Noob Needs A Mentor

[Steven]

My name is Steven. I live in Salt Lake City, Utah. I've been studying for months now on casting and have a small amount of success, but still feel the need to get together with an experienced caster to see what I can do to improve the way I cast. I've especially hit a brick wall with a brass .45 hollow point mold by MP. I've gone through multiple steps from advice I've gained from other casters in the chat room and still seem to fail to make some good cast bullets. If someone could mentor me I'd greatly appreciate it. Message me if you think you could show me how it's done and I'll swap contact numbers. Thanks for reading. -Steven

[Hickory]

What was the result of your impact with the brick wall?

Wrinkled boolits?
Poor fill out on the hollow points?
Boolits sticking to the hollow point pins?
Boolits sticking to one of the mold halfs?

I think those here that are willing to help need more information, and pictures always help.

[btroj]

A mentor could mean all the difference in the world.

As for HP moulds, get the pins HOT. Did I mention heat? Run them quickly, cool pins lead to reject bullets. Get the mould hot before you start casting, a higher melt temp isn't gonna do it.

Is the mould really clean? If I have trouble with full out with a new mould I always reclean. That usually does it.

[Echo]

What alloy are you using? One usually needs to add a touch of tin, for mold fill-out...

More info, please.

[fishnbob]

A brass hollow point mold gives me more difficulty than all others put together. btroj is right on, you gotta get those pins HOT, HOT, HOT! Wrinkled noses are a sign of a "not hot enough mold" to me. I cast as fast as possible and usually by the time I drain my 10 lb pot, they start rolling out near perfect. Then I get to start over. I put the mold on a hot plate and take a torch to the pins when I start back on a fresh pot. There's a fine line between hot enough and too hot on a brass mold, you can ruin the mold. I have to also run the temps up on the lead but not enough to take the tin out of the mix. Some of the other guys here have it down perfectly and guys like me struggle with it. I'm sure you will get some good feedback. Read it and practice, remember what you did when it turns out right and good luck!

[41 mag fan]

Steven, First off welcome to the forum and addiction, and what can sometimes be indigestion from trying to make the perfect cast!
You did the first thing right, you admitted you're having problems and asked for a mentor in your area to help.
That in my book shows a person has a lot of integrity.
I wish I lived out there as I'd sure help you get going.
Hopefully someone will see your post and reach out to help you.
Good luck on your casting!!

[brasshog]

Hi Steven. I recently purchased my first HP mold (aluminum) and have started casting with it. I agree with the fellows about getting those pins hot and keeping them hot. I seem to have better luck getting mold temp up by dropping lead Into them and then letting them sit on the hot plate. That way I can turn up the heat alittle and since only the pins are contacting the hot plate when it is at rest it distributes the heat well. Also, I have found that the faster that I cast the more I have bad drops. Most people can cast fast with great success but for myself I find that if I make myself pause in between steps the mold gets a chance to absorb some heat giving me consistant results. I always deform the hollowpoint if I don't pause before opening. My problem is that I was casting way to fast. Keep that mold shut because the air will cool them fast. Hope this helps.

[Mal Paso]

I use a $15 Walgreens Hot Plate with a 1/8 thick piece of metal on the coils, set on Medium, to preheat the mold. The mold returns to the hotplate anytime I'm not casting during the session. Since the pins contact the hot plate along with the bottom of the mold, I've never had a pin/nose problem.

After you cut the sprues, turn the mold upside down, then open it, tap the slide pin ends pushing the boolits out and they should just drop off.

Those are the best two methods I've found.

[Steven]

So I went to Wal-Greens and bought that $15 hot plate, I put the setting between Medium and High, and after a while I poured some.... after 45 seconds of still seeing liquid lead, I gawked "lord all mighty", I think the hot plate works and I need to turn the temp down a little bit. I dropped the pot temp to 720. It took too long for the boolits to solidify so like a moron I held it upside down over the sprue scrap plate and well..... I won't do that again. HEY I'm gold the hot plate works!! 1,100 watts, 2 year warranty. Gonna clean the lead mess between the mold and try again, I'll report what I find. My alloy is range scrap (all cast) with some TMJ/FMJ lead cores to lower the BHN down, I added 8 oz of pewter. Will get back to ya after I try again with a lower hot plate temp.

[PS Paul]

Welcome to the forum, Steven! You've obviously gathered by now there are lot of terrific folks here who are willing to help and share the info to take casting into the more advanced stages of development.....

Sounds like you're figuring it out with temp on the HP mold. Most beginners save HP molds for later in their "educational process:, so I'm not sure whether to congratulate you on that step or not(he he), bt either way, best of luck with the things we all hold dear!

PS Paul

[mroliver77]

Maybe you missed it but most of us that use the hotplate put a piece of steel or aluminum plate on it to even out the heat. Put the mold on the metal plate not the heating coils.

I have an older mold by mp and polishing the pins helped somewhat for release issues. Dont go about polishing half cocked though. Learn about it and practice before tackling an mold part. Personally I would perfect my craft casting plain nosed boolits before moving up to HP. Some of us with experience have sat down and cried working with HP molds.
Like anything you do, practice makes perfect. ;)
J

[shooter93]

I don't know how many casts you've made Steven but most of my molds are brass and one thing is they seem to need more of a "break in" It takes several casting sessions before they work like a charm. More so than alum or iron molds it seems to me. And yes...everyone is right...the pins need to be HOT, and as mentioned post pics if you can when you ask questions like this. It helps a lot and there are some pretty sharp guys hanging around here.

[41 mag fan]

So I went to Wal-Greens and bought that $15 hot plate, I put the setting between Medium and High, and after a while I poured some.... after 45 seconds of still seeing liquid lead, I gawked "lord all mighty", I think the hot plate works and I need to turn the temp down a little bit. I dropped the pot temp to 720. It took too long for the boolits to solidify so like a moron I held it upside down over the sprue scrap plate and well..... I won't do that again. HEY I'm gold the hot plate works!! 1,100 watts, 2 year warranty. Gonna clean the lead mess between the mold and try again, I'll report what I find. My alloy is range scrap (all cast) with some TMJ/FMJ lead cores to lower the BHN down, I added 8 oz of pewter. Will get back to ya after I try again with a lower hot plate temp.

Put your melt at 700*, while your melts heating up, put your mold on med on your hotplate. What i did is got a big green bean can from walmart, cut the top open just enough to get the green beans out, then cut a hole in the side big enough to place my mold in. Use it like you would an oven.
I can put my molds then on med to a tad over medium and let them heat. About 3-5 minutes before my pots up to temp, I'll flip my mold over on the sprue and let it heat that way.
Learned about this a few weeks ago and gave it a try and it seems to work pretty good.
Then I can cast away, hp or solid, brass or aluminum, or steel. Takes about 4-5 casts with big sprue puddles to get it fully up to temp how my molds like it and by the 7 or 8th cast i cut back on my sprue and how fast I start casting.

[TXGunNut]

Welcome to the affliction, Steven. Sounds like you're off to a great start.

[Steven]

I grew to suspect my alloy (being cast rounds from other shooters that I picked up at a range) as part of the issue... I swapped my alloy with straight FMJ/TMJ lead cores and added a lil pewter. I FINALLY got the wrinkles to go away, along with these frosty wavy lines, I haven't tried the Big Bean Can idea yet, I'll try it. I went down to a local metal fab shop and bought an aluminum plate and use that to help distribute the heat evenly, but I've had to turn the head up all the way because the aluminum plate is partly applying the radiator effect, so I'd be really interested in trying the can idea. I'm able to pump out beautiful S&W 500s, but as far as this .45 HP goes....... I'm now getting dots all over my boolits from a first casting session. I know I scrubbed it good. I had to get a magnifying glass to see the lead dots inside the cavities. :-/ so why are these now showing up?

71781

[pdawg_shooter]

All of the above is why I drill my HPs instead of fighting a mold.

[454PB]

Good picture, it looks like slag (dross) inclusions, indicating dirty alloy. You need more fluxing and inspect your pot for cleanliness.

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

measles!

[Steven]

Good picture, it looks like slag (dross) inclusions, indicating dirty alloy. You need more fluxing and inspect your pot for cleanliness.

I thoroughly fluxed my alloy... Maybe I should use the flux Rich suggested instead of "cedar wood chip bedding" from IFA (though I really love the smell of this stuff). After grabbing a magnifying glass, I was able to find little lead dots all over my mold cavities..... I'm concerned the alloy may some how be bonding with the brass because I scrubbed the snot out of this mold. I really don't know. I was hoping someone else would know why this is happening. I'll change my flux to Rosin, re-clean my pot, send the mold to Rich in Alaska because he wants to inspect it, head to the store to get a large Can that 41 mag fan suggested and wait to hear what Rich says when he sees it.

[41 mag fan]

Steven...here's a post on a thread i started, if you go to the last page and look you'll see the green bean can on my hot plate in the picture.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?181001-Time-to-play-Castboolits-Lets-make-A-Guess!!/page2
I cut the lid just enough to get a butter knife in and emptied the contents out....pretty good eating too!!
But the cut part is the top of my oven, I used my dremel and cut a hole big enough to accept my largest in width mold I have, which by the way is my brass molds.
There was IIRC, a thread about something similar to your problem with the flecks on the mold, I think it was due to the pewter they melted into their alloy....don't hold me to that one as the absolute, but it seems to wring a bell.
What you might do is go into the mold maintenance part of the forum and post about it. I'm sure someone will recall better than me on what the problem was.
Good luck and if you need any other help, pm me and I'll try my best to help you out.

[41 mag fan]

Steven...how much was a little pewter?? I did some quick research, just because your situation and my memory was bothering me.....!!!
But I did come up with this article...it could be you got to much tin in the mix and it's tinning to your mold....here's the link..read the whole thing, esp what geargnasher posted....

Try a search with different word usage on it and see what you come up with.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?20685-casting-gone-down-hill-pitted-bullets&highlight=flecks+lead+mold