First casting session

[goryshaw]

Thread title is a bit misleading, I did try casting back sometime in the mid '90s. A Lee 45 255 SWC, COWW, and the results were not encouraging. Poor fillout, inconsistent weights, just gave up and went back to commercially cast.

This time, after lurking around this forum for 2+ years, I decided to give it another try. Thanks to the collective wisdom here, I'm better educated and better prepared this time around. Not shooting plain COWW this time; using 9 lbs pure lead, 9 lbs COWW and 1 lb of 50/50 lead/tin. Cedar chips for a flux. RCBS 45-270-SAA and 32-98-SWC rather than Lee molds.

4-5 hours later I had a nice shiny pile of about 175 of each caliber, and only about 25-30 culls, almost all of which were the 32s. Another 10.5 lbs melting right now, ready to do another batch of 32s and some Lyman 429421. Have had a RCBS Lube-a-matic sitting in it's box for years, getting it mounted while waiting for the lead to melt. A few sizing dies and top punches, then some rifle molds are next in line.

[Cherokee]

Welcome back to casting. You will have lots of help for any questions. Sounds like a good start, practice will bring improvement.

[goryshaw]

I didn't use a hot plate, but I'm going to visit wally world and pick one up.

Day 2 went OK, not as good as day 1. Alternating between RCBS 32-098-SWC and Lyman 429421. The RCBS had about the same results as the night before, probably about 95% good bullets, and around 5% culls. I should probably be a bit more picky, but all the ones I kept are good enough for plinking loads.

The 429421 didn't work as well as the RCBS 45-270-SAA did earlier. The bands were a lot more rounded than the 45s had been. I'm guessing the smaller Lyman blocks don't retain heat as well as the RCBS.

Tonight, rather than alternating molds I just did 429421 one after another; pour, wait 10 secs or so for sprue to harden, cut the sprue, drop in a water bucket, then refill and start over. I did have one cavity that was sticking a bit, so that slowed me down somewhat. Kept the mold hotter, and tonight's bullets look better than last nights. Still not getting quite so sharp corners on the base as the RCBS, but better than last night.

Biggest problem I'm having is my Lee 20lb furnace either leaks like a sieve, or just drips into the mold. Been messing with the adjustment screw and have stopped the leaking, but when lifting the lever its more a rapid series of drops than a steady stream. Seems to work better when the furnace is full, and I've only been putting about 8-10 lbs in it the last two evenings. I've also got a Lee 10 lb pot I use for smelting, going to try it instead of the 20 lb'er next and see how it works.

[Cherokee]

Lee Pot: Take a paper clip or similar sized copper wire and run it up into the spout, wiggle it around, with the spout open. Lead should flow better because you have moved some of the crud out of the way that was blocking the spout. You might need to empyt the pot and while hot, scrub the spout with a small wire brush, and maybe clean some crud off the stopper. Some people lapped those two parts together to get a better fit - I never did because I kept it fairly clean.

[Landshark9025]

I'm a new caster with a new Lee pot as well. Only done a couple thousand so far, but I can attest to the issue you have. It is happening less and less, but when it starts to drip, what I do is screw it all the way tight closed. Then go open - shut - open - shut about a 1/2 turn a few times. After that I can open it to pour as fast as I want. The first few sessions I had to do this a couple of times. The last session I think I only did it once.

The other thing I do is when the sawdust is mostly consumed and it is time to add more, I use a really thin paint stick to stir with and scrape the sides and the bottom as best I can. Half the time the stick catches fire as the hardware store here gives out really thin ones, but it works well as a scraper as it conforms to the pot.

Hope this helps.


I didn't use a hot plate, but I'm going to visit wally world and pick one up.

Day 2 went OK, not as good as day 1. Alternating between RCBS 32-098-SWC and Lyman 429421. The RCBS had about the same results as the night before, probably about 95% good bullets, and around 5% culls. I should probably be a bit more picky, but all the ones I kept are good enough for plinking loads.

The 429421 didn't work as well as the RCBS 45-270-SAA did earlier. The bands were a lot more rounded than the 45s had been. I'm guessing the smaller Lyman blocks don't retain heat as well as the RCBS.

Tonight, rather than alternating molds I just did 429421 one after another; pour, wait 10 secs or so for sprue to harden, cut the sprue, drop in a water bucket, then refill and start over. I did have one cavity that was sticking a bit, so that slowed me down somewhat. Kept the mold hotter, and tonight's bullets look better than last nights. Still not getting quite so sharp corners on the base as the RCBS, but better than last night.

Biggest problem I'm having is my Lee 20lb furnace either leaks like a sieve, or just drips into the mold. Been messing with the adjustment screw and have stopped the leaking, but when lifting the lever its more a rapid series of drops than a steady stream. Seems to work better when the furnace is full, and I've only been putting about 8-10 lbs in it the last two evenings. I've also got a Lee 10 lb pot I use for smelting, going to try it instead of the 20 lb'er next and see how it works.

[Handloader109]

Landmark gave you good advice, just what I do, screw it tight and then back out to the right flow. And yes it seems like full works best. I guess less variations of weight

[Bill in Ky]

Ditto on the above post's. I sawed some yellow pine 1/4" thick and stir with those, they last much longer than the paint sticks.

I don't know if I should have or not but I cut a piece of thin metal 12 gauge or so and after I put my sawdust in I cover my 10lb Lee with this piece of metal. It sets up on the screw heads on top but keeps a lot of the air away from the sawdust. The sawdust will smoke for a few minutes then turn into what looks like charcoal and it last's a long time.

Its almost as much fun making boolits than it is shooting them !!

[goryshaw]

Tried the 10 lb Lee pot the other night instead of the 20 lb. 10 lbs is a better amount for one night's casting anyways. I couldn't find my universal tool (bent paper clip), but found a pick in my tools with a nice 90 deg turn. I've used the paper clip many times on the 10 lb pot, but nervously. The pick worked great, the lead was pouring out too fast if I opened it up all the way. And a nice cool 6 inch long handle kept my hand/fingers away from the molten lead.

Did another 250 or so RCBS 45-270-SAA, and they turned out nicely. Better flow from the pot gets much sharper bases and grooves. My first batch was good, but this latest batch is better. It helps that the RCBS molds are very easy to use. Next up is the 429421 again, see if the better flow makes better bullets with it too. Nice to be able to just remelt and recycle my earlier attempts. Then do the same with the 32-098-SWC. Still have somewhere around 250 lbs of ingots in my stash, that's enough to keep me busy casting for a while.

Just got a #444 and a #424 top punches for the Lube-a-matic, can start running the .45s and .32s through it now. Picked up batches of .45 Colt, .44 Spc, .41 Mag and .357 Mag brass from Starline so far this year, now I can get them loaded. If they would run a batch of .32-20 and .45-70 I would be all set.

[JohnH]

Casting is actually very forgiving, the main trick is to stay at it long enough to learn how the molds and lead behave during casting sessions, the things that cause problems and how to fix them as you cast. You're gonna have boolits that are bad, it's a fact of casting, but developing rythem in movement and timing of pouring, letting set (cool) opening, dumping, repouring all require time in the saddle. Good casting is as much art as mechanics and learning how the two meld to make consistently good boolits can only be achieved one way and that is to do it over and over until you've mastered the process. Congrats on taking the leap

[Boyscout]

I have never had much luck running two different brands of molds especially Lee along with RCBS or Lyman. I do much better running one Lyman or RCBS or two Lee's at the same time. The "rythym" is just too different. Never try to run a Lyman Devastor with anything else. You may end up pouring lead without putting the pin in. Not that it ever happened to me.

[goryshaw]

Done a number of additional casting sessions in the last week. The RCBS 45-270-SAA has made good bullets from day 1, the Lyman 429421 wasn't nearly as good.

I think a combination of my getting a better feel for the process, getting the pot adjusted correctly and maybe the mold getting broken in has fixed that.

Results from the first couple sessions have all gone back into the pot. But, I now have 803 good 429421 and around 600 45-270-SAA. That's enough 429421 to load all my .44 Spc brass, another 2-3 good sessions should accomplish the same thing for .45 Colt. Only issue now is that I'm down to my last 1 lb of 50/50 lead/tin, enough for one more pot full. Need to visit the scrapyard again and see if they have any tin or 50/50 bar solder then I'll be good to go for some more.