I think I am starting to CRACK!

[Slochill]

I cast about 400 rounds of 230gn .452 yesterday. I had pretty good success except for about 6 or 7 of them. I noticed that these were coming out with cracks in the base of the bullet. Is this do to trying to drop too hot a bullet from the mold or is it something else? I also water dropped them to try and get a little more hardness.

[littlejack]

Slochill:
Hey sir, welcome to the CastBoolits.com.
Yes sir, you guessed it. The boolit in the photo was dropped too hot. Very soft. Slow down a little. Let the puddle on the sprue plate frost/solidify.
Also, make sure that you drop them on something very soft. I use a few layers of old diapers. No, not mine. Not yet anyhow.
Some folks use wool carpet. Also, make sure not to drop a hot one on others already cooled.
Jack

[Larry Gibson]

As littlejack mentions you are opening the mould just a bit too soon, give it a few more seconds.

Larry Gibson

[quilbilly]

I usually wait until the pool of lead on top of the sprue frosts up before I cut and drop.

[dbarnhart]

Also, make sure not to drop a hot one on others already cooled.

That brings up a question I've been wondering about. I've got one of those cheap aluminum roasting pans from the dollar store and I put several layers of wet towels in the bottom and drop my bullets onto them. After a hundred or so bullets the towel is covered in bullets. I've been gently emptying the pan out onto the garage floor and then continue dropping boolits into the once-again empty pan. What do you guys do?

[BulletFactory]

I water drop mine.

When I want to air cool them, I made a gadget for that. Simple design, but hard to explain.(?)

Its like the donkey kong game boards from way back. Its about 2 1/2 feet x 2 1/2feet, and 3 1/2 feet tall. Its made out of bedsheets that are air stapled along the edges to hold them stiff. You drop the boolits into the top, they roll down the angled sheet to the back, where they drop 4" onto another sheet layer. They roll down that angled sheet (180 *) the other way, then they drop to another sheet 4" below that, again turning 180* the opposite direction, then they roll down that sheet, then again and again. There are 4 floors made of sheet, then finally, a catch pan with a towel laid out to keep them from denting up.

[Slochill]

Thanks for the answers. I figured that was the problem but I wanted to make sure.

As for as a landing surface goes. I have been dropping them into a 3.5 gal bucket full of cold water. I have a piece of fabric draped across the top hanging down into the water. the fabric has a slit in it that allows the bullets to be pushed through to fall into a strainer at the bottom of the bucket. The strainer only helps in removal later. Except for the rushed drops I haven't had any problem with this method. I did learn at first you don't want to use any synthetic fabrics to dry drop on. I used an old sweatshirt at first to drop on and the bullets would melt the material and stick to the pad.

[BulletFactory]

One thing that could cause this crack, is that the mold blocks might be too sloppy in the handles. Instead of just popping open, they could be "peeling" apart, opening up from the top or bottom of the mold blocks first. Some shimming should correct this issue. The mold blocks need to be free to move, but not a whole lot.