Chilled shot for casting round balls ?

[kyron4]

Picked up a partial bag of #9 chilled shot this summer and wondered if it would be soft enough for casting round balls and conicals . The shot is slightly oxidized but melted just fine.

I also got a about 2 lbs. of old fishing weights collect over the years , do these make for good RB' s?

Is there a way to test lead for purity or softness ? -Thanks

 

[hawg]

Chilled shot is way too hard. Fishing weights are usually pure lead. A general rule of thumb is if you can easily scratch it with a thumbnail it's soft enough. A hardness tester is the best thing to check hardness. Pure lead has a BHN of 5. A BHN of 6 is close enough but anything over that is too hard.

 

[whughett]

A couple of years ago I melted down a 40lb bag of #8 for recasting into bullets. I cast for both centerfire and percussion revolvers. Had no problem loading or shooting either in my revolvers.
For decades my source of lead was from the Telephone company. I’m pretty sure it was fairly hard lead, it loaded fine in my cap and ball revolvers.

As to hardness I’ve read posts here of folks using drawing pencils to test for lead hardness.

A Google search return indicated chilled lead shot is softer than magnum lead shot, for what ever that’s worth.

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

Done the same thing, melted shot for black powder stuff, no problems. I currently have 300 lbs of ingots and blocks from X-Ray sheathing. It's dead soft, guess it's pure lead with no additives.

 

[Logan5579]

Just in case you're looking, rotometals is a good source for lead, you can get pure lead or various alloys (lyman #2 for example). I recently bought 10lbs of lead from them, (5lbs pure lead and 5lbs of lyman #2 for my 45 colt. I thought the price was reasonable and I'm supporting an American business

https://www.rotometals.com/pure-lead-nuggets-99-9-approximately-1-pound/

 

[Jim Watson]

A friend bought a lot of shot at a going out of business sale. He loaded 7.5, 8, and 9 for Trap and Skeet, he melted the larger sizes for .45-70 bullets, adding tin for better flow and mold fill. They shot great.

But I don't know about round ball for a muzzle loader or C&B revolver.
Long ago a classmate cast balls out of some hard scrap in a mold made to give balls large enough to shear off the traditional ring of lead under a revolver's loading lever. Hard enough that he leaned on the Navy Arms 1851 loading lever hard enough to break the pivot screw.

 

[Armored farmer]

I'd say that it would be too hard.
I too broke a screw on my '58 rammer from too hard balls.

 

[whughett]

A friend bought a lot of shot at a going out of business sale. He loaded 7.5, 8, and 9 for Trap and Skeet, he melted the larger sizes for .45-70 bullets, adding tin for better flow and mold fill. They shot great.

But I don't know about round ball for a muzzle loader or C&B revolver.
Long ago a classmate cast balls out of some hard scrap in a mold made to give balls large enough to shear off the traditional ring of lead under a revolver's loading lever. Hard enough that he leaned on the Navy Arms 1851 loading lever hard enough to break the pivot screw.

Perhaps the clue there was “large enough”.

 

[hawg]

Chilled shot has antimony in it and can run as high as 10 BHN. That's too hard for revolver balls. You might be able to use it for rifle balls but they will be harder to load. Plain shot can be softer.

 

[Seedy Character]

Use the fish weights, no problems.

Chilled shot is good for cast bullets, NOT for round ball.

 

[dave951]

Lots of replies here but here's the facts

Chilled shot has antimony- not good at all for anything muzzleloading black powder. It's fine for cartridge guns. While I wouldn't throw it out, it would certainly get reserved for only my cartridge guns.

 

[hawg]

Lots of replies here but here's the facts

Chilled shot has antimony- not good at all for anything muzzleloading black powder.

It might could be used for patched rifle balls. However it won't shrink as much as pure lead when it cools so it will be harder to load or require a thinner patch or both.

 

[dave951]

It might could be used for patched rifle balls. However it won't shrink as much as pure lead when it cools so it will be harder to load or require a thinner patch or both.

I didn't say it wouldn't work, but when I've tested WW round ball against pure lead, pure lead was more accurate every time. I'm not sure as to exactly why.

 

[hawg]

I didn't say it wouldn't work, but when I've tested WW round ball against pure lead, pure lead was more accurate every time. I'm not sure as to exactly why.

Understood. I don't know why either since it's the patch that engages the rifling.

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

Man am I glad to be told that recast shot won't work in a muzzleloader, I will have to stop winning those little prizes at the club shoots and give the other guys a chance with their soft lead balls.

 

[kyron4]

Understood. I don't know why either since it's the patch that engages the rifling.

So that's what I was wondering . If the patch engages the riflings and there is no metal to lead contact what would be the harm or worst that could happen with round balls ? I get with conicals like the R.E.A.L. bullets that the lead has to be soft enough to engage the riflings and be able to be pushed down the bore.

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

There is no problem with the round ball being a harder lead. The only issue I can think of is expansion in an animal, don't think it would matter much anyway with proper shot placement.

 

[hawg]

There is no problem with the round ball being a harder lead. The only issue I can think of is expansion in an animal, don't think it would matter much anyway with proper shot placement.

Not just harder. Harder lead wont shrink as much when it cools so you may have to make a patch adjustment. There was a guy on another forum using patched marbles in a smoothbore.

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

Interesting, how was his accuracy and range?

 

[hawg]

Interesting, how was his accuracy and range?

I really don't remember, that was some time ago.

 

[Zulch]

Done the same thing, melted shot for black powder stuff, no problems. I currently have 300 lbs of ingots and blocks from X-Ray sheathing. It's dead soft, guess it's pure lead with no additives.

Jackrabbit1957,
Just curious. The X-Ray shielding lead from medical/dental facilities, I was wondering if they are held to EPA disposal regulations? Obviously you haven't seen that in acquiring X-ray shielding lead? Any thoughts? It sounds like a great place to get lead. Thank you,
Tim

 

[dave951]

Jackrabbit1957,
Just curious. The X-Ray shielding lead from medical/dental facilities, I was wondering if they are held to EPA disposal regulations? Obviously you haven't seen that in acquiring X-ray shielding lead? Any thoughts? It sounds like a great place to get lead. Thank you,
Tim

Xray room lead is about as pure as it gets short of Rotometals. It's used as shielding in the drywall of medical facilities. My local scrap yard nearly always has some on hand and I get it from them for usually about $.92/lb.

 

[Zulch]

Xray room lead is about as pure as it gets short of Rotometals. It's used as shielding in the drywall of medical facilities. My local scrap yard nearly always has some on hand and I get it from them for usually about $.92/lb.

Dave951, So they apparently give or sell the scrap lead shielding to scrap yards? Interesting. I will have to check with the scrapyards here. Thank you for that info.
Tim

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

My brother got a hold of a 4x8 sheet of it about 15 years ago, weighed around 400 lbs. I was able to melt about 1\2 into ingots. It's dead soft and it doesn't glow in the dark.