Shot maker

[Ed_Shot]

The shot is on a Harbor Freight moving blanket, $7 as I remember. Not my idea, read it in a post here years ago, and it works perfectly. Dump the shot in a pile and spread it by hand. Too easy picking the shot up, just pick up the edge of the blanket to form a pile and scoop it up. Never lost any shot doing this.



There bricks around the edges of the blanket because the Texas breeze was @ 30 MPH that day as I recall.

[True.grit]

My shot maker's instructions said to sand the ramp to 600 grit and then use soap stone on the ramp. I did not have any 600 so I used 1500 grit and it worked very well. I made a stand out of light steel wire and used a 1 gallon paint thinner metal can with a hole cut along the top for the coolant and shot to drop into. Then it flows out of that into a tub that the gallon can sits in. For a pump I got a cheap pump from harbor freight. The one you hook to a drill. I made a coil of copper pipe and hooked it to the pump.I put the coil into a bucket of ice water .I ran the drill on a slow speed just to circulate the coolant. I would down load some pics but I can't get that to work. I've made about 120lb of shot. I will be shooting some next weekend. I will let you know if successful . good luck

[rancher1913]

mine showed up today and found the soapstone idea interesting as I have that on hand. they seam to really push the rv antifreeze, do you guys think the fabric softener works better or is that just what you started with.

[GhostHawk]

I suspect not dropped at all, poured into a pile carefully and raked into a thin layer.

I have to admit I am very much encouraged by the responces here.

The more I have done, and the more I have read the more I see that it is indeed art.
With the right tools, the right frame of mind, hold your mouth right and if the moon is in the right quarter you may indeed get shootable shot. Nothing saying it will work the same way next time.

[Ed_Shot]

mine showed up today and found the soapstone idea interesting as I have that on hand. they seam to really push the rv antifreeze, do you guys think the fabric softener works better or is that just what you started with.

From the comments here there is obviously more than one way to be successful. Whatever coolant you use it must be thick enough to provide adequate surface tension to keep the shot round. Sounds like undiluted antifreeze works, I had consistent results with undiluted W-Mart fabric softener (that is advertised as concentrated), I've seen videos of successful shot making with liquid laundry soap, and obviously there is a history of successful shot making with petroleum based coolants. I started with W-mart fabric softener because I saw it work in a U-tube video and I have never used anything else because it has time-and-again worked perfectly for me. If I'd started with something else and I got perfect shot I'd still be using that.

[True.grit]

Use the concentrate coolant not the mix. found that out 1st hand.

[floydboy]

This is a great thread.....I have a Stewart shotmaker I bought over a year ago from a member on this site. I have never used it. I've got a 55 gal drum of WW I'm saving to make shot with someday. Am going to retire in a year an a half. Was thinking on waiting til then to set this up and deal with the aggravation but you guys got me thinking it may not be as hard as I'd imagined. Keep up the good work.

Floyd

[Ed_Shot]

While I understand that Mr. Jim Stewart is no longer making "The Better Shotmaker" I'm going to post the manual he provided just because it's good information if your are interested and the same basic principles apply no matter what apparatus you are using.

BetterShotMaker.pdf

[Smoke4320]

Ed Shot Thanks very much for that .. all the info we can get is great

[rhouser]

Ed Shot: +1 on the thanks. Great info.

rch

[BNE]

Making my own shot is on my "someday" list. This thread is great.

Can anyone tell me the size of the hole in the dripper?

[rancher1913]

the hole is bloody small, had to look close wile I was cleaning it per instructions. the soapstone is not the best, had to keep applying it. small run and ended up with 25 pounds of usable shot, not bad for a first go. some was round but some were oblong--not teardrop but more like a football, would this be to thin a coolent, found rv antifreeze on sale and it was cheeper than the softner so went with that.

[True.grit]

I would say 2 things.

1st you could be running the lead at to high of temperature . I run temperature between 600 and 625 degrees .

2nd , I found the RV antifreeze is to light to work well. If it is a 50/50 mix it is to light for sure.

Try sanding the ramp to 1500 grit. I had a great result with soapstone.

The next run will work better for you.

I shot reclaimed shot and it is definitely not round and it still works.

I would shot what you made it might surprise you how well it works. I'm trying mine next weekend at a trap and skeet shoot. I'm sure it's not going to effect how I shoot.

[psychicrhino]

you guys are the devil....hmmm...to order a shot maker or to not order a shotmaker....

[rancher1913]

sanded the ramp again and applied a heavy coat of soapstone and fired up the shotmaker just to see if the changes helped and it ran so good I used a whole bucket of ingots, one little hicup about halfway through other than that it was flawless and now I have enough shot to last for several years. shotmaker paid for itself and then some already. changed the distance the shot drops before it hits the water and probably 75% is nice round shot and all of it is usable as far as I am concerned.

thanks goasthawk for finding this and letting us know about it. I am thrilled that I can make my own shot now.

[Ed_Shot]

sanded the ramp again and applied a heavy coat of soapstone and fired up the shotmaker just to see if the changes helped and it ran so good I used a whole bucket of ingots, one little hicup about halfway through other than that it was flawless and now I have enough shot to last for several years. shotmaker paid for itself and then some already. changed the distance the shot drops before it hits the water and probably 75% is nice round shot and all of it is usable as far as I am concerned.

thanks goasthawk for finding this and letting us know about it. I am thrilled that I can make my own shot now.

Congrats.....what is the distance between the bottom of your ramp and surface of the coolant that worked best for you?

[too many things]

the FIRST thing you all need to do is find COWW before they are gone. all of the shot I have ever made with a water base has a very small dimple and many other trash that has to be sorted the water base also heats up faster. and then the shot will turn dark.
I have tried about 20 types and by far the HDY oil is best. you can see the shot and tell if your heat is too high or low .
it stays uniform.
I don't run a cooler as I don't want to spend the time. I run about 50 to 60 lbs and then the oil is warm and I quit and then later clean and a week or so do again . haven't been shooting much so the 3 5gal buckets will last for years.
someone asked about drop from ramp to coolant . that is a try and fail. with HDY oil its 1/4in the longer the drop the more dimples and popcorn, HDY will catch fire if you get it too close. anything that touches will cool the ramp any water base will tend to splash and hit bottom of the ramp that will cool it . If you are going to use the water base junk watch the shot drop from the side . if it splashes on the bottom of ramp then the lead will stick

[GhostHawk]

Closer is better IMO on the ramp until you get so close you get splashing on the ramp. That is too close.

I have had pretty fair luck in the 1/4 to 1/2 inch area.

Rancher1913 thank you sir, you made my day.

It is a pleasure to find something that I was able to make work and pass it on to my brothers here.

[rancher1913]

the instructions said no more than a quarter inch so I had it set at about an 1/8 inch and that was causing splash on the ramp, set it for a tad over 1/4 inch on the second run and it was much better. my coolant tank holds 10 gallons and it circulates to the top tank so I can adjust the distance to the ramp by increasing or decreasing the pump speed. all together I got 80 bucks in the dripper pan and 25 in coolant, all the rest I had laying around.

[rhouser]

Mine just arrived and it is much smaller than I expected (I just didn't pay attention to the dimensions on ebay).

I have a bunch of questions, so please bear with me.

All: Where can I get soapstone? (I really don't even know what it is if it is not like talcum powder) I think that in woodshop in 1958 I finished a wood bowl that I turned on a lathe with oil and pumice. Is soapstone like pumice?

Rancher: What are you using as a heat source? Did you build a formal (permanent) type frame or just kind of set it up and go?

Too Many Things: What is HDY oil?

I may be overthinking this, but, I can make anything hard if I look at it enough. I would like to get close on my first try, so I will be annoying for a bit. Call it an Old Guy thing.

GhostHawk, thanks for finding this tool. It does appear to be well made.

thanks in advance for the help. rch