Shotgun pellet making, anyone try it??

Canuck223

Canuck223

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I've been thinking of making my own large diameter shot, preferably 00 size.

Instead of casting, I've been thinking about simply making a simple shot tower. For simplicity, I was thinking about pouring the molten lead into a length of cast iron pipe with a threaded cap drilled to the right diameter.

My workshop gives me about a 10 foot drop to the water pail.

Anyone ever try making larger pellet sizes???
 
Spent time with some Canadian Rangers from the coast of Labrador some time ago. Watched them make shot by melting lead and let it drip through some holes in a tinfoil plate into a bucket of water. Not exactly scientific or produce the most uniform shot but the idea was still cool! The Inuit have a lot of neat tricks like that.

Regards,
 
I was looking into this a while ago.

I think a 50ft frop was required to get uniform shot. (not teardrops) Also the antimony of the lead was also a factory in producing quality round shot, as well as the liquid the shot was dropped into. Its actually more complex than I thought it was going to be.

I'm with you though, currently I'm trying to figure a way to replicate the "Littletons shot maker".
 
There is a guy out in Cochrane (just west of Calgary) that uses (or at least used to) use an old oil derek (100 ft +) to make lead shot. He mounted a furnace and everything at the top, poured the molten lead through his forms for different sizes and caught the pellets in a pool at the bottom. I performed an inspection on the steel structure about five years ago as a cell carrier was looking to mount antennas on the tower.

Not exactly a do it yourself project, but cool procedure none the less.

Kingby
 
I tried the water is no good to drop in in you need prestone or oil the water shaters the lead at 5 feet and makes shot look like pop corn.

There are units you can buy that are plug and play add your lead and let it drip. You do need a cooling device for the oil or prestone though!

Cant remember the name of the CO.

As a hobby fun but not worth the effort for me, you wont save $$ at 22 LBs for shot I would just buy it! But have fun with it I spent40 Bucks and ended up with pop corn shot could have bought 50Lbs of shot LOL!
 
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My father has a shot making machine. I don't know where he got it, but he has had it for about 20 years.
It has a stove element and a small 8" dia pan about the size of a small pie plate. One side is flat. On thei side there is 3/8 bolts with a 1/4" hole almost through. On one side of the hex head there is a .018 hole connecting to the 1/4 hole.
The melted lead pours through these holes then hits a small slide about
1 1/4" long that you rub soap stone onto before you start. The pellets roll down then fall into a oil/water mix.
You can put out about 25 lbs an hour if all ports are working well.
The only problem is that it only makes #6 shot.
If you are a do-it yourselfer and want to experiment, I could take some pictures.
 
IIRC the shot towers were indeed about 50' tall and water only cooled down the product, not solidified it. Lead solidified before reaching the surface IMHO.
There were two kinds of shot: rolled and cast and two kinds of buckshot: die cast and tower cast. Rolling performed betwen two large rough steel boards. But do not hold me to it - these are the recollections from when I was a teenager and went into a museum.
 
My only interest is in making 0 or 00 size shot. The cost of buckshot for reloading is high enough to make it interesting.

I had seen the website for the Littletom shotmaker. I was mostly interested if the process would work effectively for larger shot sizes. My best guess is that the deflector plate would probably be a problem with larger shot sizes.

I figure my idea carries a likelyhood of oval or teardropped pellets. If enough are decent quality, I was thinking about sorting them with a ramp at the end of a v channel. Round will consistantly land in the bucket, while off round will land elsewhere for remelting.

Ideas???
 
I dont think 10 feet is going to do it will a Buck shot O ball it will shatter , when it hits water? Why not make a Mold? If you want to cast buck shot. Or get a sinker mold and trim them up? I would look at this first I had big problems with bb shot and water.
 
Canuck223 said:
My only interest is in making 0 or 00 size shot. The cost of buckshot for reloading is high enough to make it interesting.

I had seen the website for the Littletom shotmaker. I was mostly interested if the process would work effectively for larger shot sizes. My best guess is that the deflector plate would probably be a problem with larger shot sizes.

I figure my idea carries a likelyhood of oval or teardropped pellets. If enough are decent quality, I was thinking about sorting them with a ramp at the end of a v channel. Round will consistantly land in the bucket, while off round will land elsewhere for remelting.

Ideas???
Click to expand...

You will not be able to make such large shot like 0 or 00 using a Littleton or similar setup. They are suitable for smaller sizes of shot, #9 to #2, IIRC.

Buckshot could be made by casting or by cold forming (swaged or rolled). I don't see swaging or rolling to be terribly practical for most of us, casting is probably the best answer. Get yourself a round ball mold of the approprate size and you can make enough buckshot to keep yourself amused.

I wish Lee stocked six cavity round ball moulds at regular prices - one of those would save lots of time. Home cast buckshot that has been water dropped directly out of the mould is much, much, harder than commercial rolled buckshot. That can make for tighter patterns.
 
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making shot

I ran into a couple of fellows in Regina that use a nozzle system to inject lead into an oil bath. For different size shot they use a different size nozzle. I did not see the unit but only had a verbal discription and saw 2 litre pop bottles full of different size shot.. Have no idea as to consistancy, quality, etc. I thought it was very intersting as I cast 6mm bullets.
 
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