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Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Posts: 27 Location: UTAH

What is the difference between "Magnum lead shot" and "Chilled lead shot"?
Thanks Embarassed

Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 76 Location: north Texas

"Magnum" lead shot is harder because it has a higher antimony content. It doesn't deform as readily - thus maintains tighter patterns with fewer flyers. It is manufactured in the same shot towers as "Chilled", but has a different, harder lead alloy. The word "Magnum" as it is used here is a misleading term.

"Chilled" lead shot is soft low-antimony lead shot that has been annealed in cooling water as it was dropped molten from the tower. This hardens it somewhat more than if it had been "dropped" and not been "chilled". It deforms more readily upon firing and thus spreads patterns more than "Magnum" lead shot.

xtm

Member Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 3438 Location: Illinois

One of these days I am going to pattern both and see how much difference there is Shocked

Joined: 13 Feb 2007 Posts: 98 Location: Illinois

Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 76 Location: north Texas

onefunz,

Here is a pic of a surviving shot tower:

http://www.baltimore.to/ShotTower/index.html

The article states that molten lead spheres were dropped into water to cool.

My point was to answer his question and to illustrate that there are two ways to harden shot. The first and superior way is to add antimony into the lead alloy as with so-called "Magnum" shot. The second way is to "chill" or quench the little hot lead spheres in cool water - a method commonly used by bullet casters to add a little hardness to their slugs - by dropping them straight from the mould into cool water to be quenched and hardened.

There have been shotmakers out there who could drop shot and not quench or "chill" it in order to keep it as soft as possible, but I don't know for sure if any are still around today.

Some of the larger sizes of lead shot are not dropped through a screen from a tower at all, but are swaged into spheres. This would include most of the buckshot sizes.

So, what was your point?

xtm

for all intents and purposes, all lead shot made in the USA is either chilled shot or extra hard, high antimony, magnum shot. this because all domestic shot is dropped into water to cool it. Also, all domestic shot has some antimony and tin in it too help the pellets form nice round spheres as they fall. Pure lead or black shot does not round up as well and is not used for making any type of dropped shot anymore. I have not seen black shot available for many years now.

#9 chilled shot is more than adequate for any skeet shooting. #8 chilled shot is fine for all trap singles shooting and all first round doubles loads. It will do for any handicap targets from as far back as 21 yards too. However, from 22 yards and past, #7.5 shot is better. Always use magnum shot for #7.5 shot h-cap loads to ensure dense, target proof patterns. #7.5 and #8 magnum shot have the highest percentage of antimony of any size shot available. Bigger and smaller pellets have less, because too much antimony hinders them from rounding up well or adds no hardness to the bigger shot sizes.

Chilled #8 and #7.5 shot is very good stuff for smaller birds than pheasant or bigger grouse. The smaller pellets flatten out a bit more and tend to hit a bit harder rather than just pin point through. I like 7.5 chilled shot on big quail, ruffed grouse, and chukers in the fall. It is also fine for pigeons. #6 chilled is fine for close in pheasant with milder loads for the same reasons. It will add a little extra shock to the hit. Magnum shot deforms less and expends less energy inside the bird. The softer chilled shot uses more of its velocity produced energy when it hits. I use it in 1200 FPS 1 ounce 16 ga. loads for pheasant and late season grouse. It anchors grouse like nothing else will. It will drop even big pheasant out to 30 yds reliably at the more modest velocities.

However, I use magnum shot for #6 and up depending on the, velocity, the range, and the size of the birds being hunted. #6 magnum shot driven at 1300 FPS is deadly out past 35 yards to almost 40 yards on stocked pheasant. a 1 ounce load of this shot at the higher velocity will dump a cock bird like it was pole-axed and pattern nicely too. #5 and #4 shot are both big enough to hit hard without flattening out. The harder shot also patterns tighter to help maintain a bird proof pattern with the lower pellet count per ounce.

Use the shot that fits the job to your best advantage. Then hit them hard and watch them fall. That is what its all about.