Reclaimed shot for casting bullets?

[hylander]

Reclaimed lead shot good for casting bullets ?

[jmort]

Yes
Pretty close to COWW
Add a little tin and you are set

[Idz]

I thought most shot had arsenic added to harden it up so it doesn't deform. I would suggest casting a few ingots and testing for hardness.

[jmort]

I think what arsenic there is would shine brighest in heat treating as opposed to "hardness"

[Texas by God]

I've done it for .45 ACP & it worked fine.

[too many things]

arsenic don't do any more than soap in water . it will cast fine . same a ww
you will have a lot of dross

[rancher1913]

sometimes the coating will not break and you end up with a ball of molten lead in a case so you may need to break it up with a hammer first.

[Teddy (punchie)]

I'd sell it what are they getting for shot now days?? All in what your needs are, and if there a market. I think shot is holding in the 30's ?? Not sure about reclaimed.

[avogunner]

A couple of years ago, a member at my shotgun club pointed out that behind an old obscure shed on the property was a barrel of "reclaimed" shot. I guess at one point, the club had their fields scrubbed and this was remnants of what was recovered. Anyway, it had been sitting in the weather (no lid) for years, was heavily oxidized but hey, lead is lead. I had to take a hatchet to break it up and all told, it came to about 300 pounds. Due to the oxidation, it's a bear to smelt but it has turned out to be my alloy. Using Bumpo's alloy calculator, for antimony content, I assume it's 50/50 mixed Chilled shot and Magnum Shot so I add a pound of 63/37 solder to 30lbs for my final mix. The calculator estimated about a 12.8bhn and my Lee tester showed 13bhn (close enough). It's a fine alloy and makes great boolits.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I'm not surprised about the oxidation. Shot have a higher ratio of outside to inside than bullets, so there would be more dross to skim off, and probably more vigorous stirring required. I would also be very careful with the dust from that hatchet job.

The purpose of the arsenic isn't hardening, but to increase surface tension so that it goes globular more easily. I suppose it just might fail to fill sharp corners in the mould more easily, but I would want to see that before I believed it. I think the most likely thing is that it would make a very good bullet material.

[lotech]

I have at least a couple of hundred pounds of reclaimed shot that was given to me. However, it's use has a drawback, at least in my experience. Regardless of how high the pot temperature, I still get a heavy dross of shell-like waste; looks like "hollow" shot pellets. I've always mixed it with wheelweight metal. Resultant bullets are fine, but if I was paying for alloy, reclaimed shot would be at the bottom of the list.

[Nose Dive]

Yes. Smelt it. Pour it. Shoot it.

Nose Dive

Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.