I am gearing up to start dropping my own shot. I've always wanted to get a lead shot maker, but never found a good reason. Well, now I've found you can make your own Bismuth shot. I've been doing research for a while now, and it seems there is a huge variation between people who have tried it. One guy makes good shot with a different height to the coolant, the next has problems with the temperature. Overall, it seems more difficult than dropping lead shot. I was talking to a gentleman today who says he has the smaller shot sizes to work relatively well, yet finds you need a different alloy for the bigger shot E.G. #3 and larger. He was using an alloy around 20%+ of tin, and also said I needed antimony to bind the tin and bismuth. I found this very interesting, as it is the first I've heard of it. Just about everyone I've talked to has said the lead shot dripper size will produce slightly smaller bismuth shot, and that temperatures vary the shot size greatly. I am just about to build myself a PID box, so I should have decent control over the temp. I've also heard the coolant temp is another variable, but applies just as much to lead shot making. For price reasons, I'd obviously like to keep tin content down if possible, and it seems a number of people are making shot with at 94/6 bismuth-tin alloy, the same as new commercial bismuth shot. I'm wondering what antimony will get me, it would be a pain to find in a form that doesn't involve lead. I'm willing to experiment, half price bismuth shot would be awesome. I'd never need to reload steel shot again! To offset the equipment cost, I'm hoping to make a bunch of extra and sell it. #5 bismuth at $13 a pound would sell out overnight. I'd appreciate some info on the alloys people are using, dripper sizes, and any other info that pertains to making bismuth shot. I will be making lead shot to start, and will learn the process on something I can find info on all over the internet.