shot casting

[ovendoctor]

this might be way out in left field but
does any body drop cast's bird shot
I got it down to uniform size but it still has a tail on the shot
this is all home made equipment
any imput will be appreciated

[versifier]

I have read that in order to get round shot, it had to be dropped from a certain height. How much height I am not sure, but I seem to remember a picture of a shot tower that was several stories high. I also remember reading years ago about a home shot maker that was basically a small casting pot with a drop tube sticking out that had different sized nozzles for different sized shot. It sat on a table and dropped into a pan on the floor. I don't remember any other details, but it was so long ago that (as my kids would say) there were still dinosaurs. Maybe an old Gun Digest would help.

[Bucks Owin]

I don't know anybody with their own shot tower, but with the price of shot it might be an idea!

I used to shoot a LOT of trap until the price of bagged shot hit $30 (Cdn.)

FWIW,

Dennis

[357maximum]

If your design is similar to the littleton:

Maybe this will help

When I had mine I had to liberally coated the fall plate with soapstone (the stick you mark steel with) I just rubbed it on just like coloring a book with a crayon.

I let my shot free fall about 4 feet into a 5 gal bucket full of a mixture of 1pint jar of dawn dishsoap, one 16 oz can of ballistol, and soft water was the remainder.

I still would get a real light tail on a few shot when the 7.5 nozzles were in, the smaller sizes ( 8,9) had NO tails at all. I have heard of people using that pink machine coolant also, but never did myself.

[garandsrus]

Here's a link to the littleton. I have been curious about casting shot also so would appreciate any experiences folks can share.

John

[heathydee]

I have made my own shot for the last 15 years for skeet . I use a home-made device which drops the molten lead through a row of stainless steel nipples drilled to .024". The droplets fall about .375" onto an inclined ramp where they bounce twice before entering the coolant which is a mixture of soluble oil and water. As long as the temperature is kept as consistant as possible and the level of molten lead is maintained I usually end up with shot in the 8 to 9 range.

I copied the system from a commercially available product which was electrically powered but only had two nipples.This resulted in an output of only 10lb or so an hour at best. Mine is gas fired and has 13 nipples.

The production of larger shot requires nipples with a larger orifice. I have made shot as large as 5 or 6 with nipples drilled to about .04"

For skeet shooting I use plain old soft scrap lead which has to be cleaned and fluxed before use otherwise it clogs the nipples and if I need harder shot a batch of wheelweights is put through.

hope this helps.
Heath

[KCSO]

How about a picture of your set up, this sounds interesting.

[wills]

If you google for "shot tower" you can find a lot of them. Apparently they were about 140 to 220 feet high.

[redneckdan]

I got it down to uniform size but it still has a tail on the shot

the tailed shot worked fine, patterns were actually denser.

[223tenx]

Guys,
A newb here. I had a Littleton SM about 15 years ago. Used water soluble cutting oil to catch the shot in after bouncing on a little ledge that was coated with soapstone. I guess the bounce made up for the height difference of a shot tower. I made #8 shot and could not see a difference in pattern while shooting skeet, even though the shot had a very small dimple (no tails) in it that I never got rid of. I sold it when I gave up skeet and took up shooting cast boolits. Littleton tried for years to sell his company and finally did just a few years ago. I see them advertized in Shotgun News and I think Handloader Mag. The machine made the neatest noise when it was running shot. Sort of a tick, tick, tick only real fast.
223tenx
Pete

[rebliss]

If you could rig a device to blow air up through the column you were dropping shot through, you could in effect increase the distance they fell through the air.

[holycross]

The reloading forum on shotgunwold.com has a number of discussions on shot making. If you go through all discussions for a the last couple years you can copy about 1/2 meg of information into a word document. He's a link to one discussion going 15 pages.
http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=15776

Another link buried within that discussion from a gentleman who built a small lead porcessing setup. Just add the pre-molded ingots and get sorted shot out the bottom. This is a really interesting machine to look at even if you never intend to build a shot maker.
http://www.prescott.myrf.net/ShotMak...mPictures.html

Mark Holycross

[223tenx]

IIRC, the distance the shot dropped to the cooling liquid was critical to roundness and also the viscosity of the cooling liquid was somewhat critical. In Littleton's instructions, he listed several different liquids to use. The water soluble cutting fluid he listed turned out to be diethylene glycol/ water, which (I think) is the same as the pink antifreeze (and maybe the "safe" antifreeze used today) used in RV's.
Pete in WV

[Edward429451]

I have an electric shotmaker similar to the littleton but the ramp is longer. I have to chalk the ramp and drop it into cold oil. I haven't used it much and bought it on a whim. The few times I used it I had no tails at all. The problem I had was that the first part of the run gave me very nice looking shot but the oil heats up quickly and must be changed to more cold oil or else the shot stays hot and when it hits the bottom of the receiving container, the shot deforms. This with #8's too, if I tried larger shot it'd be even harder and heat up faster.

I was thinking that if I rigged a longer ramp for it to roll down and got a larger container for the cold oil it may not deform and maybe I could get a significant amount of shot from it. The way it is now, its largly an excercise in frustration and a messy pain in the butt to use for little return.

Maybe I could rig a refrigerated receptical somehow. Dunno. I kinda back burnered it since I've so much other casting stuff to do and gotta keep up with the work too.

[scrapcan]

Tails and dimples O my!!

I posted a time a go on teh reloaders guide forum about experiences of making shot. Link is under special projects under home made shot. I think the link is:

http://reloaders.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=32

I fthat doesn't work you can find it easily if you search the last year under that heading.

If you drop into water you will get dimples, if you drop into diesel fuel (as suggested by Littleton) you may get tails. If you drop into antifreeze, it is good to go. Keep the drop distance to what the littleton maker instruction say, and as stated above use soap stone to keep the shot rolling off the ledge. Washing and drying and coating with something to stop shot bridging in the loader is the big pain. I have been trying to figure out how to make a chilled shot drop chute using an old air conditioner then all you would have to do is coat for bridging and you are good to go.

I learned from two great old guys that win our trap league consistantly. Take a look at my post on the sister site. If you have anyquestions fire me an email. Last summer I made 400 lbs of 7.5-8 size shot, it is almost gone. The other two guys made about a ton, they have quite a bit left. it is a great way to spend a few days.

Jeremy

[ovendoctor]

thanks for the great responses to this question
had to put this project on the back burner due to some threats to my family
as soon as things settle down ill post a new thread with pictures

[ovendoctor]

running shot today

made some 5 & 3 shot dropping it into pure antifreese

so far this has worked the best

coolant temp hasent been an issue

useing my lee bottom pour pot and a kitchen spoon with a small hole in in

not a lot of production but some nice shot with short tails

will work fine for grouse hunting

[NSP64]

If you attatch a piece of aluminum to the side/bottom of the spoon so the shot bounces off of the 'ramp' before it hits the coolant it should get rid of the tails

[ovendoctor]

added a bracket to the lead pot for the shot to hit and added soap stone to the bracket
made it adjustable to change the size of the shot

running 7-7.5 shot now was getting 2-6 shot

and no more tails

[JeffinNZ]

I made my first shot yesterday.

All round but a bit dimpled so going to corn syrup up the antifreeze.

I have a domestic 1 dripper model so it ain't quick but involves little input from me so I can do other stuff while the shot maker ticks away. Made about 8 pounds over 2 hours I guess.

I will pattern later in the week.