practice cast bullet problems

[wbwilly]

Hi folks,

Just received my equipment and doing a little casting practice.
What is wrong here? Lead is just 700°

Thanks

http://bpcr1885.net/pics/badcast.jpg

[725]

Lead is not hot enough and most certainly the mould is toooooooooooooo cold. Up the temps and cast a few before saving any of them. You're getting there.

[Dennis Eugene]

mold is too cold or there is still some oil in it.

[HangFireW8]

700 is more than hot enough, but your mold is too cold.

HF

[plainsman456]

Yep looks like the mold is not warm enough yet.

[mooman76]

Preheating your mould will help. Like others said, mould too cold.

[buyobuyo]

Like everyone else has said the mold isn't up to temp. A lot of people, myself included, use a hot plate to preheat the mold while the pot is coming up to temperature. You can also rest the mold on the rim of the pot or dip a corner in the pot for a few seconds once the lead is up to temperature.

[geargnasher]

700 is more than hot enough, but your mold is too cold.

HF

Best answer so far! Mould temperature is the issue. Casting with an overheated alloy creates other issues. If the alloy will pour, it's hot enough to make good boolits.

Gear

[wbwilly]

Thanks all,

That's what I figured. I cast about 15 bullets then they started looking better.
I cast 50 decent ones out of the next 53 and called it quits for the day.

What should be adjusted to make them shiny?

Thanks
Willy

http://bpcr1885.net/pics/firstcast.jpg

[Larry Gibson]

What should be adjusted to make them shiny?

Those are big BP cartridge bullets so I assume the alloy is sonething like 20-1?

Also are you using a dipper or a bottom pour?

Either way you must get the alloy into the mould hot and quick. If using a dipper then you can drill open the dipper spout opening and refine your technique so you are pouring over the pot as quick as the dipper comes up with the mouldten alloy. That way you can slow down a bit and not over heat the mould with the alloy at 680 - 700.

If a bottom poor then open the spout adjustment all the way open and keep only anot 1/4" between the spout and sprue plate. The a good sprue form even if it runs over the edge of the mould. The alloy temp should be about 700 - 725. Some times you can cast with a lower temp if the alloy is coming out fast enough.

You then simple adjust the tempo so the mould stays just hot enough to cast well filled out and shiney bullets. Just takes a bit of practice is all.

Larry Gibson

[wbwilly]

Thanks, These were made from some 30-1 alloy I had, future will be from wheel weight ingots I bought.

I used a Lyman dipper and poured over the pot. I'll try turning up the temp for the next session.

Willy

[41 mag fan]

Shiny shoots just like frosted boolits will

[Old Caster]

If you shoot black and decide to try bullets with antimony in them be careful with leading in your barrel. With lead and tin only, it is easy to get the lead out because it doesn't stick very well but with antimony it sticks real well and you can't afford to have any lead on top of corrosive black powder thinking it is clean when you put it away. None of the people in our BCPR group that experimented with antimony continued very long before they gave up and went back to tin and lead only. If they had gotten superior accuracy, they would have continued even though it did cause cleaning problems however they never used smokeless and that may make a difference. -- Bill --