problem casting buckshot!

[n2scouting]

Hey guys, I am having problems with a new lee buckshot mold. The buckshot is not completely filling. I use a dipper and had no problem with my lee slug mold and .40 tumble lubes out of this same pot of lead, just couldn't get the buckshot to fill. Any sugdestions? Thanks.

[Jim]

First things that come to mind is, is the lead hot enough, is the mold hot enough and does the lead have any tin in it?

I was casting some 358-160-FNs last night with almost pure lead. I had to put a taste of tin in it to get it to fill and I had to run the pot at about 750 and cast fast to get it to work.

[Jeffrey]

Raise the temperature? Is it the mould that has three buckshots through the same fill hole? Maybe mould too cool, solidifying alloy before cavity can fill. Do you have a thermometer?

[josper]

I should think preheating the mould a little hotter would help .Also run your alloy around 725deg. Do you use a hot plate to heat your mould??

[snuffy]

Hey guys, I am having problems with a new lee buckshot mold. The buckshot is not completely filling.

Yeah, me too!

Here's what I found out works. That's a standard 6 cavity mold block. Those little buckshot aren't big enough to heat the mold enough to really get it hot enough. To combat that, I turned my hotplate to high, got the mold really hot before beginning to cast. THEN I had to pressure cast using a lyman ladle to get all of them to fill out.

My lead is 17 lino X 3 pure, my usual hardball alloy. I wanted hard buckshot because it should pattern better. I would imagine soft lead would be even more difficult to get to work, The metal itself on mine was only at 715 degrees, I had to turn the pid up from 675 I was using for normal boolits.

I've got all three of them, got all three working pretty good, now all I need to do is get working on some loads!:smile: :mrgreen:

[mooman76]

All good tips here. Another question is, is your ladle big enough to do it on one trip? It needs to be or else you will have trouble heating and keeping your mould hot enough. Should be enough of those little pellets to heat and keep the mould hot but you need to be fast enough and for that you need a large ladle. You can improvise and make one it your's is to small.

[MikeS]

If your ladle isn't big enough to fill the whole mould at one time, you might want to look into getting a Rowell #1 ladle. It's available from either RotoMetals, or The Antimony Man. TAM also sells it with a shortened handle which he says is easier to use when using an electric furnace. I have the 'normal' one I bought from RotoMetals, and while it might have been a little bit easier to handle if the handle was shorter, I had no problem using it to fill a BigLube 6 cavity mould. (the BigLube mould is a copy of the Lee 6 cavity mould blocks)

[plainsman456]

Just make sure your mold id hot when you start.
When I first tried I could only get a few shot at a time to fill out.
After that I read somewhere to get that sucker hot and now i get a good 3/4 or more when I cast with it.

[45-70 Chevroner]

I have a buck shot mold also. I worked with it for about an hour before I got it to fill out. I found that it has to be real hot and the stream has to go right down the middle. Don't let the stream hit the sprue cutter, I was using a 20 pound lee bottom pour pot. I found it a little tricky to do but with a little practice you can do it. I made a 1000 of them in about two hours and I was also using a 6 cavith 22 cal. bator mold at the same time and rotating them.

[Dave18]

with both the lee, and the other mold that you have to cut the balls off the sprue,
cant remember the name of the company, off the top of my head right now, anyway,
I found I had to run up around 740 on the pot and 400 on the mold for 95% or more good balls, ,

definately a challenge at first, but once you figure out things, then your rollin:drinks:

[hk33ka1]

I cast with a Lee bottom pour pot and Lee 18 cav 00 buckshot mold.

I found as many others have you need to get this mold really hot, and it takes a while longer to warm it up compared to other Lee molds. I set it on the pot to get it started, then keep pouring and dumping the partial casts back in the pot till it gets hot enough to fill out good on every cast.