Gents:
I have a POS shotmaker. It works but the shot is malformed with several tries, with friends, and with the instructions in hand. I'm shooting clays at my home range and am accumulating a pile of hulls and I would like to reload. I have an endless supply of wheelwrights but I've been told wheelwrights don't make good shot. I really don't want to spend 40-50$ per bag of shot if there is a better alternative.
Any suggestions?
Or recommendations on a better shotmaker that is simple, easy to use, accepts wheelwrights for number 8 shot, and will produce a large quantity of shot in a reasonable amount of time.
Thanks for your help on the 10 gauge press issue so I know you come up with some valuable information here.
Cheers, mates.
Cal

Cal,

I have not seen one that actually makes shot that is round.

Years ago I found a swimming pool full of lead shot. Several sizes mixed together.

I have no idea how it got there and the man who sold it me did not either.

I bought the lot, and stored them in 48 gallon drums.

I still have about 12 drums left.

A shame you are so far away, otherwise I am more than happy to let you have some.

Cal,
I have been making my own shot for at least 30 years. My original shotmaker was made by a gentleman in Utah. My present one is very similar, and I believe it is a Littleton.

Shotmaking can be laborious, and at times difficult. On a good day, I can make about 60 lbs in about 3 hours.

First, the lead MUST be clean going into the shotmaker. Salvaged lead (including lead wheelweights) must be smelted into clean ingots. Lead wheelweights make great shot, however they have been banned over most of the US. They have been replaced with iron and/or zinc weights.

If zinc is melted in with your lead, it will ruin the mix.

The type of coolant that the shot falls into is critical, as is the temperature of the coolant. I use a mixture of laundry detergent and water, and keep the coolant under 125* F.

I make about size 8-8 1/2 shot and it is not perfectly round, but tumbling it with a pinch of powdered graphite helps.

When I was shooting registered Trap and later registered Skeet, my shot was good enough to get me my 27 yard punch in ATA Handicap Trap, and into class A and AA in all gauges of NSSA registered Skeet, plus a spot on the Montana State Skeet Team.

Thanks for the info.
All of my lead is wheelwrights and in clean one pound ingots.
I would be happy with 60 pounds in three hours but I wonder if there are any makers that can make shot more quickly--like using a one cavity mould, or a two cavity mould, or a six cavity mould.
Cheers,
Cal

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Cal,

I have not seen one that actually makes shot that is round.

Years ago I found a swimming pool full of lead shot. Several sizes mixed together.

I have no idea how it got there and the man who sold it me did not either.

I bought the lot, and stored them in 48 gallon drums.

I still have about 12 drums left.

A shame you are so far away, otherwise I am more than happy to let you have some.

Thanks for the thought.
Cal

If you have the space and the money, making your own shot tower is not that difficult. If you can get a 20 foot high tower (read like a deer stand) with the capability of getting electricity to the top and put a kiddie wading pool in the drop area, you can make some stuff that it almost as good as the best commercial stuff. Basically, how fine a screen you pour it through will determine shot size. A friend of mine did this years ago, but since then I have just brought my own shot as I never had a good source of free lead.

Wheel weights will work just fine. They don't have a lot of antimony, so they are pretty soft though. Read flyers and pellet deforming. If you are just doing this for your own informal practice, no problems, but you could always add some antimony to the mix when you make the ingots.

The Littleton shot makers work OK for smaller shot sizes, but trying to make bigger sizes for hunting results in some odd looking shot that will not pattern all that well, but if you are after close shots, it will do.

quote:

Basically, how fine a screen you pour it through will determine shot size.

Any references or examples available? Sounds interesting.

quote:

Originally posted by crbutler:
If you have the space and the money, making your own shot tower is not that difficult. If you can get a 20 foot high tower (read like a deer stand) with the capability of getting electricity to the top and put a kiddie wading pool in the drop area, you can make some stuff that it almost as good as the best commercial stuff. Basically, how fine a screen you pour it through will determine shot size. A friend of mine did this years ago, but since then I have just brought my own shot as I never had a good source of free lead .

20 feet sounds pretty short. These should give you an idea of the height of a good shot tower.

Cal,

Three of us went together and bought a 'Littleton' shot maker many years ago and made over 1000 pounds of shot with it, mostly 7 1/2's. We dropped in a mixture of water and water soluable oil. If the water/oil mix gets too hot the shot clumps badly. While none of the shot was perfect we killed thousands of pigeons, Starlings and clay birds with it. If we could still get lead wheel weights we would still be making shot.

Thanks, Elk Hunter. I am getting a small group of gents near my home in AK who want to shoot clays and we may chip in and buy a shotmaker and also a progressive reloader for 12-bore. I used to be in the auto business and have an endless supply of wheel weights.
Cal

Cal,

Make sure you have a way to cool the oil/water or what ever you drop into as I stated when the coolant gets hot the shot will clump.

You're lucky if you have a good supply of lead as the new wheel weights are zink and will foul a batch of lead and the pot they are melted in and ruin the lead and the pot.