First cast!

[boog]

So, I have been lurking here for a while, then recently signed up, and continued to lurk.

My Lee TL358-158swc arrived today, and a friend loaned me his Lee dripomatic 4/20 (full of lead, too!). On top of it being my first time casting, I also had to figure out the spout and adjustment screw.

I probably cast close to 200 boolits, and 150 or so were wrinkled, I didn't have the flow right. Back in the pot they went, and I fiddled with adjusting the pot, then voila! nice boolits!

These should do me until I get my own pot. I'll probably go the ladle route, at least for a while.

92043

[yman]

Welcome to the brotherhood of the great silver stream. This a great site with alot of helpful people. I started about 6yrs ago myself and I am hooked. Sounds like your on the right track. Bullets look nice, lee makes a good mold for the $$. I own several lee molds and have poured couple 1000 bullets with them. Welcome and heres to many good molds ahead.

[nitrohuck]

Congrats! Nice lookin boolit ya got there,

welcome to the silver stream addiction, I am a novice myself having only casted a few thousand rounds, but nothing beats a tight group downrange made with boolits by hand!

[runfiverun]

more mold heat.
good for the first time especially monkeying around with everything.
forget the drips and junk and just get after casting boolits, the mold will run hotter and do a bit better for you.

[Pb2au]

Looks good for your first outing.
Mr. Run5run nailed it. Just cast with that thing and get it heated up.
Pretty good friend to loan you a pot full of lead!

[CastingFool]

Boog, welcome to the site! Good looking boolit!

[Bohica793]

Welcome to the addiction! Make sure you have a very large drawer or shelf for mold storage. You're gonna need it sooner than you think. Trust me....I know......

[JWFilips]

+1 with runfiverun;
also as your pot gets lower you will need to adjust the flow to increase it as the level drops. A good eye is needed on the TL boolits "bands". Check to see how sharp they are. At first they can be deceiving ..... put a caliper on over the length of the boolit....if they are really good the front and rear will match and boolit won't pivot..... if they are bad or not so good. the boolit will pivot on the rear band ( front bands will be less) Well that is what I have found out.... just my 2 cents

[boog]

Thanks everyone! I think the biggest thing I like is that there is no waste. If I pour bad ones, they can just go back in for another pour.

[bangerjim]

Welcome! Nice thing about the 4-20 is the spigot fits EXACTLY into the sprue and you can do pressure casting. Many diss it, but I have found the process leads to perfect boolits even with COLD molds! 100% fillout every time.

I have a couple of Lee molds that I could just not get to drop perfect slugs, even with pre-heated mold and correct lead temps. so I tried it and have been using it frequently ever since.

Give it a try. You will be amazed at the quality of boolits you will be dropping. The liquid head pressure of the lead in the pot forces the soup into the mold cavities 100% and at a rate fast enough to eliminate "wrinklies". It works best with a FuLL pot, so keep the level up.

Don't 'ya just luuuuuuuv do-overs?

Have fun! [smilie=w:

banger

[Down South]

You have a very nice looking Boolit there. R5R gave you some good advice.

If I pour bad ones, they can just go back in for another pour.
I laughed one time on here a few years ago. A guy asked how many times a Boolit could be remelted and cast again? One reply was, "Until the lead turns to gold".