Lead shot hardness

[res45]

while getting ready to move I found an old bag of #6 lead shot I had stuffed back many years ago it's probably at least 15 to 20 years old. I was wondering how I could put it to good use in my bullet casting alloy.

My WW alloy is good to go as is,I do have a 5 gal. bucket of pure lead stick ons and scrap. I know without a tester it will be hard to know exactly what BHN I end up with just curious what kind of mix I could try 50/50 or something different. I can segregate the alloy for use in my 9 x 18 Mak. or 38 Special loads,any ideas are appreciated.

[sargenv]

It's important to know what kind of lead shot it is.. whether it is simply "chilled" or "Hard". Usually it will tell you on the bag if it is the latter and it will usually tell you the percentage of Antimony that is in it. If the lead shot maker is still in business, they could likely tell you or give you a rough estimation of it's content. I would start there before using it as an alloy, since currently it is an unknown alloy.

[res45]

I went and looked at the bag it Lawrence Brand,chilled shot #6 with 2% Antimonia.

[sargenv]

I would contact either the shotmaker Lawrence, or sift around the various sites looking for a comparison. I think Lawrence also added a tad of arsenic for roundness that would likely add the ability to harden boolits via water quenching.. Since I am relatively new, I would assume that with a bit of tin, the 2% Antimony would be a little less hard than Clip on Wheel weights.. Best to have someone more experienced than I make a comment..

[res45]

Thanks sargenv I appreciate your help.

[wistlepig1]

RotoMetal sales Lawrence shot, maybe they could help you. Hope that helps.

[Mntngoat]

RotoMetal sales Lawrence shot, maybe they could help you. Hope that helps.

I just bout 100 lbs of shot from Roto Metals. all good quality Lawrence. Not the cheap china made stuff i can get locally

ML

[HangFireW8]

while getting ready to move I found an old bag of #6 lead shot I had stuffed back many years ago it's probably at least 15 to 20 years old. I was wondering how I could put it to good use in my bullet casting alloy.

I found that a handful of shot really activates my WW alloy and makes water dropped boolits way harder. It must be the arsenic. I discovered this when I took a batch of 1/2 Lyman #2 and 1/2 WW alloy, threw in some Lawrence #9 shot I swept up off the floor (don't ask), and my water dropped boolits went from just right to way too hard (28-30BHN).

I confirmed this a few months later with a different alloy, this time 1/2 soft lead and 1/2 WW for air dropped 45ACP, I threw in a little #9 and same thing, came out much harder than expected (or desired).

I'm not sure if it was Magnum or Chilled, but I have a few pounds of it. I now save it for when I want really hard boolits.

-HF

[jlchucker]

I've molded boolets with Lawrence shot like that, when lead was cheaper and before I really got into reloading shotshells. It worked OK, and mixed well with wheelweights. Boolets didn't seem that much harder, but I wasn't equipped with a hardness tester when I did this. Nowadays, bagged lead shot is kind of pricey.

[res45]

Thanks for the reply,my WW alloy both AC and WQ are plenty hard on there own,I think what I'm going to do with the shot since I have about 20 lbs. of it is is mix it about 50/50 with my bucket of lead stickon weights and just use them for my 38 Special loads.

Me and my friend acl864 have one of the Lee WC molds,it should work fine for plinking bullets.

[leadman]

That ratio would probably work well for magnum handgun of rifle if water dropped.

Shot with 1 or 2% tin casts really well and is fairly hard.

[sargenv]

woo hoo, learn something new every day.. :) I'll file that in my brain "For later".

[wistlepig1]

I think I will try the "handful" of shot tomarrow and see what I get ( if it;s not range day). D*mn Snow:takinWiz: