I have a friend of mine who built a small blast furnace for melting alum. at home. I was thinking of sand casting an alum. forearm. That would be a little bit heavier and the weight would be on the front end instead of the back end making for better balance IMHO. I have used lead shot in my son's 12 ga. when I first gave it to him. That was when he was about 9. He wanted the same kind of gun dad had don't you know. well by the time he was 11 he had me take out the shot and just went with a slip on recoil pad. We don't shoot much high brass stuff.
Would you believe that he's never missed with that shotgun? Tree rats, possums, foxes, have all fallen to the mighty Topper.
Rusty <><