making lead shot...

[myronman3]

with the price of shot around here, i have been thinking on making my own shot.  i have so much lead i dont know that i could ever use it all.    i just keep thinking that if only i could find a way to make my own shot....   i did a search and i see that magma enginerring has a shot maker they sell.   anyone know anything about it?  or knowlege on the subject they are willing to share?

[myronman3]

this is what i have so far.

http://www.svartkrutt.net/articles/vis.php?id=8

[myronman3]

and this....

http://www.magmaengineering.com/item.php?id=2

[jhalcott]

  A friend of mine who lives in Phoenix had a Littleton shot maker. He had some problems at first with the shot looking like burst bubbles. I don't know what that was about. last I saw ,he had a 55 gallon drum of shot in his garage waiting on empty hulls. I do not use a shot gun enough to merit reloading the hulls.

[myronman3]

nothing? 

[jhalcott]

  First ,does the reg's in your area allow the use of lead shot? If so then the Littleton shotmaker will produce lots of shot for you. Of course there is a learning curve,but this SHOULD  be a short one. The shotmaker should come with instructions. You can also make different sized shot by using a larger/smaller set of drippers. You will need some kind of non flamable oil for the shot to fall into.  The $425 cost of the shotmaker CAN be amortised in a short time IF you are selling the shot.  As I noted earlier ,my shotgunning is a RARE thing, so I don't even reload the hulls.

[woodchukhntr]

We made shot back in the '60's to see how it was done.  Molten lead was poured thru a sieve into a bucket of water.  Since the lead didn't fall far enough to become round, we ended up with tear-drop shaped shot.  It might have been a better aerodynamic shape than round shot, but was inconsistant.

[myronman3]

my brother and i are goingi n halves on one shot maker in a few months.  i guess from there on out  i will post my results on here, at $50 buck a bag it should take long to pay for itself. 

[Graybeard]

Several folks in this area have shot makers and have been using them going back at least 20 years. I've seen a fair bit of shot made locally by the shooters and it is the most gosh awful looking trash I've ever seen. But it does seem to work OK for them at least for skeet. I'm not sure I'd mess with it personally regardless of how high the price of shot goes. From experience it will eventually come back down again it always has.

For lead to fall reasonably round you need a fairly high place to drop it from into water not oil. In days of old it was dropped from high towers into a pond of water at the bottom. That still can work well as in free flight any liquid takes on a more or less round sperical shape. If it has time to cool and solidify prior to reaching the water it should be fairly round but if you drop it into the water too soon and it is not solidified it will burst and be horrible looking. That I think is the single biggest problem home shot makers face. Just how far are you prepared to drop it?

I think these days most shot manufacturers are using other means than tall towers to cool and solidify it on the way down. They also tumble and polish it and add graphite to make it flow better going down the barrel. I'm not sure I'd ever want to use it for trap or hunting purposes where tight patterns were wanted but for skeet or any other close range game it does seem to work well for those locally who cast their own and use it at skeet.

[myronman3]

the distance that is has to fall has been negated,  i understand they use transmission fluid, or brake fluid, or liquid soap and water mixture,  or various other mixtures to drop the shot in to stop the splattered shot.   the pictures i have seen show the nicest shot you could imagine.  like jhalcot said,  i sure there will be a learning curve, but it shouldnt take me too long to tweek it.   i guess i just like to be able to do stuff myself, self sufficient if you will   lately i have also been dinking with melting lead on my wood stove,  just to know i can if i ever have to. 
  i should be getting one in the next month or two,  and will keep everyone posted if anyone is interested.

[jhalcott]

  Well as my mom used to say "Maybe it'll keep you out of trouble, just being busy"! Happy new year and good luck.

[myronman3]

"Maybe it'll keep you out of trouble, just being busy"!

there is alot of truth in that!!!