Mold quality and casting ease/performance questions.

Boolit Mold Join DateFeb 2013LocationAnderson, INPosts1

I'm a new caster. I am starting to shoot Bullseye competition outside my club's fun league. Started getting a high percentage of rejects in my orders of 200 gr H&G 68 for .45 ACP. So, my father and I (we shoot together) took the plunge on casting equipment and we're getting ourselves educated. We've only spent a few nights actually casting, and we're using LEE aluminum 6-cav molds. I was originally expecting to buy Ballisti-Cast 4 or 6 cav molds, but he ordered the LEE's before we talked about it, so we're getting started on them.

I am wondering if the Ballisti-Cast molds are better. I don't like the LEE molds. They seem to require the lead to be around 950 F to cast sharp edges. The lead is right at the edge of frosting. I have tried cleaning, smoking and pre-heating the molds, as well as simply casting for awhile with the lead from 720-760 F, and I cannot get bullets worth keeping. I am using wheel weights with tin added to both 2% and 4%.

I am casting to make outstanding competition bullets. Practice bullets I can live with a little wider acceptance tollerances, but the whole purpose of spending the time to do this myself is to achieve near perfection for hand-made match ammo. Being somewhat of a perfectionist, I have always believed you generally get what you pay for, and that usually eliminates LEE from my consideration in most (but not all) equipment choices. I would like to hear from casters who have cast from both manufacturer's molds, what the differences are, and whether you think it would be money well spent ordering a Ballisti-Cast mold when I already have a LEE, as well as why.

Thanks for the help.

Ballisticast molds are Mercedes. Lee are Ford Pinto. Money well spent and
you will get a REAL H&G 68 design from Balisticast. They bought the rights
when H&G closed down. H&G 68 is a wonderful design. IME, the Lyman
452460 is slightly more accurate for bullseye work. YMMV. H&G 68 is
the gold standard of feeding in a 1911, very close or equal in accy to 452460,
Mr. Target will tell you the right answer. 460 is a bit more fussy and may
not feed 100% in some guns. Load a REAL H&G 68 to 1.250-1.260 LOA and
over 3.5 or so of BE or TG and you will be there.

I use and like Lee molds, but they are right at the rock bottom of what will
work properly, and a bit fussy. However - THEY WILL PRODUCE FINE BOOLITS
if you do it right.

If you are at 950 (and I doubt it) you need to clean the mold (scrub cavities with comet
and hot water and toothbrush) to clean and lightly deburr, and you have already
added a touch of tin. Get rid of the smoking, scrub out with comet. A clean
naked mold cavity is what you want. Get some Bullplate lube for the sprue plate
bottom and alignment features. VERY, VERY sparing use. Look for The Bullshop
at the bottom of the page.

Cast as fast as you can to get the mold up to temp. It may take 25 or more casts before
it is hot enough, do NOT inspect or admire. Pour, cut, dump, pour, cut, dump. Speed
puts heat into the mold. Mold temp is what you want to control, and not by running
the metal that hot. If you actually did manage to get that hot, you will rapidly oxidize
the tin. Are you fluxing? Flux with sawdust, but OUTDOORS! lots of smoke. Sprinkle
on and mix it in. It will clean and reverse some of the oxidation.

Once the mold is casting well, slow down to hold the temp. Maybe touch the bottom
of mold to wet sponge for a second to cool if it is getting too hot.

Bill

Last edited by MtGun44; Yesterday at 09:29 PM.

If it was easy, anybody could do it.

Preheat the mould on a hotplate. I have no problem getting good fillout with straight WW. Using the hotplate I can get keeper boolits from the start and have no problem cutting sprues. I also like Bullplate lube.

If you cast with Ballistic- Cast moulds one time, you would not have to ask the question

yep, just buy the mold.
i would recommend the lyman 460 also [it's what i use]
buuuut they seem to only be specced for some unobtanium alloy nowdays.

it's all an educated guess,,,, till the trigger is pulled.

the more i find out about shootin boolits, the more it contradicts everything i ever learned about shooting jaxketed.

They seem to require the lead to be around 950 F to cast sharp edges. The lead is right at the edge of frosting. I have tried cleaning, smoking and pre-heating the molds, as well as simply casting for awhile with the lead from 720-760 F, and I cannot get bullets worth keeping. I am using wheel weights with tin added to both 2% and 4%.

Sounds to me like you have zinc contamination in that alloy. COWWs + 2% tin should cast very good bullets in your Lee moulds at 725 degrees. This is assuming you are doing everything else correctly in casting. Casting is not rocket science as some would have us believe. There are different techniques that all work well and give fine cast bullets (different ways to skin the cat). However, the basics still must be adhered to. All in all from your description it sounds more like contaminated alloy to me. Suggest a fresh batch of COWWs making sure none are zinc and add 2% tin.

Larry Gibson

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Abbreviations used in Reloading
Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt"

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