making lead shot?

[J Hartman]

anyone here make their own lead shot? I was kind of curious about it, and just wanted some more info...

thanks



J

 

[Chaneylake]

you can buy it cheaper that you will ever be able to properly make it

 

[J Hartman]

you sure that's right? You can pick up lead tire weights for free here, all I can figure that i'll need is graphite to coat the shot in after it's made...

I know that shot "hardness" is another issue but, what's the issue? too many flyers?

 

[Whelen Man]

Do you have a 150 foot shot tower? Couldn't resist that one, sorry. The factories use air as a coolant before spashing down to prevent shot deformation. The process will have a lot of problems for the individual but would be interesting. Wheel weights will be harder shot and I'm afraid that any method of home production will be hard to come up with round shot resulting in a lot of fliers. I've tried wheel weights for casting bullets, sinkers, and jigs, but it has it's own problems with casting and I usually use it mixed with pure lead to get good castings. Good luck.

 

[Polecat]

I've been toying with this for a while. I've been working on a "shot maker" off and on for a while. Essentialy it is a small lead melting pot with a very small hole drilled in the bottom. The pot has a burner assembly underneath for melting the lead. As the lead in the pot melts it pushes through the hole under it's own weight creating a small drip. This droplet of lead then falls onto a small ramp made from a piece of stainless steel. The droplet then rolls down the small ramp forming a ball of shot. The smaller the droplet the smaller the pellet, the bigger the drop the larger the pellet.