Cast my first bullets today

[n10sivern]

It's been a long process, but it all came together today. I originally got free lead that was taken out of an X-ray room. I decided it was time to get into casting. I build my PID controller. Bought a Lee pot, pewter, and linotype. Melted the lead down to ingots today. Weighed out some and remelted with linotype and pewter to give me a 95% lead, 3% antimony, and 2% tin. Used that alloy to cast my .356 95gr bullets for my 380. What do you all think? My only issue was out of the 6 cavities there was almost always 1 or 2 that the base didn't completely fill. Typically one of the inner cavities. I was casting at 700*.

Lead
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n70/n10sivern/mobile%20uploads/AF67B667-69F9-4A01-9F53-CC2DA7F1A1D9.jpg

Casting ingots
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n70/n10sivern/mobile%20uploads/C147416D-B296-41AA-B5D7-DFD02E11DB88.jpg

My setup
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n70/n10sivern/mobile%20uploads/88992219-E23E-41B3-B01C-72A5ED4030A3.jpg

My ingots
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n70/n10sivern/mobile%20uploads/46893CA2-CD74-4AD7-B309-334F382F3D7F.jpg

My bullets
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n70/n10sivern/mobile%20uploads/0AF54B71-25AE-4988-BDCC-403DD903BD71.jpg

[btroj]

Looks like you did very well.

Now go,lube em, load em, and shoot em.

For first bullets they look quite nice. Someone did his homework and paid attention.

[str8shot426]

They look better than my first boolits. Very nice set up.

[n10sivern]

Thanks. I tried to absorb all the info I could before starting. If I could just get 100% fill out I'd be really happy. I increased my sprue lead and it helped, but I think it's mold temp, and I'm casting them as fast as I can. I had a run where they all filled out but I was opening the sprue as soon as the lead changed 3-5 seconds), dumped the bullets, and was right back pouring. Hell of a pace to try to keep up

[tazman]

I think your fan may be cooling the mold too quickly. A very light breeze across the top of the table is a good thing but you can overdo it easily.
I have that mold and haven't had trouble with filling out the bases or keeping the mold hot either one. But I don't use a fan that close to my work area.

[n10sivern]

I'm keeping the fan on low and the only time the mold is near the fan is when pouring

[XDMinent45]

Thanks for sharing your photos n10sivern, that hot plate/Griddle is a great idea! I'm new at it, been watching a lot of YouTube casting videos and haunting this forum gleaning info waiting for it to warm up here. Nice boolits.

[n10sivern]

Yeah, I got the griddle for $10 shipped from amazon warehouse. Turn it to 400* and use it to get my molds up to temp and while I'm melting more lead and waiting on it to come to temp.

[Deedurt]

Can you post some pictures of the boolits that didn't fill out completely. It will be interesting to watch you find the corrective action. It seams like I run into a new problem every time I have a casting session so it would be nice to know the fix before I run into the problem (inevitable).

[Magana559]

One thing I did was pour directly into the sprue plate hole when pouring to get good fillout.

Or you can crank up the heat of your mold

[Groovy]

Those look great. I'm working on getting started and wondering what mine will be like. Nice pics of your work area.

[n10sivern]

Powder coated bullets. Now to size them, load, and shoot.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n70/n10sivern/mobile%20uploads/8A71A750-D78F-4EBB-891F-B0D5D0C70995.jpg

[tazman]

I really like your casting setup. Well thought out arrangement.

[n10sivern]

Thanks. I has this rolling cart in my garage and decided instead of taking up bench space, I'd just make it my moveable casting station. I can store everything on it, including my burner and pot, all my lead, and everything else. Best of all, I can just move it to my garage entrance to cast and roll it back when I'm done.

[Walter Laich]

you have learned well grasshopper
.
Some folks don't appreciate the heat/humidity along the Gulf Coast, even in springtime. I use a fall and it blows across my setup from over my left shoulder.
.
Agree you can solve lack of fill-out by pouring directly into the hole in the sprue plate. also have a pretty good stream going. sometimes if it isn't strong enough mine don't fill out either.
.
where did you get the pc color you're using? would be more welcome at my cowboy shoots than bright red or yellow.

[n10sivern]

I don't remember. It is military tan. I figured I would camo my bullets so the bad guys won't see them coming!