Productive 3 hours today

[jimb16]

Got an early start today. Spent 3 hours of cool morning in the garage making shot. Glad it was still fairly cool so I could have the windows and both doors open for ventilation. The shotmaker was running pretty much full tilt for most of the time minus the heat up time of course. I ended up with just over 100 pounds of # 7.5. Tomorrow, I'll take the time to rinse off the cheap fabric softener coolant and spread it out to dry. graphiting the shot will take less than an hour and I'll be ready to start loading it. I've got a mess of 12s, 20s and .410s waiting to be reloaded. I hate it when I get this far behind on my reloading.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

You have done well!

DG

[BK7saum]

Awesome! I have the shot drippers and planned to make my own pot. Just waiting on some cool weather. I have some range lead I plan to try, and wheel weights as a backup lead source.

Thinking about waiting until I clean the scrap and just transferring molten lead from the big melting pot into the dripper pot.

Great job.

[jim 44-40]

So at today's price at say Sportsman Warehouse, that much homemade shot saved you a lot of money.

[jimb16]

Awesome! I have the shot drippers and planned to make my own pot. Just waiting on some cool weather. I have some range lead I plan to try, and wheel weights as a backup lead source.

Thinking about waiting until I clean the scrap and just transferring molten lead from the big melting pot into the dripper pot.

Great job.

Be careful with the wheel weights. Make certain you don't have any zinc in them. The zinc will plug up the drippers and will eventually eat out the holes making them drop larger shot.

[jimb16]

So at today's price at say Sportsman Warehouse, that much homemade shot saved you a lot of money.

I paid less for that 100 pounds than I would have paid for a single 25# bag, and that includes power and coolant. Shot makers pay for themselves very quickly if you do much shot shell reloading. On a cool fall day, I can easily make 150# in a single day if I have enough good lead stored up and enough coolant to swap it out several times. And the total cost is around 65-70 dollars. These days, that is less than 2 bags of shot.

[Rockindaddy]

Be great to see a photo or two of your shot making! Thanks

[WILCO]

Great job!!!

[WRideout]

I don't load much shotgun anymore except for 12 ga slugs. Still, when I read your post my competitive spirit kicked in and I found myself wanting to build a shotmaker so I can make 200 pounds in a session.

Wayne

[Soundguy]

Nice. I love dripping shot.. but wow.. it eats lead way faster than bullet casting!

Great job on that run!

[jimb16]

Nice. I love dripping shot.. but wow.. it eats lead way faster than bullet casting!

Great job on that run!

That it does! That is why I always try to keep at least 1000# of the stuff on hand.

[Russel Nash]

I used plain water as a coolant.

True story.

[skeettx]

Shot is your friend

[Polymath]

Got an early start today. Spent 3 hours of cool morning in the garage making shot. Glad it was still fairly cool so I could have the windows and both doors open for ventilation. The shotmaker was running pretty much full tilt for most of the time minus the heat up time of course. I ended up with just over 100 pounds of # 7.5. Tomorrow, I'll take the time to rinse off the cheap fabric softener coolant and spread it out to dry. graphiting the shot will take less than an hour and I'll be ready to start loading it. I've got a mess of 12s, 20s and .410s waiting to be reloaded. I hate it when I get this far behind on my reloading.

What is your blend?

[jimb16]

I just use straight COWWs. They work fine. Just make sure you don't have any zinc in them. I get around 18 pounds per hour making #9, 22 pound per hr for #7.5 and 28 pounds for #6s. A 5 hour day of making #6 shot gives me nearly 150 pounds of shot. That is a lot of shooting. I reserve the #9 for my .410s.

[Polymath]

I just use straight COWWs. They work fine. Just make sure you don't have any zinc in them. I get around 18 pounds per hour making #9, 22 pound per hr for #7.5 and 28 pounds for #6s. A 5 hour day of making #6 shot gives me nearly 150 pounds of shot. That is a lot of shooting. I reserve the #9 for my .410s.

Thanks for getting back to me. Why I'm asking is, I came across a blending chart to duplicate chilled shot. I cast my own L2 for hand guns and some rifles, some linotype for magnums. The buckshot #0000(.375") and #4buck I cast is stickon lead. Made my own mold for the quad aught buckshot. Just devastating byw. 3" hull with 8 balls going near 1300 fps, and all 8 balls inside a 19 " circle at 40 yards.
Thinking about starting up my own shot maker as I now have enough lead stored up for the project. Seem to be going trough the #7-1/2 shot fairly quickly this year. I think it would pay for itself in short order.

[jimb16]

I've had my Littleton for quite a few years now. It has paid for itself many times over. I figure my cost at around 15 dollars for a bag. That is a savings of roughly $35 per bag. So 100 pounds = 4 bags or a savings of around $140. That pays for the shot maker VERY quickly. Almost everything else that I need was just laying around the garage taking up space.

[Agent1187]

I just melted down 125lbs of soft pistol range scrap, and am due to fire up the shotmaker again, as I'm finally getting back into trap shooting.

Hopefully, my sessions might go more smoothly this year...

[jimb16]

If you do have any problems, feel free to ask for advice.