Monday, April 1, 2013

Voids in the hollow base. Any idea why?

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vogironface is offline Boolit Bub Join DateDec 2012Posts25

I have voids in the hollow base of my 50 cal mini balls.
The mold is a lee 500-354-M and cast out of pure lead.
I have altered temperature and the angle I hold the mold as well as the speed I pour. I can't figure out what is causing the void. It does not happen every time but most of the time. Any thoughts?

Thank you.

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That looks like a shrinkage void caused by the nose freezing before the middle and drawing metal up from the still soft base as the centre freezes and shrinks. Maybe the top of the mold needs to be warmer?
Regards
303Guy

?It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!? Nietzsche

pin temperature.
that is classic.
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.

If God didn't want man to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of MEAT!

The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on my list.

For pure lead I always turn the pot up to max temp. Get the mold good and hot and keep a good casting rhythm going.
That pin needs to be hot and stay hot to avoid that void.
I have had that problem forever with certain molds, others not a problem. I tried everything from cutting vent lines on the pin to heating the plug with a torch, made it smoking hot and charred the handle. I cast fast and very hot with lead and pot as high as they would go.
I still had one mold that kept doing that for the Minie' and another for a 12 ga slug. Still drives me nuts! It did not happen with every one but each side of a good one that hole was there.
I also tried pouring every way I could get lead in the molds.
I cast a pile of .54 Minie' balls with a friends mold and never had a bad one. Why did his work with just normal casting----I am at a loss.
The gremlin strikes!
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