doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Loading reclaimed shot

I picked 100 lbs of reclaimed shot. Not thrilled. It is full of dust and junk. Aside from being a general mess it is clogging up the loader. Any ideas as to how I might efficiently clean it?

I understand adding some graphite powder might be advisable but I�m not sure about the dosage or a source for graphite. I have some graphite powder sold as a friction reducing additive for epoxy (West System 423, left over from a boat building project). Think I should add some?

Thanks in advance.

Unless I am misunderstanding you, you clean the dust and junk out of the shot before you try and load it. Reclaimed needs to be screened first to capture oversize shot and debris. Then a magnet should be run through it to get out any steel that might be in the mix. You can add graphite to it and run it through a brass polisher, something to agitate the mix. Don't have to add much; a little graphite goes a long way.

I have seen, in the past year, reclaimed shot that was professionaly cleaned and bagged. I would not hesitate to shoot it through my 1100, 390 or Moss cannon. But my K-80's Parker's LCS ect don't need a couple of random scratches in the barrels.
Also most of it is not round or uniform in size. So shoot it at 16 yard trap, or 12 gauge skeet through a gun that has a replaceable barrel.
bill

I was given a bottle of reclaimed shot and became scared of the lead dust so I added a little lemon oil to it and it worked fine.

PDD

Ryan:
In reality, there is NO economy in reclaimed shot. It is simply too much trouble and too risky to fool with. Personally, I wouldn't load the stuff or even try to shoot it through the most vile pump gun in the county.

The smart move it to melt it down into plumber's ingots or fishing sinkers.

Best, Kensal

Well I am on my second 55 gal drum of reclaimed shot. Bought the first one in 1988 bought the second one 2 years ago. First drum was good and clean just had to graphite it. second drum was not to bad but had to clean and graphite it. I used a cement mixer and air nozzle to clean it. Tumbled it in cement mixer with enough air flowing in to blow debris out but not the shot. Takes about 6 minutes to do 75 lbs. Add graphite and away you go. There is a company "The Lead Miner" selling 55 gal drums of reclaimed that is cleaned,polished and graphited for a buck a lb.
His lead looks like it's out of the bag.I believe when the lead leaves the barrel it's still in the wad cup. I shoot it out of my Krieghof. Thats my 2 cents. Bill

Let me add my voice in chorus with yours Bill. I bought 1200 pounds of the Lead Miners shot and it is as clean and shiny as new. Of course the shot has flat spots and is a mix of 7.5's and 8's.I shoot it for SC practice and Skeet. I have no qualms about shooting it through any of my guns.

Although I have not seen it available locally in some time now, I have in the past bought cleaned and bagged reclaimed shot and have used a good bit of it without problem. I have noticed, as previously noted, that it was no longer round and uniform, having a number of flat spots on the pellets. It shot a clearly wider pattern in my guns, likely due to the non uniformity of the individual pellets. I actually decided that it was beneficial to me to use it in that manner, and segregated the loads with reclaimed shot for use when I wanted a load with a wider pattern.

O.K., how do you get in touch with The Lead Miner?

I have tried to like it, but even the clean stuff seems to oxidize more rapidly than new shot and there is always the dust and deformed shot issue. I am also concerned there may be some steel shot in the mix.