Flash Copper on Lead Shot

[jlmccuan]

Has anyone tried flash copper on lead shot? How did you set it up. Should the shot be stirred while plating? After immersion in #4 pickle, I have a dark gray cloud in my pickle tank. Will this settle out and still be able to use the pickle on steel? Thanks in advance for the avise.

[fly]

If you are still wondering, I have not tried this but you should be able to degrees the lead and go staight into the flash copper. Plate about a minute and then move parts after another minute and it should be ready for acid copper. THe clouds should settle and be ok but don't do it again because the acid eats the lead. If you don't mind me asking why would you plate lead shots?

[mcaswell]

This article might help you:

http://support.caswellplating.com/in...emid=8&nav=0,1

[jlmccuan]

Lead shot is plated to provide a little more hardness, and roundness, but primarily lubricity to improve shotgun patterns at longer ranges.

[jlmccuan]

The article is good, at least I know it is possible. But, I need to figure out how to plate hundreds, if not thousands, of pieces of shot at once. Would plating the shot in a wire basket result in a solid lump? Also, will this contaminate my flash copper solution so badly that it would be useless for other metals? I know it can be done (copper plating lead shot), just not sure how they do it in mass scale or whether the method they use won't work for flash copper.

[mcaswell]

They use a barrel plating machine. Hunt around on the web for some suppliers. These are turn key systems, and they're usually very large and very expensive.

[jimmc]

Thanks for the help.