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Anyone make their own shot pellets?

John A.

John A.

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In my humble attempt of being as self sufficient as possible, I was wondering if anyone here has cast their own shot pellets?

Been watching a lot of videos and it seems pretty straightforward.

There's some fancy expensive custom jobs, and I've seen some very functional home made casting pots too. While I'm not looking to buy a big expensive shot maker, I have seen a few made out of readily available stuff.

Yeah, I know, I can buy shot for $2 pound plus shipping. But, I think many here have seen times when even getting it is difficult at best. So, wanted to ask if anyone else here has done it and if they had any tips or tricks to maybe save me some time.

From my research, I found that #6 is about .028" diameter dripper hole.
#7 1/2 is .024"
#4 is .035"


 
That is something I have heard of before, and I think it is WAAAY beyond my desire to try it.

I thing that Remington and Federal have shot towers that are 25-feet tall.... WOW

Are there any suppliers near you who vacuum up shot from skeet ranges and sell it as reclaimed shot for a fraction of buying 25# bags?
 
LOL. No.

I've never even stepped foot on an actual "range".

I think the closest "real" firing range to me is in Knoxville, Tn. About 3 hour drive south.

Everyone here shoots on their own property.

I have seen reclaimed shot online. It is cheaper. But, by the time you pay shipping and stuff, it's still going to be a couple bucks a pound. Which will load 10-12 shells.

That's why I'm thinking about figuring out how to do it myself. Lots of junkyards and wheel weights around here. I went to a local junkyard recently and got 5 lbs of pure lead sinkers and ballast they had for $1 pound. They had about 35 lbs, but I only had a $5 bill in my pocket. Just my luck LOL

I do dig out the berm behind my target stand every year or two and often get some bullets and reuse them. But not been shooting much this year in comparison to other years.
 
Don't know buddy. It's like thick Georgia and Tennessee clay.
 
You have my attention. Following this one
 
I haven't done it yet Mike. But, with as tight as things are right now, and with the cost of everything getting into the atmosphere, I've been putting this off for too long. It's getting to the point where even the ostriches that usually keep their head in the sand have noticed. $6 for a box of cereal. $4.59 for a carton of eggs. There's $10 just for breakfast and won't even fill up a single bag.

Another example: $8.19 jar of miracle whip taken at the store today:
310397776_5791569014221362_8568713659570444843_n.jpg

I hope that things don't get as bad as I think they're going to. But my gut is telling me that it's probably even going to be worse. If nothing else, knowing how to do something may keep my family fed. If not for making shot for myself to put food on the table with, I'm not above making it for someone else and bartering for stuff that I need. Especially if they're supplying the lead. Blacksmiths and gunsmiths and those in precious metals never went hungry before. Matter of fact, many not only survived, but they thrived.

So, seriously thinking about adding this to the list of important skills to have. I'll probably start with a single element electric stove, but could convert over to wood fire if necessary later.

I have made a couple of the dripper bolts. And gotten a little cheap bread pan from the dollar store to see if it's thick enough and strong enough to withstand the heat. If not, I'll drop the money on a small cast iron one. But for now, I think the little dollar store pan will work long enough to experiment with.
 
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A little bit OT, but it seems we have another 'Whip boy here? :) I prefer the light stuff with the light blue cap. My recipe for tuna salad: 2 cans chunk light tuna (packed in water) drained, 2 table spoons relish, 2 table spoons MW, mix well, put between a couple slices of toast... ;)
 
No, I actually don't like the taste of it. I can tell you the JFG brand is what's on big mac's though. I don't really like them either.

I prefer regular mayonnaise. Wife went to the store earlier and mayo was on the shopping list and she sent me a picture of it because she was shocked by the price.
 
John, would there be any reason you couldn't use a small metal surplus ammo can as a melt vessel?

The only homemade rig I've ever seen was when the guy took some steel plate and welded up a small pan then tapped one side for the bolts to screw in. He use it with over a wood fire and had water filled steel bucket to catch the shot. Seemed to work well.

The only issue I saw was some of the shot stuck together or was deformed. He picked them out by hand to remelt but I would think some sort of a sieve could be used to sort the shot.

Good luck on your new project. Becoming self sustaining has been my life long goal.

Regards
 
Thanks Ernst. I saw where a few were using 50cal ammo cans to catch the shot in fabric softener/water solution. Hadn't considered using an ammo can for melter. I would imagine it would work better than an old metal coffee can or whatever it was being used in one of my reference videos.
 
John, I remember reading years ago that someone used mig welding tips to form their shots. Know they come in 0.025, 0.030 and 0.035 wire diameters.

What size bolts did you use to make your nozzles?

One of the best solutions used in blacksmith forging operations as a coolant is used tractor hydraulic oil. Most of us who have tractors have a few gallons sitting around or neighbors who will gladly give it away.

Regards
 
I haven't used bolts or made any nozzles yet. I have the lathe and mill machines where I could just buy any size bolt I want and go from there if I need to.

3/8" bolt seems like a decent jumping off point if I use a bolt. In looking at the mig tips, I found a thread chart here: https://weldingmastermind.com/are-mig-welding-tips-universal-lets-find-out/

That doesn't really sound like too bad of an idea really.

I was also thinking of maybe not even drilling and threading anything and simply just drilling the appropriate size hole through whatever vessel I used to melt the lead in?

I was considering using cast iron because it's somewhat thick walled and would last a lifetime. If I drill through the wall with whatever size port I wanted to use (I definately want #6 shot) so ~.028" hole. And from the inside drill about a 1/4" countersunk hole half way through the wall on the back side closely centered to the .028 through hole. That's very similar in shape to how a Lee professional lead pot looks at the spigot/spout on the inside.
 
John, mig tips have metric treads if I remember right.

Would think you could use a metric nut welded to the outside of an old ammo box or some other melting vessel and simply screw in the appropirate size mig welding tip as a forming nozzle.

Would also be easy to replace if they wear out.

Regards
 
Bobster said:
A little bit OT, but it seems we have another 'Whip boy here? :) I prefer the light stuff with the light blue cap. My recipe for tuna salad: 2 cans chunk light tuna (packed in water) drained, 2 table spoons relish, 2 table spoons MW, mix well, put between a couple slices of toast... ;)
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Wow, that’s uh, crazy. That is almost $3 more than it is here. And the sign says you (John) are “saving” $1.50. The two pack is $8.50 here. I love Merkalwhip ( tuna, banana or turkey sandwiches) but use mayo for most other things, especially when I want grilled cheese, but don’t have any spreadable butter. Mayo makes a dandy substitute.
 
That's a small mom and pop store, so they don't get the big box store pricing like walmart that probably buys multiple tractor/trailer loads at a time.
 
Ernst said:
John, I remember reading years ago that someone used mig welding tips to form their shots. Know they come in 0.025, 0.030 and 0.035 wire diameters.
Click to expand...

As a welder, I find this interesting. Tip sizes also go higher to .040, .045, .052, 1/16 and 5/64 inch and probably other sizes I can't recall. I would think Tweco tips are std thread and very available as Lincoln and a zillion other welder mfgs use them. You can buy Tweco tips at ACE Hardware. All I have here are Miller and Fasttips which are different so I couldn't measure the thread size for you.
 
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