Driped lead shot

[sargenv]

So besides wheel weights.. and reading about Sulfur, Copper, and Selenium useful as hardeners.. do any of the latter three work to keep lead shot round when being dropped or is Arsenic the only deal when making lead shot and wanting it to be round as opposed to tear drops..

[dsh1106]

So besides wheel weights.. and reading about Sulfur, Copper, and Selenium useful as hardeners.. do any of the latter three work to keep lead shot round when being dropped or is Arsenic the only deal when making lead shot and wanting it to be round as opposed to tear drops..

To my understand the arsenic acts as a surface tensioner. I did quite a bit of research and COWW is your best bet, trying to alloy arsenic with lead isn't an easy task for us little guys.


Do a small trial run, everything the same, but use some COWW. I bet you'll see a huge "roundness" difference.

Scott

[Rcmaveric]

Ready to go out and pattern.

Left to right:
Three shots with commercial 7.5, three shots from the first attempt (shot size looks around #5 size average), three shots drom the second run (thats closer to #7.5), then three shots of commercial Winchester Super X 2 3/4, 1.25oz, 7.5 shot.

These are 2.75 inch shells recipe is a published load:
Winchester 209 primers
1.25 oz of lead shot
WAA12SL wad
18 grains of Red Dot
Estimated 1200fps

I will patter these this weekend.

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[Rcmaveric]

My alloy is range scraps fluxed with sulfur to get that into the mix. The shot is round ish. I cant say for certain how much sulfur gets into the mix but i know it gets into it. Sulfur does raise the surface tension. I can tell the didference by how high i need to run my casting pot to get good bases on the bullets.

I was also reading that tumbling helps make it more round. Time to get some paint cans to roll around. Thats not a bad idea, a paint can and old vscume cleaner motor...... no... no more projects.... fine i will start a list.



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[finstr]

I reload a fair bit of the old style Hevishot for waterfowl and none of it is even close to being round. It's a bunch of globs with smaller globs stuck to bigger globs and looks like the **** someone swept off the shop floor. It patterns amazingly well with fairly open chokes.
Now I know it's a totally different deal but I think there's an awful lot of emphasis placed on "roundness"

[Rcmaveric]

My knowledge of patterns is rudimentary. Range was 20ish +/- yards. Hard to tell. I was farthest inwas allowed to be at my range. Density is towards the middle and mirrors the commercial stuff i normally use. So i am happy with my efforts and product. Time to load up a few hundred.

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[copdills]

looks great Man Thanks for all the tips

Good Shooting
copdills

[GhostHawk]

I don't see any holes a bird or clay pigeon can fly through.

Looks like a winner to me.

[mtgrs737]

I use a standard cartridge brass vibratory tumbler to polish and graphite my shot. I add a fired 22 lr. case of graphite to about 10-15 lbs. of shot and let it run for 45 minutes. My shot comes out shiney and black. If you have any graphite left in the bottom of the tumbler then you need less graphite. Too much graphite is worse than too little. If you plan to use the tumbler for anything else then you will need a spare bowl as the graphite will ruin the bowl for other uses.

I buy 12" square pieces of wire cloth from W.W. Graingers with the desired opening size to sift my shot. I mount the wire cloth in frames made of 2 x 4 lumber to make a sieve. I sieve over a large plastic storage tote and I use 2 liter pop bottles to store my shot.

[Rcmaveric]

I use a standard cartridge brass vibratory tumbler to polish and graphite my shot. I add a fired 22 lr. case of graphite to about 10-15 lbs. of shot and let it run for 45 minutes. My shot comes out shiney and black. If you have any graphite left in the bottom of the tumbler then you need less graphite. Too much graphite is worse than too little. If you plan to use the tumbler for anything else then you will need a spare bowl as the graphite will ruin the bowl for other uses.

I buy 12" square pieces of wire cloth from W.W. Graingers with the desired opening size to sift my shot. I mount the wire cloth in frames made of 2 x 4 lumber to make a sieve. I sieve over a large plastic storage tote and I use 2 liter pop bottles to store my shot.

Awesome thanks for the tips.

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[RED333]

Good patterns, thanks for sharing!

[MyFlatline]

I use a standard cartridge brass vibratory tumbler to polish and graphite my shot. I add a fired 22 lr. case of graphite to about 10-15 lbs. of shot and let it run for 45 minutes. My shot comes out shiney and black. If you have any graphite left in the bottom of the tumbler then you need less graphite. Too much graphite is worse than too little. If you plan to use the tumbler for anything else then you will need a spare bowl as the graphite will ruin the bowl for other uses.

I buy 12" square pieces of wire cloth from W.W. Graingers with the desired opening size to sift my shot. I mount the wire cloth in frames made of 2 x 4 lumber to make a sieve. I sieve over a large plastic storage tote and I use 2 liter pop bottles to store my shot.

I am having trouble finding that at Grainger, must be in the wrong place. Help if you can.

Any other sources out there? 50 bucks a screen takes away all of the saving IMO..

[copdills]

looks good , keep it up and thanks for all the information

[MT Chambers]

I use a concrete mixer to wash, dry, tumble with graphite, another secret to getting round shot is to use the proper coolant that is the right thickness, too thick will give you shot with tails, too thin solution will give you shot with dents in it.

[Rcmaveric]

too much water gives you pop corn... learned that on sunday. My coolant evaporated alot. I thought i would just add water and bring the level back to where it was. Well what ever evaporated off wasn't water. lol just a quick 10 dollar trip to the dollar store to replace it all.

[copdills]

what kind of coolant are you using Rcmaveric and how deep is your tank

[Alan in Vermont]

I am having trouble finding that at Grainger, must be in the wrong place. Help if you can.

Any other sources out there? 50 bucks a screen takes away all of the saving IMO..

I just screened a mess of mixed shot. Bought the screen from https://www.mcmaster.com/#steel-mesh/=1da1v5k I bought two different sizes, one of them, #9219T172 , passed everything 7½ & smaller. If you juggle the mesh size & wire diameter you can find something for opening size that should work for whatever size shot you're working with. Price of a 12" X 12" sheet of the size I used was $3.75 plus shipping.

[MyFlatline]

I just screened a mess of mixed shot. Bought the screen from https://www.mcmaster.com/#steel-mesh/=1da1v5k I bought two different sizes, one of them, #9219T172 , passed everything 7½ & smaller. If you juggle the mesh size & wire diameter you can find something for opening size that should work for whatever size shot you're working with. Price of a 12" X 12" sheet of the size I used was $3.75 plus shipping.

Thanks, I will order some..

Jim.

[GhostHawk]

Alan in V thank you for the link sir.

Just ordered 2 sheets, the smaller for 7.5 and under and the next size bigger.
Should get me 2 groups, small shot 7.5 and smaller and the larger should be 5's and 6's roughly.

Been thinking I need to get some graphite and treat mine and screen it.

Nice reasonable priced screen, thanks for posting.

[MyFlatline]

McMaster's is gonna wonder why the sudden ordering on screens