New to casting...fine tuning things

[Forester]

First I want to say what a great resource this forum has been. I have been lurking here for awhile while I got started with casting. Now that I have tried my hand at it I have a few questions I can't find the answers too.

I have smelted my way through several 5 gallon buckets of wheel weights which seem to be readily available around here. I used a turkey cooker, cast iron pot and muffin tins. I finally got to give a try to casting bullets yesterday. (not boolits yet, im not that proud of them):roll: I am using a Lee Pro 20 bottom pour pot.

Everything went fairly well but I am having a couple of problems I can't seem to figure out. I am casting at the moment exclusively for .45ACP so my first attempts were with a Lee 6 cavity 200gr LSWC. I got good but not great results. The bullets are not competely filled out, or have small deformations, some but few are what I would call perfect. I cleaned it pretty well with actone before use and smoked it with a butane lighter. Are smaller bullets typically harder to cast for any reason? For pistol use, at no more than 25 yards (IDPA/IPSC) how perfectly filled out do they need to be? Are small flaws ok while I work towards perfection?

I also have a .452 Lee 6 cavity 230gr Truncated Cone mould which almost immediately dropped beautifully formed bullets. This is a simpler shape it seems to me than the LSWC so would that acount for it being easier to get good results?

How big a deal are frosted bullets? Its seems I got better results when the pot was up around 850* but that caused the bullets to frost over. This was more of an issue with the LSWCs because the other mould worked fine at a lower temp.

For lubing and sizing I opted for the RCBS Lube-A-Matic 2 which seems to work well except that I get a little bit of lube around the bevel base on both bullet designs. Is there any way to prevent this? Does it matter? I have tried adjusting the depth and moved the lock ring to the top side but it seems there is a large area of adjustment that will work ok, but the excess lube around the base never stops. Its a pain to wipe the excess off of each bullet, and will be worse when I get out of the experimental stage and want to do a couple thousand a month.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[LET-CA]

First, welcome to the brotherhood of whatever we call ourselves. . .

Good questions: (answered in no particular order)

1 - Frosted bullets - not a problem. Many casters prefer them. Mine seem to vary based on which mould I'm using and temperature of the alloy. I like to cast real hot too.

2 - Mould fill-out. There are several schools of thought on how to get your mould clean. Whatever you do, get it clean! I prefer aerosol brake cleaner. Very cheap and very effective. I'm not sure if acetone leaves a residue, but I'd try a different method for cleaning the mould if you're having problems with fill-out. I would also add a small amount of tin (from that roll of lead free solder you picked up at the hardware store. Put a two-foot length of the solder into the pot with your wheel-weights.

3. - Imperfect bullets for plinking, generally not a problem unless they have voids that will cause them to destabalize while spinning at a high RPM. If the center of mass is off center you'll have bullets that want to fly anywhere but straight.

4 - Mould preparation - I like to smoke all my moulds with a butane lighter. Works great with Lee and Lyman moulds.

Good luck. It'll all come together really fast. :Fire:

[Forester]

Thanks, I dont think I am having problems with voids because I sorted through a thousand or so and weighed maybe 100 at random. I got an extreme spread of maybe 2.5 grains and 90% were within 1 grain weight spread.

Any suggestions on the RCBS Lube-A-Matic? FWIW I am using Thompson Blue Angel lube and a Lyman heater under the press.

[mooman76]

Forester
First off welcome to the board. Second you really jumped into casting with both feet. Don't get discouraged better bullets will come. 6 cavity moulds are harder to get good bullets from especially for a beginer. It has to do with heating up the big 6 cavities. I'm not familiar with the RCBS luber and I am new to this type of lubing but if it is like the lyman try using less pressure. A little lube on the base won't hurt anything. Frosted bullets like stated by Let-Ca won't hurt either but some people are picky about their bullets and don't like them. Every mould is a little different and some just seem to work better than others.

[klausg]

Forester
Another welcome, I can't add much to what has already been stated above. Lee six-bangers are difficult to get hot enough, though I would also suspect some form of contaminate in the cavities. I usually scrub my blocks with a nylon toothbrush and dishwashing detergent, then throw them in a big plastic peanut butter jar full of denatured alcohol and let them soak for a day or so. YMMV, but every Lee mould I've used likes to be run HOT. Keep playing around with it and I'm sure you will find the right method.

-Klaus

[LET-CA]

No experience with the RCBS tool. I use Lee's Liquid Alox on all my bullets. I've got a Lyman 450, actually two of them, but haven't ever set it up. They were part of a whole stack of equipment I purchased from a retired caster. All the best.

[Jon K]

Forester,

Welcome, you have certainly jumped in with both feet. You are off to a good start with the equip you have chosen. Casting is not for everyone, but for those of us, that do cast, there is a sense of pride and satisfaction in the end product. And it is a labor of love.
Let me first say "Just remember there is no right answer, To each his own and opinions are only opinions" Take it all in and take it a a grrain of salt.

The RCBS takes a little by the seat of your pants adjusting to learn how to adjust.
Right now with the cold weather in VA you need the heater, try not to crank too much spring tension to the lubrisizer, and watch how many you can lube & size, or if it is big lube grooves, how much to turn the handle each time. Too much spring pressure will make that thing lube everything, everyplace you don't want it, especially if the lube is soft from the heater.

What kind of lube are you using? some lubes have to be used with a heater, some don't in milder weather, experiment and you'll get the hang of it. There are many different methods to lube, as well as different lubes. You'll find one you like better than others- that will be your favorite.

Good Luck & Have Fun Shooting,

Jon
:castmine:

[targetshootr]

I get good results when I lay the mold, not handle, on a stove burner at low heat for 10-15 minutes before casting. It's a gas stove so your needs may vary but it was an idea I learnded here to keep boolits from looking wrinkled. My bottom pour stays on 750, fwiw. Where is Christinaburg?

[Forester]

Thanks for all the info. I suppose I do tend to dive into things head first at times. One thing I hate is equipment and tools that feel cheap or dont work like they should, I would rather spend the money up front than buy cheap then replace something later.

When I switched from loading on a single stage to a Dillon progressive I was actually lost for awhile because I couldnt spend as much time reloading as I used to. That, combined with the cost savings is what led me to casting my own. When the bullets were dropping right and things were working I really enjoyed my afternoon learning.

I used the RCBS unit a bunch tonight and did discover that less pressure combined with a slight pause at the bottom of the stroke worked better, not perfect but much better.

I am currently using Thompson Blue angle lube, its a hard lube that needs to be heated to flow. I have my reloading setup in the basement along with the woodstove which will be running till probably march so things are pretty warm down there.

I will probably try casting some more towards the end of the week and I will clean the heck out of those LSWC moulds and run things pretty hot to see what happens. It did appear that with 2 6 cavity moulds I could produce a small mountain of bullets in little or no time so that was good news. I have set a goal of making expert class in IDPA by the end of 07' so the volume of practice and shooting is picking up quite a bit. If things continue to work out as well as they have thus far I think I will be looking for a 170gr mould for my 30-30 as well.

I am heading to the range tomorrow with a few hundred reloads with my cast bullets to see how they shoot.:Fire:

Thanks again for all the info! I will report back what happens at the range and with my next attempt. Possibly with a few pictures.

[carpetman]

targetshootr- I think Christinaburg is in Virginia. Yea,that it VA is Virginia.

[eka]

Forester,

You want the bullet to go into the die just deep enough to fill the grooves. When you push the bullet into the die, maintain firm pressure on the handle to keep the lube from squeezing under the base. Pause at the bottom briefly to allow the lube to fill the grooves. Don't load up a bunch of pressure so you can do four or five bullets before you have to crank up more lube pressure. I find it easier to run a lower pressure and just bump the pressure handle every bullet or two. The base of the bullet may have a very slight film of lube on it and thats OK, you just don't want big globs. Don't over do it on the heat and make the lube too runny and hard to control.

Now, when you get the hang of this, it's about time to whip up a batch of Felix Lube :-D .

Oh, and don't forget, if you are heating your lube to liquid form and pouring it into your reservoir, be sure to get some heat into the casting first so it doesn't crack on you.

And, I know where Christiansburg is. It's seventy five miles north of me here in the good ole Commonwealth.

Take care,

Keith

[Forester]

I tried a few of my new creations out today and was pretty happy with the results.

Flyer #1 was the first shot and flyer #2 was all my doing. I believe they are capable of better accuracy still but I wanted to get a quick idea of how they would shoot for me.

15 yards, 16 shots 200gr LSWC cast from wheel weights. The group, excluding flyers measures about 1.75"