Does anyone make their own lead shot?

[Cyrus Cassidy #45437]

Please educate me on this.

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

I don’t, but have bought some from some who do, strictly for CAS. It’s useless for anything beyond 10 yards as most of the pellets are anything but round. From what they’ve told me, it’s near impossible to get a uniform shape. None of these folks did it for long as it’s a lot of work for not much savings or profit and is of limited use. 
 

Edited October 21 by Abilene Slim SASS 81783

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

Granddad grew up through the depths of the Depression.

He said they stole lead flashing from an old house roof, they hammered it out thin, they chased strips off it with a Barlow knife and a hammer, then they took these thin strips of lead, laid them down and set the Barlow blade across a half dozen strips and carefully tapped with the hammer again to cut them into cubes.
He said they rolled these hand-chased lead cubes between two boards to try and round them.

They were anything but uniform, but they worked well enough in the muzzle loading double twelve-bore to put meat in the pot in a lean time.

[Boggus Deal #64218]

If you do Facebook, there is a group. Roberts shot making. They make some amazing round dot!

https://facebook.com/groups/273235992347405/

[Texas Joker]

Takes a copper "hat" that's been pierced like a zester.

 

It's more involved than this but you put coals on rim of the hat and pour molten lead into the hat. It drips through the pierced dimples and falls . The farther it falls before landing in a cooling pool the more uniform the shot.

 

Then ther is cold rolling as described above.

 

Also casting for various Buckshot sizes.

[Michigan Slim]

I use a Littleton shot dropper. It does ok. Not perfect and you need to watch out for bridging when loading shells. 

 

The key is proper heating of the alloy. I struggle with it  And the alloy needs to be hard. 

 

[Chantry]

Also need to look into getting the lead to make shot.    Unless you have plenty of lead laying around or have access to someone or something that provides it cheap for you.

[Eyesa Horg]

50 minutes ago, Michigan Slim said:

And the alloy needs to be hard. 

 

And thus more splash back I presume.

[SHOOTIN FOX]

I made literally tons of shot while I was making it for SASS shooters. The combination of alloy, temperature, drop height, coolant temperature and consistency all factor into the success of the operation. Not an exact science, but definitely critical steps to consistent shot. Only had 1 complaint over 15 years and that was too much powder in The bottom of the jug, (graphite).

 

Fix

[Michigan Slim]

3 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said:

And thus more splash back I presume.

Most shot is hard. Ever cast bullets from it? I have to add pure lead. 

[Gateway Kid SASS# 70038 Life]

Have been buying mine for several years from Dominguez Red. Uses a machine that drips lead alloy, about 3-4 feet into a bucket of antifreeze, cleans that up and lets it dry a week or so. Better round shape than most commercial shot and graphited. Have sold several thousand pounds in Colorado, Utah and a little bit in New Mexico. Have yet to have a bridge and flows well in my 9000 MEC. Only problem is he is an actual cowboy responsible for about 8-9 hundred cattle as well as an outfitter/guide during hunting season so time constraints mean when he has it, he has it, other times none available.

Regards

    

Gateway Kid

Someone asked price, last batch was $2 per pound at pickup, or add actual shipping. Don't know if that price will hold in January but that Is usually when he has some.

[Sedalia Dave]

 

 

https://www.oasisleadshotmaker.com/

 

 

[Sedalia Dave]

On 10/21/2025 at 2:54 PM, Boggus Deal #64218 said:

If you do Facebook, there is a group. Roberts shot making. They make some amazing round dot!

https://facebook.com/groups/273235992347405/

 

Lots of good info