Uses for old lead shot

[okiefarmer]

I have seen comments on the use of lead shot in casting bullets/balls, but can't right off hand remember if it was the arsenic in the shot that made it too hard, too soft, not fill out right, ad infinitum. I have had about 75# +/- of old shot that is turning white, mixed sizes, but mostly 7-1/2 (the birds prolly wouldn't know the difference) but was just wondering if it was soft enough for BP shooting. If so, I would just melt the stuff down and use this softer lead for BP, not try to blend it with tin or antimony for high speed projos. My steel bucket is about to fall apart anyway, gotta do something pretty fast.

TIA,
Okie out

 

[Jim Watson]

Shot contains some antimony and a fraction of a percent of arsenic to make it harden when dropped down the shot tower. A friend got several hundred pounds of shot from a defunct store and cast many good .45-70s out of it with a little tin added to get it to flow and fill the mold better.

 

[okiefarmer]

So just to get it to flow into molds better add say 1 ingot of WW to what, 8 or 10 pounds of lead shot, give or take a pound. It seems at that ratio, it wouldn't harden much with such a small amount of tin, yet perhaps flow a bit better. What the hay, I'll give it a shot.

Thanks

 

[Jim Watson]

Wheelweights don't contain enough tin to matter.
Why not just try casting with the shot and see how it comes out?
If the mold doesn't fill, it needs some tin which you can buy as such or as solder. Tin does not harden lead nearly as much as antimony, you need about 2% for best casting according to the BPCR folks I hang with.

 

[ribbonstone]

Mostly the arsnic ncreases surface tension so that it more readily forms into spheres. Can cast good bullets from it, not real hard but just about right for cowboy type loads....would prbably add a little tin, no so much for hardness but to try and help counteract the increased tension of the arsnic.

Have used reclaimed shot (the stuff they scoop up and sperate from trap and skeet ranges) for casting and it will work...does seem to have more rounded edges (probably from the arsnic/surface tension thing) but unless casting one of the multi-grooved Loverin type molds, it seems to do no real harm.
-------
And you are right...in a BP shotgun, for your average cylinder bore shooting, recliamed shot seems to do as well as anything else.

 

[mec]

I found it prone to expand rather than shatter when casting the Keith design hollow points. particularly good in the 1000=1150 fps range. Fills the mouled cavity pretty well all by itself.

 

[okiefarmer]

Last time for that at this house. Melting shot was a total cluster f*%k. I never imagined lead shot to react like it did in my little LYMAN 10 pounder. Got temp up to 725 and half of shot nefer melted, but instead turned to a powder. Numerous attempts to submerge remaining shot was useless. Finally skimmed "dross" off and cast up what I had in the pot in a LEE mould for the Ruger Old Army 45. Pill fill was pretty decent despite the arsenic. I then tried some new shot, thinking the oxidation, or whatever the white stuff is on lead, cause the problem. Half of the new shot would not go into solution. Cast oll lead in pot except for about 1/2 #. Just gonna go ahead and load up some icky looking shot in some dove/quail loads for next season. they shouldn't be able to tell the difference. Somebody 'splain what happened.

Thanks
Okie out

 

[4V50 Gary]

What are the hazards of gaseous arsenic? Is it OK to melt & cast provided you're downwind and away from your house?

 

[okiefarmer]

Well, ya know Gary, that was the last thing that crossed my mind at the time. I did have plenty of air movement, vented and all, but I was dumbfounded at the resistance of the shot to even melt. Half the pellets stayed on top of the melt. I finally just spooned it off and threw it away. I had no idea that there was something in shot to retard melting at normal temps. And where did the powder come from, even in the new shot I tried. I'm having a senior moment for sure on this, I thought I had seen it all. Been castin' for almost 35 years, but never tried old shot.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Well, I reckon it kain't be too bad. After all, womenfolk of the 19th Century use to wear a little bottle around their neck that contained arsenic. They would take a pinch to help them maintain that desired "pasty" complexion. I guess it worked.

 

[mec]

The only thing I've noticed is that the graphite coating rises to the top of the melt and sometimes keeps the shape of the shot. I just skim it off.

I have melted down odd leftover swaged round balls and found an orange or coppery matrix in the melt. This tends to gum up the pot pretty bad. Don't know what that is.