Homemade lead dropper?

[NSP64]

Has anyone tried to drop their own lead shot for shotgun reloading? I mean without a 100' shot tower. Any luck? Tried it a couple of times, got some shot with tails. Disappointed, then thought " would tails stabilize shot if used like that?"

[Ross]

The Littleton Shotmaker may be what you are looking for.

Email us: bbullets@nwi.net
Phone #: (520)370-4999
Shotmaker Model 65 $375.00 US*
Model 65 is our 110 Volt AC machine that plugs into any standard (U.S.) wall receptacle, it has a maximum production of 45 lbs. (21Kg) per hour and comes with a set of drippers in your choice of shot size #6, #7, #7½, #8, #8½ or #9. The Model 65 is also available in 220 Volt AC for those who prefer this feature.

You can google up the site.

[NSP64]

been there, seen that. I was searching the net looking when I ran across it. But nobody else has tried something different? can't hardly get lead shot and was wondering of doing own like I do the boolits.

[mazo kid]

The "old timers" poured lead through a plate with several drilled holes, dropping the lead into water. Yeah, it made tear-drop shaped pellets. They called it Swan Shot. Emery

[DLCTEX]

Shot with tails makes a spreader load, but in my experience it opens patterns quickly. Dale

[NSP64]

DALE, WERE YOU SAYING THAT IT OPENS TOO QUICKLY? might not be bad for skeet or rabbit.

[duke76]

I make my own shot. My machine is a James Stewart not a Littleton. here are some pictures and a short video of my setup making shot. here is the link.

http://loesshillsarmory.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=210

[Slowpoke]

Has anyone tried to drop their own lead shot for shotgun reloading? I mean without a 100' shot tower. Any luck? Tried it a couple of times, got some shot with tails. Disappointed, then thought " would tails stabilize shot if used like that?"

Here is a bunch of post's about the trials and tribulations of making your own shot.

good luck

http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=15776&sid=7751e69961dd15ce8809c85a649568a9

[redneckdan]

getta hold of ovendoctor, he can tell ya about his adventures with shot makin. I found that the tails really didn't seem to affect things much. Then again, were I hunt, one of my friends swatted a grouse with his buttstock, kinda like a knife fight in a telephone booth.[smilie=1:

[DLCTEX]

Newsmokepole64: I did not say it opens too quickly, as that can be a desirable trait in some circumstances, but does limit the effective range. Dale :Fire:

[buck1]

My granddad tryed to make some back in the 50s. He poured lead wile standing on the roof and dropping it in to water. He got every shape known to man, EXCEPT ROUND..............Buck

[Bullshop]

One of the things that makes dropped shot round is arsenic. The arsenic increases the surface tension pulling in all directions at the same time. If you have ever tried to skim a pot of metal that has a high surface tension you will see it work. You just can not get the surface to stay in one place.
The tall tower allowed the droplet to form a sphere due to surface tension but to be cool enough to be hard before it hit the watter.
Thats why theres arsenic in shot, and thats why we add shot to the melt to aid in heat treating. Arsenic, what would we do without it?
bic/bs

[NSP64]

I think I got r figured out. thanks to all of your replies. I am able to get good round shot. took some trial and error.I tried dropping from different heights into water, glycol.....didn't work. From 3 ft up to 25 ft(almost round). finally after some more research, came up with a laddle with a tiny hole in the bottom, with a spash plate attached under it, dropping 1/2" into a hot water/soap bath. works. gives me about size 7 1/2.

[G. Blessing]

Would it be possible to get a pic of that? so I know exactly what I'm trying to copy... ;)

G.

[Four Fingers of Death]

How much of a drop do you need? I have about 15' out my back window ;)

[NSP64]

I would post some pics, if I could figure out how?:-D

[NSP64]

http://s157.photobucket.com/albums/t74/newsmokepole64/

[NSP64]

finally!!!!! pictures show ladle with ramp attatched by a rivet, using an aluminum ( disposable) cake pan filled almost to the top with hot water and a dash of soap. I sit the edge of the ramp on the side and it gives me about a 1/2" of drop into the water. I use my bottom drop furnace to fill the ladle (600-650 degrees) and a propane torch to preheat the ramp and keep the ladle hot.:drinks:

[scrapcan]

If you use a little chalk or soapstone routinely on the ramp it will help to get round shot. Also antifreeze has given us the best shot. It is a pain in the butt to clean dry and the graphite. But if you do it in large batches it makes it more bearable.

[garandsrus]

Smokepole,

That looks pretty simple, which is normally good!

A bunch of questions:
o What is the diameter of the hole?
o Is there only one?
o Any reason not to make more?
o How fast does the lead drip?
o Does the shot hit the ramp and then go into the water or does it fall directly into the water?
o Why hot water? I understand that it will get hot as the shot falls in, but did you start with hot water?

Thanks,
John

[NSP64]

I used a sharpened nail to make the hole, it's tiny. I know its smaller than a #50 drill bit. once I pounded the hole in it, it made a nipple on the bottom, so I flipped it over and used the ball peen side to make the nipple inverted. With the nipple hanging down it was dropping bigger shot, and by inverting it the shot became smaller. There is only one hole because this is the test unit. Now that I have it figured out I may make a different one with multiple holes. With one hole and full of lead it will drop 4 pounds of shot in 15 min. It drops from the hole to theramp thenslides off into the water. If the ramps not hot it can glump up there. I read about using soapstone, but didn't have any lying around so I used some drill bit lube. seemed like cold water would be the obvious choice, but it make more shot explode (looks like coral reef).

[G. Blessing]

:drinks: :-D

Now I get it! definetaly worth a try.

Gary.

[garandsrus]

newsmokepole64,

Thanks! I will give it a try also. 16lb of shot an hour from one little hole is pretty impressive...

John

[NSP64]

I had some time on thursday 4/19 and figure out a way to hang the ladle under my lee 10# bottom drop furnace. the ladle sits on the ledge of a 4 qt sauce pan and the weight of the lead keeps it pulled up tight under the pour spout. then I can fill the sauce pan up with undilluted antifreeze. switched over to this and have gotten more uniform pellets! I still use a propane torch to keep the lead running, but fill it from my furnace where I preheat it.:drinks: I catch the shot in the big spoon and transfer it to a cold water wash bucket.

[NSP64]

http://s157.photobucket.com/albums/t74/newsmokepole64/

[scrapcan]

newsmokepole64,

nice bit of ingenuity. I may have to try your idea out. I was wondering if a person could just air drop into a pipe with cool air flowing upthrough it. you could run a squirrel cage fan and put a baffle at the top to vent air away from shot dropper. Kind of a double slpe affair, one on the ladle and the other used inside the pipe to drive air out and to not cool the molten lead.

for a way to graphite the shot you can use John Deer corn planter graphite (or other planter use graphite also) pretty cheap from the equipment dealers.

anyway nice idea.

[Netherwolf]

Newsmokepole64,

I like your idea (it appeals to my Tightwade Gazette approach to things) but I'm curious to know if there was a particular reason why you chose to punch a hole in the ladle rather than drill the hole. Wouldn't the shot size be more precisely controlled if the hole was drilled with the proper size drill bit?

Netherwolf

[Boz330]

Water soluble machine tool coolant is what a friend of mine used. He had a number of store bought machines and made shot to sell and support his Trap Habit.

Bob

[NSP64]

I tried dropping in the garage off of a ladder against the rafters with a squirrel cage fan blowing air upward. Couldn't get round shot. I started this project because the price of shot has gone through the roof, and doesn't look like it is comming down soon.(kind of like gas) Loaded some 20ga. shells last week and shot some clay pidgeons out back. 16yo son liked them better than factory loads. I didn't drill the hole, I figured I would start small and could increase the hole size if needed. Noticed that the shot size varies based on temperature of lead. over 700*F and they come out size 12 ,so I sift the small ones out first then sift the bigger ones next.

[scrapcan]

When you dropped from the ladder did you have the angled piece on your dripper? Just curious and have not tried it but have been thinking about it for a couple years.

[NSP64]

no, the ramp was added after all the other drop tests were conducted.the ramp was added and the shot was comming out so round that I didn't try the dropping from heights again.:Fire:

[DLCTEX]

Newsmokepole64: Want to sell me a couple pounds of #12? Dale:mrgreen:

[Netherwolf]

...I didn't drill the hole, I figured I would start small and could increase the hole size if needed. Noticed that the shot size varies based on temperature of lead. over 700*F and they come out size 12 ,so I sift the small ones out first then sift the bigger ones next.

OK, let me rephrase. Why did you feel that punching the hole was preferable to drilling the hole? Couldn't you have started with a small drill & "increase the hole size if needed" just as easily as punching a hole & "increase the hole size if needed"? I guess another way of asking this is, is there something about a drillied hole that would have resulted in undesireable results?

Netherwolf

[NSP64]

I could have drilled a hole, but the #80 drill bit I had is bigger than the hole I made with the nail:mrgreen:

[Netherwolf]

I could have drilled a hole, but the #80 drill bit I had is bigger than the hole I made with the nail:mrgreen:

OK, now it makes sense. I have drill bits smaller than #80 but things get kinda tricky when you start going below #80, i.e., broken bits, but I know I'll try it anyway.

Thanks again for turning us on to a great idea.

Netherwolf

[lar45]

I would post some pics, if I could figure out how?:-D

Putting up pictures is fairly easy. You need a start and end tag with square brackets. The end tag has a backslash in it. I'll type it with spaces for you to look at. When you take the spaces out, the picture shows up.
[ img ] http://www.littletonshotmaker.com/shotmaker/shot65_3.jpg [ /img ]
Now with the spaces taken out.
http://www.littletonshotmaker.com/shotmaker/shot65_3.jpg
If you see a picture that you like, you can right click on it, then select properties(probably at the bottom). That will show you the URL address of the pic, just click and drag over it to highlight it, then you can copy with either, Edit Copy, or press and hold the Ctrl key, then the C (to copy), Ctrl V will paste what you've copied last.

Also if you reply with quote on a post that has a picture in it, you will see what the image tag looks like.

[ovendoctor]

I like your idea's,going to try to adapt the project that Ive been working on for a year
the best results I had was break fluid[untill it gets to the flash point[smilie=1: ]
hot water sounds like the next test

[mazo kid]

John asked some questions I had; also, is that hole the smallest that will pass the lead? I was thinking if you welded a nut on the bottom of the ladle, drilled a hole the size of the nut opening through the ladle, then you could make various size holes in short pieces of bolt threaded into the nut to vary shot size. Has anyone tried this or is it a bad idea? If the ladle was heavy enough you could just drill and tap a hole. Emery

[Blammer]

If any body is making shot around the number 8 size and selling or trading I'd be up for a pound or two so I can load some dove hunting shells.

I could send you twice as much lead as you send shot.

I don't shoot a bunch but I ain't paying $40 for a bag of shot.

[Johnch]

I think I will see if Littleton will sell me just a set of 6 Drippers
I think I can make the rest
Mine may not look as nice
But I am cheap , the only think I need to look good are the pellets

But with my current work load , early winter will be about when I will get a chance to work on it

John

[Blammer]

they will, $42 for a set of 6 drippers, your choice of size.

[Blammer]

at the going rate of shot, I was thinking about buying one and selling off enough shot to pay for it.... wouldn't be hard at $35 a bag.

[AZ Pete]

Go to Connies, magnum shot is $24.99 per bag, buy two bags and the shipping if free.


http://conniescomponents.com/index.html

[Johnch]

Go to Connies, magnum shot is $24.99 per bag, buy two bags and the shipping if free.


http://conniescomponents.com/index.html

If you got and pick it up .
But if they ship it

Try America's best shot NORTHWEST MAGNUM! MINIMUM 2 BAG PURCHASE!!!!! 2-9 Bags $35.99 EA 10+ Bags $33.99 SHIPPING INCLUDED!!!!!!!!!

If it was 24.99 each shipped I would have ordered a ton
I know enough trap shooters
That a ton will be gone in a few days

John

[AZ Pete]

looks like the price went up since my last purchase. They sent me 4 bags of 7 1/2 magnum for 24.95/bag delivered to AZ. Sorry for quoting old information.

[NSP64]

sorry If you click on the photobucket link it is now pics of another project(frankengun). will try to find the original pics and repost since renewed interest.

[NSP64]

If you run it hot 750-800 *F the shot ends up size 12. http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t74/newsmokepole64/Picture101.jpg

[Single Shot]

I exchanged a few e-mails with MICHAEL BURGESS

He is the seller of the LITTLETON SHOTMAKER

When I asked if I could get a copy of the instructions and a few nozzles, so I could build a shotmaker, He sent a detailed reply.

You can buy one nozzle if that is all you want. His reply included the critical angles used in the base and pot of the shotmaker and how many watts of heat you need.

A pdf of the instructions. NOTE the only coolant he now recommends is SIERRA Brand antifreeze available at MURRAY' Auto Stores:

[B]"The best choice of the easy to find coolants is the SIERRA Brand antifreeze. NO OTHER BRAND WILL WORK. Use it straight out of the container or add less than 10 % water. This is the recommended coolant!" He no longer recommends Brake Fluid.

If you are planning on making a shot maker, and going to use a nozzle from him, contact him. He is glad to help out.

[billz]

Hello there from oz,
Can you folk tell me if the littleton
and the stewart drippers are interchangable?
Do they both have 3/8 whit threads to go through
the ladle.?
thanking you...................

[LeadThrower]

I'm intrigued and will likely tinker with shot in the near future... but one question: what's the largest shot that's practical for the dropping method, and what diameter orifice is good for that size? Is #4 possible?

[shotman]

Yes there is a little more to making large shot with a shot maker. If you are going for large shot it is best to stay with 2 dripers. and install a reostate to control the heat. I have made BB size but it takes alot of time to get the alloy and the temp right . It is sort of trial and error. When you get things right you need to keep a log. Even then its hard to go do it the second time.
Making smaller shot ,you want temp as high as you can get it. Larger size works better if temp is lower.AS for temp? I dont know the answer. Its kind of watch and see thing. Small shot we use WW because it has arsnic in the lead to act as a surfactant. larger shot seems to work better with a 50/50 mix. I dont know all the answers just what has happend in the time I have messed with a shotmaker.

[RP]

well i see shot prices are going up and everone that uses it looking for a new source. My Two cents on it' I got a buddy that is a shotgun reloader and shoots alot of skeet he bought a better built unit witch is cast iron and runs on 220. He took it to my house and ask hey can you help me get this thing up and running. Long story short we went into shot making. We made and sold right at 3 tons they are very picky machines that a more fickle than any woman I know. Here are a few things to keep in mind Do you or can you get enough lead to feed it, do you have the space it will talke to do it on a large scale, you will need a tank to catch it in and a table to sort grade and a way to graphie it, I used a cement mixer various screens rolling table drying table scales. My coolant was used transmission fluid free and worked better than the soap brake farmers oil antifreeze only draw back was riniseing the shot I used gas then used the gas in my smelting outfit so no real lose just a fume danger. BUT I FOUND OUT REAL FAST if your lead is not free you wont make any money the time it takes to make shot from start to finish. Unless your from a third world county that 5 cent a hour is good money. But i was making it on a large scale paid for machine and it got me about 5 new guns then my lead dried up. I got some one looking at buying the setup I hope he buys it so i can get it out of my shop.

[scrapcan]

Ricky P,

Can you post some pictures of the setup?

[peter nap]

well i see shot prices are going up and everone that uses it looking for a new source. My Two cents on it' I got a buddy that is a shotgun reloader and shoots alot of skeet he bought a better built unit witch is cast iron and runs on 220. He took it to my house and ask hey can you help me get this thing up and running. Long story short we went into shot making. We made and sold right at 3 tons they are very picky machines that a more fickle than any woman I know. Here are a few things to keep in mind Do you or can you get enough lead to feed it, do you have the space it will talke to do it on a large scale, you will need a tank to catch it in and a table to sort grade and a way to graphie it, I used a cement mixer various screens rolling table drying table scales. My coolant was used transmission fluid free and worked better than the soap brake farmers oil antifreeze only draw back was riniseing the shot I used gas then used the gas in my smelting outfit so no real lose just a fume danger. BUT I FOUND OUT REAL FAST if your lead is not free you wont make any money the time it takes to make shot from start to finish. Unless your from a third world county that 5 cent a hour is good money. But i was making it on a large scale paid for machine and it got me about 5 new guns then my lead dried up. I got some one looking at buying the setup I hope he buys it so i can get it out of my shop.

I make swan shot with a dripper and am going to try Zinc. Beats throwing it away.

Anyone try just setting a pan of water under the drip o matic. Might make good buckshot.

[Russel Nash]

Here is the first part video of my shotmaker in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zahDLTdfPME

Here is the second part:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I433Cs7U8oU&feature=related

[shotman]

What ricky said is 100% true. Shot is running around $25 to 30 a bag . That is around a $1 a pound. A shot makeing set up will run about $500 to set up. You cannot run anything but Wheel Weights . so if you dont have a free source, it does not pay to do it. It is a large scale project. You dont do it in the kitchen. If you want to save money on shot BUY IT

[Russel Nash]

The reason I made my shotmaker was so that I could get the trap and skeet shooters to bring me wheelweights and I would give 'em back 60/40 in shot. They would get 40% back. The other 60% I get to keep and I turn that into ingots that I turn into bullets.

I reckon'ed it beats me driving around all over and buying...or rather trying to buy the wheel weights from the tire shops.

I just lucked out in that a buddy of mine who I shoot steel and USPSA matches with is a Toyota dealer mechanic. So I meet him at the matches and he brings me jugs of wheel weights and I bring him a 1/2 gallon jug of birdshot. I can put 25 pounds of #7's / #7.5's into a plastic 1/2 gallon milk jug.

So I have plenty of ingots made up now, and my buddy has bunches of birdshoot for him and his girlfriend to shoot trap with it.

It's a time consuming process, to make birdshot. I have other bigger fish to fry right now. If I was really planning ahead, I would have made a bunch of shot ahead of time and taken it down to Sparta, IL for the big Grand Trapshooting match. I guess I could have sold the jugs out of the back of my truck.

I think if I were to start over again, I wouldn't buy all that steel to make a frame to hang the ladle from.

I would just buy a bunch of chain, some screw hooks or eyes and hang the ladle from the floor joists...or the roof rafters. I might use a turnbuckle or two to be able to level across the laddle and to get it parallel to the ammo can filled with water/coolant.

[grages]

What did you use for the dripper valves.

Shawn


Here is the first part video of my shotmaker in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zahDLTdfPME

Here is the second part:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I433Cs7U8oU&feature=related

[Russel Nash]

I went to the local welding store/supplier and bought wire welding tips. They are made by Tweeco and have an orifice size of 0.024" .

The drippers themselves are ordinary hardware store bolts. I first started out with 1/2" diameter bolts....meaning that the threaded part of the bolts, the shank, was a 1/2".

The problem with that was that the heads on those bolts was/were only 0.300" thick.

The Tweeco wire welding tips have an outside diameter of a quarter inch, exactly 0.250".

When I would take a center punch to one of the flats, I would just eyeball it...

0.300"

- 0.250"
______
= .050"
divide by 2 = 0.025 worth of wiggle room on each side of the hole.

So I redrilled the "dam" on my laddle to accept 5/8" bolts, which gave me a thicker head to drill through.

The next evolution of drippers will probably get drilled and tapped all the way through or across the flats for a 1/4X28 (fine thread) bolt/screw.

Then I am going to try screwing in the Tweeco wire welding tips. They already have a 1/4X28 thread on one end.

I was just cutting them in half or thirds and inserting them into the 1/4" hole. Then I would take the center punch and pin prick the steel around the copper tip to hold the tip in place.

Then I had a 1/4X20 allen headed bolt/screw up top that would act like a valve.

Opening it up, as you can see in the video, gives more "head pressure" to the top of the Tweeco wire welding tip, and so the lead drips even faster.

Screwing the bolt in, closes off most of the head pressure to the top of the wire welding tip, and in some cases keeps the lead from dripping at all.

What I had noticed was that once lead would stall out on the ramp, then that one spot would become a problem child and would eventually lead to the lead clumping on that same exact spot. So having the screws on the drippers lets me shut off that one problem dripper, and then the rest can keep on dripping.

Until it becomes a big enough aggravation that the majority of the drippers or the spots below the drippers are clumping up. Then I would just rather shut the whole danged thing down.

Then let it cool.

Clean the ramp off completely. Take the scotch brite pad on the right angle grinder to it. Then the buffing wheel.

Then I spray it down with graphite spray.

I wasn't having much luck with soapstone or chalk. When I went to graphite spray, I had much better results.

I still get some clump-age going on, that's why I added the mesh basket into the coolant tank. It lets the good stuff go through, and the bad stuff gets caught in the basket.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that the bolts or drippers have two holes drilled in them. One goes across the flats like I described above. The other goes right down through the shank of the bolt and just barely stops short of going all the way through the face of the bolt.

So basically, the two drilled holes intersect, and the molten lead is made to make this sharp right turn into the top of the Tweeco wire welding tip.

[NSP64]

I went to the 'Grand American' (and shot sporting clays). I attached a pail to the top of my tumbler/vibrating case cleaner and vibrate the shot in it. I throw in some Moly B powder to coat it.

[leadman]

You can contact shutzen here on the board for a very good price on graphite, or buy it from an art supply store.

I use All Free & Clear laundry detergent to drop my shot in. Makes the most round pellets of anything I tried, and washes off easily with water.

[grages]

Russel,

Thanks for the reply, I still trying to visualize it all.

Shawn


I went to the local welding store/supplier and bought wire welding tips. They are made by Tweeco and have an orifice size of 0.024" .

The drippers themselves are ordinary hardware store bolts. I first started out with 1/2" diameter bolts....meaning that the threaded part of the bolts, the shank, was a 1/2".

The problem with that was that the heads on those bolts was/were only 0.300" thick.

The Tweeco wire welding tips have an outside diameter of a quarter inch, exactly 0.250".

When I would take a center punch to one of the flats, I would just eyeball it...

0.300"

- 0.250"
______
= .050"
divide by 2 = 0.025 worth of wiggle room on each side of the hole.

So I redrilled the "dam" on my laddle to accept 5/8" bolts, which gave me a thicker head to drill through.

The next evolution of drippers will probably get drilled and tapped all the way through or across the flats for a 1/4X28 (fine thread) bolt/screw.

Then I am going to try screwing in the Tweeco wire welding tips. They already have a 1/4X28 thread on one end.

I was just cutting them in half or thirds and inserting them into the 1/4" hole. Then I would take the center punch and pin prick the steel around the copper tip to hold the tip in place.

Then I had a 1/4X20 allen headed bolt/screw up top that would act like a valve.

Opening it up, as you can see in the video, gives more "head pressure" to the top of the Tweeco wire welding tip, and so the lead drips even faster.

Screwing the bolt in, closes off most of the head pressure to the top of the wire welding tip, and in some cases keeps the lead from dripping at all.

What I had noticed was that once lead would stall out on the ramp, then that one spot would become a problem child and would eventually lead to the lead clumping on that same exact spot. So having the screws on the drippers lets me shut off that one problem dripper, and then the rest can keep on dripping.

Until it becomes a big enough aggravation that the majority of the drippers or the spots below the drippers are clumping up. Then I would just rather shut the whole danged thing down.

Then let it cool.

Clean the ramp off completely. Take the scotch brite pad on the right angle grinder to it. Then the buffing wheel.

Then I spray it down with graphite spray.

I wasn't having much luck with soapstone or chalk. When I went to graphite spray, I had much better results.

I still get some clump-age going on, that's why I added the mesh basket into the coolant tank. It lets the good stuff go through, and the bad stuff gets caught in the basket.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that the bolts or drippers have two holes drilled in them. One goes across the flats like I described above. The other goes right down through the shank of the bolt and just barely stops short of going all the way through the face of the bolt.

So basically, the two drilled holes intersect, and the molten lead is made to make this sharp right turn into the top of the Tweeco wire welding tip.

[Russel Nash]

Okay, I will try to explain it a little better.

Since the hole or orifice to drip shot out of needs to be in the 0.020" to 0.024" range, I found it easier to use Tweeco wire welding tips, than to buy really super skinny drill bits and try drilling through the flat of the hex head bolt.

Well, technically, I could drill from the top flat of the bolt with a 1/4" bit almost all the way through to the bottom flat, but stop short by about an 1/8", then start trying to drill from the bottom flat with a #80 or so drill bit.

Then the other hole gets drilled, axially, (like an axle) down through the threaded shaft/shank of the bolt, but that hole stops short, barely, of going out through the top or the face (of the head) of the bolt (ya, know where they stamp those letters and tick marks on them).

In the past when I have drilled this hole through the shank, I have gone with whatever bit was the biggest that would leave the threads intact. Having a metal lathe with a chuck would help, because then the bit or end mill chucked into the tail stock would be perfectly centered on the shank.

I was just eyeballing what I thought was center, taking a punch to it, and then drilling it on the drill press. So, yeah, I ruined a few bolts when the bit took out the root of the threads... you could see through part of the bolt.

I think next time though, I will just go with a 1/4" bit, so that jives up with the 1/4" hole drilled through the flats. When that smaller screw gets screwed down through the flat, maybe it would do a better job of sealing off the lead and keep that bad dripper from dripping when I need it to.

[lka]

Hi, I'm new here, I joined to Continue this, I am too getting ready to mess with making shot, I want to try rigging up something myself before buying a built rig.