pitted noses on .45-70 bullets

[craveman85]

ive been doing a lot of casting with my lee bullet mold for the 405gr hollow base bullet. every bullet i cast the nose always gets pitted when i whack the sprue plate. kinda like its ripping off the nose instead of cutting it. any suggestions. i think its been greatly affecting my accuracy. :killingpc

[454PB]

A picture would help.

Short of that, I'd guess you're not letting the sprue solidify enough.

[geargnasher]

Wait just one more second before cutting it to allow it to cool just a bit more (but still be fairly soft), and DON'T whack it with a mallet, just swing it open with a push of your gloved thumb. Keep a slight downward pressure on the sprue plate while your'e doing this to make sure the nose stays flat.

Gear

[onondaga]

That is the classic indicator of your metal being too hot when you hit the sprue gate to cut the sprue. Try twenty more seconds before you hit if the additional one second and hand opening with down pressure Gear suggested isn't working for you. Scribbling with a pencil on the underside of the sprue plate after a thorough de-leading may be needed too. Check also that the sprue gate hole has a sharp cutting edge. That area can be sharpened to a clean fine edge in a number of ways if you are a good sharpener and can get a clean edge. Or, it can be butchered a lot worse. The chunking out of lead at the cut is usually temperature related or a damaged/dull sprue gate hole. A clean aimed hit with a sharp edged sprue gate hole will make a clean cut on harder metal. But the extra time hardening can upset the balance of your casting cadence and cool your mold, so experiment and find your spot. There is not just one answer for this problem.


Gary

[zuke]

That is the classic indicator of your metal being too hot when you hit the sprue gate to cut the sprue. Try twenty more seconds before you hit if the additional one second and hand opening with down pressure Gear suggested isn't working for you. Scribbling with a pencil on the underside of the sprue plate after a thorough de-leading may be needed too. Check also that the sprue gate hole has a sharp cutting edge. That area can be sharpened to a clean fine edge in a number of ways if you are a good sharpener and can get a clean edge. Or, it can be butchered a lot worse. The chunking out of lead at the cut is usually temperature related or a damaged/dull sprue gate hole. A clean aimed hit with a sharp edged sprue gate hole will make a clean cut on harder metal. But the extra time hardening can upset the balance of your casting cadence and cool your mold, so experiment and find your spot. There is not just one answer for this problem.


Gary

You hit it right on the nose! :p

[btroj]

Actually it is the mold that is too got, not the melt. If you meant that the metal inside the mould had not fully hardened then I can agree with you. I am starting to really thing we need to clearly differentiate between a hot mould and a hot melt. 2 very different things.

[Doby45]

The melted metal has not hardened enough where the sprue is cut. Plain and simple. Like Gear said give it a few more seconds. I let mine go to about a 10 count.