Just when I thought I would never get the hang of it!

[sig2009]

UPS delivered 2 new Lee 6 cavity molds today. $32.50 each from Natchez. A 120gn tc 9mm and a 230gn tc 45 ACP. Fired up the pot. Started to cast. Nothing but wrinkled bullets.[smilie=b: Had the range lead in the pot up to 725 degrees. Heated the mold on a hot plate. No luck for about an hour of casting. Then all of a sudden I decide to crank up the temp of the pot to 800-825 degrees and try that. WOW! Did I ever hit the sweet spot! Sprew cut the lead like butter and the bullets just dropped out of the mold without tapping the mold. They weigh in at a consistant 124.7gn. I am so freeekin' happy!!!!:-) Tomorrow I will try the 45ACP mold.

[Southern Son]

Sometimes it just takes a while of casting to clean out the mould cavities. Even if you give them a good scrubbing, there can still be some oil or other crud in there, and that makes casting pretty boolits hard. Sometimes a mould just likes to be run hot. Glad you finsished strong, nothing worse than casting for a few hours and having to throw pretty much everything back. Very depressing.

[gray wolf]

You should be able to the same thing at 650--675*
But you sound to happy about what your doing so I'll let someone else get into it.

[canyon-ghost]

Yes, hot enough burns all the stuff out of the mold.

[sig2009]

You should be able to the same thing at 650--675*
But you sound to happy about what your doing so I'll let someone else get into it.

The temp of the pot started to drop down to 650 as it got low on lead and the bullets started to get wrinkles again at that temp. That temp does not work for me using pure range lead.

[DLCTEX]

Fun isn't it.

[geargnasher]

Gray Wolf, there isn't much tin at all in most range lead so it's often nearly a binary lead/antimony alloy, and such alloys usually need a bit more heat to fill out right. Virgin aluminum moulds usually require three or four good casting sessions before they really shine. Running the alloy above the 750 degree point which is otherwise destructive to tin-bearing alloys won't do anything but help range lead and pure lead in many cases. If 1-2% tin were added and the casting pace was kept to minimum three pours a minute 675 should be plenty.

Gear

[zuke]

Were you using both mold's at the same time?
Try it,you'll be amazed how fast they pile up.

[sig2009]

Were you using both mold's at the same time?
Try it,you'll be amazed how fast they pile up.

I never thought of that. Will have to try it.

[big dale]

Isn,t it cool when everything just works? Most of my aluminium molds took three or four sessions before they turned out great boolits rather easily. Then they can sometimew go south for no aparent reason. I also find that my Lee drip-o matic has days when the temp varies. You just gotta keep playing with it till it works good for you. Then one day you will get it so good that you will think of adding another 20 pound furnace so you can be casting from one while the other gets up to proper temp. Then you have a chance to cast up about a hundred pounds of H&G 68's in a day.

Have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

[gray wolf]

I am only 5'8" so that makes me not such a big guy EH.
also not to big to say.

OK I WAS A LITTLE WRONG
But just a little.

[Wayne Smith]

And remember, there is no such thing as "pure range lead". It varies based on what is shot into the berm, or how much hard shot is collected. Lots of .22 and jacketed and you have a very soft mix. Lots of cast or high antimony shot and you have something else.

[captaint]

Sig - Congrats on your success. It's a great feeling, no?? However, what Grey Wolf said - do pay attention. It's easy to burn up your alloys (tin & antimony) at those temps. I've done it..
It's misery, and you will have to dump your pot when you do. Using nearly purer lead, it's OK., but only then. enjoy Mike

[geargnasher]

Sam my friend, I didn't mean to say you were wrong, I was just indicating that high-temperature casting with the likely composition of the straight range scrap he was using was probably necessary, and though you and I prefer a different technique when casting, there are other ways that work too. You know my soapbox is all about hot moulds and low-temperature alloy (100 degrees over full-liquidus), but I almost always add a pinch of tin if there isn't at least 1% in there already, so that's why I use the brisk-pace, low pot temp technique and recommend such to others.

However, there are many more ways to make good boolits than the way I do it, I think Sig2009 figured one out.

Casting with two moulds at once makes it tough to keep them both hot enough for good fillout unless you REALLY hustle and/or overheat your alloy, and it's easier to gang-cast with iron than aluminum or brass because the iron holds heat much better.]

The hotter the alloy, the higher the oxidation rates of tin and antimony, which will change the consistency of the alloy over the course of a session. Keeping the pot temp well below 750 will preserve tin, and maintain the effectiveness of tin's "oxide barrier" effect which is why we add it in the first place. If you run your pot more than 750, it's not only adios tin, what tin is in there can't do it's job at all of keeping the oxygen off of the molten alloy stream as it goes into the mould.

Gear

[gray wolf]

Absolutely no offense taken here.
I know we all have our little different ways of getting to the same place.
As long as we are individually satisfied with our results,
and when we are not ?
Well this is the place to ask why.

[zuke]

I use my old 10lb pot to pre-melt my lead and pour it into the 20 lb when it get's low.
I also went to a Tell True thermometer to try to keep around a certain temp,which varies to which mold I'm using.

[colt 357]

I have to run my 9mm around 725 to 750 to drop good bullet. like the small 9mm dont keep the mold hot as your pouring. .40 I run colder as they seem to keep the mold hotter. maybe its just me. don't know anyone had this with small bullets.