About thirty years ago, I experimented with "tempered" lead shot. This was about the same time that E. H. Harrison was writing about head treating lead bullets in The American Rifleman.
The shot in question was "butter" #4 chilled shot of an unknown brand. This shot was very soft. I could easily flatten its pellets with a needle-nosed pliers using just the pressure of my thumb and index finger. The patterns that were generated with this shot were disappointing. The load that the shot was used in was a 10 gauge black powder load that used roughly "bulk for bulk" with the shot and Goes Ffg black powder and Remington cases, primers, and plastic wads. The loads were fired from a friend's Damascus-barreled Parker double that apparently was choked "full" in both barrels.
Taking my lead from Harrison, I heated the shot in an oven that was set for 400 degrees F for approximately thirty minutes. After the thirty minutes of heating time was over the shot was taken from the oven and it was immediately poured into a bucket of cold water. The treated shot was then taken out of the water and placed on sheets of newspaper to dry.
The resulting shot did not look like much. The shot had lost its graphite coating in the water bath and it now was a dingy gray color and was rough to the touch. When the shot was tested for hardness, however, the result was dramatic. I could now only make the slightest mark on the shot's pellets even when very heavy hand pressure was applied to it using a standard pliers. Lacking a supply of powdered graphite, I lubricated the treated shot using a generous amount of WD-40.
When the shot was loaded into its customary gun/cartridge combination the results were also dramatic. Exact pellet counts were not made but if the 40-yard patterns that this gun and load were not at or near 100% they were pretty close. I have never seen patterns that had the combination of density and evenness that these loads generated when heat-treated shot was used.
Has anyone else experimented with heat-treated lead shot? If so, what were the results?
The shot in question was "butter" #4 chilled shot of an unknown brand. This shot was very soft. I could easily flatten its pellets with a needle-nosed pliers using just the pressure of my thumb and index finger. The patterns that were generated with this shot were disappointing. The load that the shot was used in was a 10 gauge black powder load that used roughly "bulk for bulk" with the shot and Goes Ffg black powder and Remington cases, primers, and plastic wads. The loads were fired from a friend's Damascus-barreled Parker double that apparently was choked "full" in both barrels.
Taking my lead from Harrison, I heated the shot in an oven that was set for 400 degrees F for approximately thirty minutes. After the thirty minutes of heating time was over the shot was taken from the oven and it was immediately poured into a bucket of cold water. The treated shot was then taken out of the water and placed on sheets of newspaper to dry.
The resulting shot did not look like much. The shot had lost its graphite coating in the water bath and it now was a dingy gray color and was rough to the touch. When the shot was tested for hardness, however, the result was dramatic. I could now only make the slightest mark on the shot's pellets even when very heavy hand pressure was applied to it using a standard pliers. Lacking a supply of powdered graphite, I lubricated the treated shot using a generous amount of WD-40.
When the shot was loaded into its customary gun/cartridge combination the results were also dramatic. Exact pellet counts were not made but if the 40-yard patterns that this gun and load were not at or near 100% they were pretty close. I have never seen patterns that had the combination of density and evenness that these loads generated when heat-treated shot was used.
Has anyone else experimented with heat-treated lead shot? If so, what were the results?
