temp of melt for lee moulds

[stumpjumper]

hey all! i just bought a lee 6 cavity mould and was wondering after playing with it for a little while do you run your melt at a higher temp. ? i was running right around 750 degrees and i was not real happy with the way the bullets were turning out.
dave

[imashooter2]

I like to keep the melt between 700 and 750 unless the weight goes under 150 grains. Then I have to bump the temp up a bit and pour really large sprues to keep the blocks hot.

What's your casting rate? I need almost 3 pours a minute to keep the blocks hot.

[stumpjumper]

ill be honest with you i dont know a couple a minute maybe three the boolits ended up with lines in it like either the melt was too cool. but i ran it up to 800 degrees. so it was probably my speed.
dave

[rufracer]

im new to this too, but Id say its the temp of your mold. The alum. really cools fast. I had the same prob. yesterday till I started mooving faster. Just keep some ingots handy so you can keep your lead level consistant and dont waste time sorting through boolits until your at a good stopping point. You can set your mold on top, or even in your pot (out of the lead) to keep it hot if you need to. You do have handles on your mold right? I tried it without them using some welding gloves. It sucked.

[imashooter2]

You do have handles on your mold right? I tried it without them using some welding gloves. It sucked.

No kidding? http://www.ar15.com/images/smilies/anim_rofl2.gif

Sorry man... I guess you just didn't think that one all the way through.

[imashooter2]

ill be honest with you i dont know a couple a minute maybe three the boolits ended up with lines in it like either the melt was too cool. but i ran it up to 800 degrees. so it was probably my speed.
dave

Make sure you pour each cavity as its own. I get a lot of wrinkles in the Lee molds when I slosh lead from one cavity over into the next. You need to practice a rhythm that moves the stream to the next cavity as the last finishes the fill.

[Shiloh]

Try and keep a rhythm going. In the colder months, to keep the heat consistent, I put a piece of sheet metal over the top of the pot, cut from a piece of stovepipe. I you cast indoors this isn't necessary. I cast in the garage and get excellent results with LEE six banger molds.

Shiloh

[mooman76]

Crank it up all the way and then drop the temp if you think you ned too. The 6xs need allot of heat.

[38 Super Auto]

It could be a venting issue. I have had a couple of Lee 6-cavs that gave me wrinkled bullets until I reworked the vent lines. There's a good sticky under:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=654

Happy New Year :drinks:

[fatelvis]

I crank the alloy up to about 850* for Lee moulds, and ignore any frosting. I would rather have frosting than wrinkles or rounded corners.

[stumpjumper]

i just finished up casting today with a lot better results. i remelted the ones i casted yesterday. i turned the heat up to 800 and casted quicker. what a difference. i now have my first big pile of workable boolits. now if ups would just get here with my sizer and top punch all would be good. i do have one question i bought a bunch of my junk used my sizer has spg in it how do you get it out to put pistol lube in.

[imashooter2]

A hair dryer or heat gun will melt it out. You can also boil it then let the the pot cool. The lube will harden on the top and you can lift it off. Last method is to put it in the oven in a shallow pan at low temperature and melt it out that way.

I use a hair dryer.