I have a littleton shotmaker and I'm soon going to get it going. I know you have to have a coolent of some sort and then wash the shot and so on. But why can't a person say get in a farm silo. Get everything up to a point and let the shot just fall to a cooling tank? This as most know was the old way to make shot. Why can't we combine the two?
Why not a tower to make shot
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It is a good way to make shot but I have seen no evidence that is is better than other methods. West Coast shot is dropped from a tower and it is very good shot. Winchester, Remington, Lawrence and Federal shot is not made using a tower and it is good shot.
Pat Ireland
Pat Ireland
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Anyone know how high the tower would have to be for making size 7-1/2 and smaller? The towers in use now make some very large shot and need the extra hight for air cooling and shaping the molten lead as it falls. Maybe the farm silo would be ideal for smaller shot? Hap
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For those of you interested in our experiences with dropping shot, we learned the following....
650 degree #7.5 shot dropped 9 feet through 50 degree air into 110 degree water made lead spatters.
650 degree #7.5 shot dropped 13 feet through 50 degree air into 110 degree water made lead spatters.
650 degree #7.5 shot dropped 21 feet through 50 degree air into 110 degree water made nice round lead shot that hammers the crap out of targets.
725 dergee #7.5 shot dropped 21 feet through 50 degree air into 110 degree water made lead splatters.
We are looking for someone with an old barn where we can get at least a 30 foot drop. Doing it this way simplifies the whole process a bunch. No coolant to wash off. Just dry the shot, graphite/roll it and load it.
Jeff
650 degree #7.5 shot dropped 9 feet through 50 degree air into 110 degree water made lead spatters.
650 degree #7.5 shot dropped 13 feet through 50 degree air into 110 degree water made lead spatters.
650 degree #7.5 shot dropped 21 feet through 50 degree air into 110 degree water made nice round lead shot that hammers the crap out of targets.
725 dergee #7.5 shot dropped 21 feet through 50 degree air into 110 degree water made lead splatters.
We are looking for someone with an old barn where we can get at least a 30 foot drop. Doing it this way simplifies the whole process a bunch. No coolant to wash off. Just dry the shot, graphite/roll it and load it.
Jeff
Shot towers are over 100ft. That would be a big silo. Shorter towers are used by the big companies but they know a few tricks. It doesn't take much technology to drop from a high tower. Do a websearch on shot towers, the history is pretty interesting.
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Just to contribute my $.02 worth, back in 1959 my dad was involved in building the first shot tower in Medford, OR. I hung around about as much as was allowed just because I thought the whole idea was interesting. That tower was 100 ft. high as I recall, but I don't know how high a tower North West Shot is using today. The first tower was of open construction (like an Erector set) but the shot dropped inside a metal tube about two feet in diameter to prevent any wind drift. As was mentioned above, the pellets dropped into a cooling water bath. The shot was then dried, graphited, and bagged up.
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Guess Ireland had never been to the Winchester or Remington plants since he told us they didn't drop their shot, but they do.
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Pat, you'll hafta have a lil heart to heart with him when he has time huh? 
Hap
Hap
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