smelting reclaimed lead shot

[sandman228]

I made a trade deal with a guy over the weekend he traded me a bunch of wheel weights ,some range scrap ,and to get to the weight we agreed on he threw in 20 lb of reclaimed shot he uses in his own shotguns . ive got plenty of shot on hand already so I didn't feel the need to save it I smelted it down when I was smelting wheel weights but I did keep the smelted shot ingots separated from the rest and marked them with yellow paint so in the future I know what they are . so what kind of alloy is shot usually made from and what kind of hardness can I expect from it . I plan on doing a bhn test on a couple ingots but I wanted to let them set up a few days 1st

[jmort]

Shot is typically "Chilled" around 2% antimony or "Magnum" around 4% antimony +/-
Make for a great alloy and typically has some arsenic which helps. Most of what you have is probably "chilled" and is like COWW. Add some tin and you good.

[rancher1913]

no matter how much shot I have, I would keep it as shot. a lot harder to make shot than it is to make anything else, but thats just me and shot is hard to come by around here.

[RogerDat]

^ +1 Me too. I don't even load shotgun, and I won't melt shot unless I was getting pretty hard up for lead. I do have a 20 gauge Lee Loader I'll try one of these days, I guess I'll use it then.

[Scooby]

I make shot, lots of it. The man who makes the machine I have says that when you melt used shot you lose a lot of the arsenic from it. I have never melted used shot when guys trade it for my home made shot I Re graphite it and shoot it, so I have no idea if he is right or not. However I do believe the info above is correct 2% chilled and +/- 4% magnum. I use clip on ww hand sorted by me for my shot and it comes in between 2 and 4 % I would guess it varies from how old the ww are that I used. I do know shot contains very little if any tin.

[MarkP]

I use re-claimed for my base lead. Local guy mines it all over the country and I can usually get it for around $0.80 / lb. The first 100 lbs I tried had about 10% steel by volume. Could not believe the shot had not melted then realized steel had floated to the top. It is kind of dirty even after he washes and vibro shines and re-graphites it. I like it pretty handy, easy to store and use. I gave up messing with wheel wts a few years back due to the smoke, sorting out Zn, and required time.

[Hogtamer]

I smelted some recclaimed shot and was surprised how much dirt and steel shot was in the mix. Not an economical source for lead if you're buying it.

[sandman228]

I smelted some recclaimed shot and was surprised how much dirt and steel shot was in the mix. Not an economical source for lead if you're buying it.
yes I also noticed this . 1st and last time for me .from now on when making trades for lead I wont accept shot anymore unless I plan on using it for its intended purpose

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I make shot, lots of it. The man who makes the machine I have says that when you melt used shot you lose a lot of the arsenic from it. I have never melted used shot when guys trade it for my home made shot I Re graphite it and shoot it, so I have no idea if he is right or not. However I do believe the info above is correct 2% chilled and +/- 4% magnum. I use clip on ww hand sorted by me for my shot and it comes in between 2 and 4 % I would guess it varies from how old the ww are that I used. I do know shot contains very little if any tin.

Yes, and the Law of Conservation of Matter says, more or less, that everything has to be somewhere. I don't believe an arsenic content makes shot any more poisonous than lead, but if it isn't in the alloy, it has to be somewhere else.

I believe the main function of arsenic is to increase surface tension, and make dropped shot go globular more easily. Used pure, it might be more difficult to get it to fill the mould really accurately. There is very little need for tin in shot. It costs more than antimony, and there is very little tendency for shot to break up on game, as a bullet with antimony to the exclusion of tin may do. For this reason it may be useful, but is best mixed with other things.