SIGforum
I lead a sheltered life, never heard of "Shot Towers" for making lead ammo

This topic can be found at:
https://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/720601935/m/3570040105

May 28, 2023, 10:51 AM
rizzle
I lead a sheltered life, never heard of "Shot Towers" for making lead ammo
Seems like there is always something I find out about, never dawned on me how they made shot back in the day.
Quote from link:

Before the use of shot towers, shot was made in wooden molds, which resulted in unevenly formed, low quality shot. Shot towers work on the principle that molten lead forms perfectly round balls when poured from a high place. Molten lead at the top of the tower was poured through a sieve or mesh, forming uniform spherical shot before falling into a large vat of water at the bottom of the tower.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparks_Shot_Tower
May 28, 2023, 11:31 AM
Sigmund
Here's one about an hour north of me.

https://www.cityofdubuque.org/712/Shot-Tower

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_Tower_(Dubuque)
May 28, 2023, 11:35 AM
dking271
Having grown up in CT that had a grandfather that produced ammo at Remington for a portion of WWII, I only knew about shot towers because of the one located in Bridgeport. He told stories about the many mishaps and people getting hurt or killed that he left the job and started building engines for the Corsair F4U and later engines for the M1 tanks.


_________________________
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last” - Winston Churchil
May 28, 2023, 12:03 PM
rizzle
Yeah, it's all good, if I had to make a perfectly round lead ball, I would of never thought to take molten lead and drop it through a screen then into water, I wonder how long it took to get the distance correct, now a days it can be figured out with a computer, and they use fancy machines Smile.
May 28, 2023, 12:08 PM
Pyker
here's some info: Lambeth Shot Tower

It was demolished in 1962 and ceased production before that in 1949.
May 28, 2023, 02:43 PM
Augen
They had one in Melbourne, Australia connected to a shopping centre. That's when I first learned about it.
May 28, 2023, 08:23 PM
BigCity
There is one in downtown Baltimore right at the end of I-83.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BigCity,


John

The key to enforcement is to punish the violator, not an inanimate object. The punishment of inanimate objects for the commission of a crime or carelessness is an affront to stupidity.

May 28, 2023, 09:22 PM
NOCkid
We passed one in Virginia a couple weeks ago just off I-77 where it crosses the New River:

https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/shot-tower
June 01, 2023, 08:51 AM
jhe888
I saw an old one in Connecticut somewhere, decades ago. Maybe a Winchester or Remington factory? I can't recall where it was, but it was interesting to me as a kid.




The fish is mute, expressionless. The fish doesn't think because the fish knows everything.