Shot maker?

Has anyone used any of the shot making machines that are on the market today? With the price of shot climbing like it has the last few months this is something that I have been looking into.

Here is a link to one of several threads on trapshooters.com that discusses the shot makers. http://www.trapshooters.com/cfpages/thread.cfm?threadid=122691&messages=70 Also do a search for the Littleton Shotmaker and look at their web site. I too would like to try one, but am concerned that the process is too much bother for the benefit. Reading these discussions I gather it is not a simple process. Seems like there is a lot of “tweeking” going on. With a purchase price of $350 for the unit I believe it will be at least $500-600 investment by the time it’s set up and running. If you use wheel weights as a feedstock you will need a set up to melt them and cast into clean ingots. Any junk in the metal supply will clog the nozzles. Some use a propane turkey cooker with a cast iron dutch oven plus steel muffin pans for this.

Here is a link to one of several threads on trapshooters.com that discusses the shot makers. http://www.trapshooters.com/cfpages/thread.cfm?threadid=122691&messages=70 Also do a search for the Littleton Shotmaker and look at their web site. I too would like to try one, but am concerned that the process is too much bother for the benefit. Reading these discussions I gather it is not a simple process. Seems like there is a lot of “tweeking” going on. With a purchase price of $350 for the unit I believe it will be at least $500-600 investment by the time it’s set up and running. If you use wheel weights as a feedstock you will need a set up to melt them and cast into clean ingots. Any junk in the metal supply will clog the nozzles. Some use a propane turkey cooker with a cast iron dutch oven plus steel muffin pans for this.

From the research that I have done on this it sounds like there are some issues and a lot more setup cost then just the dripper machines. Cleaning and cooling the shot seems to be one of the biggest issues. As for lead we do not have an issue with that. We normally have between 3-5,000 lbs of hard lead on hand most of the time. Like any lead molding most issues are caused by dirty lead which sounds like what most people are having problems with.

I am going to try one of these set ups. We go through around 50 cases of shells a year so IF it works it should pay for itself.

From the research that I have done on this it sounds like there are some issues and a lot more setup cost then just the dripper machines. Cleaning and cooling the shot seems to be one of the biggest issues. As for lead we do not have an issue with that. We normally have between 3-5,000 lbs of hard lead on hand most of the time. Like any lead molding most issues are caused by dirty lead which sounds like what most people are having problems with.

I am going to try one of these set ups. We go through around 50 cases of shells a year so IF it works it should pay for itself.

Jeff,
Never been a better time to get into this. With shot topping the $30/25 lb. bag mark it will not take long to get your investment back.

Jeff,
Never been a better time to get into this. With shot topping the $30/25 lb. bag mark it will not take long to get your investment back.

Yes I agree that this is as good as time as any. Since we are pretty much all set up for lead molding I am now just waiting for the machice.

Can you believe the price of shot these days? It is $34/25lb here right now. That is NUTS!!

Yes I agree that this is as good as time as any. Since we are pretty much all set up for lead molding I am now just waiting for the machice.

Can you believe the price of shot these days? It is $34/25lb here right now. That is NUTS!!