Note from the Management: The official blogging computer for the ERJ blog died. I am using a back-up computer with the keys offset from what I am used to. It is also a Chromebook so I am getting my arms around that, too. Please be patient.
Shot dippers
Apparently, making your own shot is not that difficult of an endevour. There are countless videos on Youtube. Oasis is a common brand
Key points:
- The molten lead drips out of a nozzle with a small orifice. More about that later.
- Larger shot is less round than smaller shot
- Shot size also varies by the amount of "head" or the depth of the pool of molten lead.
- Dripped shot is bounced off of a stainless steel ramp and into a container of coolant that looks like almost pure, undiluted antifreeze (ethylene glycol).
- The ramp must be coated with soot or some kind of grease
- The ingots of lead must be clean as the orifices are small and clog easily.
- If you have an inexpensive source of lead wheel-weights and are not absolutely anal about having EXACTLY size 7-1/2 shot then making your own shot looks doable.
If you are as cheap as I am, then you keep digging.
One kindred spirit refuses to spend $60 for eight drippers when he can buy 15 0.035" diameter "Tweeko" MIG welder tips for a buck each. According to the cheap guy, his production runs between #6 and #7 in shot size which I consider to be prime for the small game I am likely to encounter in the mid-West. An ounce of #6 lead runs 220 pellets to the ounce while #7-1/2 runs 350 to the ounce.
Copper is slightly soluble in molten lead so the hole would likely increase in size over time. MIG weld tips can also be purchased in 0.030" diameter as well.
At $2 a pound the cost of shot for reloading 25 rounds of 12 gauge runs about $4 a box...if you can find the shot. Shot is a major cost of reloading.
I've made my own shot using a Littleton shotmaker. Keeping the lead pool at a content temp is a challenge. Have a propane torch handy to make "adjustments" and keep your drippers flowing while your main heat source catches up if you get the pool too cool. Egg shaped shot works just fine. I set up a series of pie pans with holes drilled in them to sort the output by size. A cheapo China Freight small cement mixer without the internal baffles does a good job of coating your new shot with graphite so it will flow through your loader better.
ReplyDeleteThat should be 'constant temp', not 'content'
DeleteI think Littleton was purchased by Oasis.
DeleteWhat did you use for coolant?
Undiluted antifreeze, the non-toxic green type. Sierra? I don't recall exactly why, but something about the formula made it the one that Littleton recommended at the time.
DeleteThe Oasis unit appears to be bigger in every dimension than the Littleton I used. I would consider that an improvement. The heating element was too small, not enough space to pre-warm the next ingots, too shallow a pan to retain heat well.
DeleteAs a 10 year old I remember asking what a particular building was for. I was told they melted lead up at the top,poured it out, after falling for a bit the molten lead would hit a screen(different size screens for different size shot) it was then allowed to fall more till it hit a pool of water below. There is a chance I was being fed a line of bull however.
ReplyDeleteIn the old days shot was made that way. It takes a minimum of 30 ft free-fall for the molten lead to go from tear drop shape to spherical.
DeleteThe search term to use is "shot tower". One was pointed out to me on the way to Sauratown Mountain - I looked them up then promptly forgot everything but their existence...
DeleteIs there such a thing as lead wheel weights anymore?
ReplyDeleteLead and wheel weights have disappeared where I live. I have a few pounds socked away but the chance to replace any used is slim. I know car batteries, and those little lead acid gel cells are made using lead but I have not taken the time to determine how much is Lead by weight. I've watched videos of idiots hacking apart a car battery and turning their kitchens and back yard into a toxic waste site just to recover two pounds of metallic lead. The rest of the lead usually ends up as oxides and sulfate creating a hazard.
ReplyDeleteThe state of Kalifornia banned lead tire weights some years back. I was still pissed when we escaped to Texas in 2015 and brought about 300 lbs. of weights and some linotype with me.
ReplyDeleteBack in the early 80's, I had a source for drop shot that I used in my percussion revolvers. Worked great. I recall reading somewhere about a shot tower used by the CSA. It was built on the edge of a bluff to get 150 ft. drop for the shot, which landed in water. Shot was then rolled down an incline that had a short gap. Round shot went fast enough to clear the gap. The ones that fell through were added to the next melt.