Casting round balls using shotgun lead ?

[Stony Broke]

I have done a fair amount of casting in my lifetime, but never tried casting lead shot into round balls. A friend gave me a fairly large amount of lead shot and I was wondering if anyone ever tried using it and if it is considered soft enough for round ball usage.

 

[Carbon 6]

Shot is hard to come by these days at a decent price. I'd use it as shot, sell it or trade it for casting lead, but I would't melt it down into balls.

 

[Phil Coffins]

And the shot has antimony in it that hardens the lead, not the best for muzzle loaders. Also the value of shot is much higher then lead.

 

[ppg1949]

I agree with Carbon 6. I think it may be to hard for muzzleloaders because it probably has tin and antimony in it. But I'm not sure of the exact content of modern shot. So perhaps someone knows this and will post it.

 

[Carbon 6]

it probably has tin and antimony in it. But I'm not sure of the exact content of modern shot.

It also has arsenic in it. Hardness is going to depend on age, who made it and whether or not it is magnum shot, or chilled shot. But hardness doesn't matter because it's a waste to mold it into balls especially if you have a lot of it. It's just too valuable as shot.

 

[Stony Broke]

I guess you guys are right about the shot as far as antimony content is concerned. I guess it would be too hard to use for round balls. I gave up loading for shotguns quite a few years ago, and don't even cast for modern guns anymore either, so I guess I'll have to do something else with it. Thanks for the advice guys !

 

[Ranch 13]

That shot makes for pretty good bullets for blackpowder cartridge rifles, and handgun bullets. It would also work well for bullets in a long range muzzleloader

 

[VADSLRAM]

I have to agree that shot is more valuable than casting lead. Hardness is much less of an issue. No matter what the alloy is it will fly down the barrel just fine.
Try craig's list or one of the other trading sites, we have the VA gun trader that's pretty active. I'm sure you could either trade or just get cash to buy casting ingots. I had to get rid of 4 boxes of Tula 30 carbine because steel cases were out of spec for my new TC re-machining of the M1 carbine. it took a day and sold them for only 2 bucks less than I paid.

 

[Enfield58]

You might make more money by selling the shot and converting the cash into swaged round balls.

 

[rafterob]

There is pure lead shot, really hard to find since the last big glut. I was able to get 2 bags right before the Great Hoarding episode. Shoot the shotgun sparingly so I still have a bag and 1/3 left.

 

[Kansas Jake]

Several sizes of buck shot will work in some of the smaller caliber rifles. I've use it. Other than that, I agree with trying to sell or trade the shot for soft lead. You might be able to get more pounds of lead than you are giving up in shot.

 

[lyman54]

My friend once gave me a bundle of shot so I added to my pot. Ruined all the lead in there, it all turned black and useless. Had to scrub the pot clean. If you're not sure it's pure lead, use it for other stuff.

 

[mooman76]

It's actually not to hard for RBs but optimally harder than you want. Allot of people use range lead which typically has antimony and other lead hardeners. A guy posted he was using Brass to shoot with and had good results. He was in CA and couldn't hunt with lead. I do agree with others though, sell or swap for soft lead. People that cast for cartridge guns will jump on it or shot shell users.

 

[Ranch 13]

The worst part of using lead shot from the bag is the stuff is usually graphite coated, and it takes a good bit of time stirring and skimming the pot to get it all out, but if the price was right and you have plenty of it , give it a whirl. Other wise just hang on to it for a rainy day when you can't get ahold of a good source of pure lead.

 

[stink koat]

Just buy Speer or Hornady "SWAGED " round balls and be done with it, NO MESS NO FUSS, and perfectly ROUND balls!.

 

[Enfield58]

Or you could keep the lead shot and buy a muzzle loading shotgun.

That’s what I did. It is a Pedersoli SxS 20 gauge. Shooting it is the most fun that you could have with your clothes on.

I also purchased a foot operated thrower and don’t need anyone to pull for me.

It also makes me want to get a beagle again to go rabbit hunting the way our ancestors did.

Trust me, you will fall in love with black powder shotgunning.