430-310-rf help. please

[jthomastreadwell]

just cast my first bullets.piece of cake . no stuck bullets,all fell right out sometimes I had to give it a little shake.Its a Lee 6 cavity 430-310-RF gc . but............Im casting acww with 3% tin added. there are dropping from the mould at 299 grs and .428 . that is measured as soon as cool enough.I m concerned about the diameter. will they expand any. or am I doing something wrong? THANK YOU.

[Dale53]

Mine cast at .430" with WW/Lino at 5/1. You might want to measure them after they set two weeks. Antimony bearing alloys, including WW's, get both bigger and harder with time. However, most all of the "growing" is done at the end of two weeks.

You may be just fine after a bit of a wait.

There is one other thing that I really hate to bring up as sometimes people get "cranky" when I do. In my opinion (I was trained as a machinist) calipers are not the best tool to use to measure with precision. Good quality micrometers are much stiffer and better. However, lead alloys are quite soft (compared to steel which is the usual thing to measure) and it is VERY easy to put too much pressure on the lead bullet when measuring which will give you a false "too small" reading. You must be VERY careful (and gentle) when measuring lead...

FWIW

Dale53

[dubber123]

I'd make sure the mold is GOOD and hot too. I know you said you are happy with the bullets, but are you sure they are filled out well? If they are truly well filled out, you should be able to see some tooling marks on the bands and such. If they are only "pretty well filled out", that could easily be a thousandths or two. Let us know how you make out.

[dubber123]

The weight is kind of interesting too, my mold weighs at 315 grains. 16 grains different is quite a bit. The undersize problem is the big deal though. Sorry, thinking out loud again.

[dnepr]

Mine cast at .430" with WW/Lino at 5/1. You might want to measure them after they set two weeks. Antimony bearing alloys, including WW's, get both bigger and harder with time. However, most all of the "growing" is done at the end of two weeks.

You may be just fine after a bit of a wait.

There is one other thing that I really hate to bring up as sometimes people get "cranky" when I do. In my opinion (I was trained as a machinist) calipers are not the best tool to use to measure with precision. Good quality micrometers are much stiffer and better. However, lead alloys are quite soft (compared to steel which is the usual thing to measure) and it is VERY easy to put too much pressure on the lead bullet when measuring which will give you a false "too small" reading. You must be VERY careful (and gentle) when measuring lead...

FWIW

Dale53

Iam just a hobby machinist so Iam going to ask the pro. With micrometers that have the slip rachet is this gentle enough or should be learning a feel for it.

[Dale53]

I have not worked as a professional machinist for many years. However, I have had a mic in my hands for most of my adult life.

Generally, the slip ratchet is "soft" enough to measure lead well. However, you cannot beat "trained" feel. You can train yourself. Mostly, just by "paying attention".

I have been using mic's for almost my entire life and it kind of "jars" me when I see them being misused. I have often seen people improperly using mics whether measuring steel or soft materials.

I am NOT suggesting that this is brain surgery, but it does require a bit of thought and effort.

Micrometers are relatively fragile and should be handled with care (plus, the good ones are expensive). They should never be handled roughly or thrown on the bench or into other tools. Frequently, they should be checked for zero. Another thing I often see people doing is trying to measure with precision with dirty "faces". Even a layer of grease on the faces will give you an erroneous measurement. Clean the faces with a layer of clean paper - just close the jaws on the paper and then slide the paper between the jaws with just a little pressure on the paper.

Micrometers 101 is over :mrgreen:.

Dale53

[dnepr]

Thank you for Micrometers 101 . I use mics a lot also between reloading , being a hobby machinist and being mechanic for a living but it is nice to confirm that I am doing things right. I can see we both hate to see mics used improperly .Some people just don't understand how precision they are. I keep some cheap calipers around one set of lyman plastic and a cheap set of digitals for dirty work and to let other people use . but my micrometers and my mitutoyo calipers are hands off for others.

[floodgate]

dale, dnepr:

One other precaution I take is never to "park" a micrometer or calipers with the jaws tightly closed; I always leave them open a few thousandths, just in case a major temperature change might cause some distortion. I don't know if this is REALLY an issue, but I now do it just automatically.

floodgate

[44man]

Just wait a few days and measure again. Never measure right after casting with alloys containing antimony. Cast hot for larger boolits and just be patient, they will grow some.

[S.B.]

Iam just a hobby machinist so Iam going to ask the pro. With micrometers that have the slip rachet is this gentle enough or should be learning a feel for it.


You want the tips of the measuring ends to just touch the lead but, still the lead must move without restriction. HTH
Steve