I dropped a few today...

[BigSlick]

... after making my first run with some success a couple or three weeks ago.

I ran of 300, .501 WFN 440's.

The first 10 or so were crappy, then things got better. I know these few were getting the mold up to temp.

When I ran the pot down to just about 1? inches left, things got *really* nice. I could see it as I was dropping them, every bullet turned out perfect. I just weighed them and less the few warm ups, grain spread is about 3 grains.

I fired the pot, let it heat up a good 20-30 minutes and started pouring.

I was watching the thermometer, everything was running about 690-700*.

Why would the bullets near the end of the pot look so perfect compared to others with more alloy in the pot ? None except the first 10 or so were rejects, it's just the last 40-50 had *extremely* sharp lines, zero flash, not even a slight part line, no inclusions, not dark, just absolutely flawless. Fill out on all was excellent. The last ones were dropping from the mold as soon as I could open it.

I was running ww's with 2% added.

I got my cadence down, watched the temp like a hawk and kept moving at a steady pace.

I'm gonna size, lube and get ready to shoot these tomorrow afternoon.

Any suggestions how to get them all to look so sharp ? As I said, virtually none were rejects, but some look very good, some look completely flawless.

Am I just nitpicking here, or have I simply gotten a look at the way everyone else's bullets turn out for the first time in my short casting life ?

Thanks for any feeback,

'Slick
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[mto7464]

what kind of pot were you using?

[3sixbits]

You answered your own question. Mold temp and pot temp were perfect. Also you found a good rhythm, towards the end. Keep up the good work. The only thing I see that I would not do, is check the weights of the bullets. I have found that it makes no difference what so ever in how they shoot. Even in my bench rest rifles. In a hand held pistol it's all most funny, when you think about it.

[bigborefan]

That's my experiance exactly. The first half of my casting session is good to mediocare with about a 10% rejection rate. Then all my bullets come out perfect as you said. In fact, I hate to see the end of the pot come. I just want to keep going. I'm using an RCBS bottom pour, but I think part of my problem is a contaminated lead source.

[felix]

3sixbits, please tell me about your BR guns and the loads which shoot best. TIA. ... felix

[BigSlick]

Using a dripless Lee 4-20 pot.
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[454PB]

I've seen the same phenomenon with my Lee pro-4-20, it seems to cast better on the bottom half of the pot. I theorize that the flow stabilizes as the level drops. As you've probably noticed, a full pot requires some finesse to control the lead flow, due to all the weight pushing out the valve.

[Buckshot]

................The reason was there at the end was everything was just right. As 3sixbits mentioned, your rythem was probably consistant plus your pot had the right head pressure and temp. I think it was in a 60's era "Handloader" or "Rifle" magazine there was an article about such a thing. I have forgotten the author but he'd rigged one pot over another and had connected their valve handles.

The top pot ran a full head and was the one he added his pre-heated ingots to. When he poured a boolit from the bottom the top pot drained a similar amount into the bottom (casting) pot. The weight of flow can have a definate impact on how boolits cast.

There was also an article in "Precision Shooting" magazine called 'The Standing Wave' having to do with casting proceedure and getting perfect boolit's. It was very simple and easy to undertsand why it worked. Basicly when pouring a cavity, at the point where it fills you can see the alloy bounce up through the spruehole. His premise was to merely allow alloy to continue to flow for a second or a bit more before stopping.

We all know the boolit cools and hardens from the nose up in our very common base pours. As the lead cools it contracts and draws still molten alloy into the cavity. His somewhat messy answer was to keep feeding the cavity for a bit of time after it was full. Basicly as the cavity fills the nose solidifies and the following alloy is drawn in and so on. As it reaches the top (or base) the alloy contacts the underside of the sprueplate which draws heat away, and so the still molten core is tapped as a supply not only down into the center and outwards, but also radially around the base as it cools.

The Standing Wave proceedure does nothing more then keep a flow of molten lead present for sufficient time that cooling-shrinkage has a supply it doesn't have to draw from the bullet's base. The LBT puddle sprueplates are a step in the right direction, yet unlike the Standing Wave, the lead in them is itself cooling and contracting.

..............Buckshot

.................Buckshot

[BigSlick]

I did notice a definite difference in flow when the pot got to less than ? full.

I was pouring so the sprues were about the size of a dime, waiting ~ 5 seconds for the color to change, cut the sprues, drop and repeat.

I added a couple of ingots along the way, and waited about 3-4 minutes for temp to stabilize again and resumed.

I could tell by the size of the sprue and how long it took to cool the flow rate was a little different as the pot level got lower.

I will do my best to remember the details and repeat this pour again, this time running ? pot and adding ingots as needed to keep it going but below ? full.

The only rejects in the whole bunch were the 10 or so when I first started, and all but a couple of them would shoot, they just aren't as nice as the others. So, I will use them next time.

As far as a second pot feeding the first, that's a pretty good idea. I can see where that would help keep the pot level as close to ideal as possible.

Still learning, but at least I have something to shoot for from first hand experience now ;)

Thanks fellas,

'Slick
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[Dale53]

I use RCBS pots. I have both of them regulated so that the numbers mean something (7 is 700, 8 is 800, etc).

The important thing is to leave the lock nut on the "drop rod" adjustment loose. I watch the flow carefully, and adjust the screw that regulates the flow regularly keeping it just above "blub, blub, blub". It is virtually the same flow from pot full to nearly empty. THAT allows me to see the same results from start to finish. I normally, with small bullets (pistol bullets or .32 caliber rifle) cast a pot full at a time and keep those bullets together from inspection to sizing/lubing to reloading and finally completed cartridges. I almost never weigh pistol bullets but DO weigh my Schuetzen bench rest bullets (my Schuetzen bench rest rifle shoots ½ minute groups). Using large caliber bullets (.40's and .45's) I may cast more than one pot full at a sitting but I still keep those "pot batches" together to insure that each group I fire with any particular bullet will have all bullets from that group from the same pot full. Segregation is easy to do and I believe worthwhile.

Dale53

[Sundogg1911]

one thing I notice with the Lee pots is, unless you're tweaking the temp. nob, It will get hotter as the pot gets lower. Was the temp. consistant as the pot got lower? Was the mold new? Sometimes even after using degreaser, alcohol, or mold prep, they just need a little bit of break in. I have an RCBS 230 RN for 45 that just wouldn't drop a good bullet in the first hundred. (one of the 2 cavitys would one wouldn't) after that it was fine. I also have molds that like the temp to be a little hotter to get good fillout. I was casting with 3 molds. One RCBS and two Lymans, all 2 cavity. One RCBS and One Lyman ran great at 850, the other Lyman (.44 Keith mold) just would give me fits under 900F each mold seems to have it's own personality. Not sure why :roll:

[BigSlick]

The temp did tend to get hotter as the pot level lowered.

I adjusted the dial as I went to keep it right at 700*

At first, I ran the pot wide open to get the temp up, then to '9' for a while then finally settled out between 7 and 8.

Temps went as low as 640-650 when adding an ingot to about 715 or so then I would adjust slightly and wait a little longer for the sprue to cool and keep going.

The mold wasn't new, but this is the second time I've used it. Firt run, was about 400 boolits.

It is entirely possible it had not completely broken in yet. Not sure how to tell for certain.
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