I been making shot since the early 90's.
once you get the process down it isn't that big of a deal, but there is a learning process, and it does take up time to make any appreciable amount of shot.
I run a 6 dripper system and would go to a 12 in a heartbeat if I had more lead to donate to shot making.

I'm not burning up the 3 tons I have for bullet casting to make shot though.
I generally use up the 'meh,,, dunno' stuff I run across.

Thanks guys I was just wondering. I can't find 6 shot locally. But can find the 7.5, 8 and 9 shot all I want. I didn't know about making it. I was needing it squirrel and crow hunting loads. I wasn't going to quit my job. To start making shot. I was going to may extra to help other shooters out.

I personally wouldn't invest into home shot-making equipment today. I sort of wish that I had done it about ten years ago, when lead was fairly easy to come by and shot prices were going up.

I think the switch to non-lead wheel weights really put a hurting on the free or cheap lead supply for home bullet/jig/sinker casters and shot droppers.

Holy cow, I wouldn't drop two tons in the back of any truck I've ever owned. Was that a sail boat keel or something?

Around here that would sell for over a buck a pound if it was melted down into bars that could be handled. I'd break it down and sell it on craigslist. Use that money to buy a ton of shot. Then stack the bags like cord wood

I have made shot in the past. A few years ago there was a guy selling steal pans with dripper bolts on I think ebay for less then $100, add a cheap propane burner, catch basin and cooling liquid and your off and running. There is a learning curve but even the doughnut and flat shot breaks targets at the 16 yard just fine so you can still shoot the stuff your making while figuring things out instead of just remelting everything.
Making shot is time consuming once you smelt the lead, drip the shot then wash, screen and graphite it but it's no worse then anything else reloading. Shot making can put the hurt on a lead supply in a hurry.
There is no more or less health risk in shot making as there is in anything reloading or shooting. Guys that bring this up as an excuse just don't have an understanding of the health risks overall or just think the sky is falling all the time.
I haven't made any shot in a few years as I would rather save my lead for bullets and I can purchase about all the reclaimed lead shot I need. i do like knowing that at any time I can drip what shot I might need.

Do those of you make your own shot every have your blood lead levels checked? I ask because I know people who cast their own bullets and reload pistol/shotgun who have had increased lead levels from their hobby.
Jeff

I don't drop lead shot but I do a lot of reloading and shooting and used to shoot indoors in a pre-OSHA-or-whatever dirt floor shooting range (can't be mopped so fallout accumulates). I have also eaten a lot of grouse downed with #8 lead shot and I'm sure a pellet or three of that got accidentally ingested occasionally.

I had my lead level checked a few times over the years and have yet to score even in the top half of the "acceptable" scale. I did have one friend that tested high enough to warrant medical treatment. He was a firearms instructor for a law enforcement agency as well as an avid shooter and reloader. Exposure to lead in one way or another was practically a daily thing for him.

I don't know how he dealt with lead hygiene. For all I know, he may have worked at his reloading bench while smoking a cigarette and eating potato chips.

I'm not trying to say lead is harmless or dangerous. If you follow recommended procedures when working with the stuff, don't eat or smoke while handling it, and shoot in modern indoor ranges, you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

I reload, shoot at an indoor range at least once a week, 200-300 rounds, and I cast my own bullets. I have my blood level checked every 5 years, have yet to have any issues, always at the low levels of the scale.


cdb

X2......Casting and reloading lead bullets for 45 years. With no body lead accumilation. It's all in how you do it.

I have been helping my dad make sinkers since the 80's. Always in a well vented place. I watched few video's on u tube. So the shot comes out of the oasis dripper wouldn't be hard enough to squirrel or crow hunt with?

yes it is.
matter of fact dripping it into a cool liquid makes it even harder.
if you have any antimony in the alloy [2% say] and drop hot to cold like a dripper does I bet the pellets BHN is close to 18-20.
that's 5 points more than the AA and STS alloys BHN is.

yeah 5 BHN doesn't seem like much but it's just about the same affect as doubling the amount of antimony in the alloy.
[or to put it another way a coolant dropped and speed quenched low [2-3%] antimony alloy will harden up to the same BHN as linotype]

I'd probably turn it into something easier than shot (maybe sinkers), sell them and buy shot.

Though I'd be real happy if my neighbor made good shot and sold to me at $25/bag.

I'd need data to back that up. Particularly with low antimony, I don't think you can get anywhere near that hard.

I did find this:

https://www.randywakeman.com/WhoPutsthe ... shells.htm


BHN of 10 would surpass about any commercially available lead shot.

look on any bullet casting forum you'll see about 300-K posts backing up what water dropped alloy hardens to.

i'll sum it up for you though.
the antimony crystals haven't full formed yet and they get trapped throughout the alloy tricking the lead portion into being influenced by the smaller portions of antimony distributed throughout.
the arsenic in smaller amounts precipitates the hardening process by acting like a grain refining agent to the alloy rather than as a surface tensioner.
the tighter grain packing of the alloy combined with the stratified antimony crystals makes a much tighter more compact alloy which stops the antimony migration [making the BHN higher] and holds back the SbSn chain from fully forming.

oh and the STS-AA type shells run 6% antimony.
air cooled [such as a tower dropped shot would be] and no tin added would have the BHN of that alloy up nearly as high as the 'hard cast' commercial bullets we all see advertised as 15 BHN.

if the alloy is however swaged or extruded the BHN will be much lower.
like those dead soft 5% antimony target type 38 special bullets Hornady, and speer likes to sell [you know those knurled looking one's]

and yeah I've seen that chart.
any way a 2.5-3.0% antimonial alloy will have a BHN of 12, it takes 6% antimony to get to 15.
water drop that 12 BHN from a 375-400F mold into room temp water and you get 18 BHN.
you just have to wait for the molecules to settle down for 30 day's or so.

since we are dropping 600+ F alloy into slightly higher catch water temps the effect will still be the same.

I have been making shot for about six years now. When someone asks me if they should get into shot making the first thing I ask them is: How much shot per year do you need? The second is: Do you have a reliable source of cheap lead? I cost me about $1,000 to get into making shot. Buying the machine is only 1/2 the cost of getting into making quality shot. You will also need a coolant tank, drying pans, sieves to sort shot, a correctly made table to mount the drop tank, shot maker, etc on. Wash buckets, catch bucket for the shot and the coolant when draining the tank. I graphite my shot in a vibratory tumbler and that seems to work well but is noisy. I store my finished shot in two liter pop bottles. Being a bullet caster for 45 years I already have the smelting/alloying pot and turkey fryer base with plenty of ingot molds to prep my scrap wheel weight alloy for the shot maker. The least fun part is sieving the shot, I made my sieves out of 12" square wire cloth screen material I got from Graingers and mounted them in 2x4 frames. IMHO if you only need a couple hundred pounds a year, just shop the sales and save all the time and trouble.