Where to begin making shot

[curioushooter]

I have long made slugs and buckshot by casting for shotguns. But I have never attempted dropping lead...are there any good places to start with this? Like a basic summary of what is involved? What quality of shot can be expected (I do have a 35' tall barn loft at my disposal)?

[Rcmaveric]

Lots of us have backyard engineered contraptions that make pretty darn good shot. Use the search function. I made mine from a cookie sheet, deep ammo can and camping stove.

One day i will get the nice shot dripper with changeable nozzles (drippers as they are called). The secrete is keeping the ramp hot and consistent head pressure. Also the arsenic in your alloy makes almost perfectly round shot. Range scraps works good enough but COWW makes almost perfect.

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[GhostHawk]

Read here, read some more. Google, Read some more. Repeat.

Start here
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/archive/index.php/t-318220.html

[GhostHawk]

Alloy does make a huge difference. I tried cutting the clip on wheel weights from 100% down, about the time I hit 20% and the rest range scrap and pure things started going funky. 50/50 was ok, and is what I would recomend unless you have over 400 lbs of COWW in ingots ready to go. Those are just not as easy to come by anymore.

Coolant, lots of storys from lots of folks. If your coolant is too cold, you tend to see popcorn. The little balls try to explode.

Too thin and you will see lots of dimples in your balls.

It is an ART, and it takes PRACTICE, and time.
It can be done, heck I've seen guys here drip shot with a backing sheet with nail holes in it.

The cruder your equipment, the harder it is to get consistency.
The more time you'll burn just making sure nothing is screwing up.

You don't need a 30' drop, more like 1/4" but off a ramp with the right angle, and into the right coolant, at the right temp.

So go practice. After all, you can dry and try again with your failures.

[curioushooter]

What I don't get is if commercial shot makers brag about the height of the tower, then how can one make decent shot without one. Any coolant denser than water will make them even more out of round.

[pashiner]

I heard somewhere that in old shot towers, any shot too large to be dropped was cast as balls, and rolled down a helical ramp inside the tower to make it more round, kind of like using a tumbler, but without modern technology.

[MT Chambers]

Get you a Littleton shot maker, you can make over 10 bags of shot in an 8 hr. day, that first day will pay for the shotmaker, usually #8 is made and used for trap and skeet. Diff. sized drippers (7 of them) cost $70 if you want to change shot size. You will need to collect wheel weights and go through them to take out all the new type that are not lead.

[mtgrs737]

If you are serious about making shot, and you will need to make a lot of it to justify the cost of equipment to do it right. If you just want to make a little shot then maybe you can get by with some simple homemade equipment. If you want to make enough quality shot to support a shotgun clay target addiction then you will need good equipment, a Littleton or other shot dripper will run you about $500 and that is just the beginning. You will need other items like a deep drop tank, strainer buckets, wash buckets, sieves to size the shot and a vibratory tumbler to graphite the shot after you size sieve it. Most of this added equipment you will need to make yourself as it is not available for purchase. But the first question you need to ask yourself is: do I have a good source of lead at a good price? If you don't then large quantities of shot will cost you too much to invest in the equipment needed to make it and you should just buy shot. If you only want to make a few pounds to support low usage then maybe you can find a way to make it with homemade equipment but do not expect the quality of the shot to be all that good, but maybe usable for you needs. Clip on wheel weights are the best for shotmaking as they contain arsenic which helps with rounding out the shot. COWWs also have a couple percent of antimony in them which should make "Chilled" level shot, if you want to make long range trap target shot then you will need more antimony to raise the level to at least four percent antimony, preferably five percent. Antimony is not cheap and it is hard to work with in the raw state so I have used super hard alloy from Roto Metals but it raises the cost of my hard shot to over $20 a bag. If you decide to have a go at making your own shot you may need to experiment with lead temps, coolant temps to get good almost round shot but if you are a tinker like I am then you will have fun refining your process. Good luck and be sure to ask questions here as there are a lot of folks here with experience making shot.

[jimb16]

One word of caution! Make sure you do NOT have any zinc in the mix. When you melt your COWWs melt them below the temp where zinc melts and you should be fine. Zinc will ruin the lead alloy for shot making. I clogs up the drippers.

[dverna]

Get you a Littleton shot maker, you can make over 10 bags of shot in an 8 hr. day, that first day will pay for the shotmaker, usually #8 is made and used for trap and skeet. Diff. sized drippers (7 of them) cost $70 if you want to change shot size. You will need to collect wheel weights and go through them to take out all the new type that are not lead.

Shot here is $35/bag. You can sell lead for $1/lb. So the actual saving is $12/bad. Figure about $450 for the shot maker and ancillary equipment. Break even at about 38 bags of shot.

Almost 1000 lbs of product. And figure about 40 hrs to produce it.

I have seen reclaimed shot for under $30/bag. And then then it takes 90 bags to break even. Over a ton of shot.

[megasupermagnum]

Where are you finding bags of shot for $35? I see Eagle occasionally for just under $40, but refuse to buy it. Lawrence and West Coast are $45 plus shipping online.

[Baltimoreed]

234044I used to live in Baltimore and would drive by the Baltimore shot tower growing up. Neat piece of shooting history.

[dverna]

Where are you finding bags of shot for $35? I see Eagle occasionally for just under $40, but refuse to buy it. Lawrence and West Coast are $45 plus shipping online.

I buy it from AJ Reloading Supplies in Ohio. Roger has components at trap shoots held in Mason Mi and the Ohio shoots at the Cardinal Center. Another good source is Dawson in Ohio but AJ is normally a bit less and AJ is at the shoots.

J&S has an on line precence and currently offers reclaim shot for under $30 delivered to a depot. This is for full pallets, which is more than a casual shooter will want, but getting a few others together on a group buy makes it more feasible.

Find a major trap or skeet shoot in your area and prices will be better than LGS. I buy most of my components at trap shoots, except for rifle and pistol primers.

Another source are large gun clubs that do group buys....but you may need to be a member.

[Petander]

I used to live near this shot factory,now a museum.

It worked from 1908 to 1972. They had an 800 lbs pot up there,heated with firewood. Lead was poured with a ladle by hand,after being dropped into water the shot was sorted and tumbled with graphite. Then it was packed in cotton bags, the bags were sown at the factory,too.

234052


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