Skid

Stop being all sensible and logical, that's FAR too easy! On the other hand, you probably don't want it too cold as well as too hot :lol: Just kidding, good idea Not sure, a friend of mine tried but it didn't turn out well. However, that could have been any number of reasons as he'd never done it before.

There is no water, just neat conditioner. It starts off cold and gradually heats up as the lead drops into it. You don't want too much heat in it though or it won't cool the lead shot enough before it hits bottom of the tank so just try to change some of it during the process i.e. ladle some warm conditioner out and pour fresh cool stuff back in.

Excuse me.....Lidl's if you please.......couldn't possibly lower myself so much that I had to shop in Aldi

Probably something like this beauty then........my patented (i.e. cheap) no longer non-stick frying pan, slightly modified to allow for free draining fat from your bacon.....or a load of No 5 or 6 shot Plus, about 8kg of assorted shot laying out to dry in the wind. To give an idea of scale those are 2 foot slabs and I've got about 3 of those batches to sort from my first go at shot making. Took about 2 hours to get 25Kg worth this time but I'm sure I can get the time down with practice. And here's Lidls finest kitchen sink strainer, slightly altered to fit my square coolant tank. Bit of a bodge job to see if it worked but I'll leave it out next time to see if it is what's causing the marks on the shot. I'll also be getting an unmodified one back in the kitchen before I get a new orifice reamed into me by the missus

Maybe he can drop orders off en-route...........................

Holy ****!! 5 detonations just locally in only 2 years?? That's a lot of Darwin theory in action for such a small area......

As Linotype already contains lead (84%) + 12% Antimony + 4% tin, I mixed it to give between about 2-4% antimony which is meant to be good for general shooting from what I've read on this forum. This works out at about 1 part Linotype to 4 parts lead.....I think.

It's not bolts that were the problem this time. Once the flow started the only time it stopped was when the whole melt pool had cooled down by me putting in too many ingots for it to melt evenly. This meant the lead had actually started to go slushy around the whole edge of the pan so having warmer bolts wouldn't have helped. Also, doing it outside with a massive 11 degrees temp didn't help too much either Tank is about 200 mm deep so should be ok, already using Tesco "value" cheapy conditioner and have been putting fresh stuff in during process so coolant doesn't get too hot. I just ladle some out into the drip tray and pour a bit back in from another cooled bottle. For all you lead addicts out there, the next installment is sorting the shot using my special Carlos Fandango patented shot sorting device...............gotta keep you guessing til next time now

How come you want a heavy 20 bore load like that? I used to use heavy loads when I was first shooting but learnt over the years that quite often more lead didn't mean a good pattern and it's the pattern which kills the target. My 24 gram 20 bore carts kill pigeons just as well as my 32 gram 12 bore loads. Just curious really.

Now....are we talking traditional "flyers" in that the odd shaped ones are going to drop way out of the pattern?......or were you saying that they look like they'll fly well? I think I know which one you mean

OK, another quick update after another melting session last Sunday in the cold. The new 2kw hotplate certainly works up enough heat to maintain a steady flow All I have to do is work out how many cupcake sized lead ingots is just the right amount to allow the lead to flow at the right speed and not cool off the melt too much. I managed to experience all the extremes, from too large a head of molten lead fripping out 6 drippers really quickly (emptying the tin too quick to keep up the flow) to only having the central 2 drippers working nice and slowly due to the corners of the melt not being molten enough. I might end up blocking a couple off and only use 4 for a consistent flow. The shot was a lot more uniform this time (still a few odd shapes in there due to flow and temp changes etc) and again about 5.5 size but it's still got a fair few dimples and this batch also has some shot with straight lines on it. However, I think the lines may be caused by the steel gauze strainer I've been using to catch the shot. Maybe the lead hasn't cooled enough at that stage and the gauze is marking it?? I'd be interested in any views on that. Hopefully you can see what I mean from the poor quality piccies attached. I reckon it's almost usable now and would certainly bring pigeons down but being the perfectionist that I am I'd like it to be rounder for a better pattern Having said that, I remember some old paper cased S & B cartridges (do they even still make them?) that claimed to be No 6 shot but were in fact a mix of anything between 9 and 3 shot in all sorts of shapes, some round some square but by hell did they kill pigeons well, right out to long ranges! Damn cheap but also rotted your gun barrels if you didn't clean them straight away too. Think we paid £60/thousand which should date it for you

Most of us have the opposite problem, getting powder can be relatively easy but just at stupid prices

Well, to be fair that was exactly the reason why he never got my business in the first place. 6 weeks after placing my order with him I had no components and no response to emails or phone calls which is a pretty cr@ppy way to run a business, even if it just an extra paid hobby to him.

Yeah but where's the fun in making something simple which works easily and without hassle

Just to add to this, I've tried a good variety and out of all the standard carts the best pattern I got was the Gamebore Traditional Game loads, closely followed by Express Special Twenty (25gm). The subsonics actually patterned best of all but as pointed out they can be a bit slow. OK for close decoyed birds but I certainly doubt their punch at longer ranges and have seen a few flying off strongly with feathers dropping out behind them indicating a hit. However, they are really quiet with true subsonics and you can hear the shot ricocheting out the end of the barrel where some of the pellets have caught the edge of the baffles. So quiet in fact that I've shot a pigeon out of a tree and the ones only 50 yards away in the next trees didn't budge Also, if the auto is anything like the O/U it will shoot low as well so check out the pattern with a selection of carts as sitsinhedges says. As an example my O/U is about 18" low at 40 yards, enough to make a difference when you forget to allow for it in a rush..