Shotmaker?

[baogongmeo]

I've came into a source for fired shot. Quite a bit. There is a coarse sand or fine gravel the size of the shot that I cannot screen or blow out so I'm thinking about smelting and then running through a shot maker. We are cleaning out the dirt and rocks larger than the shot with screens and a blower and it works well.
I'm wondering if the hive has any experience in this endeavor?
The two of us will have 1000lbs by New Years and hope have 3000lbs by the end of Feb. and the spring would be a good time to drop shot I feel.

[copdills]

good idea , alot of people sell reclaimed shot , or just load it and shoot it after its cleaned

[jdfoxinc]

Try blowing air up through your screen varying the velocity. The lighter particles should fly out before the shot.

Lots of shotgunners have tried smelting used shot and just found it too oxidized.

[Budzilla 19]

Like has already been menioned, remelting used shot is tedious to say the least! More like frustrating to the point of losing one’s religions! Clean it as best as possible, load it, and fire it! Your shot charge should stay in the wad’s shot cup so any worries of barrel damage should not exist. Just my opinions only. Good luck in whatever way you decide to follow!

[too many things]

take a good shop vac you will need about 10 or12ft of hose. make a large loop. so the ends are up about 4ft. dump the shot mix in slow. you will hear the motor labor. stop and dump the shot, from the hose and repeat . Yes it takes some time but 95% of the dirt /sand will be in the vac

[baogongmeo]

We are already running it through a blower as I related in my first post. Our first run we ran 22 three gallon buckets of shot/dirt/sand/rocks and ended up 6 three gallon buckets 1/2 full (390lbs) so we are already getting rid of 95% of the contaminates... need to find out how to get rid of the last 5% and no running it through the blower again doesn't do it (already tried that).
I can remove the oxidation by tumbling just can't remove the grit that's the same size as the shot.
I'm guessing that these small flint rocks are harder than steel shot and steel shot wads are thicker to prevent any shot from poking through the wad and scoring the barrel. Scratching an 870 or 1100 barrel would be no big deal but a Perazzi or Silver Seitz , no way.

[RED333]

Get you a piece of glass and roll the mix, the shot will roll and the junk will stay.

[Cap'n Morgan]

Perhaps you could use some sort of "sluice box" like those used by gold miners.

[Littleton Shot Maker]

Only way we ever got it to "work" -

we crushed the pellets 1st that has Oxide- then melted it-
But the oxide is not something I'd want to inhale so be aware….

pellets that would not melt would get pushed up against the inside of the pot to "crushed it so more"

It is not something I would do again at all.

Before doing that I would try and trade against 'good clean lead' at my local refinery ….SEAFAB Casa Grande Az. I get nothing from them for sharing their info.

Good luck , hope it works our for you!

[baogongmeo]

Littleton, I hear what you are saying and I was really hoping that someone would have the solution for my " shot sized grit" "SSG" in the future. HAW!
Really don't want to have to remelt it if I don't have to but don't want to scar bores with SSG.
I'm thinking about " wind velocities, vortexes and material densities " to clean the last of the SSG... I've got 45 gallons and an idea for tomorrow... "Hold my iced tea and watch this".

[baogongmeo]

Perhaps you could use some sort of "sluice box" like those used by gold miners.

I've thought about that... even one of the "dry wash" gizmos.
If I can figure it out I'll have a lifetime supply of shot for trap and skeet by this time next year. Giggity

[Littleton Shot Maker]

OKAY

1. Plumber pot: 2-3 inches of cheap cat liter / oil spill stuff ( clay ??) -- in the pot on the bottom
2. put lead on top,
3. add heat- lead melts down through the "filter" cat liter ( other stuff stays on top- ) rocks- bullets jackets, dirt, etc….

it's the only way to get that fine stuff out and "easy" all the other ways take allot more time, energy , work

If you use a bottom pout pot great. Other wise, scarp off the stuff on top of the liter , make a hole and ladle out the good lead….Sorry not what you wanted to hear , best option I can come up with out , washes, ( water- eww) air turbine ($$$) machines to clean wash … ( $$$)

[OldBearHair]

A gold pan could be used to wash away the lighter sand and leave the lead in the bottom of the pan, but! all the poundage that you are talking about would take a long time with a pan. With that thought in mind think about something else like a cement mixer that could be tilted to almost dump stage and add water to wash out the "light weight" sand leaving the lead alone. My ideas might be likened to an "armchair quarterback" but I have had experience in gold panning with no luck in finding any. We learned how to pan by putting 12 number eight shot in the pan and when we finished the 12 shot are supposed to be at the bottom of the pan. Question: How high does a shot tower need to be to make chilled shot?? Someone mentioned making shot.

[Littleton Shot Maker]

There are a few towers out there, 100-120 foot drop was / is average …..Shot Makers at home drop 1/4 inch in mid air and at least 8 to 10 inches coolant tank with fluid...

[Cap'n Morgan]

High tower dropping won't work unless the lead is alloyed with arsenic to increase the surface tension - been there, tried that.

[Mr_Sheesh]

The gold dredgers have some spiral continuous processing devices, you might try one of these - to process 3000 lbs would take a while though. These sort by specific gravity using water (recirculated through the system) - Called a "gold wheel" often - As http://www.goldgold.com/liberating-g...old-wheel.html - They're not cheap of course, not too bad though.

[OldBearHair]

Oh I can see it now!! A Drone lifting a pot of melted lead 150 feet in the air and maneuvering over the water tank and the button is pushed on a smart phone and ...............

[MOA]

What some of the shot companies do is have the shot jump the gap. Shot roll down a flat surface on a inclined slide. The slide has a gap from the end of the slide to the start of the next slide. Anything not round enough is moving to slow to have the speed needed to reach the other side and continue down the next slide. The shot companies would then just remelt the slow out of round shot an remake it into shot again. Just another method for sorting.

[baogongmeo]

OK, yesterday we increased the speed and volume of the wind as well as a little re-direction of it also did not try to get every last piece of shot from our screenings.
Cleaned the fine screen every bucket as well as re-ran the shot 3 times instead of only once...thinking about trying 3 sizes of screen as well as a second, smaller, blower.
We were able to remove quite a bit of the SSG but not all... experimentation continues.
The next load is going to come from a different part of the field, much rockier (larger rocks) but also much more visible shot. We are going to screen the dirt as we shovel it into buckets to separate the large rocks... more work but I believe this area will give a better return per gallon.
On a side note, running the shot through the machine 4 times seems to have removed a noticeable amount of the oxidation.

[shootinfox2]

Google search for a cyclone type dust seperator. Used by saw ills and cabinet makers. Uses centrifugal action snd seight to separate different weight material quickly.