How to dry and size homemade shot?

[mtgrs737]

I have been learning to make birdshot but now need to find a way to dry it and sort it by size. Any shotmakers out there with a good method of doing this?

[shotman]

well sizing is not a problem drying ? dont know what you mean? old bath towel works for me
what size do you want I have pans that will get 7 and smaller from the out of round and goobers

[scrapcan]

find some method of blowing hot air into the washed shot. an easy way is to buy an old vacuum put the hose in a bucket or piece of 6 or 8 inch ewer pipe with a cap on bottom. Then put the wet shot in bucket or pipe. attach the hose to outlet of vacuum motor. You get warm force air that will then dry the shot.

Or you can spread it out on tarp and let nature do you bidding.

to me this is the biggest PIA part of making shot. the washing and drying makes the process much longer.

[mtgrs737]

I have drippers for 7 1/2, 8. and 9 size shot. So far I have dried only a couple pounds on a sheet cake pan, but that is a slow process and would require many pans to do much volume. Sizing is another problem, I can't seem to locate sieves of the right size to get this job done. To get these sizes sorted I would need 4 or 5 sieves: .098", .0937", .086", .082", .078" These sizes would produce shot sizes that would give tolerances tighter than factory shot I am told. Any ideas where I could get sieves or another method to size shot to these sizes or close to these sizes.

[heathydee]

In summer I leave the shot in the sun on an old blanket for a couple of hours . Every half hour or so I stir the shot to get the wet stuff on top . In colder weather I place my wet shot in bags made from old trouser legs and sit them in the car for a week or so . We have mild winters here and often the temperature in the car reaches 90ºF .
I only screen out the mis-shaped shot . If I pay proper attention to the shotmaking process , mainly keeping the lead level consistent , the resulting shot is good enough for skeet shooting . In fact I have used nothing else for the last 20 years .

[35isit]

I pour it out on cookie sheets fairly deep. Each sheet holds about 15-25 lbs. Then I hang a clip type lamp with a 60-100 watt bulb over it. The ones with the metal shield around them. Shot is completely dry in 24 hours or less.

[mtgrs737]

I have found that the cake sheet pan (about 1/2" deep) works about the easiest so far of the methods I have tried. I try to keep the shot no more than 1/4" deep and position a hi-velocity fan to blow over the pans. I start out washed and well drained and it only takes a couple of hours to finish drying.

Thanks to all here that replied, I appreciate you guys!

[skytex]

Like I mentioned on sgw, rather than a high velocity fan, grab a cheap heater fan. Position your pan where it blows below and above. It dries much quicker.

[myfriendis410]

I bought two yards of cheap navy flannel at Wally World and spread the shot out in the garage with a fan over it. I do 50-75 lbs. at a time and it's usually dry in four hours.

Why bother sorting? I use the 7 1/2 dripper and pick out the obvious old maids and just use it. It's a mix of 7's, 8's, 9's and maybe a few even smaller. I've shot 100 straight in registered skeet with the 20 gauge using this stuff. Rather than use graphite or moly I spray the shot with silicone dry lube. It works quite well.