melting recovered lead shot?

[eagle27]

I've melted down good shot of a size a didn't want anymore but it needs some tin adding as shot doesn't usually have tin in the mix. This helps the alloy fill out in the mold.

[CeeHoo]

I recently made ingots from about 250 lbs. of shot; some was old but unused and some was reclaimed. Won't do that again as it's a lot of trouble with the residue and mess.

It seems my observations are on a par with yours. Even with fairly clean shot the amount of dross you get onto the top of your melt is amazing. I guess this is due to large oxidized surface area compared to volume. The slag is pretty heavy and dense stuff. When stirring the pot little droplets of lead don't tend pass though the slag back to the melt too easily.

Ingots have fairly foggy appearance compared to those made of air gun pellets.

[Martin Luber]

The arsenic in the shot is there to aid clumping or formation of droplets, the opposite of casting bullets where you want it to flow and fill out the mould. The dross loss is amazing due to the surface area of spherical objects. I didn't like it when I tried it. Perhaps enough tin would offset the arsenic. Small quantities added to other alloy should be ok, l forget what level that was but it's under 10%. So why bother?

[RED BEAR]

I bought 1000 lb or used shot a few years ago and melted it down. Its more work than regular scrap lead mine was extremely dirty washed it with dish soap and water. Put it in large pot and warmed on grill. I think the hardest thing was crushing the pellets. But once done it cast some pretty good bullets air dropped at about 12 or 13 bnh. I wish i could get more. I am down to less than 100 pounds.

[Duckiller]

If you are at all worried about captured water in the shot still the shot with a steel spoon. wait until the temp gets above 212 then stir away. water will have turned to steam. Tinsel Fairy only appears when cold water hits hot lead. I have never cooked just shot but have had shot in various melts. Works good!

[lotech]

I'd buy lead and overpay for it before I melted shot again.

[GregLaROCHE]

I’ve always heard that arsenic was used in casting shot. If I were melting it, I would make sure I was up wind from the fumes. Not sure if the amount present would be harmful, but it doesn’t hurt to play it safe.

[RED BEAR]

arsenic is in wheel weights to. You can buy it to add to your alloy. I have ventilation because i don't like the smoke when i flux. Lead and other metals have to be very hot in order to vaporize much hotter than you will get on a hot plate or lead pot. Am not sure if you could get that hot using a propane burner. Casting is not as dangerous as people think. I think the biggest danger is from burns melted lead ain't no joke. I have the scars to prove it. But as my wife tells me i have never been graceful.

[Petander]

Interesting.

I shoot lots of "Economy slugs" by converting factory trap ammo to slugs. All the shot that I have melted and cast into slugs/ RB:s has been fairly soft and normal to cast with.

[dondiego]

Interesting.

I shoot lots of "Economy slugs" by converting factory trap ammo to slugs. All the shot that I have melted and cast into slugs/ RB:s has been fairly soft and normal to cast with.

You are most likely melting clean shot. Shot recovered from a trap field is going to be dirty and oxidized.

[RED BEAR]

Dirty heck recovered shot is down right nasty.

[Petander]

You are most likely melting clean shot. Shot recovered from a trap field is going to be dirty and oxidized.

Oh yes I'm melting clean. Just wondering the softness/hardness difference.

[avogunner]

I'd buy lead and overpay for it before I melted shot again.

I'm with you....while makes an OK alloy, reclaimed shot (especially if it's OXIDIZED) is a rather a pain to smelt! Seems like it takes a lot of heat (more propane) and then as CeeHoo describes it just doesn't melt into a puddle -- one has to crush the pellets, mix it up, crush some more, let it cook, crush some more, and then it looks like about half of what you started with is dross or slag. I have one more 5 gallon bucket of the stuff (about 100-120lbs) and I'll be happy when that's behind me.
Good shootin'!

[RED BEAR]

I don't know the last i bought wss 30 cent a pound i would buy shot again as long as i got it real cheap if any where near the price of lead leave it.

[GregLaROCHE]

I’ve learned a lot during this post. I recuperate a lot of lead from an indoor range. At the beginning of this post I was thinking, why not see what I can get from the trap range. Now I think I just better let it pass.

[redneck1]

I don't use anything but re-claimed shot for casting .
I take about 100 lbs a year from the trap range at the club .
I smelt it dirt rocks and all , yes it makes a lot of dross . If I start with 100 lbs my yield is usually around 75-80 %

I don't try to smash pellets or anything , I dump it in a pot , heat it up and keep what melts then toss the rest .
Way ,way ,way less work then sorting wheel weights . , and speaking of wheel weights I never noticed a bare minimum of dross with them either .
With the clips and other junk I've always found the pile of junk and dross to be quite similar .
I also find the ingots made from shot to be cleaned in my casting pot then ww
Bullets cast at the same weight and size for both in my experience as well , with the shot seeming just a tiny bit harder .

[Gtek]

This sure seems to have helped my set up on cast iron LP plumbers pot. I torch cut a 1/4" plate to fit inside pot diameter, drilled two holes and made wire handle. Stack pot placing plate on top and light off. It really seems to get to melt quicker and I would think makes a great Fairy repellent plate.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

The only shot I ever tried to melt was from unfired shotgun shells. It wouldn't melt. It just floated on top of the lead that was already in the pot. I think it was do to the graphite coating on the shot. In any case I quit trying to melt the stuff. I have plenty of lead and lino type without it.

[CeeHoo]

Got the shot melted. Started with with 368 pounds of wet and dirty stuff, some of which had been at range since the 1970s. Due to dross problems I let the shot dry thoroughly and sieved the soil away as well as I could. This made melting somewhat faster but, as mentioned in post #22, dross formation was still significant. I had a piece of fine steel net as skimming spoon but fine oxide dust (?) was just as willing pass through the net as molten lead droplets, captured by the slag. Tried to flux with pine sawdust several times hoping to make the droplets more runny but that didn't make any noticeable difference.

Ended up having 258 pounds of ingots which indicates about 70% yield. If not suitable for boolits as is, hopefully they can be used as additive.

[fivegunner]

Life is to short, I will never melt shot again I`ll buy new lead first,