that I'll simply do as suggested. Put them up on a shelf to admire another 40 years, tell my children about them, and when I die I won't really care what happens to them. Thanks so much. It's good to see I'm not alone. Don

[Bigslug]

You've got what? Twenty POUNDS of the stuff? Put a couple ounces of it in a Native American-style "Medicine Pouch" or jar labeled "Daddy's Buckshot" or some other appropriate scribe and melt the rest for your .357 project.

Truth be known, I'd probably hang onto that bag as well, but another way to look at it, if you turn it into .357's, you can still go shooting with Dad. He'd probably approve of the re-tasking.

[Tallbald]

Bigslug you're sounding like a spiritual person. Much as I am. I am a leather crafter used to making my own holsters. You have given me a good idea for using some 2 ounce holster lining skin. Daddy loved his Smith 6 inch Highway patrolman. Don