First casts, any recommendations?

[tbl-leo]

Hello everyone,

I know this forum is littered with how to's and trouble shooting bad casts, my casting not different. I am posting this because I really couldn't find anything related to hollow point casting. This is my very first time casting, I prepped the mold as shown in YouTube videos specific to Lyman's molds. I had the lee melter set to about 8 with wheel weight ingots loaded and I fluxed with saw dust. I casted about 200 boolits with them improving significantly. I also let the mold heat up before beginning. Do you think their may be zinc in my pot? I was very careful while making the WW ingots. Are these boolites shoot able?

Thanks in advance.


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[**oneshot**]

melt too cold, mold not hot enough, poor venting. I would turn up the temp and cast faster.

[Hounddog]

You need to get that mold hotter and especially those hollow point pins. My hollow point molds get very fiddly until the pins get up to temp. Try pre heating on a hot plate and then dip a corner of the mold into the melt if the boolits come out all wrinkly.

Welcome to the site and good luck.

Hounddog

[turmech]

I would guess your hollow point pins were not hot enough. A hot plate would help a lot to get the mold and pins up to casting temp. if you are trying to inspect the bullets while casting and reaching mold temperature this can be counterproductive.

I would suppose they are shootable, but I would recast them. For me casting is half the fun and a second go around would most likely have better results.

[kbstenberg]

First We need some specifics. Do you know what temperature your melt was at? Do you know what temp. your mold was at? What type of HP mold was it? How did you preheat the mold? What alloy was it? We gots to know this kind of stuff!
I forgot Welcome to the brotherhood. Hoodies arn't mandatory! Kevin

[Love Life]

Not enough heat somewhere. Could be the pins or the melt. Cast faster next time. If that does not work Cast hotter and faster.

[tbl-leo]

Thanks for the quick replies. Seems like the consensus that the melt is not hot enough and I need to cast faster.

[James2]

It is not a bit unusual to get poor fill at first. The mold is not hot, the pin is not hot. If a new mold there may be some oil that will vaporize and make pits or wrinkles in the casting. To get good fill the melt must be hot enough, the mold must be hot and in the case of hollow points the pin too must be hot. It sounds like your results were improving. Try setting the temp of the pot a bit higher and see how it goes. Once your mold is clean, it pretty much becomes a temperature thing. Oh, if you are pouring with a hand ladle, have it pretty full so the weight of the lead in the ladle will help to force the fill and leave a good sprue.

[462]

Wrinkles are caused by:
1. A mould that is not sufficiently clean.
2. A mould that is not at its optimum casting temperature.

Concentrate on getting the pin and mould to temperature, not your alloy's temperature. A hot plate and mould oven are very useful casting tools.

[cbrick]

462 is right, you need mold and in particular pin temp . . . NOT a higher pot temp. From what I've heard of LEE pots a setting of 8 is near red hot, that's not good for the alloy.

Your boolits didn't look to bad but the nose at the cavity isn't filling out well. That means the pin is too cool and is drawing heat out of the alloy allowing it to start to freeze before filling completely. A hot HP pin is a happy HP pin.

DO NOT inspect your boolits during casting. The pin doesn't have the mass the mold does and it cools rapidly. Keep the blocks closed, the pin in the blocks and the blocks re-filled as quickly as practicle. While your admiring your new creations that pin is cooling, you'll never get good nose fill-out with a pin that is too cool.

Rick

[runfiverun]

HEAT.
the pins especially.
shoot em anyway.

[R.M.]

Another thing you might be doing is filling too slow. Newbies tend to pour very carefully as to not spill lead. Just put a metal try under your pot, and an ingot mold below the spout to catch any run-over. Anything you spill can go back into pot.

[detox]

Preheat your mold using a propane torch. Cast fast until mould is filling out good. If preheated mold is too hot it will take too long for your sprue too cool and frost over. I look at how fast my sprue is cooling. It should take about 3 to 4 seconds for sprue to frost over. You may have to add a little tin for sharper edges. Lots of tricks to casting....you will figure it out.

Oh yea. Cast at 750 degrees to prevent whiskers and fins. Be sure to cast fast or what the mould asks for. Do not flood the cavity too quickly (this traps air). You will find that perfect casting rythem by watching sprue cool and frost over.

[MtGun44]

Standard answer to first casting question: mold too cold and/or mold too dirty.

HPs make it even more imperative to get up to temps.



Bill

[Ranger185]

Not been casting that long myself but fought this at first especially with 45ACP. I got a lead therometer to make sure I was 700 degrees and I put the mold on the pot the whole time it is warming up and that made a big difference in my casting.

[detox]

If all else fails use a ladle. I hold ladle to mould and shake then build a slightly large sprue over that. It is a little harder using multiple cavity moulds with a ladle.

[Mk42gunner]

You mentioned prepping like Lyman molds, what mold are you using? I am asking because that looks like a honking big HP for a Lyman removable pin.

When I cast HP's with a removable pin, I setup a holder for the pin to keep it hot. I use a propane torch with a small flame. A hotplate may even work better, but I have the torch.

For me the best way to go is to pull the pin with a twisting motion, then cut the sprue and dump the boolit. Immediately reinsert the pin and refill the mold. Don't even look at the boolits until you really get the hang of running a HP mold.

Good Luck,

Robert

[H.Callahan]

Agree with everybody. Looks like too cold, particularly the pins. HPs are a bitch to get hot enough and keep hot enough.

As far as shooting those, I normally would recommend recasting. But, since these are the first ones you have done, I would say load 'em up and fire 'em off. There is nothing like the satisfaction the first time you launch boolits you have cast yourself. Kinda like your very first reloads!

[tbl-leo]

Thanks for all the support. Will be purchasing a hot plate today and the torch isn't a bad idea either. I feel my melt was hot enough because it was glowing.

[cbrick]

I feel my melt was hot enough because it was glowing.

You neeed to turn the pot temp down. Tin (Sn) is very useful in bullet alloy and your WW should have about 1/2 percent. Tin cannot do what it is in the alloy to do past 750 degrees, it simply looses it's ability to reduce the surface tension of the alloy going into the mold. In addition tin itself oxidizes much faster past 750, glowing is not good.

Rick

[dakotashooter2]

Don't cast your first dozen bullets too fast either. Hold them in the mold for an extra few seconds and it will help the pins heat up faster.

[PS Paul]

I'm actually a little surprised that nobody mentioned he might try a "standard" mold as opposed to an HP mold to build his skill set and confidence level and work out the basics of temperature needs..... I used several different molds and cast several thousand boolits before I ever attempted using an HP mold- and I was glad I did.

Maybe that's the only mold you have? If so, the above advice is pretty darned sound.

[tbl-leo]

Thanks, I agree. Wish I could have started with my other lee 6 cavity SWC I have, but both handles I have on order have been on back order for almost a month.

Another thing I forgot to ask, should I be quenching these HP's?

[PS Paul]

Thanks, I agree. Wish I could have started with my other lee 6 cavity SWC I have, but both handles I have on order have been on back order for almost a month.

Another thing I forgot to ask, should I be quenching these HP's?

Depends on the alloy you're using and what you want to get out of 'em, speed, size, etc...... If you're just plinkin' away, alloy is not too hard and not too soft and you just want to load 'em to standard velocities, don't bother with the quenching. Now it might be different for you, but I don't quench ANY of my plinkin' rounds and there are some who believe a soft but malleable alloy is best for HP's to expand correctly at standard velocities.

As you see, there are many variable that canno be answered correctly without answers to some of these questions, but I get the feeling you just want to go out and shoot? So, just shoot away and you'll see.

[popper]

I start pouring with the sprue plate open, leave the mold closed for a long time, then open. When they start to get good looking I close the sprue plate. Do one hole at a time on 6x mould. Yes I use a hot plate to preheat, but this does save me time and culls. My moulds are alum.

[MT Chambers]

a.) Mold/pin not hot enough
or
b.) Mold not cleaned 100% initially
or
c.) prep. liquid found it's way into cavity/ies
or any combination thereof.

[tbl-leo]

A big shout out and thanks to all that replied with helpful tips. Recanted this morning using a hot plate, fresh WW, and a torch to heat the pin and had much better results. A lot of perfect boolites.

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[Hounddog]

Looks good. Keep up the good work.

Hounddog

[Lizard333]

I used to keep a propane torch, barely lit, on my HP pin while doing hollow points. This helps significantly. Id set it on a stand and let the flame sit on the pin while I dumped the boolits.

[PS Paul]

Dude, that second batch looks great! You jumped right to "casting 202". Obviously you were able to take the tips from the fellas and it worked! Congrats! What fun, eh?