Melting lead shot

[magnus]

I'm wanting to melt some led split shot to add weight to my 38 casings the alcohol burner isn't getting it done. Any suggestions? I put the shot in the casing and heated but no results. Thanks in advance. Merry Christmas everybody!

Keeping the Faith!
Magnus

[centaur]

Got a Coleman gas stove or other white gas stove? That and a cast iron pot, and you are in business.

[NoCams]

Just use a simple propane cylinder with burner attached like plumbers use to sweat copper pipes bud. Works like a champ. We melted several ounces like this in the ends of our copper boppers for flint knapping to make them front heavy.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

blow torch propane (Hand held) and a lead spoon laddel (The ones You use to melt lead for smoke pole round balls/bullet molds)

[Bobby Urban]

melt it right in the casing with a hand held propane torch like mentioned above.  As far as melting shot for this purpose I am not sure it is necessary because if you get the shot into the casing with hot melt or epoxy and mount it onto the shaft you it will all be solid when the glues hardens and save you the risk involved with melting lead.  Kind of toxic.
Bob Urban

[wapiti]

Weigh the split shot and place in the casing. Use a 5/16 bolt and a hammer to flatten it in the casing. Hot melt the casing on the shaft and you are good to go. BTW 357 casings work better if you have them.

[Grey Taylor]

Rather than melting the lead to hold it in there consider using epoxy to glue the tip on.
Put the right amount of lead into the casing, drip a bit of epoxy on top of the lead, and then glue on as normal, using the epoxy.  
In my experience, the epoxy will hold that lead in there just fine, as well as hold the tip on the arrow.

Guy

[magnus]

Thanks for the tips guys! I don't have .357 casing. I will try the bolt method don't have a torch yet. I just need it condensed for more room for the shaft. I wish I'd of thought of it before I glued up a half dozen. Oh well more play time.
Merry Christmas!

Keeping the Faith!
Magnus

[dnovo]

Try using plumbing solder instead of lead shot. It melts very easy and all you do is hold a length of it over the casing while heating it and just let it drip in.

[Dave Bulla]

You could probably also use an old frying pan or a flat piece of steel on the stove top.  Put the lead in the cases, stand them all up in the frying pan and heat till the lead melts inside the case.  Pure lead melts at 621.5 degrees F.  Less than that if it's alloyed with tin.  Most bullet casting is done at about 800 degrees.  Be sure to leave the primers in and I bet it will work just fine though there may be a chance of leakage still.  Won't hurt anything as long as you're not using a pan you plan to eat out of in the future.  You'll probably need a good light to see into the bottom of the case so you know when it melts.

[njloco]

DON'T FORGET TO HAVE PLENTY OF VENTILATION if you melt in an enclosed place, and DON'T let any water next to the area where you are melting the lead.

If the lead is soft enough you could try swaging it, and then the epoxy or glue. If you want some 357 spent shells with the spent primer in place let me know and I'll send you some.

This is a good idea and I'll try it myself.

Thanks

[sagebrush]

I use 7 1/2 chill shot and just glue it in with hot melt. No need to melt. I also got some 357 maximum cases from Cabelas. They are the same size as 38 special only a lot longer. You can load a lot more shot in them and still have room to mount. Gary

[Brute killer]

This little pot is from Lodge, bought at BassPro.
The burner is a turkey fryer set-up with the actual purner bolted on the bottom, to clear the wind sheild.

please post images no wider than 640 ...

  http://www.tx-sharkfishing.com/photoalbum/albums/userpics/PotFarRe.jpg[/IMG]

[xtrema312]

drop it in the case and hit it with mapp gas torch.  The mapp gas gets hot faster. For lead shot use chilled.  It is a lot softer than mag shot.  Fishing split shot is also real soft.  What ever you do if you melt lead do out side and be on the up wind side.  Lead is very toxic.

I would try solder first to see if you          
can hit weight. It is way easier to work with.

Another option would be to hammer down buck shot  or large split shot to around the right dia and then hammer it into the shell base.  You could also thy to die cut strap lead
using a case to cookie cut weights.  

Check out the largest gun shop in your area.  Often the sell reloading stuff and they buy and sell used brass so you can get fired 357 cases for way less than new stuff..

[Dave Bulla]

Just a thought....

I was wondering why you wanted to melt it in the first place too.

I suppose if you are borderline anal about accuracy and tuning (that can be a good thing) or maybe are just over thinking things, you might be afraid that the shot will end up kinda lop sided in the case and so figured pouring molten lead would be the best bet.  Makes sense I suppose if you consider that the bb's could get all off on one side in the glue it might make the spinning arrow behave badly just like a crookedly installed point.  Having just gotten into bullet casting recently, I can tell you that the idea of pouring molten lead cleanly into the bottom of a 357 casing is not likely to happen.  So I'm like, "yea, melting it in the pan would be just the ticket."  Then again, in the interest of simplicity, if a fella was to use the right size shot to get one perfect layer of bb's in the bottom of the case they wouldn't be able to move around at all really.  I'm thinking one in the center with about 6 more around it.  A drop of hot glue or epoxy on top would hold things in place nicely.  

Then again, it's kinda fun to mess around melting lead.  I'd give the hot pan or steel plate a try first,  If that turned out to be a hassle, I'd try to find just the right size shot to put a single layer in the bottom and see what weight that gave me.  Two layers should stack just as well as one if more weight was needed.

Let us know what you find out.

Just had another idea.  I'm wondering if maybe a small steel washer of the right size would fit down in the case?  Maybe a washer for a #8 or #10 screw.  Gotta be pretty easy to go to Lowes and hit the hardware bins to see what fits.

[magnus]

Dave great idea about the washer. The reason I was thinking melting is all I have is 38 casing they weigh 70 grn. I need at least double that for arrow spine for my bow. Non fluflu feathers. To get even close to an acceptable weight there is only about a quarter inch of room for my shaft to go in the casing. So I thought melt the led split shot in the casing would create more shaft room. Well I know now some easier ways to try and add weight. Have some 357 on the way I hope if not I'll get some. Enen thought about the soft putty for fly fishing in the casing then glue in the shaft. I'm going to experiment with a few ways and see what works and what doesn't. Thanks to all for great tips and ideas and safety warnings.

Keeping the Faith!
Magnus

[mparks]

Just cram a a .38 case on top of a field point.  You can get away with more of a wieght variation when you aren't stabalizing a broadhead.

[magnus]

Sometimes the simplest most obvious solution is the hardest to see! Thanks!

Keeping the Faith!
Magnus

[Dave Bulla]

You can also use 30-30 cases cut off at the shoulder and they are heavier than 357 if I recall.  Cheaper too usually.