lead shot seperator?

RugerBob said:

Hi All,
I acquired a large coffee can of lead shot. Its mixed 8,9 6 and 4.
I would like an easy way to get the 4 and 6 out. I load for cowboy shooting and they say no loads with #6 shot or larger.
Its probably a one time deal and I just need a cheap simple option to seperate the larger 2 sizes.
Thanks, Bob

Click to expand...

#9 Shot - 0.079"
#8 Shot - 0.089"
#6 Shot - 0.109"
#4 Shot - 0.129"

Find a wire screen or mesh that slightly smaller that the biggest shot you wish to exclude, and pour....

Go to a real hardware store. You should be able to buy hail screen or window screen by the foot.

Go to one of those end-of-the-road illegal dump sites. Should be some hunks of tossed screens.

A cheap simple option would be a plastic colander from a dollar store. Take one pellet of each size with you for scientific testing. snicker. Kind of suspect a colander's holes will be too big though.
Any window screening will be too small.
Plan 'B' would be to make a custom shot sieve out of a plastic bowl from a dollar store. 7/64" drill is .1093" diameter(a #35 drill is .110"). Drill, then shake and stir. That'll leave the #4 in the sieve. Repeating will leave the #6.

Plan B above sounds like a plan to me.^^

I was more of, gather up the neighborhood kids, give them gloves and equal piles of shot, Have them divide into cups. The first one to finish wins. Pay him/her what ever you want. Tell parents they are playing with LEAD.

Everyone wash up and buy a pizza!

Might see if there is a fine enough hardware cloth - that can usually be bought by the foot.

Otherwise take a 1/2 cookie sheet and using something like a popsicle stick or similar, pretend you're a drug store employee sorting and counting pills while tilting it ever so slightly - you should easily be able to tell the different sizes - you might also want to sweep with a magnet for steel; we've been getting more and more of that in the shot we reclaimed from our fields.

I believe McMaster Carr sells sieves (not sure of the spelling). They are pans with wire mesh of specific size, huge selection. Used to seperate sand and most any media by size.

Some prefeorated sheet metal would do the trick notch the corners and bend up the edges to form a "box" set it above something to catch the smaller shot.

Something like this.





Might see if these guys will send you a sample.
http://www.mcnichols.com/products/perforated

Make a couple of risers out of business cards (6 of mine =.092") and notebook paper, and then span them with a ruler or straight edge. Placed on a cookie sheet or another pan, this ought to make a gate allowing the smaller shot to roll to one end.

Cavediver said:

Make a couple of risers out of business cards (6 of mine =.092") and notebook paper, and then span them with a ruler or straight edge. Placed on a cookie sheet or another pan, this ought to make a gate allowing the smaller shot to roll to one end.

Click to expand...

Heck, if you made it angled with dividers you could sort ALL the shot in one go!

I would have suggested something similar to this but I know of no coffee can large enough to hold enough shot for Otto be worth the effort.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFw7IcQUmgs

I wonder if there's another way. I'm picturing two sheets of heavy gauge steel connected with a door hinge. The top sheet is held about a 1/4" open, with a shim or a screw. The sheet is placed with a slight tilt. You pour shot into one end, and gravity pulls it towards the other corner, where you have a collection cup. You set the cup so only the smaller shot can make it all the way there. The rest gets stuck or falls short, into a larger recollection bin.

I'm sure this would get clogged up fast. Just remove or cover the "good" collector cup, open the hinge, and dump out the bads.

Or maybe set up two sheets at a right angle to make a V, but with a 0.1" gap between them. Then pour the shot in. Push the shot down to the recollection bin. Some of the good ones will fall through. Take the recollection bin and repeat until you get a good amount of small shot collected?

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