From what I have been told, one of the Bismuth patents is going to lapse in a year or two. Until then a new maker must either wait until the patent runs out or come to some type of agreement with the holder. It is a small niche market and I guess no one wants to spend big bucks just for the honor of making Bismuth shot a year or two sooner. Wait until the patent runs out and not have to pay for the right to make shot makes us wait until then.
Not that many options, but the metal price for Bismuth is, or was the last time I checked it, getting very high. So Bismuth shot in the future might not be much cheaper than any other type of shot that you can get today. I have less on hand than I will need for the next few years. I hate shooting $3.00 bullets at birds. Even reloaded Bismuth shells were about a buck a pop. If the mandate $3.00 shells for all types of hunting most of us will be done hunting. Five dollar gas and three dollars shells sounds like the end of long hunting trips for me.
I did try to make my own Bismuth shot with mixed results. Large shot, larger than 4 was almost a total bust. Small shot about size 4 or 5 was about 40% good shot and the rest had to be melted down again. Might have to try again but figured that my time was worth more than it was saving me in the cost to buy it. Now that the market has just about dried up I may have no choice than to try again.
