3rd Casting Session

Last edited by novalty; Today at 08:26 AM.

In my opionion frosting is not bad. I notice though that when I get frosting it is not to long that I need to let the mold cool a bit or I can get some smearing on top of the mold. I assume you are tying a piece of cloth over your water bucket with a slit cut in it to prevent the water from splashing on your mold when water quenching. Looks like you are on your way.

gmsharps

Yes, I took the cloth and covered most of a folgers coffee can and held it on with clothes pins, the cloth was drapped down so the bullets could land on the cloth and roll down unto the water. Didn't see any splashes, but boy do they sizzle when they land and stay on the damp cloth. Really going to hold off on the water dropping until I get a better handle on the casting, will try to devise a better bed to drop them into so they can air cool.

Will have to clean up both my Mihec mold though, as I managed to get some lead in between the molds towards the end and they weren't closing all the way--which resulted in a bunch of "finning."

Last edited by novalty; Today at 07:12 AM.

Those don't look bad at all. I'd shoot em! Doesn't really matter how they look as long as they shoot where you point.

When I water drop, I use a plastic coffee can filled almost to the top with water, figuring the plastic has enough give to allow some cushion when they hit bottom. So far have not noticed any deformations. When I air cool I have a box that I line with several layers of an old cotton bath towel. As the box fills up and I run out of room I just dump them into another box and keep going.

sounds like you are learning that controlling mold temperature is the most important part to making consistently good boolits.

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.

You may not post new threadsYou may not post repliesYou may not post attachmentsYou may not edit your postsForum Rules

Abbreviations used in Reloading
Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt"

View the original article here

My first casting session!

Well, with much help and advice from the awesome folks here I have embarked on my casting adventure.

I used a Lee .452" 230 grain, two cavity mold and a Lee 4-20 bottom pour melter. Both brand new out of the box. It took a little while to get the hang of poring decent boolits. I took some advice from a friend I met on this forum......"most issues people have with Lee molds is not following the instructions. Follow the instructions". This mold worked very well. I also tried my new .358 140 grain SWC but it was not acting the same. The cavity nearest the handle did not want to fill up. I will do some research on this.
I had ZERO drips from the melter in the 2 hours it took me to pour 250 keeper boolits. I made a couple of modifications to my melter before I even plugged it in. It worked flawlessly.
It will be a week or so before I can get to the range. I get to pick up my new Ruger Blackhawk .45LC/.45ACP Tuesday so that will go long as well.
I am excited to test these boolits! Thank you everybody for the wealth of information here.

- SK

Hmmm, I got a 1911 that would love them boolits. Good work...

Are you hooked yet?

Echo
USAF Ret
NRA Patron
O&U
If a man is in the desert, and says something, and there are no women around to hear him, is he still wrong?

Nice job on the casting, keep us posted on how they shoot.
Great forum Eh.

*Cohesiveness*Leadership*a common cause***

The effective range of an excuse is ZERO Meters

Now powder coat those bad boys and you will be ready to go!

bangerjim

Thanks everyone and, yes, I'm hooked. I really like being as self sufficient as possible. Also, factory .45LC is pretty much impossible to find and very pricey when it can be found. Nice to be able to roll my own for a fraction of the cost.
I'll keep you posted on how they shoot.

Here are some out of the Lee .358" 140 grain that gave me trouble initially. I recleaned and resmoked it. Still not good. Loosened the spruce pivot screw a little and it poured great out of both cavities. The spruce cutter loosened up a few times so I kept going a little tighter each time. Ended up pretty tight and still pouring good.

Ok, who wants to send me 50 pounds of lead, haha!

Looks great.
If I ever get some Lyman 4 cavity handles (and the back-ordered molds ever show up) I'll hope for results like that.

Those boolits look great, Good job... Welcome to the jungle...

They do look GOOD!! The "hook" will be set deep then the first round goes downrange!!

You may not post new threadsYou may not post repliesYou may not post attachmentsYou may not edit your postsForum Rules

Abbreviations used in Reloading
Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt"

View the original article here

My First Casting Session!

Well, with much help and advice from the awesome folks here I have embarked on my casting adventure.

I used a Lee .452" 230 grain, two cavity mold and a Lee 4-20 bottom pour melter. Both brand new out of the box. It took a little while to get the hang of poring decent boolits. I took some advice from a friend I met on this forum......"most issues people have with Lee molds is not following the instructions. Follow the instructions". This mold worked very well. I also tried my new .358 140 grain SWC but it was not acting the same. The cavity nearest the handle did not want to fill up. I will do some research on this.
I had ZERO drips from the melter in the 2 hours it took me to pour 250 keeper boolits. I made a couple of modifications to my melter before I even plugged it in. It worked flawlessly.
It will be a week or so before I can get to the range. I get to pick up my new Ruger Blackhawk .45LC/.45ACP Tuesday so that will go long as well.
I am excited to test these boolits! Thank you everybody for the wealth of information here.

- SK

Hmmm, I got a 1911 that would love them boolits. Good work...

Are you hooked yet?

Echo
USAF Ret
NRA Patron
O&U
If a man is in the desert, and says something, and there are no women around to hear him, is he still wrong?

Nice job on the casting, keep us posted on how they shoot.
Great forum Eh.

*Cohesiveness*Leadership*a common cause***

The effective range of an excuse is ZERO Meters

Now powder coat those bad boys and you will be ready to go!

bangerjim

Thanks everyone and, yes, I'm hooked. I really like being as self sufficient as possible. Also, factory .45LC is pretty much impossible to find and very pricey when it can be found. Nice to be able to roll my own for a fraction of the cost.
I'll keep you posted on how they shoot.

Here are some out of the Lee .358" 140 grain that gave me trouble initially. I recleaned and resmoked it. Still not good. Loosened the spruce pivot screw a little and it poured great out of both cavities. The spruce cutter loosened up a few times so I kept going a little tighter each time. Ended up pretty tight and still pouring good.

Ok, who wants to send me 50 pounds of lead, haha!

Looks great.
If I ever get some Lyman 4 cavity handles (and the back-ordered molds ever show up) I'll hope for results like that.

Those boolits look great, Good job... Welcome to the jungle...

They do look GOOD!! The "hook" will be set deep then the first round goes downrange!!

You may not post new threadsYou may not post repliesYou may not post attachmentsYou may not edit your postsForum Rules

Abbreviations used in Reloading
Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt"

View the original article here

great casting session

It was raining here this morning, and continues....I decided to cast some boolits and opted to use the NOE 311008GC 4 cavity to cast up a batch of lightweight 30s. I have a batch of low antimony mix in the 20# Lee, and decided to use it since I was planning on moderate velocity loads anyway. The mold preheated on top of the pot, and I dumped the 1st cast into the sprue box. After that, it was all keepers. The session was going unusually well, and I kept feeding the sprue back into the pot along with preheated 1/2# ingots, frequent fluxing, etc. I finally got tired and called it a session. The naked boolits weigh 120gr in this mix, and the batch weighs 17# according to my old scale, so just shy of 1K boolits in this session! These are beautiful boolits, and lots of 'em!

Boolit Man Join DateOct 2011Posts116

Those thousand boolits should keep you busy reloading for a while.

They try telling me that I'm crazy but we know better.

They'll keep me busy experimenting for a while. Between my 30-06s, 7.5x55s, 308s, 30-30s, 32-20, and 7.62x39 bolt gun I have plenty to feed. I had already fed some to the 7.62x39 sized .312" and they grouped 3/8"-1/2" at 58 yards. The Lee pot is full of that mix and I have another 5# on hand, so may cast another batch.

You may not post new threadsYou may not post repliesYou may not post attachmentsYou may not edit your postsForum Rules

Abbreviations used in Reloading
Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt"

View the original article here

My first 45 casting session...

I finally got a 45 (Remington 1911 r1) and ran my first batch. I got a 6 cavity Lee 230 tc on fleabay for $46 shipped last week. Here is a sample.

View the original article here

First casting session tonight.

Posted on the S&W forum also :

I started in `83 & wish my first 1s looked that good !!!

Your alloy temp looks OK , maybe too warm ,but the molds can get too hot & cause fillout problems also , by the pic it looks as if the far left Lachmiller boolit the mold may have been too warm (cookin the tin)
& causing poor fill out .

May I suggest a Thermometer to monitor the alloy closer ,the numbers on the dial are just for reference & as the melt comes to temp & the levels drop ya have to keep tweekin the temp down . Some build PID controllers but I never have.

As far as the wrinkles go on a preheated mold , it was either not up to temp (I like to start at 350f on steel molds, checked with an infared temp gun & 300 on aluminum).
Also the molds have to be free of any lubes ,oils or cleaners that will cook off or leach from the pores as it comes to temp & ya found the best way to do that CAST & get em hot !
Sometimes I smoke the cavity with a slightly visible coating of carbon from a butane liter , the spray release stuff will coat the cavity & lessen dia accordingly.

I like the lachmillers & my GPs do also !!
I have the 162 plainbased swc in 2 cavity & the 162 swc GCed in 3 cavity , both are quality molds !!

Here`s a pic of the 2 holer after a cleanin & some hot alloy .

Now the HP problem , I have no exp with MP molds or cramer style HPs but plenty with NOE molds & I usually smooth the pins as much as possible with 600 paper (carefully) to a shine , then after they heat up with the mold I barely touch the tips with a q tip that`s damp with Bull Shops sprue plate lube, or a synthetic 2 cycle ashless oil will do in a pinch ,but will have to be applied more often than Bull Shops lube .

I also touch the alignment pins & lube any moving part ,applied to the any surface then dried off lead will not stik .

But use any lube sparingly as applied & as the mold comes to temp or is to to temp alittle will migrate a long ways & we need to keep the cavitys free of anything .

Hope this helps .

GP

View the original article here

First Casting Session - Thanks CB Forum

Boolit Man Join DateJan 2009LocationNashville, TN.Posts148

Cane man, Congrads on the casting session. I think we all remember the first time casting and the fun of trials and screw ups !![ errors]
I enjoy casting as much if not more than shooting. Any time of year, I find I can set up at the door way to the detached garage, fan, heater or two fans and still enjoy the fine boolits dropping from the molds. Each mold has its own way of casting to drop good boolits.
The people here are the best for sharing the info and decades of knowlege, and help us to keep the hobby going and then to pass it along to others. Glad your son has an interest and hope he shares the fun of casting with you.
Be safe, protection always. Enjoy !

Mike

Mike

You may not post new threadsYou may not post repliesYou may not post attachmentsYou may not edit your postsForum Rules

Abbreviations used in Reloading
Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt"

View the original article here