How hard is lead bird shot?

gnmontey

gnmontey

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Discovered a 10lb bag of #8 shot (labeled HARD) I had left over from my shot shell reloading days.

Am wondering if it would be soft enough for casting Maxi-balls for my 50cal Hawken?

Would probably mix it with a box of 50cal round ball and couple boxes of Maxi-Hunters I have laying around unused.

Thanks,

M
 
With the price of shot these days, it is worth more to sell as a part bag of shot. It might be a bit of a hassle to sell though, unless local due to the shipping cost.

It is too hard for muzzleloading, but just fine for moderate velocity cast bullets in cartridges though.
 
The ones I checked from Hummason had a BHN of 15-17 but that was some old shot that may have lost some of it's hardness. Still, I used in with 50% pure lead and dry dropped to make some nice low power 38 spl rounds. Didn't have any problems with leading.
 
What is a source for soft (pure) lead? i.e. What kind of stuff to look for?

So far I have heard of the following sources for casting material.

Wheel Weights
Roof Flashing
Fishing weights
Bar Solder

What commercial item will be soft lead?

Thanks,

M
 
Antimonial lead will be hard. Small shot will be hard so pellets don't deform. Lead with tin "might" be OK, tin does not add a great amount of hardness.

Stick on wheel weights that are not painted are 99.5% of the time pure lead.

Fishing weights stay away from since a lot of the environmentally friendly weights are now zinc.

Roofing flashing is a great source for soft lead.

Old lead plumbing is also pure lead, cut out soldered joints as the solder is usually harder material.

Isotope containers are also great source for soft lead but hard to find.

Boat keels are hit and miss
 
yomomma said:
Stick on wheel weights that are not painted are 99.5% of the time pure lead.
Old lead plumbing is also pure lead
Boat keels are hit and miss
Click to expand...

That's interesting.... I thought wheel weights were more like 5% Ant?
On the other hand back in the day, I cast 500gn 45-70 from wheel weights that were pretty darn soft.

Have never seen nor heard of lead plumbing?

Being in AB, I don't think boat keels are a viable option.

M
 
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Yet another Newbie question.....?

If I were to switch alloy, can I simply drain my electric pot and fill it with the new alloy with out damaging the pot?

Probably a mute question as they all start empty at one point in time.

Alloy cross contamination a concern?

M
 
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