Its interesting that some folks that will not buy some of the less expensive shot (Eagle) because its only about 3% antimony have no issues at all with buying cheap factory ammo with even softer shot. Federal, STS and Winchester were the hardest. West Coast and Lawrence were good.......... Shot pricing is all screwball anyway as is supply. CACassociates has $34 West Coast, $8 a bag to get it here. At $42 its still cheaper than I can get it local..... Many places promote free freight but the shot is $45. Import from South America to Cabela's then to me with free freight at $36. Lead and labor and shipping must really be cheap in SA. Larry
Been reading a bit about shot. Its interesting many offerings of shot and shells refer to special "alloy" giving equivilent hardness to a certain percentage of antimony.... I am not aware of any information other than equivilency. Wonder what they are selling us??
N1H1 posted a chart......... this web site. Was a crush test only but now the post is there but not the chart........ Larry
SteveS1965, you should not be posting that chart w/o the proper attribution. Do you even know where it came from?
MG1POLO put that chart together and had his staff do the actual testing...... he put it out for all to use....... Larry
The more antimony the harder the shot, the lighter the shot. -- did some experimenting years ago using wheel weights used the crush method hard but light, linotype lead heavy but soft,. also discovered shooting a variety of Arizona quail with reclaimed shot seemed to be more deadly then new round shot, reclaim seem to do more damage maybe something to do the sharp edges of the shot?
Yep, means more pellets when compared to the same weight shot charge with low antimony shot that weighs more. Can make a substantial difference.
Correct me if I'm wrong. How does the charge bar (die) know the difference between low or high antimony? It doesnt! e.g. a 1oz die for #8s will deliver a set volume of that shot (approx 1oz correct?) whether its high or low antimony. Technically, a high antimony shot would deliver a less than 1oz load with the same die. I believe it measures volume not weight. Right?
I use the UCB to maintain a near constant weight..... Often differences in crimps will show when loading by weight, some a little domed, others a little dished. Loaded some "Star" a week or so ago, chilled shot, followed with some West Coast Magnum. Noticed quite a difference in volume/weight........... Larry
You hit it on the head- APPOX.- That's why I weigh my new charges, and have a 7 1/2 shot bar and #8 shot bar --most bars are based off # 8 shot --More air around 7 1/2
6% is the highest I have ever seen advertised, it's also the Lightest per BB, more shot per weighed load. GB...................................DLS
I have a club member that tumbles his shot for a hour --and swears it makes it harder? Great long distant shooter - Just don't understand his prosses ?
Remington claims the Nitro 27's and STS are loaded with the same shot ... Nitro's do not show on the above list ... WPT ... (YAC) ...
I have always seen the STS and Nitro lumped together in any comparison of shotgun ammo. I believe the only difference besides color of hull is velocity. But I could be wrong, just ask my wife.
For whatever reason I find that on my machine the once fired hulls do crimp a bit different. Posts I read indicate they contain the same shot and that shot is as good as their is. Does not really matter in this part of the world as Remington shot is one of those items that does not make it to my part of the planet.. Westcoast and Lawrence shot is available sometimes and is tested as "hard", Northwest shot is re-dropped and is reported as "hard", Eagle is often available through Cabelas with free freight and is 2.5% (?) antimony and a product called HotShot is sometimes available but reports on it are widely variable. Reclaimed here is $28, just bought 15 bags of Northwest for $30 a bag...... beautiful product, round and graphited. My club just bout 200 bags from a reclaimer from Montana, really nice but sizes varied 7.5/8 . Hard to converse about shot when everything varies so much from location to location.......... Larry
I’d be interested to know how “antimony equivalent” is determined. The chart included doesn’t match my memory of the basic formula to estimate Brinell hardness based on the amount of lead, tin and antimony present in an alloy. Help, please.
I also have ask that question but just out of curiosity. Regardless of "antimony equivalent" one has to load and shoot what is available......... Larry
Here’s the ROM “formula” that I have for determining hardness based on the alloy composition. It does not seem to square with the chart included in this thread. Brinell = 8.6 + 0.3 tin pct +0.9 antimony pct. Tin is expensive but necessary to achieve sufficient “wetting” (surface tension) to make nice round shot. Antimony is used as the primary hardening element. Pure lead is the cheap part; it has a Brinell hardness if 8.6. To illustrate the formula: Let’s say we alloy pure lead to arrive at a composition with 4% tin and 4% antimony. So, Bhn = 8.6 + 4(0.3) + 4(0.9). So this alloy would have a Brinell hardness of 13.4. This is the alloy that I use for my 45 ACP bullets and the tested hardness lines up with the calculated hardness so I have some confidence in the formula. That’s why I asked how “equivalent antimony” was derived.
The more antimony in the lead, the lighter it is. Antimony (or hardness additive) takes the place of some of the lead. Also, all re loading machines load the shot charge by volume. 7-1/2 shot is larger than 8 or 8-1/2 shot. The smaller the shot size, the more it fills the shot volume charge space, and consequently the heavier the shot charge. I use adjustable charge bars, on my MECS so you can fine tune both the shot and powder for accurate charge weights. No bushings to worry about. Also, don't expect to get completely uniform shot weights between loads, as shot is not uniform in size. You may get anywhere from 490 to 500 grains of shot between loads of 1-1/8 oz. which is 492 grains. I might weigh 10 loads and take the average shot weight as my loading spec.
Back to the question at hand - Highest antimony shot? Harder the shot, more uniform in size? Harder shot is lighter= more shot in the load? less shot damage leaving the barrel ? Fewer flyers= More shot in a thirty inch pattern?
