Dirty Shot

[miamibanker]

I haven't shot skeet in 30 years so I decided to melt down some of the shot that I had in the garage and use it for boolits. The shot I melted really crudded up my melter. There was a thick layer of none lead shot and dirt on top of the melted lead. I easily lost 20% of the volume of lead expected to dirt and some tan colored, none lead shot. Not sure what I've got because the writing on the bags has faded but the shot is about 30 years old.

I thought that I remembered that lead shot was made out of lead and antimony. What could be causing all the crud?:-( I've got another 25# bag to melt but I'm reluctant to do so because of how dirty the last one got my Lee bottom drop melter.

[DCM]

Bet someone would trade you some Pb for the shot! If I remember right they put graphite on the shot. Been 15+ yrs. since I shot a lot of patterns myself. I would sell or trade it instead.

[lwknight]

Shot has 10s of times more surface area to oxidize than larger ingots.
You can flux and reduce most of that crud back into solution if you really want to work with it.
If the skimmings do not have any substantial weight , they are probably not worth the trouble.

[Trapaddict]

Sounds like oxidation but 20% sounds like a whole lot of loss. I make my own shot and if it's not graphited (which I do) you can see the oxidation starting after a few months. Once it encapsulates though, it's sealed. Consider civil war Minie balls. In the dirt for 140+ years and still look almost shootable.

Jeff

[Mntngoat]

i have a few 5 gallons bullets of mixed shot most i can barely move. I considered smelting it maybe mix it with my known lead.

ML

[*Paladin*]

Bet someone would trade you some Pb for the shot! If I remember right they put graphite on the shot. Been 15+ yrs. since I shot a lot of patterns myself. I would sell or trade it instead.

X2! Do you know what size shot it is?

[WILCO]

I haven't shot skeet in 30 years so I decided to melt down some of the shot that I had in the garage and use it for boolits. The shot I melted really crudded up my melter. There was a thick layer of none lead shot and dirt on top of the melted lead. I easily lost 20% of the volume of lead expected to dirt and some tan colored, none lead shot. Not sure what I've got because the writing on the bags has faded but the shot is about 30 years old.

I thought that I remembered that lead shot was made out of lead and antimony. What could be causing all the crud?:-( I've got another 25# bag to melt but I'm reluctant to do so because of how dirty the last one got my Lee bottom drop melter.

Two things:

1) Don't smelt lead in your melter. Use a different set up for smelting. A hotplate and cheap chinese cast iron skillet for example.
2) Don't smelt anymore lead shot for boolits. It's too expensive to replace and you can always trade it off for other supplies.

Just my 2 cents. :coffeecom

[masscaster]

Hi miamibanker,
Welcome to the site!!
I never melt down any shot. There's a couple reasons why.
First is that shot is usually quenched using a variety of nasty things, such as brake fluid, anti-freeze, and some other nasty things. Although it's supposedly clean, it can cause alot of problems with an alloy.
Not to mention the toxic, and nasty white smoke you can get with shot.
Secondly, it's hard to say exactly what the alloy is. And trust me all shot is not just lead.
I've seen the aftermath of a barrel or two from folks using shot as an alloy.
It's best to use shot in it's intended form.
As mentioned above, I'd trade it or sell it to get lead that's worthy of use for boolit making.
Good Luck Casting!
Jeff

[leadman]

Shot makes great bullets! It is a pain to melt down if there is oxidation on it as it insulates the shot from the heat somewhat. The graphite has a hand in this also.
I start out with about an inch in the bottom of my cast iron dutch oven. Some of the stuff floating need to be smashed with a large spoon when it is hot so the lead will flow out.
Fux well and skim and add more shot a little at a time and repeat.
I used to make shot and drop it into laundry detergent, which was then washed off. This is the same that others I talked to did no matter what they used as a coolant. Would not want liquid inside your shotshell.

[x101airborne]

I would like to buy some cheap shot for my boy's 410's. Dont care what size. 12 - 000 buck

[bigjake]

I'm going to try the shot boolits too. I'm going to go to the local turkey shoot and pan a few buckets of dirt and see how much poor mans gold i can recover. :-D

[a.squibload]

i have a few 5 gallons bullets of mixed shot most i can barely move...

Dang, shot fills the spaces pretty well, I bet those buckets weigh 180 lbs!

[Papa Jack]

I ran into a deal about 20 years ago, a guy gave me almost a TON of reclaimed shot from a local trap club ! It's in Shot bags that are about rotten, so I have a few leakers, I have em stacked on old baking trays to keep the shot off the floor. I load some 20 Ga shells once in a great while.
Last month I was foolin around an old building that had fallin under a snow pack a few years ago. There was a work bench and on top of it was a pretty new ( at the time the building fell down) bag of shot, looked like mouse had eaten a hole in the bag, the shot was all over the top of the bench and it was WET, mixed with broken window glass, moss , fir needles and what ever. I scarfed it up and put as much as I could in a container. Last weekend I got around to melting it down on my Coleman stove. Your right folks, lots of "dust" on top the melt, no matter what I tried I couldn't get it to remix, so I spooned it off into a coffee can.....I ended up getting 16 one pound ingots out of the melt. Stamped em as "SHOT" and put em on the shelf.
Same trip I found a handfull of what looked like lead cable sheathing, split and twisted together, I melted it down and I got 6 lbs out of that, so it wasn't a bad day in my friends old building....
"PJ"

[JIMinPHX]

I've been smelting recovered shot for a few years now. I normally get less than 10% loss by weight after fluxing. If I wanted to resmelt the dross, I could get below 5% loss, but that takes enough time/effort/propane, that I'm not sure it's worth it.

Smelted shot makes some nice boolits. It tends to be just a little cleaner to cast with than WW. Air cooled it comes up around 12-13bnh. Water dropped it comes up around 23-24bnh.

If you can get the recovered stuff cheap enough, then it's worth smelting. New shot is a bit expensive to use as a raw material & availability is not always as consistent as it used to be.