Casting problem

[kenjb]

I just got a brand new Lyman 9mm HP mold and tried it out this afternoon. I worked with it for nearly an hour using pretty nearly pure lead and didn't get one good bullet out of the lot. It seems the tip around the hollow is ragged and "swirly" with very visible wrinkles. The base seems pretty decent. I guess it's because the part of the mold around the tip, and the plug to make the hollow point, are not hot enough. What can I do?

ken

[ShooterAZ]

1) Add some tin to your "nearly" pure lead.
2) Make sure your mold is perfectly clean.
3) Preheat your mold on a hotplate.
4) Give us a little more info like what temperature you are casting etc./and or pics.

[ShooterAZ]

Oh and welcome to the forum!

[fryboy]

pure lead isnt as easy to cast with - it requires more heat and just so you know hollow point pins even with normal alloys require being fairly well heated , turn up the heat !! also pure lead is far far from the best 9 mm alloy
make sure the mold and especially pin is clean of any and all oil , you may have to either smoke the pin tip or my fav trick is to shade it with a # 2 pencil especially in the corner of the hp and preheat the mold , using your chosen alloy it'll take both a hot pot and a furious casting pace to turn out keepers
sorry if the above seems kind of blunt but it's what works for me with my 45 DV mold , and once that puppy is rocking i keep it going by running two pots ( as the first empty pot is warming back up from being filled again i'm fastly depleting the second pot , my fav alloy for the 45 is 3 parts pure to one part clip on ww's with 2% tin added
and yes sir welcome to the forum

[paul h]

You've got several things going against you.

As mentioned, pure lead needs more heat to get a good fillout.
A 125gr mold is relatively light so it's hard to keep putting enough heat in the mold on each cast.
It's a single cavity mold so it's hard to keep putting enough heat in the mold on each cast.
Lyman hp molds are slow to cast, so it's tough to keep enough heat in the mold.

Basically you're going to have to get the mold good and hot before you start casting and you're going to have to cast fast to keep the mold hot enough.

My personal advice is to get in on a Mihec group buy and get one of his cramer style molds. I have one of his two cavity 360640's and honestly it cast better and as fast as any of my conventional two style molds in any caliber.

[bangerjim]

You need tin. Only muzzlers use pure lead!

Even if you have to go to Home Despot or Lowe's for some 60/40 solder, you need tin.

If you get your lead hot enough to "almost" get good slugs, you will be waaaaaay up on the lead temp. It won't hurt anything, but takes more energy to do the same job.

As mentioned, heat up your mold prior to starting. I use a 700watt flat top hot plate.

You did not say what pot you are using. If a Lee 4-20, you can pressure cast by putting the spigot right into the mold sprue and fill it. I do that on a prticular 45 mold that will not fill properly no amtter what I do. Pressure casting, for me, yields perfect boolits on stubborn molds.

Welcome to the best place on earth!

bangerjim

[waco]

Boy......You picked a dandy to start with!
Good luck!
Waco

[454PB]

When I cast hollow base wadcutters, I have to keep a propane hand torch idling near the pot to keep the removable pin hot. About every third cast, I hold the pin in the flame for a few seconds.

I also agree with the others.....you need some tin.

[MtGun44]

You picked a difficult mold to start with. Make sure the pin is scrupulously clean. Scrub it
with Comet and a toothbrush.

Add tin! Heat pin with idling propane torch periodically - it is very difficult to
keep pin temp up. CAST FAST - no time to inspect, pour, cut, pull the pin and
dump, replace pin, pour, cut, pull and dump. Speed is essential to get and keep
heat in the mold.

Bill

[44man]

Hmmmm, 9mm with pure lead????? High pressure round that needs hard.
Lead that needs HOT to cast on top of that. Better to make toy soldiers or sinkers.

[Smoke4320]

9MM with probably need to be nearly 50/50 lead and COWW and add 2 % tin.
Otherwise you will probably be getting leading in barrel.. Sizing to .002 over the barrel size will help some..
as said before keep pin hot with a torch between casts

good luck and welcome to the forum ..There are some great guys on here and a wealth of info

[fredj338]

Casting hotter may help but adding tin @ 40-1 lead/tin certainly will help. With the right HP, they will expand fine even @ 25-1 @ 1100fps.

[kenjb]

Thanks for all the advice. I think I'll empty the pot by casting some .45 and some.38-55, the try the wheel weight stuff I have. We'll see.

ken b

[garymcgehee52]

I was going to recommend using ww alloy but I see you already thought of that.

[GLL]

Ken:

Welcome to the Forum !

Is your mold the Lyman 9mm Devastator 356637 by any chance?
If so, that is a very difficult mold to learn on !
As has been mentioned use 50/50 WW/ lead + 2% tin.
Heat the mold and pin on a hot plate for 20 minutes,
Cast as fast as you possibly can for 100 cycles @ 6 cycles + per minute !
DO NOT STOP at all to admire the bullets until you get the 100 done. Keep that mold and pin HOT !

Show us photos of the results ! :)

This is the .44 version. That rim around the HP is thin and impossible get filled out in a mold/pin that is too cool !
http://www.fototime.com/B7B8E835E43C79F/standard.jpg

Jerry

[HeavyMetal]

I have that mold and it is not as hard to cast with as the 45 Devestator!

So heat is your friend here but getting him to play nice is hard!

So here's how to do that: buy a hot plate! Big lots and wal mart have them and check thrift stores as well. Your looking for the open coil type with a metal base if possible but not a gotta be.

Once you have the hot plate go to a good metal scrap yard and find a nice piece of round flat stock 5/16 inch thick big enough in diameter to cover the entire coil on your hot plate 6 to 7 inches handles most plates.

Now measure the pin in your mold, both diameter and length mine is .257 X 1.178, then get some round stock, 3/4 inch will be just fine, cut it 1.125 long and drill a hole through it to allow just a little more than a slip fit for your HP pin and weld it to your plate.

You now has a custom pin heater and fill out problems on the HP nose will go away if you use it corectly.

Directions for use are easy; start lead pot and set mold on top to heat up, start hot plate and set pin heater on top with pin in it, set hot plate for just a touch under medium heat.

Pot , pin, and mold should hit ready to go about the same time.

To start casting: dip corner of mold in alloy, then dip end of sprue plate in alloy, insert pin and cast!

Pin goes in the heater every time it is not in the mold! Sprue plate needs to be dipped every third or forth cast as needed Temperature of the casting area will dictate the need for this but that is a good rule of thumb to start with.

Once you get a feel for the rythem of this technique defects will be less than 1% not including sprue's.