What is my problem?

[wv109323]

5421454215
Take a look a these two bullets and tell me my problem. Is this a lack of venting in the mold or is my lead contaminated?
The Boolits are very hard. You really can't scratch them with the thumb nail. The lead is a mixture of COWW and range scrap from a BUllseye pistol range.
I have one bullet actually fracture part of the main body off between the shoulder and the crimping groove.

[bowenrd]

Need more fluxing, looks like dirt/crud in alloy. Did any zinc WW get melted into alloy?

[cbrick]

Pretty tough to say from the pics but it looks like what happens when the boolit is dropped from the mold before it's completely solidified. It tears off pieces of corners like the driving bands because it's still too soft, a high Sb percentage will compound this.

Maybe, maybe not. Just a thought.

Rick

[BLTsandwedge]

I think I'd try softening the alloy. Are you adding any tin at all?

[docone31]

Mold is too cool.

[gray wolf]

Could be gassing, look like bubbles. dirt would still be in the bullets.
The pock marks look like negative, not positive.

[runfiverun]

i'm going with post #3

[wv109323]

I added some tin this time because I thought that the boolits were soft. I had very bad leading the last time I cast this boolit and basically the same lead in the pot. This time I fluxed the pot with white pine sawdust, stirred the pot quite a bit.
Here's another clue. I dropped about 3/4 of a Lyman ingot into the pot. It was wire shielding that was soft lead. From this ingot I made a couple of slugs that I used to slug my barrel. I know that the lead was soft because they went easy thru my barrel.The partial pure lead ingot did not melt in my pot for a long time. I thought that pure lead has a higher melting point than alloyed lead. Is this correct?
I looked closely for zinc wheel weights and I don't think I missed any. I used wire cutters on anything I thought was doubtful.

[Larry Gibson]

The lead is a mixture of COWW and range scrap from a BUllseye pistol range.

High % of antimony in the COWWs and a probable very high % antimony from the probable high use of "hard cast" commercial bullets from the "bullseye range".

I would add 20- 40 % lead and 3 % tin which is what I do with such range lead.

Larry Gibson

[williamwaco]

I added some tin this time because I thought that the boolits were soft. I had very bad leading the last time I cast this boolit and basically the same lead in the pot. This time I fluxed the pot with white pine sawdust, stirred the pot quite a bit.
Here's another clue. I dropped about 3/4 of a Lyman ingot into the pot. It was wire shielding that was soft lead. From this ingot I made a couple of slugs that I used to slug my barrel. I know that the lead was soft because they went easy thru my barrel.The partial pure lead ingot did not melt in my pot for a long time. I thought that pure lead has a higher melting point than alloyed lead. Is this correct?
I looked closely for zinc wheel weights and I don't think I missed any. I used wire cutters on anything I thought was doubtful.


Well?
What was the result of this change?
Did it make better bullets?

.

[btroj]

I am with Post 3 on this one.
High Sb and a hot mold do that every time if run too fast.

[DrCaveman]

It does kind of look like frosting... On steroids. That would lead me to concur that mould is very hot and boolits aren't cooling enough.

Just because you break the sprue doesn't mean you need to immediately open the mould. Sometimes when getting a mould up to temp I prematurely break the sprue, then set my mould on my wet towel for a second before opening handles. Still comes out frosty but at least they fall, and don't look like that.

Also remember that tin and antimony should be roughly equal in % to avoid excess brittleness. As said above, add more tin if you can. Maybe you just didn't add enough. Coww are pretty low in tin, and who knows about that range scrap. All you know is that it ain't working.

[reloader28]

Play with your temps.
Personally, I dont like adding tin and never do except for hunting boolits. Way to expensive for me. But, I'm not using your mixture, I use straight WW.

I would flux more and play with mold temp and melt temp. Looks like your mold is too hot to me. When my lead is dirty, I get darker spots in the boolit.
Not adding extra tin has always worked for me as long as I get the temps right.

[luis7]

Zinc in alloy.

[Humbo]

I think cbrick has it nailed, boolit is dropped too early, and maybe the mold is too hot.

[imashooter2]

I'll add my voice to the post #3 chorus. Been there, done that.

[captaint]

For repairs, I might add about 50% more soft lead for starters and flux the daylights out of that mix. See where that takes you. I've had too much antimony behave like that in my boolits. Give it a shot... enjoy Mike

[Grandpas50AE]

I agree with posts #3 and #9 - I had this same result years ago when I was first learning. Run your temps a little cooler and let the boolit stay in the mold a few seconds longer. Adding some tin back to the mixture will also help keep the higher antimony content from making the boolits brittle after colling and hardening.

[cbrick]

I added some tin this time because I thought that the boolits were soft.

Tin will harden lead but very little. Antimony is the method of hardening lead alloys. If your using a Pb/Sb alloy and add Sn keep the Sn percent at or below the Sb percent.

I had very bad leading the last time I cast this boolit and basically the same lead in the pot.

Is this the same alloy as in your pictures? The pictures look like a high Sb alloy but again it can be difficult to be sure from pictures. Leading can be caused by many things primarily from poor bullet fit.

This time I fluxed the pot with white pine sawdust, stirred the pot quite a bit.

Excellent!

Here's another clue. I dropped about 3/4 of a Lyman ingot into the pot. It was wire shielding that was soft lead. From this ingot I made a couple of slugs that I used to slug my barrel. I know that the lead was soft because they went easy thru my barrel.

Again, is this the same alloy as the pictures? In your first post you said the alloy was very hard. What type of firearm? What does the bore slug at? What is the as cast diameter? What are you sizing to? What load are you using?

The partial pure lead ingot did not melt in my pot for a long time. I thought that pure lead has a higher melting point than alloyed lead. Is this correct?

Lead melts at 621 degrees, Sn will absolutely reduce the melting point. 63/37 solder melts at 183 degrees and thats simply lead and tin. Are you using a thermometer?

Hope this helps you some, we have very little to go on except the pictures.

Rick

[44man]

It looks like a mold too hot to me but like Rick said, it is hard to tell.
Us old timers could fix it but it gets real hard to put in words.
Crud is not that easy to get in a mold because lead pours under the floating crud.
I have always thought more experience will fix problems without a change in the alloy. More fluxing is not always the answer either. Crud does not suspend, it sticks to the sides and bottom of the pot or floats on top.
Bottom pouring is a pain to me because it is hard to imagine how much junk is below the lead.

[243winxb]

.The partial pure lead ingot did not melt in my pot for a long time. Alloy/pot to cold? More heat needed.