Critique my very first cast bullets

[JohnFreeman]

125 g 9mm from Lee

Can you provide feedback? You won't hurt my feelings, worst that would happen is I melt them again :-)

Thanks
John84072

[El Greco]

They look great! Good job.

[HeavyMetal]

Ya needs to fill in that 6th cavity, LOL!

Looks good from the side we can see, a big plus that this isn't a TL design, LOL! Should work well I have two 6 bangers in that design and it really is my go to boolit for the 9mm as an every day shooter.

Lube with Carnuba Red, and push it where it should be 1200 to 1400 FPS range pending barrel length of course.

[JohnFreeman]

Thanks... it was fun to make these. I'm using a 2 cav mold and wheelweight alloy.

I've got an old Star lubesizer I need to figure out now...

The great thing about casting bullets is that if you screw up you get to try over. :-)

[Pb2au]

The look like winners to me!
Have fun, be safe.

[lancem]

Looks good, that's my favorite in my 9mm AR!

[WILCO]

Can you provide feedback?

Hey John,

Only thing I can see being a problem, is that the bases look rounded and not sharp on some.

[Blammer]

to few of them.... :)

[JohnFreeman]

Yes, some of the bases are rounded off, I think the mold was too cold or the lead too cool.

What would you lube these with? I have an Ideal and a Lubrisizer .

[HeavyMetal]

you said you had a Star lube sizer?

Thats the ticket! nose size lube with Carnuba Red and never look back, ya got the best sizer on the market!

[Fordprefect]

Not to highjack John's thread but Wilco mentioned that some of the bases are not sharp and I have had this problem with some of mine in my first couple sessions of casting, and was wondering what the variables that cause this are? And is it really much of a problem or just aesthetics?

[HeavyMetal]

it's a problem in a big way!

The base of the boolit steers it as it leaves the bore, any imperfection in the boolit base results in a larger group size if it hits paper at all.

Heating the sprue plate prior to pouring then touching it up every third cast keeps base square and flat.

[williamwaco]

In case nobody noticed, that is a really nice clear photo.

[shredder]

I found that rounded bases can adversely affect accuracy and are mostly caused by insufficient temperatures. It could be the mould or the pot or just your casting speed. That is what I would do first, speed up your casting. Likely your bases will fill better once the mould heats up and you have dropped 10 or so casts.

Your boolit on the right looks just right. It's a nit picky thing, and you are among nit pickers. Be fussy and your groups will shrink.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Your bullets look good especially for the first time around. I concur that bullet bases have to well filled out and as sharp as possible so that there is no gas leakage around them. When you cast, watch the quality and not the clock. Inspection of what you produce is part of the process so when you do that toss any bad ones back in the pot. Practice makes you better. Use clean metal, flux on a regular basis, and take good care of your mold(s). Keep reading and asking questions. Keep up the good work. LLS

[Old Caster]

They do have a rounded edge on some of them but depending what gun these will be shot in, I wouldn't worry about any of them. Very few 9 mm guns would qualify as a Bullseye gun and that is the only place it would matter because it is just aesthetics otherwise. If you want to make an effort to improve your quality, try to get the whole works hotter or try pressure casting. If by pressure casting you get fins, try a lower level of lead in your pot. If this still doesn't work, go back to just pouring the lead in with the mold away from the spout just enough to not cause problems like jamming between the pot and mold.

[MtGun44]

The middle one is the worst, but still pretty darned good and I would be unlikely to toss it
back unless I was casting specifically for a pistol match, in which case I want them to have
bases more like the extreme right example.

Well done! These will shoot well.

Bill

[JohnFreeman]

Thanks for all the advice and the encouragement. I was surprised to find usable boolits coming out of the molds during my first time casting. Of course, I didn't post the ones that resembled silver raisins...I had some of those too.

Yes, I have a Star sizer. I'm not sure how to use it yet, but it's another thing to learn. If they work as well as the Star loaders (I own a Universal and a Progressive), I'm in for a treat once I get the thing set up correctly (which might take a while).

I need to get a 38 cal mold. And a galena mine.

[btroj]

Bullets look good but you need to vacuum......

Don't trust your eyes, or mine, to tell if the bullets are good. Trust your gun. If the gun is happy and the bullets go where they are supposed to then all is good.

Go cast a few hundred and shoot. Let us know how they do.

[JohnFreeman]

#3 is a little iffy, but todays batch came out much more square based, with more heat in the sprue plate and a generally hotter mold. The longer I ran them the better they were coming out of the mold.

Thanks for all the tips, it's helping
John

84228

[Driver man]

I would be happy to shoot any of them. Good job.

[Echo]

Hey John,

Only thing I can see being a problem, is that the bases look rounded and not sharp on some.

+1...
And I agree, the Star is the best there is. Slug your bbl, and make sure the boolits are maybe .001 over the groove diameter. Don't buy a sizing die until you know your groove diameter!

[cbrick]

Yep, we can nit pick but . . .

I wish my very first casting a few decades ago looked that good.

Rick

[capt.hollis]

#3 is a little iffy, but todays batch came out much more square based, with more heat in the sprue plate and a generally hotter mold. The longer I ran them the better they were coming out of the mold.

Thanks for all the tips, it's helping
John

84228they look good to me John, shoot em. #3 , nothing wrong with it. Are ya worried about that blemish? Once ya lube em you'll never see it.

[Garyshome]

Sometimes I have to cast a lot of baddies before I get to the good stuff.

[cbrick]

Are ya worried about that blemish? Once ya lube em you'll never see it.

While all of the boolits in the OP's photo are shootable if you ever do any casting for accuracy bear in mind that any flaw is still a flaw whether it's covered up by a gas check or lube or the case neck. Just because you can't see it when it's loaded doesn't mean the flaw is gone.

Rick

[dudel]

They look WAY better than my first batch. Even my second batch. And my third.

[shoot-n-lead]

Looks like a bad batch, might want to send them to me for test firing.

[capt.hollis]

While all of the boolits in the OP's photo are shootable if you ever do any casting for accuracy bear in mind that any flaw is still a flaw whether it's covered up by a gas check or lube or the case neck. Just because you can't see it when it's loaded doesn't mean the flaw is gone.

Rickyes true, but your definition of a flaw is not really a flaw in my books, maybe in yours. The rifleing in my barrel takes care of those buffer marks. Shoot em, the gun knows no difference.