First cast

[bubba 2]

I cast my first batch of boolits tonite I am hooked while most were not pretty I did not mind I can afford to be picky. After all I am only out a little propane and time, the longer I cast the higher the percentage of good boolits. One thing I couldn't understand is why do people open and close their sprue plates by hitting them with sticks I just used a leather gloved hand?:castmine:

[Southern Son]

Welcome. Many use a gloved palm to cut the sprue, some of the 3 and 4 banger moulds do need a little help, but single and two cavity moulds are rarely any trouble. Don't worry about the rejection rate. When I first started casting for my 45/70 I was rejecting about half of what I was casting. Last week I cast 167 boolits and by my old standards, none of them were rejects. As you get better you will find that you reject rate goes down, but you become more picky about what constitutes a reject. I ended up only accepting about 155 of them. Once again, welcome, this place has some real smart folks and most of them are really happy to help us beginners.

[Ajax]

About hitting molds with stick, we have a lot of older members and members with various medical conditions. I use a gloved hand till hand starts hurting and then i use a stick to push my sprue plate open.

Andy

[Bret4207]

I use a light rawhide mallet because that's the way I've been doing it since 1978. Why mess with success?

[craveman85]

some of us are also to cheap to buy some good leather gloves. and last i knew sticks grew on trees.

[bubba 2]

yeah sticks grow on trees but I was worried about the boolit molds that don't

[44man]

A good sprue setup is too hard to cut by hand. Cutting almost molten sprues makes a mess on the plate and mold top.
You can tap a sprue plate with a stick for 200 years and not harm the mold. Little taps, not one huge rap.

[btroj]

I will use a stick because I learned that way. 25+ years of experience is hard to fight. I also like having the stick to hit the handle pivot if any of those little buggers decide to hang up in the mould.

Like Bret said, why mess with success?

[wvmedic]

Congrats bubba 2, just did our first run Wednesday and we are hooked as well. Now to find more lead...

Jeff