Anyone here used one? Looking to find a decent unit. I have a steady supply of lead. Any advise or contacts would be appreciated.

Wal now, THAT THERE is one thang I ain't never tried to do. But as high as the prices are for shot today, if you have a good supply of lead, and you shoot a shotgun much, it oughta be something worth looking into. Some of the regulars here are out in New Mexico drinking and uhhhhh, I mean, they are attending a shoot out. Maybe summa them ole boys will know about shot makers cause they know all about boiler makers. But ya gonna hafta give'm a couple of days to sober, uhhhh, I mean, re-adjust when they get back from the shootout. And sum of'em have a long way to go to get back home, so it may be next week before they get back. And sum of'em are gonna take the "scenic route" back, so it may be awhile before they decide to go home and log on here.

So hang on, sumbody will be along directly and answer yer question. There are a lot of experienced lead casters around here who know what they are talking about.

I tried making one many years ago. Used a piece of angle iron with holes in it that dripped onto a galvanized sheetmetal that angled down about 3 ft to a bucket of cooling water. Didn't work very well cause i couldn’t keep the perforated angle iron hot enough. Also the few drops I did manage to get on the sheetmetal soldered themselves to the drop sheet. Oh well, the project kept a young poor boy entertained for a week or so.

There use to be some units out there for the home enthusiasts, but the few reports I heard about them wasn't very encouraging. That was a long time ago though. Maybe someone has come up with a better idea.

There are a bunch of video's on you tube showing home made shot makers. You can see one by clicking here -->> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1lqd0QnuAA
And you can link to others over on the right side of that one. Exactly NONE of them seem to work very well. Casting round shot is a far different process than casting bullets.

I have seen the video's from what i see there are several shot makers out there. The 220 volt models seem the best.I would like someone who has actually had hands on to comment. I do have a steady supply of lead. I shoot trap several times a week as does my wife. Shot here runs $34.00 a bag if the machine worked it would be worthwhile. I do cast rifle and pistol bullets, but as stated shot is a whole different matter. Thanks for the input I will keep an eye on this thread, maybe someone has tried this and can advise.

Check out shotgunworld they have a very good thread on the subject.

Years ago I made 60 pounds of shot every morning M-F , it took a little over an hour. Two older partners were in charge of getting lead and making ingots out of a cast iron muffin pan (about 1 lb. ea) Littleton Shot maker was the unit. We started out using flame retardant hyd oil then switched to cheap liquid washing machine detergent. I also put a gear reduction on a concrete mixer to dry the shot the i added about 1/2 teaspoon of grafite to polish the shot.

All in all I made about 10 tons, was doing a lot of trap shooting at the time.

Interesting.

I bought one (like the Littleton) back in the 80's when I was shooting a lot of registered Trap. It made good enough shot to get me my 27 yard punch and to shoot class AA singles and A doubles.

When I switched from Trap to Skeet, my homemade shot was good enough for me to get classed A or AA in all gauges and doubles.

Like Barbarosa, I originally used Met-safe water soluble oil for a coolant and later switched to laundry detergent. The biggest problem that I have with my shotmaker is keeping the tiny holes in the drippers from clogging.