Sailboat Keel - 1400 pounds of pure lead sweetness!

Shot tower. Pour the molten lead through a plate with the appropriately-sized holes drilled through, and let it fall through at least 70 feet of free air into a tub of water.

It's very old-school technology, but it works quite well.
 
1) I'm NOT building a 70 foot tall structure in my back yard so that I can pour lead to make shot.
2) Shot makers are very expensive, almost $400 for the cheapest ones. Have to do a LOT of shooting to justify it.
3) Maybe our own mac1911 would offer to start making shot for us....... hint hint (he has a great shot maker, and has been working it)
4) The Lee mold is so cheap to buy that it would make more sense for you to just get your own, and cast them yourself. The rest of the reloading of slugs is so convoluted that I don't want to be come the go-to=guy for reloading slugs. When would I ever have time to do my own reloading?
5) The nice thing about having more lead than I'd ever use is that I can sell it off (as ingots) to pay for my other reloading needs.
6) Yes, I may be crazy... what with 1400 pound lead keel, and 1200 pounds of linotype, back to back. BadLuther and I are starting to call it, "Lead Exposure Crazy"... LEC for short.
7) And, we can't seem to lick the LEC.
 
Can't you also make shot in a utility sink? Pour the lead through the plate and have it fall into a metal sink full of water?

BTW, I'm an ignoramus noob to this subject, which is why I'm asking the question!
 
No, what you end up with that way is sharp thin needles. Ask me how I know.

The way the shot makers work is that they drop the lead, which lands on a short rolling surface, which causes the drop of molten lead to curl into a round ball, which immediately falls into a coolant. Anti-freeze works better than just water for some reason.

I took a piece of 4" cast iron pipe, and put a cap on one end. Drilled a tiny hole in the middle of the cap. Immersed the whole thing in my dutch oven (full of molten lead), and then dripped the drops straight into a pan of water. Skinny very pointy needles. The short rolling surface is the key.

 
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thats what i'm talking 'bout

specially since bass pro wanted $53 for 25# last night - they didn't get it. i'll have to see if i can find it any cheaper first.

They also didn't have the 500 count bags of AA wads that the website has. the 500 goes for $15.99 the store has the 250 count (website has this also) for $10.99. So the deal on the 500 was not available.

However i had a $10 coupon so i actually got the 500 (2 bags of 250) for $11.98 I also picked up primers and red dot. All i need now to get started is shot.
 
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So, BadLuther and I finished up smelting the last of that big bad keel today.
Final NET was 1300 pounds of very very very clean pure lead. There was over 100 pounds of dross, so our initial estimate was on the money.
Our investment: $400 for the keel, three twenty pound tanks of propane, one trip to the hospital (priceless)...

We're both happy, and will start casting ASAP. I emptied the last of the propane tank smelting pot (pure lead) into my production RCBS bottom pour pot, and will create 20 pounds of 56 caliber round balls for my T/C Renegade smoothbore.

Oh, and Mr. Bad will post images later on (so he says)
 

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