Cast my first last night ... now the questions

[Blanco]

I have had the equipment to cast on hand for a while but the weather has just not cooperated. Last night it was cool and a slight breeze so I decided to give it a shot.
My melt rig is a propane cooking rig with a cast pot from Cabelas. The mold is a Lee 6 cavity .401 175 Gr. FP.
My first few attempts just were not very good, I suspect from not being hot enough on the melt or the mold. After the first few I seemed to have pretty good luck for a while. I must have gotten a bit sloppy and had a bit of flash between the mold halves. Then I started getting a prounounced parting line. What do I do to clean that out? What do you do to prevent it?
Other than that issue I think I wound up with about 300 gooduns
Now ... The ones that have a bit of flash, what do you do to get rid of it ? Is it just better to throw them back in to melt?

I know these questions probably get asked quite a bit here. I haven't had time to read and search the whole site yet

[C. Latch]

The sizing die will get rid of the worst of the flash.

I cast wearing heavy leather gloves, and if I get flashing I carefully look at the faces of the mold for any lead splatter, etc, and wipe it off with the leather gloves. Be careful and quick when doing that or you'll blister a finger.

Also, if you're not using a thermometer (I don't either) you have to understand that just because your alloy is molten doesn't mean it's hot enough to make pretty bullets. Don't worry about the rejects when you first start; those help get the mold up to the right temperature.

I've learned that on MY pot, I have to let it run wide open until I've been casting several minutes and the mold is fully heated, then I'll start to have sprues that cool slowly (which makes them thinner, which makes for more flaky, powdery lead residue, which is bad from a safety/health standpoint) at which point I'll turn my pot down a bit and cool my sprue plate on a damp rag.

It's taken me about a year to learn the art of observing and maintain the proper mold/pot temperature. I am SURE that it would be easier with a thermometer. When I first started casting I was very happy if I saved 50% of my bullets. Last night I cast several pounds from several molds and kept 85% or more, even after throwing away some VERY minor imperfections. I would have shot most of them but cast more bullets than I have brass to load, so I threw back anything that wasn't perfect.

[dverna]

You really need to get a thermometer. One of the keys is consistency. That starts with your alloy and its temperature. When you find the sweet spot, it is much easier to cast good bullets.

It is almost a necessity to pre-heat a Lee mold unless you are prepared to throw out the first 20-30 casts until the mold reaches casting temperature. Once you get the mold to were it wants to be, you need a cadence that keeps the mold at the temperature it wants to run. If it is getting too hot, touch the sprue plate to a damp cloth for a couple of seconds to cool it a bit. You can also slow down, but I like to cast as quickly as I can so I cool the mold.

Flash is coming from some junk causing the mold halves not to close. You need to be careful removing it. It can also come from sloppy operation - not keeping the mold closed while filling.

For pistol bullets, slight flashing is not a deal killer (unless you are shooting competitively). Sizing will take care of it.

Don Verna

[Larry Gibson]

The flash is probably caused by holding the sprue plate handle along with the mould handles when pouring. That will slightly cam open the blocks and cause the flashing. After closing the mould blocks together and pivoting the sprue plate back slightly pull the sprue plate handle to the right just a tudge to keep the cam off the block. Only hold the mould handles when pouring.

Also be careful not to get sprue run off into the sprue handle cam area as when the alloy there hardens it is difficult to open the sprue plate and you can break the sprue plate handle. Use a screw driver to pry the alloy out of and away from the cam and cam angle. You can then use the handle to cut the sprue and swing the sprue plate to the side.

Larry Gibson

[Blanco]

Thanks for the responses guys
Thats what I love about this site ...great answers
I would say that Larry is correct about putting pressure on the sprue plate handle, and is probably the cause of my issue.
Next... What is the best thermometer and where can I get one?
Also thanks for NOT beating up the newbie

[Calamity Jake]

The flash is probably caused by holding the sprue plate handle along with the mould handles when pouring. That will slightly cam open the blocks and cause the flashing. After closing the mould blocks together and pivoting the sprue plate back slightly pull the sprue plate handle to the right just a tudge to keep the cam off the block. Only hold the mould handles when pouring.

Larry Gibson

What Larry says^^^^^^

Don't ask how I know!!!!!!

http://photos.gunloads.com/images/CalamityJake/30Caliber_MachineGun_Mould.jpg

My 30 cal. machinegun mold.:Fire:[smilie=1:

[TXGunNut]

I like my Lyman thermometer, I know some folks can judge the temp quite well without one but I doubt I could get by without it.

[CGT80]

Next... What is the best thermometer and where can I get one?


http://www.teltru.com/p-272-big-green-egg-primo-grill-dome-kamado-replacement-thermometer-lt225r-5-inch-stem-2001000-degrees-f.aspx (http://www.teltru.com/p-272-big-green-egg-primo-grill-dome-kamado-replacement-thermometer-lt225r-5-inch-stem-2001000-degrees-f.aspx)


This one works well for me and was recommended on this site. I now use a PID on my lee 20, but I did just use this thermometer for smelting some lead over propane and it worked quickly and seemed accurate. It was accurate the last time I compared it to my PID.

[Blanco]

I had the itch last night ( the good kind )
I decided to try some 9mm Lee 124Gr. Rn.
I was playing with the mold and thought I would try using it with the mold handles on one end and sprue plate handle on the other.
I also played around with my alloy a bit.
On the mold, I seemed to have better luck keeping the mold halves together (no issues) it is not as easy to manipulate the plate .
I did have much better luck getting bullets to drop out.
The melt is where I had to do all the work. I did get a cheap thermometer which did work out. It actually came with the cooker set so the price was right. Anyhow I seemed to have to maintain the temp between 480 and about 550. A buddy gave me some ingots he said were mostly tin.
Had to get them really hot to melt and then keep the temp high to keep it from clabbering.
Overall not bad thoughI had about 65~70% turn out good, wound up with about 300 total usable boolits. I weighed some and the were within 1~2 grains of 124.
Now gotta figure out a lube recipe. That Lee Alox is some messy **** and it stinks too.

[bobthenailer]

Is your thermometer correct ? moulds FME work best with a pot temp between 600 and 700 degrees .sometimes lee moulds need 750 degrees alloy temp.

[bangerjim]

I had the itch last night ( the good kind )
I decided to try some 9mm Lee 124Gr. Rn.
I was playing with the mold and thought I would try using it with the mold handles on one end and sprue plate handle on the other.
I also played around with my alloy a bit.
On the mold, I seemed to have better luck keeping the mold halves together (no issues) it is not as easy to manipulate the plate .
I did have much better luck getting bullets to drop out.
The melt is where I had to do all the work. I did get a cheap thermometer which did work out. It actually came with the cooker set so the price was right. Anyhow I seemed to have to maintain the temp between 480 and about 550. A buddy gave me some ingots he said were mostly tin.
Had to get them really hot to melt and then keep the temp high to keep it from clabbering.
Overall not bad thoughI had about 65~70% turn out good, wound up with about 300 total usable boolits. I weighed some and the were within 1~2 grains of 124.
Now gotta figure out a lube recipe. That Lee Alox is some messy **** and it stinks too.

Forget the ALOX and grease lubes! Start out right by using powder coating. Read the stickies on here. Tons of us on here are doing it with great success.....no leading......no grease smoke....no stink......no greasy lubes.

bangerjim

[glicerin]

I preheat my lee 6 cav on top of lee furnace for about 20 minutes, then dip mold into lead for about 40 sec. Many bad bullet problems are caused by not thoroughly cleaning new mold with boiling water, detergent, and toothbrush. You should be able to make thousands, not hundreds of good ones.good luck

[CGT80]

Anyhow I seemed to have to maintain the temp between 480 and about 550. A buddy gave me some ingots he said were mostly tin.
Had to get them really hot to melt and then keep the temp high to keep it from clabbering.

I hope you added a little tin to your melt, rather than casting boolits from the ingots that are mostly tin.

Tin costs $19 per pound. Range scrap lead will cost $1 or so per pound. You only need up to 2% tin in your lead. Tin melts at a lower temp than lead. 2-3 pounds of the tin ingots from your buddy, will sweeten 100 pounds of unknown lead, maybe more. I only add tin when I can't get the boolits to fill out.

[Blanco]

I put one of the tin ingots ...1/2 lb in about 50 lb of lead

[CGT80]

Good.....I would hate to see a precious metal (more precious than lead) wasted, especially if the caster wasn't aware.

I just went out and checked some boolits I cast last night. Out of 10 pounds of melt, I only had 3 boolits that I didn't like. I was probably throwing back 30% on some occasions, too. The mold that had stuff built up in the cavities even threw nicer boolits. Maybe some of that finally came out. I think others here are right. The key is consistency and practice. I went out late last night and just wanted to try the alloy I smelted and see if how my molds were doing. I needed some clean boolits to leement the molds if needed. I wasn't even planning to do a whole batch, but once I got the molds to work, I went until the pot was empty. I did throw back my first casts as I was warming up the molds and had just lubed the sprue plates, but after that I just piled them up to check later.

Past casting has been a chore, but last night was fun and easy. Now, I can see it being worth while to cast for more of my guns. 40 s&w may be next. I just need to keep picking up those dirty bullets that everyone leaves laying in the dirt at the range.

Good luck with your casting. It may take a while, but the odds are that you will continue to improve and hopefully have an ah-ha session like I did last night, shortly down the road.

[Blanco]

I played around a bit more last night. I can see this becoming a new obsession....
My brother in law came over and was watching me... Of course he wanted to make some of his own. He made a few and I think he is hooked now. I added some more lead to the pot along with a roll of leadless solder, I also ran my temp up to around 625.
I have to say, I think i'm getting the hang of it. out of over 250 I made only about a dozen were bad. When I ran them thru the sizer probably only a dozen had to really be pushed thru. They all have a nice color and they also seem have a good hadness.
I also weighed a handfull and the mold is supposed to be 124 Gr. Most all weighed within 2 grains.
Now I'm waiting on a new .40 and .45 sizers to come in along with 2 more sets of handles.

Yep I got the bug in a bad way