Mixing Lead Shot

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  • Last Post 29 December 2009
saggitar posted this 15 December 2009

Need help here gentlemen  (New to casting)  A friend of mine gave me ..50 pounds of #8 chilled lead shot. If I melt this down as is will it be to soft to shoot in my 38 special/357mag &1874 Pedersoli Sharps 45/70 ?

Should I be adding the shot to some other lead or visa-versa?  I have some Lyman #2 coming from Rotometals in a few days, so I can experiment a little with some helpfull wisdom.

I  load my own with Middle of the pack loads( not to soft or hot)  I generally shoot the Sharps at about 1350 fps with a 350 gr lead bullet. Hope this kind of gives you the picture.

Thanks for the help, Saggitar

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JetMech posted this 15 December 2009

Saggitar,

8 chilled is too soft and Lyman #2 too hard for the 45/70. I'm thinking the two mixed in equal proportions should yield an alloy about 11-12 BHN, which should work in both you applications, as long as you keep the revolver loads below 1000FPS with plain base bullets.

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CB posted this 15 December 2009

The great thing about chilled shot is that is usually has a bit of antimony and arsenic, which would allow you to heat treat and get a harder bullet.

Do a search here on the forum for the alloy calculator speadsheet that Jess Dressler created and has the filename Alloy5.xls That will help you get close to what you want for hardness.

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CB posted this 20 December 2009

I use mostly WWs lead for most of my 38 Spl and 45/70 loads, 357 Mag, that depends on the velocity that you wish to shoot at.

For faster bullets, I use Lyman #2, for very fast, I use Lino, for ridiculously fast, I buy factory jacketed bullets.

Jeff is correct in using chilled shot with other leads to get the correct alloy, that will be a little harder because of the arsenic and can be Heat Treated. Getting some shot for nothing is a miracle from heaven these days.

Jerry

 

 

 

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saggitar posted this 21 December 2009

AND miracles do and are continuing to happen. My friend is bring about another 200 lbs of chilled shot (from his 1200lb stock in Oregon) He no longer reloads for shot shells. Any ideas on a better use for this stuff for reloading 38/357mag,45/70/9mm. ie, trading for alloys, using the shot for lead,or as a hardner for lead with a little tin added? What would be the wisest path to go? Saggitar

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CB posted this 21 December 2009

I will trade you some linotype for some chilled shot if you have the right size for my uses in shotshells. I don't need #8, but 2 4 or 6 would work for me.

I also have Lyman #2 ingots made up at the moment and will be making more when the weather gets better.

Jerry

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saggitar posted this 22 December 2009

Jerry, Bad Karma----all I Have is # 8, Thanks anyway, Saggitar

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CB posted this 22 December 2009

So another deal for another day.

Your welcome,

Jerry

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devin1955 posted this 22 December 2009

Jeff Bowles wrote: The great thing about chilled shot is that is usually has a bit of antimony and arsenic, which would allow you to heat treat and get a harder bullet. The bad thing, as a shotgunner, is seeing good shot get melted down to mix alloy.  :(

-Don

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cityboy posted this 22 December 2009

We need to be careful in our terms. CHILLED shot has an antimony content of around 0.5%, while HARD shot has an antimony content of around 5-6%. I have used both for casting rifle bullets. The casting qualities of CHILLED shot were poor, while HARD shot cast quite well and shot well

and needed no fluxing because of the high arsenic content. The arsenic acts as a self-fluxer.

Jim

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saggitar posted this 29 December 2009

Jim, thanks for the clarification on chilled vs. hard shot antimony content. Iv'e never read any info on that. By the way---can anyone educate me on the correct pronunciation of ANTIMONY?

IS IT AN-TIMONY OR ANTI-MONY ? Just WONDERING, SAGGITAR

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corerf posted this 29 December 2009

Antimony (pronounced /ˈæntɨmɵnɪ/ AN-ti-mo-nee) is a chemical element with the symbol Sb (Latin: stibium, meaning “mark") and atomic number 51. A metalloid, antimony has four allotropic forms. The stable form of antimony is a blue-white metalloid. Yellow and black antimony are unstable non-metals. Antimony is used in electronics and flame-proofing, in paints, rubber, ceramics, enamels, drugs to treat Leishmania infection and a wide variety of alloys.

That was copied from wikipedia. I was corrected by a metals laboratory that I tried to buy reagent grade metal from. Wow, it was expensive. Sold only in grams. The wrong source for “anti-mony". I still like the sound of an-timony better though.

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