Am I too Picky?

[greg61986]

This is my second casting session and I am still getting a lot of rejects or am I just to picky?

91914

The far left 2 I think I am sure I don't want the others am I to picky?

91915

These are too frosty I think?

91916

These are the only wrinkles on these boolits the one with the wrinkle in the band I am pretty sure is no good but what of the others?

These are just going to be .38 special plinkers and nothing else. I cast some .357 mag with my Saeco #354 for hunting and all that looked liked these got discarded. I cast about 500 of the .38 and got about 100 rejects most of them just because of a small amount of base pull out. My only question at this point is to shoot or not to shoot them.

[Larry Gibson]

Alloy and casting temp?

Larry Gibson

[jmort]

Got any tin in there?

[seaboltm]

shoot them. They may not give optimum big game performance or top accuracy at distance, but they will shoot fine at the range. How picky I am depends on the intended application. For Lee TL bullets I would keep all of the ones in the picture and strive to get better. For my 310 grain 44 gas checked bullets that I intend push, then I get picky. Looks like your alloy temp and/or your mold temp is low in the ones with the wrinkles, too high on frosting. But who cares about frosting? That could also be the alloy.

[leadman]

Don't worry about the pull out on the sprue cut. For a revolver it is very unlikely you will notice any difference.
I had wanted to know how much this affected accuracy so did some testing with a couple of scoped revolvers shooting off a bench with a good rest. If there was any difference at 100 yards I could not tell.
I do see that you have some high sprues and these might add a little more weight than a sprue slightly pulled out removes. You can weigh the boolits and see what your weight spread is. I used to group then up in lots plus or minus .5grs but don't do that anymore.
Cut your sprue a little sooner to get rid of the high sprues and don't worry about frosted boolits. This is desirable if tumble lubing or coating with Hi-Tek coating.

[greg61986]

3 parts COWW 1 part roofing lead in 20 lb pot and about 1/3 lb tin. Temp no idea don't have a thermometer lee pot down around 3.5 to 4 just enough to keep it flowing good.

[greg61986]

Wrinkles only occurred at beginning and when kid needed something or after smoke break only about 18 of them all together.

[w5pv]

Shoot em ,dig them out of the berm and reshoot em.Looks like the temp may have been a little low or not enough tin.Dem paper critters will never know what killed them.

[greg61986]

"Dig them out of he berm" I like having my own to do so, no cast boolits in it yet all jacketed so far but soon will be full of cast.

[TES]

Way to picky. Set your pot at about 5 with nothing else plugged into that circuit. Heat your mold up really well and start casting. Throw back about the first 5 casts and then don't stop until your pot is empty.

If the sprue does not harden after a 5 count then your mold and or alloy is to hot.

[MUSTANG]

Looks like the Lee Tumble Lube boolits I cast in the mid 70's when I started.

1. For pistol boolits, my suggestion is to reject those where the base or lube grooves have a defect, those areas will have the greatest impact on the boolits flight. Those with minor nose area voids, or other imperfections; load and shoot them, they have a lesser impact on the boolit flight. I would shoot the frosty colored Boolits in your pics, you just need learn to adjust temp over time (get a lead thermometer when you can). Unless you are a highly competitive Bulls Eye or 3 Gun Shooter; you will not be handicapped as you shoot these and work towards improving the quality of the boolits you cast and shoot. After all, shooting is initially the principle focus for most people who are lured into the casting addiction. As the addiction grows, more and more focus on the boolit development takes over.

2. For casting boolits for use in rifles, my recommendation is the other end of the spectrum. Be annal and reject any visible imperfection, weigh all boolits cast and reject any that vary more than .5 grains when you begin, and tighten that window to .3 grains or greater as you progress in experience.

3. The reason for the disparity between my recommendations for pistol and rifle boolits revolves around the deviation from point of aim when looking at shooting at 3 yards to 25 yard distances, and at 100 yards and further out. A 5MOA deviation in groups at 15 yards is difficult to tell for most shooters, but at 100 yards it result in missing of the Target for many shooters.

4. You can not go wrong with taking advice from Larry Gibson, or many other long term posters on this site. Do so, but the important thing is to keep shooting; while building your knowledge, confidence and capabilities associated with casting boolits over time.

Best wishes, keep casting and keep shooting.

[greg61986]

Thank you all for the input and is there anywhere to get a cheap lead thermometer just cant stand the idea of spending $40 on a thermometer. My dad has an infrared one I use when melting wheel weights just point it at the outside of the dutch oven. Anyway to use it with lee pot?

[jmort]

The least expensive one worth buying is going to be around $30.00. You can live without it until you have the $$$.

http://www.amazon.com/Tel-Tru-LT225R-Replacement-Thermometer-degrees/dp/B0055777EU/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1388341033&sr=8-7&keywords=tel+tru+thermometer

[mac60]

Leadman hits it right on the head. That tear out on the sprue cut isn't necessarily a reason to cull them, I don't think it hurts anything myself. The boolit being a little frosty isn't a problem for me either. The wrinkled ones, yea I'd cull them. That last 1/16" of accuracy isn't that important to me. It's all about being able to shoot what I have and do it cheaply.

[Larry Gibson]

3 parts COWW 1 part roofing lead in 20 lb pot and about 1/3 lb tin. Temp no idea don't have a thermometer lee pot down around 3.5 to 4 just enough to keep it flowing good.

With that alloy bump the temp up to "5" or maybe "6" as mentioned. Cast at a tempo so the bullets aren't frosty (they will be a galvanized color though) and the sprue stays puddled up round. If the sprue flattens out you are casting a bit too fast. The sprue cut tearing out a hole may or may not hurt anything depending on your style of shooting and marksmanship ability. However, even with "plinking" bullets I find it is just as easy to cast good bullets as questionable bullets. The sprue should cut smooth like the bullet on the left. Both those bullets were cast of the same alloy with the same mould during the same casting session. The one on the right is also partly frosted and the sprue flattened out and ran off the sprue plate. Mould and/or the alloy was too hot.

Also, slow is smooth, smooth is fast.........as the saying goes. What it means is if you go slow and cast almost all good bullets the rejection rate will be very few. Very few rejections means you won't be wasting time recasting bullets to get the same amount. It also means the quality of bullets will be better. Much better than casting fast and rejecting a lot of them. In the long run if all your ammo, including the plinking ammo, is good you will shoot "gooder".

Larry Gibson

Note; for those who look close both bullets were actually rejects. I use them as an example of the sprue cut difference is all. The base on the left one is slightly rounded and for the cartridge/velocity it was to be used in that is a "no go".

91932

[bhn22]

Here's something cool. Watch the lead freeze at the sprue hole. It should change shades of gray on you. Try cutting the sprue after the third change. There won't be a fourth one, so don't worry about taking too long and messing something up. I may have missed it, you are breaking the sprues by hand aren't you? An infrared thermometer doesn't work right with molten alloys. You need the temperature of the alloy below the surface.

[Super Sneaky Steve]

I'd shoot those bullets. Last time I started having bad sprew cuts it was because my sprew plate was working loose. Try tighting it up a bit.

[greg61986]

I will give it another try tonight after kids sleeping I noticed sprue flattening but never heard or read anything about it till now thanks for the tip. I also have never noticed 3 color changes will watch for this and yes breaking by hand its a lee 6 banger. So as for tightening sprue plate thought this was the problem on my first run as my bullets had wings on the base like the lead was getting under the plate tried tightening it I guess you cant tighten it on the 6 banger but I think my lead and mold were just both to hot that why i was running low this time.

[Cherokee]

I always ran my Lee 20# pots at 9 using preheated molds, Lyman 4C and Lee 6C. Worked great for me for years, never underestood folks using those low settings of 3,4,5. Now I run my RCBS pots at 750* using the same molds, preheated. YMMV

[Charley]

I always ran my Lee 20# pots at 9 using preheated molds, Lyman 4C and Lee 6C. Worked great for me for years, never underestood folks using those low settings of 3,4,5. Now I run my RCBS pots at 750* using the same molds, preheated. YMMV
Ditto. I get a lot more rejects with the pot set at a lower temp. I run about one notch down from max on my Lee 10 pounder. Usually a few reject at first when the mold isn't up to temp. After that, nothing but good bullets, unless I screw up.

[JSnover]

If you need perfect boolits form start to finish, don't run the pot empty. You can get some drastic temperature swings that way. Find a way to keep another ingot hot. When you're half empty, slip it into the pot. It will need a minute to get back to normal temp but won't be as disruptive as a near empty pot or dropping a cold one in, unless you just feel like taking a longer break. After you finish, either leave the alloy in the pot for next time or pour it back into ingots and mark it.

[Tn Jim]

I have had several Lee moulds over the years and two that I still use a lot. The sprue plate would loosen on all of them once they started getting good and hot. I always kept a screwdriver laying by the pot to tighten them up. As for heat, I always kept my 10 pound Lee pot set between 7 and 8. All my boolits are either 44 or 45 cal and weigh between 230 and 250 grains. Below 7 they started to wrinkle or have rounded driving bands/bases.

[bangerjim]

I run my 4-20 pot at #5.5-6.5 for just about everything. Perfect temp for a full pot.

The IR thing will NOT work in your casting pot!!!!!!! Read the many many threads on here about it....use search engine.

It's all in the "feel" and "look". I do not use any temp devices at all and get perfect boolits every time. Use a pre-heated mold on a hot plate. Wait 'till the sprue lead turn that gray as mentioned above, and dump 'em. A little tearing at the spur will not hurt performance. Just slow down a bit because your lead is still hot. But no need to do them again.

Frosty is good. Not frosty is good. Wrinkled is good. Ugly is good. Boolits are good! Shoot them! Just learn what caused your "perceived problems" and correct it.

Unless you are in a photo contest for Miss Perfect Boolit of 2014, who cares.

Good shooting!

bangerjim