Making Lead Shot

[Firediver]

Wow.. what info.. well being a pyro, and a trained firefighter.. I think I would have some fun making the stuff .. heeee.. thanks for the advice.. I guess to stay safe I will make some calling around and see if I an buy some lead shot...... To many things can go wrong..... Thank you all for the advice.... .....

The Wilds of New Brunswick eh?? .....

 

[Firediver]

Height is 120' to drop the molten metal from...

 

[Tom Winters]

Walter...now you know where the next posts are going to be headed. These guys up north get into some pretty involved projects over the winter.
I'm waiting for "I was thinking of smelting some steel in my backyard and wondering if anyone had some ideas on how to make a tank mold..."

 

[Bob3]

Cheapest way is to hit a shooting range, they (are supposed to) frequently reclaim the spent shot & sell it at scrap prices.
Shot towers are pretty high, there are still in existence a few of the old ones in SW Wisconsin, some were about 120' & higher.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Find the local trap and skeet range. Find the grounds keeper. Ask him if is't ok to bring your 5 gallon bucket and a broom. Tell him you are NOT reloading shells, that you need the weight.

Sometimes they will let you sweep up the spent shot, sometimes not.

Most ranges are closed a couple days a week. Go when it's closed!

Here in So Cal some ranges are essentially a dry lake bed, go when it's dry.


When I was young and short of funds, and needed ~ 100 lbs to fill leather bags used for metal forming this method worked great. The Six pack for the grounds keeper was a little hard to acquire at 17, but that another story....

Downside of this method is you need to wash the shot, and you get lots of small shot, #9's.

Regards,



Tobin

 

[willydiver]

Nice.... scuba from the iron age. Next step is melting river quartz into a mask lens. There are some true DIYer's up there in the Canadian wilderness.

WD

 

[Randy43068]

just buy a bag of the stuff at Gander Mountain or Caballes. It comes in several different sizes. Heck, I think Wal-Mart may have it, too. It's in the sporting goods section. Reloading supplies.

 

[Firediver]

Holy Dis the canadians here.. .. We aren't that DYI intensive.. and not all of us get into these winter projects. I don't have time to make anything cause I am diving.. The only reason I asked here about making lead shot, is I have upgraded to a BP & wing system and making my own trim weights. I have the pouches made, just need lead. I picked up some tire weights, will melt that down...............................

 

[Firediver]

DYI--- DO IT YOURSELF.. not JUST GO BUY IT... I posted to here to see if it is possible to make your own lead shot and how to do it.. Got some good replies, and some not expected... oh well.....

 

[Spamsonite]

Just a consideration for after the shot is made/bought/snatched out of the air whilst flying past your head or spit out of whatever you happen to be eating at our family reunion...

Be sure that whatever you contain the shot in is very well drained. I made my own lead-shot weights using leftovers from reloading, and for lack of a better permanent setup I used sturdy ziplock bags and evacuated the air from them, then put them in velcroed cloth pouches and into the weight pockets on my BCD. I did this because I couldn't find any mesh fabric at the local sewing shops that was strong enough yet didn't have holes too large for the shot.

Well, water being what it is, it soon got into the ziplock bags and started rapidly oxidizing the lead, making a milky-white liquid that leaked and caked in fabric and onto whatever else it touched. Normally this isn't an issue with lead - like aluminum it will oxidize, but only the first few layers of atoms, then the process stops without making the item unusable. But lead shot has lots and lots of surface area, and there might have been something in the lake water that attacked it more viciously than normal. Anyway, I didn't have a good way to dry the weights without having to dump the shot, hand rinse it all, then re-weigh it and hope I didn't lose any. The prospect of having skin contact with that much mobilized lead didn't excite me very much, so I gave up my pet project and bought the professionally made soft weights from the LDS.

Lesson learned: be sure that the shot can dry fairly quickly and thoroughly. Also, the mesh allows any of the milky oxidized liquid that does form to immediately be washed out while you're underwater, which come to think of it, might not be a good thing for the little fishes who faithfully follow me everywhere (they have been trained to expect hot dogs from divers).