First boolits - the good, the bad, and the really ugly

[LittleBill]

After what seems like an eternity of prep, buying tools, scrounging for lead, and reading up on stuff, I finally got to cast my first boolits today. It is amazing how many boolits one can get out of eight pounds of lead, especially when one keeps throwing the really hideous ones back into the mix. [smilie=1: Overall it was a very good experience, and I learned a lot. In the end, I had 123 boolits in both .45 ACP and .45 Colt sitting on the bench, the remnant which had not been cast into the fiery furnace. Some were pretty good looking, some were cosmetically flawed, and some were pretty ugly.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o159/FotoBill/firstboolitcast_zps2fa8cdfc.jpg

Some are wrinkled. I am going to go do some more reading before I ask any questions, but if anyone wants to chime in, I can hardly prevent you. ;) I took some close ups. The ones of my .45 ACP boolits were all blurry for some reason, but the .45 Colt came out pretty decent. Below is one wrinkled and one not. I cast the .45 Colt towards the end, and they were starting to look just a tiny bit frosty, but not a lot. I have measured a few samples of both with a micrometer, and they are coming out at a fat .452, and in some, .453. I mixed 50/50 wheel weights and pure lead. I plan to let them age at least a week before lubing them up and loading them up. Comments and advice are always welcome.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o159/FotoBill/first45coltwrinkled_zps8689383c.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o159/FotoBill/first45coltcast_zpsd3649543.jpg

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Bill,

Just from what I can see, it looks like your heat is a bit on the low side.

Providing your mold was well cleaned before you started, it looks to me like more heat should cure what your seeing.

I'm not big on adding tin, and in most cases it is just money wasted, but if you will drop the pure lead your adding and just use the WW, that will up you tin percentage and may also help.

According to the Lyman cast bullet books, WW only has about .5% tin, so your tin is getting pretty thin with the addition of the pure lead.

Millions of great bullets have been and are cast from WW with the addition of no additional tin, so I'd just work from another angle. I've cast some thousands myself with plain Ol'ww.

Then on the other hand, I use the 50/50 ratio of WW to lead on my 465gr WFN bullets used in my 45/70 and they cast just fine.

So, all that to say, first I think I'd use a bit more heat.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[LittleBill]

Thanks for the quick reply! I've been searching on wrinkles since I posted, and it seems like a cold mold or a cold alloy is the problem. I was running it between 600-650, and that just from reading about keeping it as low as possible when separating wheel weights so as not to get zinc contamination. Of course, at this point I am not worried about zinc. I'm going to jack it up to about 700 deg or so next time.

I have to say, this was a lot of fun, and I am looking forward to the next session already, putting into use what I have already learned today.

[plainsman456]

It looks like the mold was not up to temp for the wrinkled one.
With the pot at 700 it should not take long to get it where it is happy.

I put the mold on top of the pot while it is heating up,some use a hot plate.

It gets worse from here,you are now hooked.

[rollmyown]

Get a hotplate and heat up you mould. Keep at it and your problems will go away. Heat, or lack of it, is your problem.

[cbrick]

Yep, run the pot at 700 degrees and pre-heat the mold to 400. Once the mold is up to temp 700 degree pot temp is plenty to keep the mold at 300 degrees less.

Your boolits in the pics are a cool mold. Stop inspecting your new creations while your casting because your mold is cooling off compounding the situation, inspect later, keep the mold blocks closed, full and keep going. There is a learning curve but before long you'll be wondering what the problem was.

Rick

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Yep, keep the temps low when smelting to keep the zinc you may have missed from melting. FLUX well to clean and then for casting use 700 - 750 degrees.

Fluxing - I have used old candles for years and it works great. Other folk use other things, but candles or jar sealing/canning wax is cheap and works great.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[cbrick]

Fluxing - I have used old candles for years and it works great. Other folk use other things, but candles or jar sealing/canning wax is cheap and works great. Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

Works great at reducing tin, does nothing for fluxing. Wax is not flux! Wax cannot flux. Fluxing is reducing oxidized tin & antimony and wax will do that but fluxing also is removing contaminates and wax cannot do that. Thinking your fluxing does not change the metallurgy or the chemistry.

Rick

[Pilgrim]

+1 for the old coot. When you start getting boolits w/o wrinkles, then check the bases of the boolits after cutting the sprue, and before dumping the boolits. If the boolits are not fully filled out on the base or show any other flaws, recycle 'em. Do the remainder of your boolit inspection after you are thru casting. If you cycle/alternate between 2 moulds (I do, others don't) you can keep the mould temp up without getting frosty boolits. All of my remaining (sold/gave away the others) moulds are steel blocks so they don't lose heat as quickly as thecaluminum moulds. FWIW

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Well then Cbrick, I guess I have been doing it wrong for many years with good results. Wonder how that could happen?

CDOC

[runfiverun]

rick is pointing out the difference between fluxing and reducing oxides.
they are not the same thing.

[cbrick]

If your happy have at it but convincing yourself your fluxing changes nothing. You can get mad at me if you wish but that won't change the metallurgy & chemistry of it. Wax is not flux no matter how many times or for how long you call it that. That's how that could have happened.

I pointed that out more for those reading the thread that would like to learn something as opposed to getting into a p*ssin match with you. Unless you have a magic wand wax is not flux.

Rick

[nhrifle]

Either way I don't think it matters much unless one is casting for some serious competition. Lots of folks use wax when smelting and casting. I do. It smokes, then burns, junk comes out of the melt, the dross is removed, and good boolits are cast. This is how I cast and I shoot little bitty groups. Lots of other folks use sawdust with good results too. I've never tried it. Either way, we all end up smiling and happy pouring beautiful boolits whether we are fluxing or merely reducing.

Please, let's keep the arguments in The Pit and get along here in the general forum.

To the OP, nice job! My first didn't look anywhere near that good. Let us know how they shoot.

[462]

LittleBill,

For use with a hot plate, search "mold oven" or "mould oven"

Usually, my mould will be ready before the alloy is to temperature, and the first cast will produce keeper boolits.

[LittleBill]

It looks like the mold was not up to temp for the wrinkled one.
With the pot at 700 it should not take long to get it where it is happy.

I put the mold on top of the pot while it is heating up,some use a hot plate.

It gets worse from here,you are now hooked.

Yeah, I think it is safe to say I am hooked. At first I was thinking, "I wonder how much I can sell all this stuff for?", but then they started coming out pretty decent. When they were coming out real nice one after another, I did not want to quit.

I had actually been looking for a hot plate earlier on in the day, but did not find one. I read somewhere where some folks use electric frying pans. I already know where I can find a bunch of them.

When I was getting my supplies together, the guy at the local store sold me some Marvelflux or whatever it was called. Of course, as soon as I got home, I discovered that a lot of people are using sawdust. I haul that stuff out of my shop in a 10 cu ft cart! :shock: I have a steady supply that will last me and any other 50 people for the rest of my life, and in various sizes from large shavings to fine dust.

I've got a bunch of family stuff to do this weekend, and work is getting in the way of this important stuff, but I am already planning the next casting session. :grin: Thanks for all the responses!

[Charlie Two Tracks]

I found an old Sunbeam electric skillet. Yard sales are a great place to find them. It had a lid on it and I cut down the front side of it so a mold with handles will lay flat on the surface. Put the mold in the skillet, handles sticking out the cut slot, turn up the heat with the lid on and you are ready to go real quick. I am glad to see you are enjoying casting already. Watch out for the group buy section. Those custom made molds are really great.

[45-70 Chevroner]

Well now that we have your finger prints in the picture we can check you out through the police files. "GOOD PICTURES". As mentioned turn up the heat and cast away.

[LittleBill]

I found an old Sunbeam electric skillet. Yard sales are a great place to find them. It had a lid on it and I cut down the front side of it so a mold with handles will lay flat on the surface. Put the mold in the skillet, handles sticking out the cut slot, turn up the heat with the lid on and you are ready to go real quick. I am glad to see you are enjoying casting already. Watch out for the group buy section. Those custom made molds are really great.

Charlie, I remember seeing one of your posts last night. There seems to be a run on hot plates at thrift shops in our area, but I recall seeing several electric skillets at the one. I will be grabbing one, or hopefully two in the next couple of days.



Well now that we have your finger prints in the picture we can check you out through the police files. "GOOD PICTURES". As mentioned turn up the heat and cast away.

Ha ha, I used a stunt double. :-P Seriously, my daughter knows a guy who only loads rounds into his rifle with gloves, because he is afraid the government will get his prints off a spent bullet (or boolit depending on what he is shooting). In addition to melting lead into bullets in my free time, I am quite the activist in our state, so they already know all about me.