lead shot

[tman891]

Does any body make their own lead shot? I have seen videos on how to do it, but is it worth it?I have a friend who bought everything to do it but never did now wants to sell it all.

 

[cynthialee]

I have never made shot, but if I had the equipment to do so I would be firing up the lead pot as soon as I got the equipment. Finding the size shot one wants seems to be a crap shoot around here. Always happens, I can get every size except the one I wanted to buy.
I did try to make some swan shot a couple times but it was a miserable failure.

 

[Billnpatti]

Given the amount of work and the quality of the resultant shot, it is questionable as to whether or not it is worth it. It has been a while since I bought any shot so I don't know the current price. I also do not know the cost for the equipment to make your own shot. I do know that the going price for lead right now is in the range of $1 per pound. The price may vary from that depending on where you get your lead. Take it all together and it makes me wonder if the resultant shot that you get is really worth it. You will have to chase down the various prices and put the pencil to it to see if it is an economically sound decision to make your own shot or to just bite the bullet and buy the stuff....if you can find it. That, too, the availability of the shot that you want, must be figured into the equation.

 

[Snakebite]

A bag of shot around here (central Texas)is going for $40 to $45 dollars a bag. That's magnum shot. (and does not include shipping if buying online). IMO, by the time you buy the equipment and lead and time to make the shot, unless you really enjoy it, and shoot a whole lot, I'd pass.

 

[Patocazador]

Building a shot tower is a pain too. :shake:

 

[Lonegun1894]

I make my own, but am only set up for #6 shot. I have found that it covers everything I really need to do with birdshot. The cost was a bit high for the equipment, but I was also shooting and hunting while many hunters around here were complaining about not being able to find shot of any size, and not being able to find modern shotgun shells, and missing out on the hunting season. So I would say that during normal times when things are available, it is not worth the cost, but when things are not available, it was well worth it. Look at it this way, when I bought my shotmaker, the only lead shot I saw around here was being advertised at a bit over $100 for a 40# bag of #9 shot, and that one bag is still at the same gunshop as of last week collecting dust and not selling, with the same price sticker still on it. I make my own #6s birdshot, #4 buck, 00 buck, and RB for both my .54" and .710" smoothbores. Knap my own flints, although need quite a bit of practice still before I can claim to be good at it. Can't make caps yet, but luckily my .54 is a flinter. Also make other supplies but can't discuss those on this forum as per the rules.

 

[hobowonkanobe]

not quite off topic, but, is "buck shot" .32 cal or .36? I AM lookin into it but in the buck shot range for doing buck n ball loads in my Howdah.

 

[mooman76]

Lee sells buck shot moulds.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Buckshot is gauged by diameter in inches and/or approximate number per pound. Of the 5 sizes normally used and loaded in the U.S., the sizes are:

#4 buck-.24"
#3 buck-.25"
#1 buck-.30"
#0 buck-.32"
#00 buck-.33"

There's a 000 buckshot, but it's usually not encountered. Loads of buckshot "usually" work best with 3 balls per layer that just fit the bore. There's always the old 'dump in a handful', which at the kind of range Howdahs would have been used would probably been as good as more carefully arranged loads. The LaMat revolvers probably worked in a similar fashion since cavalry skirmish range was fairly close to 'touch and shoot'!

 

[hobowonkanobe]

I feel like a 45 year old geenie. Thanks, mate!

 

[Wes/Tex]

Does any body make their own lead shot? I have seen videos on how to do it, but is it worth it?I have a friend who bought everything to do it but never did now wants to sell it all.

The methods most commonly used before drop towers were developed in the 19th century were either to cut lead sheeting into cubes and roll or pinch into rough circular pellets. This method was used until the early 1600's when a method named for Prince Rupert was commonly in use that amounted to a hot sieve or plate with holes drilled or punched onto which the melted lead was poured. The molten lead ran through and dropped into a tub of water. The lead tended to ball up as it came through the sieve and dropped as pellets into the water. The one problem is that it formed shot that had a definite dimple on it, when seen in profile, the pellets look more like the shape of a Valentine heart than a true sphere. How much this affected the flight of the pellet is open to debate. There are some modern shooters who have duplicated both types of early shot for their own use, unfortunately, I'm not one of them and can't comment on their effectiveness.

From the comment you made about a friend having bought equipment, it may be that you're referring to buckshot rather than true 'shot' like you'd encounter in modern shot shells. If so, it'd definitely be cheaper to mold buckshot rather than buy it, especially if you can get the lead fairly cheaply. Good luck.

 

[tman891]

This equipment made lots of shot when working until the owner got ill. I can purchase this for the price of the lead -several hundred pounds.Really cant lose, can make money parting it out.It is in his way and he doesn't shoot as much so he buys what he needs.

 

[hobowonkanobe]

grrr! make that, "Greenie". dag nabbin rusafrakin... mutter ... mutter ... coffee

 

[Lonegun1894]

If the price is something you think is worth it, and you use birdshot enough to justify it to yourself, I would buy it as it will make you independent for shot. I have been making and using about 30-60#s a year, and while this isn't much in the grand scheme of things, I am also not limited by what is available at the local gunshop, if there is anything, so can shoot and hunt when I want (as long as the season is open, and our rabbit and squirrel season doesn't close), and not walk into the shop hopeful and leave it cussing like many I have seen. Then, if you have a use for buckshot, slugs, etc, etc, I would get whatever other casting equipment you need to feed you and yours.

 

[robinsroost]

The one problem is that it formed shot that had a definite dimple on it, when seen in profile, the pellets look more like the shape of a Valentine heart than a true sphere
quote]


That was the reason for the shot tower. The molten lead balls, poured through a screen or sieve have to fall a certain distance, before they become round. Otherwise, they will be heart shaped, or teardrop shaped..............Robin

 

[BrianL]

I made a lot of shot using a homemade version similar to a Littleton shotmaker. It wasn't round and I rolled it down a chute and the really bad ones rolled to the side and the better stuff made it to the bottom.Any shot traveling down a shotgun barrel is no longer round either.

It supported three of us shooting trap at 8 rounds per week of informal trap and I managed a consistent 23 bird average at 16 yds. I used wheel weights and heat treated the shot in an oven.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Yes sir...exactly right. It wasn't till shot towers came along that real round shot was possible. Still it's interesting to think about how may pheasants got 'pinched' by guys making their own shot by rolling, low pouring or even chewing, by a couple old accounts...not sure how accurate the last is.