Temperature and bullet dia

[saguaro]

Does my lead temperature affect my bullet diameter.

Pretty much sums it up.

Saguaro

[500MAG]

I have found that mold temperature plays a larger role in diameter of the boolit.

[GP100man]

Usually the hotter the smaller but it`s not engraved in stone though .

While frosty boolits are more consistent your riding close to cooking the tin.

& different material/size molds act differently as to drawing the heat from the alloy used !

[saguaro]

Lots more complicated than it first appeared. I hope I can learn the nuances of this hobby. I love shooting my own boolits. Seem to shoot more.

[williamwaco]

For my experimental results, see:

http://reloadingtips.com/pages/exp_Bullet-diameter-vs-temp.htm

[EDK]

Lots more complicated than it first appeared. I hope I can learn the nuances of this hobby. I love shooting my own boolits. Seem to shoot more.

My dad always said that owning a freezer won't save you a lot of money, but you will eat better. We always got a side or whole beef from his brother-in-law and a whole hog or more. Back in the old days when you slaughtered the animal at home, quartered it and took it to the food locker for further processing.

Reloading will save you money. Since the boolits are the most expensive part of most of my reloads....357, 44, 45ACP, 30/30, 45/70 and now .308 for my SQUAD SCOUT....casting really cuts the cost of ammo.

NO ONE knows everything about casting. Glenn Fryxell's book is one of the best to help you along. Learn from the masters, ask questions, and someday you can add to the accumulated knowledge here.

:redneck::cbpour::guntootsmiley:

[Longwood]

Lots more complicated than it first appeared.



Not very complicated at all actually
One or two sessions and you will be amazed and quite pleased at how good your new and nearly free bullets look.
Read a lot of the previous post's here and ask questions and it will go very smoothly and you will not have all of the problems many of us have had.
If I had this sight back about 30 years ago, there would be a way bigger lead shortage than there is now. I made a lot of mistakes and completely gave up on a lot of calibers. It would be a whole other story now that I have found this site and the immense amount of knowledge that is free here.
Post some photo's of your first proudly displayed product,,,, we have seen plenty,,, but a few more won't hurt a thing.:bigsmyl2:

[44man]

The best size is always just at perfect fill out and shiny boolits.
Cavities get SMALLER the hotter they get because blocks expand towards the half cavity unlike a hole in the middle of a block.
This has always been hard to explain because fellas think the cavity is a hole. It is two half holes! [smilie=s:

[Bradley]

For my experimental results, see:

http://reloadingtips.com/pages/exp_Bullet-diameter-vs-temp.htm

I wouldn't think that any of these numbers are statistically different. In other words, I don't see that temperature had any affect.

[williamwaco]

I wouldn't think that any of these numbers are statistically different. In other words, I don't see that temperature had any affect.


I agree.

[Larry Gibson]

Does my lead temperature affect my bullet diameter.

Pretty much sums it up.

Saguaro

Yes it will. How much depends on the alloy composition, the alloy temp, the mould temp and how quickly and with what pour pressure the alloy gets into the mould.

Larry Gibson

[.22-10-45]

Interesting! I too always thought a hotter mould would expand & produce a larger dia. bullet. Just wondering, in say a .40 400gr. meehanite mould, how much larger dia. could you expect, if "normal" castings are dropping at .409-.4095? Thanks!

[44man]

Interesting! I too always thought a hotter mould would expand & produce a larger dia. bullet. Just wondering, in say a .40 400gr. meehanite mould, how much larger dia. could you expect, if "normal" castings are dropping at .409-.4095? Thanks!
You should have said "how much smaller when hotter." Hard to say exactly because of caliber changes, block size and cavity sizes. Too hot will reduce diameter and also make a boolit out of round more.
Once you get full frosted boolits, you will have the smallest.

[Cadillo]

The best size is always just at perfect fill out and shiny boolits.
Cavities get SMALLER the hotter they get because blocks expand towards the half cavity unlike a hole in the middle of a block.
This has always been hard to explain because fellas think the cavity is a hole. It is two half holes! [smilie=s:

I always wondered exactly why my bullets fall larger when I use an alloy that alloys me to run both it and the mould cooler. Good simple explanation, thanks!

I still think though, that the cooler, denser charge of melt means more actual mass is being placed into the cavity, and that this too has some effect.

[leadman]

It is a balancing act to get good usable boolits. I like my boolits to be just frosted as this helps me with fill-out of all the bands. This also depends on the mold. I have a Lyman 38 caliber SWC with 2 crimp grooves and a sharp shoulder. This molds is very difficult to get good boolits from if they are not frosted. Then the Lee truncated Cone molds are some of the easiest to get good boolits from.

I recomment making notes when you have a mold working good for you and write down what you are doing and the alloy and store it with the mold for next time.