Boolit cull percentages?

[Silvercreek Farmer]

On average, what percentage of the boolits you cast get thrown back in the pot? I just finished my first real casting run, and I probably culled 20% of 500 or so boolits. About 75% of the culls were probably shootable at shorter pistol ranges (10-15) yards, but I figure its not to hard to recast them, so I culled them pretty ruthlessly. Most were culled due to a skirt caused by some galling on the sprue plate towards the end of the casting session. Now knowing what to look for and what to do about it, I expect my cull ratio will drop further. At what point could I consider my production quality on par for a home caster?

[kir_kenix]

My cull rate entirely depends on the caliber and/or application. Pistol bullets I'd say I cull less than 1% of what I cast. If they have a wrinkle or whatever, I just load them up. I don't see any reason to get super anal about a projectile that is only tossed 25-40 yards.

Now on the other hand if I'm casting .22, 6mm, or 6.5mm boolits that are fired from high velocity bolt guns, I'd say my cull rate jumps to 5-10% or so. I've found that the smaller diameter boolits need to be more uniform and consistant for good results. Any imperfection on a 44 gr .22 boolit has a large effect on accuracy at anything over 50 yards.

[quilbilly]

The only culls I usually get are in the first 8-10 drops until the mold warms up. After that I get very few if the lead in the pot is hot enough and I pour fast enough. That even includes my .22 mold. One key is also the amount of tin in your alloy which helps the mold fill out better. Those are three of the variables you might consider.

[ipijohn]

The only culls I usually get are in the first 8-10 drops until the mold warms up. After that I get very few if the lead in the pot is hot enough and I pour fast enough. That even includes my .22 mold. One key is also the amount of tin in your alloy which helps the mold fill out better. Those are three of the variables you might consider.


+1 on the above. You can get even less rejects by warming your molds on a hotplate thus reducing the number with wrinkles.

[Tatume]

The only culls I usually get are in the first 8-10 drops until the mold warms up. After that I get very few if the lead in the pot is hot enough and I pour fast enough. That even includes my .22 mold. One key is also the amount of tin in your alloy which helps the mold fill out better. Those are three of the variables you might consider.

+2
Tom

[10 ga]

I get about 100% culls for the first couple of pours, (ladle guy here). I even heat the mold on the edge of the burner and keep it there when not in use during a casting session. Later the cull ratio goes down to almost 0 if I'm casting alloyed boolits. However I shoot a lot of ML boolits, deep skirted minnie and deep banded REAL boolits and when casting them with soft lead you get a lot of rejects, sometimes over 50%, as they don't fill out as well cause ya got no tin in the mix. Been doing it for 50 years and that's just the way it is. My hard alloy bullets I cast for sabot shooting have no loob groves and are flat based, cast pretty hard, sometimes the reject rate is below 5%. Fun isn't it! Best, 10 ga

[bobthenailer]

My personal cull rate is possibly less than 1% and i probly ck them over more than most people do . I usually know when a possible bad bullet is made just by the way the lead fills the cavity but that comes after 40 + years of casting & perhaps 500,000 bullets being made.

[44man]

I pre heat my molds, ANY mold to 500*. Just paying attention with the right casting rate can result in zero rejects no matter the boolit from .22 to .500.
I do get a few once in a while but it will be my fault.
Casting is based on you and your technique. It is a learning thing only you can fix.
I ladle cast and it is nothing to dump a 20# pot without a single reject but it is like shooting. Nothing on demand.
Accept rejects but learn from each and correct as fast as you can.
There is where the expert excels, he can adjust right now.
Casting can be so hard it takes a week to get a boolit but can be so easy none are bad.

[Bret4207]

It all depends on the day for me. Some days it seems all I produce are culls! Other days it's like St Elmer is smiling down on me and they drop perfect every time. On average, with a mould I "know", maybe 2-5%. It depends. For that matter, my culling might be totally different than someone else. So, I wouldn't worry over what other people do, just work on your own stuff, set your own quality standard and go to it.

[Jailer]

If I kept notes on my molds I dare say I could reduce my culls to near zero. My culls always come at the beginning of a casting session as I'm finding pace with the mold. Once the pace is figured out culls are few and far between.

[williamwaco]

The only possible answer to that question is "it depends"

Depending on the mold, the bullet, the metal, the mold temperature, the metal temperature, it can range from as high as 75% to as low as around 2%.



.

[**oneshot**]

Once I get going, my cull rate is about 3-5% for most of my molds. I do have one mold that despite it's caliber (225) gives me almost 100% good boolits once I start keeping.

[mortre]

I'm just learning, but my cull rate is about 50% regardless of mould.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

[kir_kenix]

I casted something like 2,500 boolits in a variety of molds today. Counting the first few pours to heat up the molds, my cull rate is something like 3%. If you exclude the first 3-4 casts from each mold I'm well below 1% today. Tomorrow I'm going to cast some little pills and I'll have to see how I fare.

[rmatchell]

When i first started I couldn't cast a perfect boolit. With time and practice I can now say I cull about 5%. The biggest things that helped me was good clean lead and a hot plate to preheat. When I started I just melted down wheel weights and cast without fluxing or adding tin.

[fcvan]

Last night, I needed 8 boolits, 8 BOOLITS to finish what I was loading. I had been casting a different caliber and the pot was hot. I was loading some 45 ACP with Lee 452-228 RN. I figured I would just cast quickly until the mold heated up which doesn't take long. I usually preheat molds but didn't anticipate casting anything more so I was just casting ingots from bulk alloy.

I cast and dropped two. Perfect fill, no wrinkles. And two more, still perfect. I cast the 8 I needed expecting to have a warm up problem but that was not the case. I was surprised at the ease of completing such a minor task.

I've been casting since the '70s and learned a great deal. I have been a member of this site for about 2 years and have learned more about casting from you great people in such a short time as all of the experience I gained during the previous 35+. I'm thinking I used to cast good boolits by accident back then, Now I cast good boolits by design, thanks to every person who has shared their piece of this art form. Frank

[MikeS]

My cull rate has changed from when I first started. When I first started very VERY few of my boolits were any good, so I culled very few. Then once I got enough experience casting boolits my cull rate went up to maybe 15-20%, any boolit that wasn't perfect, or darn close to it got culled. Now I again cull very few boolits, not because I got better at casting them, but rather I'm not as OCD about having a perfect boolit. Now I only cull ones that have bad bases, other cosmetic problems don't bother me, as I know my gun isn't going to care how the boolits look. :) One thing that really helped reduce the cull rate (or I really should say the rate of less than perfect boolits) is the addition of a hot plate to pre-heat my moulds. I like to pre-heat my moulds to slightly above the right temp for casting, and doing this I can start casting keepers right from the very first fill.

[country85]

Depends on the mold for me as well, with my Lee 125 gr 38 mold, almost zero, but with my 310 44 mold usually up to 15 percent depending on the day

[rintinglen]

Pistol boolits run less than 10 % for me, and that includes the first five casts that I never keep. In the Larger calibers, 44 and 45, that runs more like 3-5 %, in the smaller calibers, more like 8-10.
I am picky and I don't like to wonder if an errant shot was me or the ammo.

Rifle boolits, though, are another kettle of fish entirely, especially the Louverin Style boolits I prefer.
Even when the mold is perfectly up to temperature and my casting rate is right, I still may lose 25 to thirty percent. A good day would result in a reject rate of less than 20 %.

[1Shirt]

Handgun blts probably 5-8% because I am not overly fussy. 22Cal rifle blts, probably 25-28% because I am very fussy about the little ones. 6MM rifle blts probably 15%, 6.5 & 7MM rifle, probably 15%. 30& 32 rifle abouot 15%. .375 and 44's, maybe 10%. Big heavy 45's maybe 5%. I believe in casting HOT, and I like some frosting on my blts. On hollowpoint rifle blts, regardless of cal, I probably run about 10%, which is a pain considering the extra effort, but worth it in the long run.
1Shirt!

[44man]

Bioman has a 30-30 mold that he brought over, never made a good boolit. I asked what was the problem? I set up and had him making perfect boolits in short order. He asked what I did and I told him it was what he didn't do.
This site has more information then anywhere on earth and is dedicated to cast. It is here so just try until things go right. Soon any mold, any material, any size will work for you.
A few culls are OK and they will be reduced with time and thought.
I will say that you must think when you cast, you don't watch TV at the same time but I might be out of place saying some of us could!
Casting is rote and boring as all get out.
I said many times we need a pole dancer on the bench and even us old goats can get a gleam in the eye.

[9.3X62AL]

I said many times we need a pole dancer on the bench and even us old goats can get a gleam in the eye.

9.3--"Hey, honey--44 Man says I need a pole dancer on the casting bench to help reduce boolit wrinkling."

Mrs. 9.3--"Yeah, right.......you're like a Lab Retriever chasing an F-150--even if you caught it, you still couldn't drive it."

Ahem. Cull rate here runs 2% to 5% with most handgun boolits, to 15%-25% with small-caliber rifle castings. I don't weight-sort the things (yet). There are limits to my particularity, if not my peculiarity.

[mooman76]

I have a TV in the garage where I cast and reload. I have it on during that but I don't watch it, I just have it on for background noise to help the time pass easier. I don't watch anything new that would distract me from what I am doing either. Just an old video I've seen many times.

Anyway I have few culls and I don't really keep track as I usually throw the bad ones back in the pot as I get them unless an occational bad one gets by me. I'd have to say less than 5% unless it is one of my ill tempered moulds. I have a couple that are very difficult to use that I haven't figured out yet and the worst is a T/C 50 maxie mould. I get probably better than 50% culls. I might add that I'm not as picky as some are too. As long as the bands fill out good and the base, I'm happy.

[John Boy]

The only possible answer to that question is "it depends"
Depending on the mold, the bullet, the metal, the mold temperature, the metal temperature, it can range from as high as 75% to as low as around 2%.
There is no exact estimate and 'depends' is the most valid

* Clean mold
* Preheated mold
* Melt temperature 700 -730
* Mold and melt the same temperature
* Five second pour
* Five second sprue puddle frost for pistol bullets - 8 to 10 seconds for rifle bullet greater than 300gr
* Rhythm
Now the depends, primarily the mold. Every mold due to the block size, metal type and cavity size casts excellent bullets at a casting temperature depending on the mold and the alloy. Once one finds that temperature - write it on a slip of paper and put it in the storage box

My cull rate for pistol bullets is less than 1% because they are shot at lesser distances and I don't care if there is a 2 - 4gr weight variance . For rifle bullets shooting for accuracy at mid and long range, the cull rate would run probably 10% if I didn't check the bullet weight for every 10th bullet. These keeper bullets are cast with a +/- 0.5gr variance

[largom]

Most all of my casting is for rifle boolits. I am very particular with my boolits, all are visually inspected and then weighed. Any boolit that fails the visual inspection or falls out of the average weight gets culled for remelt. My rejection rate varies with the mold. Some molds give 10% rejects and some give less than 5%. I just cast 200 boolits from an old single cavity Lee C309-150 mold and only had 6 rejects total.

Larry

[Freischütz]

It depends. Some moulds seem to produce more casting errors than others. But, if I've heated the mould sufficiently and the metal is decent quality, it's less than 5%.

My inspection is limited to surface flaws. I don't weigh bullets.

[Inkman]

I shoot virtually all of mine unless a boolit is just a plain old mess up.


Al

[1Shirt]

Well from review of this thread, it is obvious that I am far more fussy than I thought I was, or am just not a quality caster. Might be that I am a bit of both.
Agree that there are some days when casting goes like clockwork, and reject rate is very low, and other days when I probably didn't get out of the bed on the right side, when the reject rate is high. My wife has bad hair days on occaision, and on occaision I have bad casting days. Goes with the terroratory I guess.
1Shirt!

[MikeS]

You know, once you get past the age where sex is important to you (when you get old enough or sick enough that sex is just a memory), you learn that having a dog is much better company than a wife/girlfriend. Want proof? Take your wife/girlfriend, and your dog, lock them both in the trunk of your car. See which one is happy to see you when you open the trunk! :)

Health Warning: Make sure wife (girlfriend) isn't armed when you put her in the trunk, if she is it could be hazardous to your health!

[jethunter]

My cull rate depends on the mould - some are just less particular than others and I expect a lot of that has to do with the biullet design itself. The best one I have is a MP 454395 HBWC that throws darn near 100% once it gets up to temperature. I culled 3 bullets on the last batch of 1200+.

On the other hand I have a 4C 9.3mm x 280 gr mould that I'm still struggling with. It is VERY particular about pour speed. I'm averaging about 50% cull on this one but I'm still early in the learning curve and I expect it will get better when I figure it out a bit more.

[Max Brand]

My cull rate probably runs around 5% on all but one mould that being my Lee 457-450-F it runs at least a 50% cull rate and I've tried everything to improve it. Being old and wise (?) I have finally learned to live with it.

[dragonrider]

In a recent casting session I cast 300 NOE 316XXX, not being cryptic I don't know that last three numbers, this mold was made before NOE started marking the mold with the number, 316 being the diameter this mold casts. Anyway of the 300 cast I rejected 15, if my math is right, and there is no guarrantee on that, it makes it a 5% cull rate. This was a good rate, typicaly it is higher that that more like 10-15%.

[paul h]

The only possible answer to that question is "it depends"

Depending on the mold, the bullet, the metal, the mold temperature, the metal temperature, it can range from as high as 75% to as low as around 2%.



.]

I seem to have about the same experience, somewhere btween 2 and 50%, depending on the mold, how long it's been since I've cast that mold, how well I'm able to keep a cadence, etc.

Some days it seems like I'm throwin back almost everything I've cast, other days it seems like every boolit is a keeper.

One suggestion is to try and cast in a fairly large bast. It takes some cycles for the mold to heat up, and for you to catch you stride. If you only cast 100 or so, odds are you'll have a higher percentage of culls than if you cast 500.

[Jbar4Ranch]

My biggest cull rate is with 58 cal Minie balls - sometimes as many as half, but usually more like a third. Next is probably a 535 grain .45-70 Postell design that often "sucks in" on one side as it cools - maybe one in four or five gets tossed back in.

[onehousecat]

I don't count the bullets dropped when the mold is heating up as culls. That is just part of the game. When I size and lube them, I inspect them. Rejects are so few that I would estimate them at much less than < 1%.