Shotgun shot added to lead?

[larryw]

Howdy, I have yet to melt my first lead, just getting things together &
reading a lot here. I have been told that adding "shotgun lead"
to my melt will do something??? Can't remember what I was told??
I have a large 2 liter soda bottle full of the stuff. My questions are.
What does it do to my pot full of lead?
How do I know if / when I need it?
How much do I use?
Sorry if this is in the wrong place, & I didn't see anything about
"shotgun lead" so I just had to ask.
Been handloading for almost 40 years, just starting to cast.
Man it IS strange being a Newb again..

[badbob454]

magnum shot as i recall has some antimony in it which will change the crystallization when cooling, making the lead ""harder"
i would add to harden soft lead 50/50 to magnum shotgun lead to make a medium hard lead for 9mm to 38 special , not quite up to par for magnum pressures .. hope this helps
p/s dont add to your casting pot , mix seperatly as graphite will dirty up your casting pot as it coats the shot, melt and mix separately scrape off top crud and add some candle wax or sawdust to clean up the alloy pour in ingots or ladle clean lead into the casting pot.

[AKbushman49]

larryw- Adding shotgun shot will give you antimony, the amt depends on the type of shot, chilled has ~ 2%, magnum has ~4-6% depending on shot size. It also contains arsenic, which will speed up the hardening process if you are Heat Treating the bullets. The LASC site has info on that. Download Bumpo's Bullet Alloy calculator, which is available in the stickies on this site, will help you develop your alloy. You will need a speadsheet program on your computer to work it. (Exel or Works). And as badbob454 says, melt the shot in a separate pot.
bushman

[RogerDat]

Open Office is free open source office suite that can open and run the spread sheet lead alloy calculator.

[joesig]

Adding Magnum shot will give you arsenic in your alloy. Arsenic will allow you to harden boolits by water quenching them. Either straight from the mold or from being heat treated in an oven. It takes antimony and a trace of arsenic to harden.

[larryw]

Wow, now that's what I call some information, Thanks everyone, much appreciated.
Man oh man, open office, spread sheets, alloy calculators?? I have way more to learn
than I thought?? Actually, I should have learned that computer stuff long ago???
But, never to late to learn LOL.. Thanks again folks...

[thumper,eh?]

What are you starting with when you say you want to add to your "lead" ? Pure lead ? Wheel weights, linotype ? You don't need a lot of hardness ( antimony ) for target speed type loads ( handgun ), or buckshot. Magnum shot contains arsenic ( a fraction of a percent ). Adding something like 4 oz of magnum shot to 20 # of lead ( I think I'm close, don't quote me, been a while since I did it last ) is enough to make your bullets ( or buckshot ) heat treatable. That's where you can "case harden" your bullets to get them to hold together at higher velocity but not get brittle. I'm not sure if the cheaper grades of shot contain arsenic, I'm inclined to say no.
larryw, you just opened pandora's box. Ain't no turning back now. Get comfortable, put your reading specs on, and make this web site one of your favorites.
Its a lot of fun, its challenging, its going to keep you interested for decades, don't ask me how I know these things.

thumper

[leadman]

Arsenic in the lead is what helps lead form little round balls, so all commercial shot has some.

[flounderman]

If you are using wheel weights you already have antimony. You don't need to add shot. You do need some tin. Bar solder usually has some. With the price of shot, you could have 20 or more pounds of shot. You can sell or trade the shot and get more than it is worth melting it. A little tin in the alloy will make a big difference in the way the mold fills and in the quality of the production.

[PalmettoProjectiles]

shotgun lead generally hardens the batch up a little bit from the extra antimony in it. this is alloyed into the shotgun lead so the pellets will stay round and hold a better pattern when fired.