Soft Lead Shot

[dsh1106]

Has anyone figured out how to drip soft lead?

I can make pretty decent shot from COWW, but I have a lot more soft lead available than I do COWW.


Anyone out there accomplished this ??

Scott

[centershot]

Scott,

The best thing may be to buy a quantity of linotype (Roto-Metals has it) and use it to boost the antimony content of your lead. Soft lead shot is a poor substitute for hard "magnum" shot. Lino is 84-12-4, at 12% antimony it won't take an awful lot to get good hard shot.

[MyFlatline]

I hadn't thought about Linotype, dang good idea, thanks.

[centershot]

If you mix it 2 parts lead to 1 part lino you'll get 94.66-4-1.33 alloy, I would think that would be as hard as any of us would need for field loads. A 3:1 mix yields 96-3-1. When I mix boolit alloy I mix 94-3-3; That's a really good mix, as hard as I need for most boolits.If I need harder I water drop, which I assume you are. 3% antimony oughta' be good enough for most applications.

[dsh1106]

Thanks, I see I can buy some pre-alloyed stuff at ROTO Metals to increase the hardness my pure Pb.


I was really hoping someone had a technique of dripping pure Pb shot, I have a Shannon shot maker and can make pretty decent hard shot.

Scott

[MyFlatline]

From what I have read, and read and read,,the antimony is what makes it round and hard. I have more pure lead than ww but have a good stash of lino too.. I will be dripping soon.

[dsh1106]

ROTO metals has:
Super Hard Alloy Metal Nuggets - 5 pounds (30%-Antimony, 70%-Lead)
$4 per pound

Looks like 5# of SH to 30# of Pb ....

[centershot]

Yes! I forgot about their SH alloy, that'll fix you up!

[GhostHawk]

My experience is get too close to pure lead and strange stuff starts happening. To the point that they will stop dripping.

I have had no issues blending roughly half COWW and range scrap.
Dripped well, made nice looking shot.

[Leadmad]

I've made hundreds and hundreds of kilos of lead shot with just roof flashings etc, if fact never used wheel weights as wanted them for bullet casting, I do get a small dimple in the shot due to it cooling in the fluid (Diesel) and as I've never used harder lead cannot comment weather it would do the same (Small dimple) as soft lead, I use mine for Cowboy action shooting at targets 7-10 meters but have used on clays very occasionally with some success.

I use a Jim Stewart shotmaker with 7 drippers which will make approx. 25-30 kilos an hour with soft lead, get your lead really clean as if not the nozzles soon slow down to almost nothing and big drips of ****, generally I can make a 5 gal bucket full in around 4 1/2-5 hours and I've had a enough of it by then and usually so has the nozzles which will need to be cleaned again, so it gets packed away, I guess it all depends on what you want to use your shot for

[dsh1106]

Have you tried anything other than diesel fuel for coolant?

What sort of clean up is involved with the diesel fuel coolant?

[Leadmad]

Hello dsh1106
Always used Diesel after being shown that way and worked well so never changed method, I use 2 x 30 cal ammo cans each filled with cool diesel , one under the drippers and one waiting in line, I rest my hand against the one being used as soon as it starts to feel warm skid it out the way with next ammo can, then dump shot and diesel through a strainer with drained fluid back to tank and so forth.

Clean up is not too much effort, First I drop through a colander so all size 7 1/2 drops through and bigger or bad lumps gets put aside I then use a rectangle shaped plastic bin approx. 24'' x 18 and roll the shot back and forth to each end with an old charity shop towel drying the shot and picking out imperfection's, then its bulk stored until Im ready to use it, I do give it one more lick with the towel again and that's it, no graphite

[shootinfox2]

RV waterline anti freeze works best. Non hazardous easy cleanup with water. Antimony adjust the surface tension of the shot to allow it to drop into the coolant while round. It also adds some hardness to the shot. Chilled bs Magnum shot is just apercentage of antimony. 10 pounds of lino to 100 pounds of pure is ideal for shot.

[dsh1106]

I had some time today, so I setup my shot maker and started it running with COWW lead, about 1# left form last season.

After it melted, I continued to add Pure Lead to the mix. I had 3.5# melted and had to raise the angle of the dripper to get it to run. I continued adding pure lead, I ran about 6#s of shot. Its not near as round as using COWW, but for the cost and availability, I don't think the clay birds or anything else will know the it has dimples in it. I also adjusted the coolant, thickened it up and used a circulation pump to keep it cool.

Scott