1st My first casting session

[Pitchnit]

Here they are. 200 keepers or at least 200 that I think I can shoot. 200 SWC from a Lee 6 cavity. Did my 1st smelting yesterday about 40 lbs of wheel weights. These were straight cast WW. Took about 2 Hrs and probably cast about 400 or so. I think they look pretty frosty but boy did they look nice when 1st dropped. I was running the melt at 725-750 with a thermometer so does this indicate too hot or too cold of a mould. Any comments would be great. I'm no photographer,

I had quite a bit of problems with flashing and I can see buildup inside the die haves so I think this may mean to cold of a mold. I tried to not stop and look at least not over a second or 2 as they dropped. How do I get the flashing from between the die halves.

(I wasn't sure I liked the smelting process, but am tickled to tears casting.
Please comment.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_219134f824625cd7c3.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=4749)http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_219134f82462612b70.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=4750)http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_219134f824626453fc.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=4751)

[Le Loup Solitaire]

For the first time that is really good work. WW metal makes good casts, but a little tin helps with sharper and better filled out bullets....1-2% if you can come by it. A good source is 60-40 plumbers solder if you want to try it. Do not worry too much about getting a bit frosty as it has no effect on accuracy whatsoever. If you don't like the look of it you can always shine the loaded round with some #0000 steel wool as that will remove the frosty appearance. Flashing is another matter; it most commonly appears because there is some tad of lead on one (or both) of the mold blocks and that keeps them from closing completely. You can remove it by wiping the smear with some coarse cloth when the mold is hot, or rubbing it with the corner of an ingot when the mold is cold. For flashing to occur there has to be a space (that shouldn't be there to start with) for the molten alloy to get into, so inspect the faces of your blocks carefully. Sometimes it is the fault of the alignment pins that are not quite adjusted exactly or have a burr that prevents them from closing completely. None of these conditions are serious...have been dealt with often and are not difficult to correct. Just be aware of them and if you can pin down what is the prob, ask more questions and someone will always answer and help you. Again--nice work. LLS

[dlviolin]

Hey Pitchnit, great fun isn't it! Your flashing most probably comes from a small bit of lead either on the mold or the alignment pin...look where the pin matches up with the groove in the other half. It doesn't take much. Another possibility is that the mold halves aren't properly fastened to the handles and the alignment pins are binding before the halves come all the way together.
You can probably step up your casting speed a bit which will keep your mold warm. You should be filling that 6 banger at least 2 times a minute. That's 720 per hour. If you're really cooking you might do 3-4 loads a minute, so if it took 2 hours to do 400 I'd think your mold isn't staying very hot.
Frosty or not, they'll shoot just fine, and the target won't notice the difference ;)
Glad you're having so much fun.
Dan in Kansas City

[runfiverun]

your thumb on the sprue cutter handle will cause flashing too.
those look good enough to shoot.

and i agree smelting su er stinks , but i want the end product, so i do it.

[mrjog]

Well done, they look much better than my first bullets.

[Pitchnit]

I think in my haste i didn't quite have the mold completely closed or opened it prematurely to allow the lead between the mold halved. So running the pot temp at 750, I should try to go a bit faster to keep the mold temp hotter? I wanted to try the WW without adding any tin to see how they would work. I have some old 60/40 rosin solder so I'll add a bit and play with that. Next step is to make some 45/45/10 and give that a whirl. Thanks for the comments. Regards Pitchnit