Too Picky?

[Cloudwraith]

I'm a fairly new caster. I've cast about 300 9mm boolits that I'm comfortable with as being very good. I've melted down about that same amount as not good. I haven't loaded or shot any of the cast boolits yet so I'm not sure if I'm being too picky in what I'm keeping as good and what I'm remelting to cast again.

Here are a few of the ones I would cull as being not good. Would you load these? I've shown the blemish on each one with the rest of the boolit being blemish free.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1264960/pics/cb/bullet1.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1264960/pics/cb/bullet2.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1264960/pics/cb/bullet3.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1264960/pics/cb/bullet4.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1264960/pics/cb/bullet5.jpg

[RP]

Looks to me like fluxing some more may take care of that. As far as shooting that depends on what your doing when your shooting? Are you just blasting away for the fun of hearing the noise of the gun or are you trying to build your shooting skills. As easy as it is recast I would toss them back in the pot the ones with lets say a wrinkle well for a pistol at 25 yards no big deal. Think of it this way how much is power primers and your time worth.
BTW those are some good pictures if it makes you feel better your photo skills are way above most. This is just my thinking I am sure others have theirs to share also.

[Southern Son]

It depends on what you are going to use them for. Plinking, or is there a sheep station riding on the competition?

If you are just plinking, then the last one, provided that when you weighed it on a scale and it was around the same weight as the good ones, would be O.K. The rest I might have culled, too. I don't like the look of the defects in 2 and 3, they just look like there is a bit ready to fall off. Probably wouldn't, but they look like it.

[Cloudwraith]

Most of my pistol shooting is 25 yards or less at paper. I've been leaving the carbonized pine shavings on top of the melt in my Lee Pro 4-20 as a barrier against oxide buildup. Maybe I'll try removing all of the shavings before casting?

[David2011]

You're not being too picky. I would throw them back in the pot. They'll shoot, no question about it and the inclusions are pretty small but they recycle so easily. What if you loaded one of those and the shot you used it on later was really important?

You might work a little harder at fluxing when you smelt and keep your ingots and boolit molds really clean.

I don't recognize the mold. Is it a Lee TL?

David

[Cloudwraith]

if it makes you feel better your photo skills are way above most.

I appreciate the kind words. I just use the macro setting on my Droid Incredible 4G cell phone. :)

[Cloudwraith]

I don't recognize the mold. Is it a Lee TL?

Lee TL356-124-2R

[freebullet]

Dude, yer boolits got cavities.

I'd shoot'em . If your going to shoot competitive you could save the decayed boolits for practice. Too picky fer me and my purposes.

[runfiverun]

those are oxide inclusions [except the wrinkles]
you need to get them to the top of the pot to keep them out of your mold.

I'd toss them back.
I have been casting for a bit over 40 years and I still throw back 10-15% when just doing a quick visual cull.
the stuff I care about I throw back @ 20%.
even those bad ones make 80-90% good ones the second time around.

[C. Latch]

For plinking under 25 yards? Yeah, I'd shoot every one of those.

[theperfessor]

1 & 5 are inclusions. This is from dirty alloy or a dirty pot. 2, 3 and 4 are cold laps. Comes from a dirty mold (oil in cavity turning to gas/vapor) or having mold and/or alloy temp too low. If the bases are good and size is right I'd shoot them for plinking ammo.

[Cloudwraith]

2, 3 and 4 are cold laps. Comes from a dirty mold (oil in cavity turning to gas/vapor) or having mold and/or alloy temp too low. If the bases are good and size is right I'd shoot them for plinking ammo.

I did seem to have more of these after lubing the mold again. I'll have to be more careful of getting any lube down in the cavity when re-lubing.

[Quiettime]

Toss em back and try again. Perfect practice makes perfect. I'm still learning myself, but I believe in challenging oneself

[upnorthwis]

Here's a test. Shoot a group with the one's you call rejects against your good one's. That's why I would shoot them all.

[Walter Laich]

^ +1 shoot them and compare against you're 'good' ones. Only way to really tell how much difference, if any, there is.
.
Oh, and let us know what you find out. 'Share the knowledge' and all

[Cloudwraith]

Oh, and let us know what you find out. 'Share the knowledge' and all

I'm making my 45/45/10 lube tonight. I'll load them later in the week but probably won't be able to shoot them for a week or so. I'll update this thread then. In the meantime, I appreciate everyone's thoughts.

[BIGRED]

ever since i went to powder coating ALL my boolits i do not throw as many rejects back in the pot. the PC fills in and covers up alot of Superficial blemishes. and after PC'ing and sizing i can tell no difference in the "perfect" ones or the Blemished ones.

[texassako]

I toss everything back with a problem on the base or a drive band. I don't feel like giving the hot gasses a head start.

[Pb2au]

Recycle them.
flux more, as for the wrinkles, could be you were on the front side of your session and the mold was still a little cool.
Back into the inferno with them.

[David2011]

ever since i went to powder coating ALL my boolits i do not throw as many rejects back in the pot. the PC fills in and covers up alot of Superficial blemishes. and after PC'ing and sizing i can tell no difference in the "perfect" ones or the Blemished ones.

Don't you think the superficial blemishes would throw the boolit out of balance? When I cast 22 pounds of boolits I never know what they will be used for while casting so I want them to all be as good as I can make them. The time that I was shooting a practical pistol match comes to mind. After 59 0f 60 shots I had a 590 score and dropped a point on the very last round. If I shot anything that came out of the mold I would question forever if careless casting caused the dropped point. I would rather know that it was my shooting error than poor casting.

David

[dondiego]

Don't you think the superficial blemishes would throw the boolit out of balance? When I cast 22 pounds of boolits I never know what they will be used for while casting so I want them to all be as good as I can make them. The time that I was shooting a practical pistol match comes to mind. After 59 0f 60 shots I had a 590 score and dropped a point on the very last round. If I shot anything that came out of the mold I would question forever if careless casting caused the dropped point. I would rather know that it was my shooting error than poor casting.

David

Well of course, if you are in a shooting match you would only shoot perfect boolits. But I like to ventilate empty beverage cans and clay pigeons and I would shoot the pictured boolits at cans. The bases need to be full and filled out.

[gwpercle]

You're not being too picky. I don't like having a missed target, or tight group spoiled by a bullet that has a flaw. If you are casting them , might as well make them decent. I don't weigh and sort them but for pistol I visually inspect each. If it has a perfect base, well filled out sides and nose and no obvious wrinkles or inclusions it's a keeper. The base is important, it needs to be perfect with no hole in it. Only the smallest imperfection is allowed. Frosted boolits are not rejected. All of them can be re-melted...no loss. My daddy used to tell me "son if it's worth doing then it's worth doing right". So be somewhat picky about it but don't go get all obsessive-compulsive about it. If they look good...shoot em, if you have to ask youself should I shoot this? Probably not. Those boolits in your photo's I would toss back in the pot.
Gary

[MtGun44]

Back in the pot. Clean the metal and clean the mold.

Bill

[BIGRED]

Well of course, if you are in a shooting match you would only shoot perfect boolits. But I like to ventilate empty beverage cans and clay pigeons and I would shoot the pictured boolits at cans. The bases need to be full and filled out.

exactly.... i am not shooting in any matches so i do not need to be super meticulous.
they need to have filled out bases, and no wrinkles or imperfections on the driving bands which i crimp on. 40 feet pistol shooting and they all go where i am aiming. I like casting as much as the next guy but why remelt a boolit if it is serviceable / shootable?

[Walter Laich]

from all the replies it would appear the quality of the cast bullet and whether to use it or not rests with the caster. For some nothing less than perfection is acceptable, for others if it drops out of the mold it's going to be shot.
Nice to see if others agree with your QC level but in the final analysis it's the caster that makes the decision.

[leadman]

The boolits with the inclusions in them would definitely go back in the pot. The wrinkled one might get loaded for a fouling shot off target.
I don't like sending dirt or who knows what down my barrels if I can prevent it. I liken it to a piece of sandpaper going down the tube.

I agree that you need to do a more thorough job of fluxing. I have found that it might take a couple of methods to get a batch of alloy clean. I use beeswax, parrafin, candle wax, and Marvelux at different times to make sure my alloy is clean.
Phil Sharpe wrote a piece many years ago on the effects of "dirty" boolits. His article stated that the dirty boolits shot larger groups with the proof being the targets.

[dverna]

I would not shoot them - unless I know they were only for blasting ammo. But even then, I want good groups or to hit what I aim at and not question the quality of the ammo - or why just make noise???

Here is another reason. By keeping them, you lower your standards. "Good enough" becomes good enough. I have seen some really crappy loads/bullets. What it telegraphs is, "This guy does not care". The next question, "Does he bring that level of excellence to his reloads; and is it safe to shoot beside him or run the timer next to him?"

Throwing back 50% of your work can be looked at as discouraging or as the impetus to do better. Bullets should at least equal those you can buy from the better commercial casters. That means no inclusions, no wrinkles, and sharp edges.

Don Verna

[Cloudwraith]

Here is another reason. By keeping them, you lower your standards. "Good enough" becomes good enough.

Probably the best reason I've heard so far (although they have all been good :) ).

Thanks Don!

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

Ugly boolits often make pretty groups. My guess is those would have no problem grouping under 2" at 20 yards with the right load/gun. But if I was shooting a competition, I'd toss 'em back in.