Shot making

[Danth]

What is the advantage of "chilled" shot? I was told it is harder, but if this is so, why not use a harder alloy?

[rbuck351]

Chilled shot will be harder than non chilled using the same alloy so you can make the same hardness using less expensive alloy.

[Paul D. Heppner]

Chilled is pretty soft giving enlarged patterns. Magnum shot is the hard, good, stuff giving noticably better patterns. It's all I use for trap, skeet, and sporting. I do go thru upwards of 5000 shot shells a year in 12, 20, 28, and 410 guns. The last I bought was Eagle Magnum at $51 per 25 pound bag. When I started loading shot shells a pound of powder and a bag of shot were both $2.50 each. The only drawback to the Eagle is it tends to run slightly smaller in diameter and has a higher antimony content.

[megasupermagnum]

They are relative marketing terms. They don't really meaning anything. As a general rule, there are two grades of lead shot today, chilled and magnum. Chilled is softer, usually less antimony. Magnum is harder, more antimony. It's relative though, since Eagle magnum does not equal Lawrence magnum. Eagle magnum has been tested to be not that much harder than Lawrence chilled, and Lawrence magnum is quite a bit harder than both. Lawrence and West coast are owned by the same company, and made with the same alloy, so they should be equal. There isn't much option than those three in the USA anymore. I haven't seen Remington shot in years, that stuff was as hard as it got.

Chilled shot is a couple bucks cheaper, but I really can't understand why anyone would buy it. Inside of 35 yards, it doesn't effect the pattern much, so it doesn't help on close shots. More open chokes, or true spreader loads are what you want for close shot. Outside of 40 yards it really falls apart, so you are limiting yourself on range.

[Danth]

Interesting. I mostly hunt grouse so it seems either type of shot should be fine. Don't often get shots beyond 35 yds. This topic came up as I have a supply of babbit which is harder than pure lead so I thought it might be good for casting bullets or shot.

[la5676]

I thought all shot dropped in shot towers was dropped in water, hence, chilled. We water drop some of our bullets for the same effect. In this case, I think chilled is just used for a sales pitch.

[Dusty Bannister]

Shot dropped from towers probably is too cool by the time it hits the water to have much affect. Perhaps the water is more to cushion the fall. The height of the fall is to allow shot to "round out" before fully cooling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_tower

[mtgrs737]

I use chilled level shot for skeet and 16 yd. trap but use magnum level shot for the longer handicap yardage on the trap field. I make my own and can adjust the hardness of the shot by adding antimony. My chilled level shot is made from clip on wheel weights. Chilled level shot has about 2% antimony and my magnum level shot has a minimum of 4% antimony probably closer to 5%.