Home made shot.

[Snarepeg 28]

Have started to drop lead shot again.

have dropped it for 50 years into Diesle on top of water, then had to go thru the cleaning process which was a pain.

have been dropping into fabric liquid, with decent results and easy to wash of.

just tried a run with cheap anti freeze and well pleased, it rinses of fine, shot good anough for game or clays .

lead sources aren't as good as they used to be but it's keeping me in front on reloading costs.

now where's the wife's colander Just need to siv it thru.

 

[justabloke 6]

I'd be very interested in seeing photos of your set up. I had access to many kgs of lead last year and was even gifted a home-made shot maker, but I think I was getting the temp wrong and the shot was all tear drop shaped. Ended up melting the lead (scrap flashing from a demolition) into ingots and selling it on eBay.

If I could make shot I definitely would. Doesn't make much sense for 12 g, but the wife wants to shoot 20g and maybe even 410 so it would be worthwhile then.

As you say, good lead is hard to come by. I'll hold on to any that comes my way from now on though as I should give shot making another go.

FYI, the set up I have is meant to produce #7 or 7.5, so ideal for clays.

Cheers

[Deker 3,478]

Ok, dozy here doesn't have a clue about this stuff, but I hear tales of people dropping lead from church steeples and the like; question comes to mind, how do you make different sizes of shot?

Cheers

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Have made shot with more deviices  over the years, some good some bad and some .awfull.

using a 150 volt 2 shotdropper from New Zealand borrowed from a friend.

its dropping good 5/6 shot but changing the drippers to 7.5 for clays.

lead is a mix of sheet and old piping, melted and cleaned and into ingots courtesy of wife's baking trays.

Will have go at getting some photos up after tomorrow.

 

[Snarepeg 28]

Shot size mainly depends on size of hole in dripper,  but can also alter bigger or smaller slightly with weight of lead above or below dripper.

also temperature can alter it slightly.

its a learning curve but well worth the effort if you are reloading a fair amount.