What is this shot made out of??

[fecmech]

My neighbor gave me about 20 lbs of shot that's sized about .95"-.105" about #7 shot. He said they were melting lead to make sinkers and this stuff wouldn't melt at 1100 F( a molten salt bath they have at work). I put some in my RCBS pot with some lead I had in there at 750F and it just floated on top. I stirred & fluxed but it just floated unmelted. I put some in my Lyman ingot mold and melted it with my acetylene torch and it took a lot of heat and also had a black coating floating on it when molten. After it cooled the coating cracked when I bent the piece and I could scratch the metal with my fingernail. The shot easily flattens in pliers and the ingot I made rings when you drop it like WW's. The scratches are from my nails and you can see on the ingot where the coating flaked off. Those other objects in the bucket are just small stones. Any ideas out there??

[Deliverator]

Could be NiceShot, made from tungsten powder and tin compressed into shot pellets. Simlar weight to lead but not as dense.

[R.M.]

I've heard that the graphite coating will do that. No first hand experience though.

[kenyerian]

The melting point of SB is 630.63 °C (1167.13 °F). Magnum Lead shot is alloyed with 4 to 6 % SB to make it extra hard. It also raises the melting point over that of pure lead. Try melting the ingot to see what it's melting point is .
Sounds like you may have the alloy separated back into 94% lead and 6% antimony. The melting point of pure lead is 327.46 °C (621.43 °F)] I've got some Magnum shot so I could see how that reacts when added to my lead,

[KYCaster]

The Pb/Sb alloy will have a lower melting temp. than either of the pure metals and the alloyed metals will not separate. It takes something a bit more sophisticated than your casting pot to separate the metals.

The graphite coating is most likely the culprit here. You have to crack the coating to get the lead out. It can be quite a chore sometimes.

After you get the shot above the melting temp., squish it against the side of the pot with your ladle. The graphite will float to the top, that's the black film you got.

Add 2-3% Sn and you have a pretty good alloy.

Jerry

[fecmech]

The graphite coating is most likely the culprit here. You have to crack the coating to get the lead out. It can be quite a chore sometimes.

I think I may just clean the stones out, blow any other carp out with compressed air and just load it in my shotgun for sporting clays. I normally shoot 7 1/2's anyway. With shot at $43/bag now that would be my best return.

[dbosman]

Amen to what fecmech said. Clean it with air and load it and shoot it. Let the berm miners worry about melting it.

[southpaw]

As kenyerian (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/member.php?21853-kenyerian) said I would try melting the ingot and see if it melts at a normal lead temp. I would just put it in your casting pot the next time you fire it up.

However loading it in shotshells one ounce at a time should yield you over 300 shots. Thats the way I would go.

Jerry Jr.

[oso]

kenyerian, FYI adding antimony will not raise the melting point of lead. The lead antimony eutectic (11% Sb, 89% Pb) melts at about 477 deg. F. Of course, either side of the eutectic will be higher. Yeah, I've made some.

[fecmech]

However loading it in shotshells one ounce at a time should yield you over 300 shots. Thats the way I would go.
Yes, I'm loading 7/8 oz. in a 20 ga, even better. Shot some this am in sporting and it worked just fine. Pretty sure it's lead, my 7/8 oz bar was throwing around 380 grs. and I plan on tossing that ingot into my pot in the next casting session. Thanks for the reply's to all.