Anyone every buy shot from Rotometals? They'll sell you a 3000# supersack of reclaimed shot for $1.05/#. They also have new shot and reclaimed shot in 25# bags. New shot prices aren't any great deal, but they seem to have quite an inventory and of any shot size you could want. I've found the reclaimed shot to be problematic if it sits in the bags for too long and oxidizes. Someone left Alaska and I inherited a bunch of bags of shot. I opened one to see what it was and it was reclaimed #9 and lead oxide powder wafted out of the bag in a cloud when I moved it. Scary. I ended up quickly closing it up and putting the entire bag into a bucket of water for a while then pouring out of the bag into the water and agitating it with a stick to knock the oxide loose. I shook and stirred it until the lead looked as oxide free as I was going to get it then poured it onto a towel lined baking sheet... outside in a good cross wind... and washed the bejeezus out of the bucket and the nice old fabric shot bag, which was eventually made into a sand bag for shooting, and left it to dry for days. I wore disposable rubber gloves and a dust mask for all of this. Once dry, I scooped the shot, which looked good at this point, back into a clean mylar bag and threw the towel away in a plastic bag. I then used the shot up in two reloading sessions for 12ga target loads. So, beware of old reclaimed shot. Some of my friends comment, when I tell them this story, "Really, that explains a lot about your behavior; have you had your hair tested for lead???".... Not sure what they're talking about....
On another note, someone just gave me an ~10# cast ingot of pure antimony from an historic Alaska Au-Cu-Ag-Pb-Sb-As mine. I could use it for alloying for casting bullets but I'll likely give it to our local mining museum.
Rotometals
Threaded Mode