16ga.com ~ View topic

Joined: 18 Feb 2014 Posts: 30 Location: New Zealand

One of the great quirks of the waterfowl hunting scene here in NZ is that the ban on lead shot does not apply to sub-gauges (for which read anything smaller than 12). Reasons and justifications for this are the scarcity of ammunition varieties imported for the smaller less popular gauges and the fact that for youngsters starting out, a nice moderate load of lead in a sub-gauge is a sensible entry point that won't kick little miss or master out the back of the mai mai (duck blind) and into the next sport. So currently the beautiful gauge has it all over its handicapped mightier siblings on the ducks.

All good things come to an end though and there are increasing signs that the ban will be extended to all gauges. Even if steel shot in 16g could be had in NZ I won't be using it. Alas bismuth for the reloader is also unavailable in NZ. So in order to be prepared I decided to look into dropping my own bismuth shot.

The internet is a wonderful resource and there I discovered a PDF copy of an article on the topic that appeared in an Australian hunting magazine in 1995. The author had been involved with the aboriginal people of Kakadu national park who had decided to switch to non toxic shot in their wet lands. Finding steel unsatisfactory they boldly purchased 1 tonne of bismuth and figured it couldn't be too hard to make it into shot. Turns out they were wrong but they worked it out in the end.
The article shares the key points and requirements. They are:

1. A shot maker
2. A new nipple machined from a 3/8 stainless steel bolt. I had mine machined with a 3/64 hole which gives me shot size #3. I prefer #5 so I intend to use a 1mm hole in the next.
3. A chalked aluminium bib on the shot maker
4. A bare minimum drop height into a bath of 15mm of diesel floating on water with an over flow system set up so that as the shot displaces the water in the bath the level of the diesel does not rise.
5. It goes without saying you'll also need some bismuth and tin to alloy it with at 5%.

I have only got an old paper copy of the article I printed when I came across it. If anyone knows the link it would be great if you could post it here. It is an excellent article and I can vouch for the process working as they describe it. The article itself tells of how the Kakadu aborigines used the home made shot to take 2000 magpie geese in their first season. For the smaller shot sizes, no performance difference with lead was discerned in the field. The larger shot sizes (1s and 2s) patterned 10% tighter.

I have only dropped 4lbs, sufficient to prove the process and test the shot but it certainly works. When change inevitably comes and I am forced to give up taking lead to the mai mai, I'm all set and my 16 gauge won't miss a beat.

Regards

Richard.

Great,
Pictures please
and a source for bismuth
Mike

Joined: 18 Feb 2014 Posts: 30 Location: New Zealand

Well if I can find bismuth in a tiny country of 4.5m people at the bottom of the south pacific.....

I'm jealous when I see what you guys can access over there. Rotometals.com currently has bismuth on sale - $350 for 34lb with free shipping (stateside!).

I will have to work on photo posting. I tried and failed on my last post....

Take care.

Richard.

Joined: 09 Dec 2012 Posts: 691

you might be able to have that paper copy scanned in and turned into a PDF that can be shared

Joined: 18 Feb 2014 Posts: 30 Location: New Zealand

Found it!

Not sure if this will work just by clicking on it but if not, just cut and paste and search and it should come straight up. For anybody wanting to make their own bismuth shot this is most if not all you need to know.

http://www.hotkey.net.au/~orrs/BismuthArticle/index.htm

Regards

Richard.

Joined: 08 Feb 2009 Posts: 1308 Location: Western WA

Richard,

Splendid and inspiring article! I like the way you guys down there use your heads and don't give up.

Many thanks,

Brewster