Reclaimed Shot for reloading

[hgmeyer]

Local supplier has barrels of 7 1/2 reclaimed lead that he represents as still "round" for a good price. Any pros or sons to using this for informal practice loads in 20 and 12?

[KEYBEAR]

What is a good price ? It will be a number of different size of shot . A lot of 7.5 some Number 6 - 8 -9 and some dirt sand rocks and other trash .
I have seen a lot of reclaimed shot it is all the same pea gravel and junk . It is ok for practice and will not hurt the barrel as the wad will keep the trash from it . Buy a jug or two dump it out and look at it .

[Hidalgo1]

I don't use it. We reload for 4 different skeet guns that are expensive firearms. I refuse to run that crap down the barrels.

[serf 'rett]

Must be clean.

If flatten/dented/etc (which I suspect it will be), could you get into casting handgun or rifle bullets - if it's cheap or cheaper than cheap?

[Snyper]

It wouldn't be that hard to clean it if needed, so if the price is good, I'd use it.

"Out of round" just means the patterns may be a little bigger.

[hgmeyer]

It would work out to about a savings of $1.75 to $2.00 / 25 (box) for the 40-50 boxes that we (my son and I) provide three times a year for our family gathering trap shooting at my nephew's farmette.

The seller assures me it is very clean and sorted (may have a very few pieces of smaller shot (8-9) but nothing water soluble and no rocks (which are removed by tumbling over/through blowers, I watched it happen). I am not concerned with "blown patterns" since this is very close range (almost next to the trap).

Can't do too much harm to the four Rem. Express 870s ( 2 20ga. and 2 12ga a youth and adult) we have for just for this, keeps most folks hands off my good guns).

I am of the opinion that the $250-300 I will save will be better used for components by us for us!

The price of a 30 gal barrel is "negotiable" and would not occupy much space in my garage. And, it is cheaper than bulk casting lead so I can always turn it into DEWCs....

[FrankenMauser]

As long as it has been washed, screened, and re-graphited, it should be fine.

I use reclaimed shot (7.5-9) in most of my 12 ga, .44 Mag, and .444 Marlin loads. (And I will use it in 20 ga, when I start reloading for it.)
The rifled barrels of the .44 Mag and .444 Marlins obviously throw their own wrench into things; but the 12 ga loads pattern just as well as low end 'target' loads. With some wad experimentation, I could probably improve patterning, but I don't really care. The patterns are good enough to for small game hunting and breaking clays, and that's all that I care about.

The shot that I use has a small amount of steel mixed in (maybe 8-12 pellets per 15 lb), but it's easily removed with a magnet. Any pebbles that managed to hang around in the mix are easily removed by pouring the shot into a shallow pan and giving it a quick once-over.

Even so, those contaminants are a non-issue if you're using a shot cup (or standard wad). Pebbles and steel shot will only cause a problem if it contacts the bore, such as in loads using fiber wads, nitro cards, or cork wads in place of shot cup style wads.

Most of the pellets in what I use have notable dents and deformities. It isn't substantial, in that they're flattened or have grown three heads; but there are noticeable dents from the shot charge getting compressed when it was fired the first time.


And, just as a note...
I'm not running this through $250 Mossbergs. I run those loads through 2 heirloom Winchester 12 ga shotguns.
With a plastic shot cup, contaminants won't hurt the barrel.

[gwalchmai]

Doesn't shot often use arsenic for hardening? Might be bad juju for casting...

[totaldla]

As we all know, the days of $10/25lb bags of new shot are over. $50/25lb seems like the new norm. If you want to be able to beat the $60/case ($6 a box) price of El-Cheapo Federal and Herters, you've got to have some cheap shot.

Power @$25lb = 5.4 cents per 15gr load.
Primer is 3 cents.
wad is $15/500 = 3 cents per shot.
hull is free
(11.4 cents X 25) = $2.85 a box before shot.

$50/25lb = 12.5 cents per 1oz load. (11.4 + 12.5)X25 = $5.98 a box

$10/25 = 2.5 cents per 1oz, (11.4 + 2.5)X25 = $3.48 a box

I sure wouldn't bother reloading target fodder with new shot unless I had some secret sauce recipe for competition.

[FrankenMauser]

Doesn't shot often use arsenic for hardening? Might be bad juju for casting...

Arsenic is used to aid heat-treating. It doesn't really do anything for hardening, outside of that situation.

And, you'll only find it in "magnum" shot. Most reclaimed shot that I've seen is 90-95% soft lead shot, with 5-8% being a high tin alloy. Very little magnum shot will be found in the average lots of reclaimed shot, unless it's coming from a range with a lot of shooters that use high end loads.

The average shotgunner uses cheap stuff, loaded with plain old, soft lead shot. So that's the vast majority of what you see.

[SonOfGun]

I use reclaimed shot. It is a mix of everything that has been fired at the range.

Anything from #4 to #9 and add in some steel shot. What I get has been cleaned and re-graphite coated (does that sound right?).

Reclaim works great for skeet and 16 yard trap. It works so so from the 27 yard line and pattern is blown out quit a bit to shoot any longer range.

I don't have much luck with reclaim at the 34 yard line.

This is all fired with a full chock.

[BigJimP]

Savings is the reason to use it ....and in a 12ga or 20ga its probably fine. I would not use it for competition - but practice is just fine.

A couple of thoughts:

a. you can test how "round" it is, by taking some of it - and a piece of plate glass....angle the plate glass a little ..and pour some of the shot down the plate glass....if its runs true its round / if it wobbles sideways a little, then its not so round....

b. it should be graphited ...but over graphited is not good ...it could gum up your press if its over graphited. If you get a lot of dust off it...you'll just have to make a judgement call on how clean it is.

c. lay some on the sheet of glass ...flat ...and look over the sizes....

and compare it to what you may have on hand from an OEM.
-----------
There is a difference in the quality of the shot - between the low cost retail shells ( Estate, etc ) vs premium shells like Remington STS ....and I don't think Estate uses reclaimed shot in their low end shells...but if you did the same plate glass test....its dirty and it will not run true down a piece of glass...

[Hidalgo1]

For you guys that are thinking that the shot cup will keep 100% of the shot contained as it makes it's ride down the barrel, you're kidding yourself or living in fantasy land. If there are slits in the cup, some shot is going to get out. Just the way it is ..............

[FrankenMauser]

For you guys that are thinking that the shot cup will keep 100% of the shot contained as it makes it's ride down the barrel, you're kidding yourself or living in fantasy land. If there are slits in the cup, some shot is going to get out. Just the way it is ..............

Tell us how you really feel.

It won't "get out". A few pellets might be able to make contact with the bore if they're pressed through the slits, but you won't have escapees running amok in the bore like a load of overturned cattle on the highway.


You stick to whatever it is that you do for your overpriced shotguns and large volume of ammunition, and I'll stick to reality with my family treasures and low volume.

[totaldla]

Locally reclaimed shot here is $28/25lbs - with a 40 bag minimum (1000lbs).

New shot is $46/25lbs at my local Sportsmans Warehouse.

[FITASC]

Won't be one size. It will most likely be a combination of 7.5, 8, 8.5 and 9s. It will NOT be round. If it has been properly reclaimed, it will be cleaned, LIGHTLY graphited and needs to be swept with a magnet for steel and inspected for rocks.

[Geezerbiker]

Doesn't shot have a higher percentage of antimony in it than bullet lead? If so, I'd talk to them about buying their reject shot for bullet casting...

Tony

[Magnum Mike]

I'd shoot it! I've seen some pretty bad new shot too. It wont all be magnum shot either. There will chilled,soft, and magnum mixed. Cant be any worst than elcheapo shells. I drop my own shot and it's not perfect, but it breaks targets.

[Buzzard Bait]

Where do you get it? How much is shipping?
bb

[KEYBEAR]

Hidalgo1 That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard .

[Snyper]

F

or you guys that are thinking that the shot cup will keep 100% of the shot contained as it makes it's ride down the barrel, you're kidding yourself or living in fantasy land. If there are slits in the cup, some shot is going to get out. Just the way it is ..............

Where do you think it's going if it "gets out"?

[FITASC]

Where do you get it? How much is shipping?
bb

From my local club when they had the fields mined by a reclaimer. Ask around to see if any clubs in your area are planning on doing that.

[Hidalgo1]

@KEYBEAR:

It only sounds dumb if you're too stupid to understand it.

@FrankenMauser:

My guns aren't overpriced. They're simply quality skeet guns. No need to become an insulting horse's ass about the issue.

@Snyper:

It's going to scrub it's way down the bore riding alongside the expanding shotcup. That's not rocket science.




I'm personally convinced that it's no such thing as totally safe .....

For starters, much like babbitt which used in crankshafts, and connecting rod bearings for engines, lead has an impeccable attribute of dirt embedability (thus why it is used for bearings). To start with, it will embed tiny bits of the pitch/resin/clay/coal that the targets are made of when the pellets strikes the targets on it's initial use.

As it lays on/in the ground, it embeds further material as heavy machinery rides over top of it during processing, and even just being in contact with, and mixed in, and shoveled around with the dirt.

Once the reclaimed is tumbled, polished, and/or re-graphited, it's near impossible to detect the amount of foreign material that has been embedded into it with the naked eye, or even moderate magnification.

This doesn't even touch on the "loose" foreign material that either never gets filtered out, or particles that were embedded close to the pellet surface which comes loose and mobile during final processing/bagging (before, during, or after re-graphite).

The result is that you get re-graphited "loose" foreign material in the mix along with re-graphited pellets which may also have embedded foreign material both of which are invisible to the naked eye. You'd need to first sift the entire 25-lb bag thru 1/10th inch bronze screen, and inspect pellets under magnification, and/or melt down some samples to truly evaluate the quality of reclaim shot.

At first I was all gung-hoe on reclaim thinking that I was really getting away with something (re: rising prices of lead). But then I made a bad calculation in using the stuff in a brand new Citori XT Trap (and other mid-grade guns in the $2,000 range).

Then I was all negative about reclaim and trying to warn off the masses.

Now my position is that if you just HAVE to have the stuff, then make SURE to carefully (1-layer at a time) sift the stuff thru 1/10th inch stiff bronze screen (that you can get on E-bay), make SURE to carefully (1-layer at a time) run a magnet thru it to pull out the #9-#10 steel shot, and make SURE to limit it's use to less-expensive guns in the $200 range.

Personally I won't ever use the stuff again, not so much because of the risk to barrels (as I too have a bunch of $200 guns that I like to shoot from time to time), but mainly because once you factor in the time involved in "user post-processing" (1/10th inch screening, and magnet work), it defeats the cost savings.

But the above I believe is a fair/middle ground assessment/suggestion for those here in the forum asking about reclaim. Make your own decision.

Almost all wads leave open space between the slits when loaded. And since most people box their shells, the shells lay sideways, it's possible that loose crumblies can settle to the bottom of a side-ways stored shell such that the debris will settle in the open slit. The area in the open slits is bigger than the biggest bit of gravel/sand.

Moreover, the shock/vibration of the "setback" event during ignition (compression of the shot column) can further work the debris nearer, and into the slits making matters even worse.

Anyone who knows anything about machines and "metals" already knows that one of the main attributes of "lead", is it's excellent "embeddability" property, and you can find this in any bearing design discussions and writings.

Take it for what it's worth ...........

[KEYBEAR]

Hidalgo1 Yes I did not know who I was dealing with . I think I met you once at a trap range . You were holding a class in the mens room .

Thanks for the laugh

[FITASC]

Sorry Hidalgo - you are WAY overthinking this - no need for the OCD behavior, just some practical common sense