Potential damage to mold

[Oregon Coot]

Being a newbie to this pursuit, I am just full of (mostly dumb) questions. While dropping bullets out of the mold into a water quench, do you run any risk of mold damage from the occasional splashes of water that result.

The dish basin I am using has several layers of towels under about 4" of water to protect bullets from impact damage ... perhaps a needless precaution? The whole quenching setup is across the room from the lead pot and splashes hitting hot lead are not a potential issue.

My goal is to convert clip on wheel weights into 9 & 40 projectiles suitable for IDPA practice.

Thanks in advance for the sharing of your knowledge.

Jim

[tomme boy]

Put a towel over the bucket so it sags in the middle. Cut a hole in the middle. Just a small one. I use old shirts, towels, sheets. Whatever is old and handy at the time. Really stops the splash.

[para45lda]

Yup. I use a bungee cord to hold an old towel over a 5 gallon bucket. But whatever works for you.

Wes

[Oregon Coot]

Tomme Boy & Para45lda

I can see how that would work. It would funnel bullets down on top of each other. Is damage to bullets only going to occur in my mind?

Several of the voices want to know :)

[41 mag fan]

Good question Oregon Coot.
What i use is an old turkey roasting pan, with a few layers of old t-shirts in it, then an old dish towel on top. Probably close to 3-4 layers in it. I then add water and fill it up to about 1" from top. I drop mine in, but any water that does splash is negligible.

[miestro_jerry]

I use a 5 gallon plastic bucket with 4 gallons of water and some of rags on the bottom. The occasional splash isn't going to hurt the mold, what I have found that hurts mold is droping the mold on a concrete floor. A friend of mine lost a really nice mold to make 380 bullets when he accidently droped on the floor.

Jerry

[Bret4207]

Seems to me by the time you walk across the room to drop the boolits in your water that they should have hardened enough to resist most deformation. If you are dropping them so soft that they get bunged up dropping them from the mould then you should wait another couple of seconds. Once they hit the water it's very unlikely they'll get damaged. Most of the damage I've seen comes from commercially cast being crushed by other boolits when you stack 25 othr boxes of 500 on them.

The little water on your mould you might get will do no harm.

[7br]

Tomme Boy & Para45lda

I can see how that would work. It would funnel bullets down on top of each other. Is damage to bullets only going to occur in my mind?

Several of the voices want to know :)

If you drop on the side of the t shirt funnel, they should be going slow enough not to damage anything. Also, I would not worry about the occasional splashes of water on the mould. BruceB uses a rag soaked in water to quench the sprue with no ill effect to his mold. Not sure where that sticky is.

[44man]

I don't put anything in my bucket of water. The bucket is just to my left on a little stool, lower then the bench. I just turn and drop.
Water will not hurt the mold. I have had a pin fall out of a Lee mold and half the mold fall in the water with no damage.

[Jim]

I tried the towel in the bottom of the bucket thing. I found it to be unnecessary and just something else to deal with. I tried the cross slotted towel over the bucket. It works, but again, I found it to be unnecessary.

One thing I did do that really helps me is, I thoroughly perforated the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket with a 1/4" bit. This bucket gets set inside another one and the whole thing gets filled with water. When I'm done, I lift the inner bucket out, all the water stays in the outer bucket and I don't have to go digging in the bucket for my boolits. When I'm ready to cast again, the 'collander' bucket goes back inside the other, still full of water, and we're back in business.

[dragonrider]

Jim, I have that exact arrangment and it works like a charm.

[bowenrd]

If a drop of water does make it to the melting pot all it will do is dance around and sizzle.

[Oregon Coot]

Thank you all very much for your input. This site has been a great help in bringing me up to speed.

Have a great holiday season guys!

Jim

[blackthorn]

One thing---A drop or two of water ON the mould will do no harm ---BUT---If you get ANY water IN the mould cavity make sure it has all evaporated before you pour any more molten lead into it!!! ANY moisture inside the cavity is going to send hot liquid lead all over the place (including onto you)! Have a great day and welcome to the insanity!