Hello guys and a quick question

[steppenwulf]

First to say hello. I've been looking and reading here for a little while. Wow what a great resource of knowledge and unconventional thinking. The cast your own bug seems to have hit me and I would like to get some opinions from you guys.

I started scrounging up all the lead I could get my hands on at a reasonable price. I'm fairly young and not really well known around here, so not many tire store owners seemed to be willing to sell/give me any wheel weights. That being said, I did manage to find a nice small shop owner sell me a 5 gallon bucket full. Very nice of him but seems to take him a year to get this many. Think I've asked just about every resource in a pretty wide area around here but I'm gonna keep looking.

My question was about lead shot. Went by my favorite gun store today checking on primers and i noticed 25 lb shot bags for around $33. This seemed right inline with the $1.40/lb I would be looking at paying on the internet and would save me shipping.

I searched past topics on making shot into bullets and most seem to think its a waste of good shot. If this seems feasible maybe i can use some shot to stretch my 80lb or so of ww. What would be the best way to mix the shot and ww for .45 auto. Thanks guys.

[cabezaverde]

Where are you located?

[steppenwulf]

I'm right on the border of South Carolina and North Carolina. Charlotte area.

[cabezaverde]

Keep trying - you will develop some sources.

I think you would be better off hitting the scrapyards for WW than buying shot.

[briang]

Have you checked any scrapyards? Melting shot is a waste, especially if you paid for the shot.

[JIMinPHX]

Shot works fine for a .45. If you have nothing else available, just add 1% tin (lead free solder from the hardware store = tin). Let the boolits air cool & you will get somewhere around 12bnh, which will work fine.

You are only "wasting" the shot if you have other cheaper materials around & choose not to use them.

[HeavyMetal]

I have used shot in order to harden lead tin alloys by adding the Antiomony most "hard" shot contains.

I generally add 3 to 4 % shot to a 10 Lb Lee pot, stick on WW, This was before I got a cast iron dutch oven and made larger "lots" of alloy.

The thing to keep in mind is shot also contains arsinic and this can make boolits very brittle

[steppenwulf]

Thanks for the replies. They seemed to have quite a number of sizes of shot. Would buying certain size be better for mixing?

[Bob Krack]

Here in the "Swapping and Selling" forum, you will find many many offers of nearly any kind of lead or alloy you could possibly use. Mostly around $1.00 per pound shipped to you.

Shot might be fine and it seems some here agree.

Bob

[462]

steppenwulf, I have a mutually agreeable relationship with a few tire stores...I give them doughnuts or sodas and they give me wheel weights.

Try dentist offices, also. They accumulate the lead foil that is removed from the backs of X-ray plates, and they have to dispose of somehow... I got a 2 1/2 pound bag from my dentist. Not a lot, but it's more than what I had before I inquired.

Most people will ask if you will be using them to make fishing weights. Be honest, tell them you'll be using them to cast boolits.

Good luck, to you.

[cabezaverde]

I would say the larger the better to minimize the oxidation.

[Sprue]

Forget about the shot, its too expensive. Just keep watching in the Swapping and Trading Section. Wheel Weights are listed For Sale almost daily. You can also goto the WTB section and post your "wants' there.

Or,

Do a Search on the Swapping & Trading Thread. Make an inquiry to one of those folks.

By the time it takes you to got thru what WW's you have now, I'm sure you will have located more WW's or ingots here.

Have fun!

[JIMinPHX]

I've only used #8 & #9 shot for casting boolits. Both worked well.

[Down South]

If it’s magnum shot then it contains anywhere form 3%-6% antimony (spelling) depending. That will be great to alloy boolits with if you need a harder boolit than plain WW can give you. Even range scrap + WW or stick on WW with clip on WW mixed with Magnum shot can give you a higher BHN for higher velocity loads.

[kyle623]

I'm with 462, you have to get to know the guys and they will loosen up on the ww's go in when they aren't buisy and bs with them a little. once they start selling or giving you ww's buy them a pizza or 12 pack once in awhile.

[snaggdit]

As I discovered yesterday, never waste an opportunity when getting car work done ($ to them) to ask about WW. It paid off for me.

[KYCaster]

Welcome Steppenwulf.

For 45ACP, you don't have to add anything to your WW. An additional 1% Sn from solder may help with mold fill out, but I haven't found it necessary.

For magnum handgun and rifle cartridges, a 25 lb. bag of magnum shot, a 1 lb. roll of 95-5 solder and 75 lbs. of WW should work very well. You'd get about 1.3% Sn for good mold fill out, about 3.2% Sb for plenty of hardness plus the As from the shot will help if you want to heat treat for more hardness.

Depending on what you paid for the WW, that mix would cost you around sixty to seventy cents a pound. That's not bad compared to $1.00/lb. for WW on the net.

Size of the shot shouldn't make any difference. The smaller sizes will have more graphite coating and more surface oxides, but proper fluxing will reduce the oxides.

Seems to me you've made a good start, just keep looking.

Jerry

[Firebricker]

Give the rotometals link a try I have not ordered from them yet but have heard nothing but
good things from members. You could get enough to keep you going as you find more local
sources. BTW welcome to the site and one very addictive hobby !! FB

[geargnasher]

Don't you have to have 25 posts before being able to access swappin' and sellin'?

[Leftoverdj]

Thanks for the replies. They seemed to have quite a number of sizes of shot. Would buying certain size be better for mixing?

Smaller the shot, the higher the antimony content. It has to do with the surface tension needed to make shot. "Magnum" or "Premium" will have more than "Chilled".

On scrounging, the big chains are useless. Hit the little independents on the poor side of town. Try the older plumbers. Talk to your garbage man. Spread the word you are looking among construction workers. Ask at yard sales. There's a LOT of lead out there, in the unlikeliest places. A gal I'd known for years had a whole dental office's worth of lead sheeting her packrat father had tucked away. It's halfway across the country, but she brings me 2-300 pounds when she goes home for a visit.