Shot Maker

[colt100]

I was looking at the price of lead shot and I couldn't believe that it was 38 dollars per #25 and they were completely sold out, telling me that the next shot on order is jumping to 45 dollars. :shocked2:

At these prices, I have been looking into making my own shot, maybe with one of these littleton shot makers. I know that the start up cost of these things are a bit high but if lead keeps going up, it maybe worth it, if I can find a source of cheap lead. I've been looking into getting into casting anyway.

Has anyone used a shot maker and what is the procedure? Does the shot come out round like the factory shot or is it mainly like the home made "swan shot" with the little tails on it?

Let me know your experiences. thanks

 

[paulvallandigham]

FWIW, shot prices are due to come down, as the Chinese have not bought any since last April, and all the recent price rises are due to panic buying by shooters. Since the military is phasing out the use of lead core bullets, that is another market that is drying up. Lead producers have to sell their product somewhere, and these prices cannot be sustained at those levels. I would simply hold off buying, and wait for the prices to come down. If you absolutely thing you can make better shot, then buy the kits, and try it.

 

[colt100]

The military maybe phasing out the lead core but that hasn't happened yet, and things change when your dealing with the gov. not to mention that I've been hearing that the military is phasing out lead for the last few years.

I can't believe that shooters "panic buying" has driven up the cost of lead on the open market to sustain increases from april. :shake:

I have enough lead shot for now but I'm looking into options incase things get worse or remain the same over the next few years.

Besides, if the kit was cheaper, I would just buy it to try it out but it's like 350 + shipping for the cheaper shot maker. The cost of start up could buy a lot of shot, even at today's prices.

Again, has anyone used one of these and if so what are your experiences.

 

[paulvallandigham]

A good friend of mine who has been a professional bullet caster made his own casting screen by taking a piece of sheet steel, and drilling holes in it. He did a little experimenting to find out what size holes produces what sized shot, but he did get shot out of the process, that he then screened to sort, and used in his shotguns. He found the work hot, tedious, and very time consuming, and decided he could make more money doing something else, and buy the shot. But it can be done. ( and for a lot less than the $350.00 you have mentioned.) Today, using available case tumblers, you can get round shot that is much more round than what you buy as dropped shot.

 

[Darkgael]

Two weeks ago, I was in Gander Mt.'s store in Montoursville, here in PA. I checked shot, looking for #6. They had none. What they had was priced at $45 per bag.
Pete

 

[arquebus]

I haven't used the Littleton Shotmaker, but a number of years ago I did have the opportunity to try a similar machine. That one only had two nozzles rather than the Littleton's seven, but it put out quite a respectable amount of shot. Once the correct temperature was reached the quality of the shot was quite good, too. From memory, we had to rub some chalk on the little ramp below the nozzles to prevent the lead from 'dragging' & forming teardrop shaped shot, & the shot fell into a can containing cooking oil to quench it.

I noticed in the latest edition of Handloader magazine (inside back cover) Magma Engineering[url] http://magmaengineering.com/[/url] are selling the Model 65 Littleton at $375.

 

[dant]

I had a Littleton shot maker a few years ago. It was a very time consuming process. You have to melt down the wheelweights, get rid of the impurities and try not to inhale the toxic smoke. Pour the molten lead into ingots and then feed ingots into shotmaker. The shot drops into a mixture of machine oil and water to cool. It seems like I could get about 25 lbs in an hour. At the time I could get wheel weights for free. I sold enough shot to friends (at $10 a bag) to pay for the thing. I never could make perfect shot, but good enough to shoot skeet with. It just got to labor intensive for my likes.