Dear Technoid,

I recently purchased two bags of reclaimed lead shot at about 70% of the price of new shot. I want to shoot as much as possible, but I’m on a limited budget and I figured this was a good way to stretch my reloading bucks. I am going to use the shot for skeet shooting. I have a shootin buddy that has given me much grief over this, says that I’m a cheapskate and that I am being “penny wise and pound foolish.”

Didn’t find anything in the Technoid Archives on this topic. What is your opinion of using reclaimed shot? Shouldn’t it be ok for a short range game such as skeet?

Thanks,
John

Dear John,

I don’t think that there is anything wrong at all with using reclaimed shot for skeet. I believe it was the Russians or French who got caught using flattened shot at International Skeet to improve their patterns on station eight.

Most reclaimed shot is taken from trap fields where the shot fall is more concentrated and more economical to strip mine. You will have a lot more #8s and #7-1/2s than #9s. Still that isn’t bad at all. Even a flattened #8 is adequate at 20 yards. It takes a little distance for a “slightly” flat pellet to start to spread out. You might choose to use a slightly tighter choke than normal- say a true I.C. instead of Sk, but experimentation will show you. Use proper fresh shot for matches though. You never want to give up anything when shooting registered. And, don’t use reclaimed shot at longer distances. You will be disappointed. Save it for skeet where it will be just fine.

By the way, I am assuming that you are using 1-1/8 oz 12 gauge loads here. I really wouldn’t recommend reclaimed shot in the sub-gauges. That is just cutting it too close.

Best regards,

Bruce Buck
Shotgun Report’s Technoid
(Often in error, never in doubt.)