First Casting Didnt Go Well

[FALaholic]

First time casting. I tried round balls since I had heard they were easy and not too critical if they were not perfect. I am using a brand new RCBS PRO-Melt and a Lee two-cavaity 454 mold.

The flow on the RCBS was stopping often and even when it did flow it was a trickle forcing me to hit it with my torch to get it started again. This is what it was producing:http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq69/fnfal2/IMG_1304_zps078e2f62.jpg (http://s434.photobucket.com/user/fnfal2/media/IMG_1304_zps078e2f62.jpg.html)

Now I have since drained the pot and intend to really clean the nozzle and stopper rod, but my questions are:

- Is the slow flow trickle the cause of the ripples or is it something else I am doing wrong?
- Should I dump these back in the pot or just shoot them?

I intend to use them in my Remington 1858 Army and my Colt 1860 Army.

[nvbirdman]

Turn up the heat in your pot.
Should you remelt them? Why not? What does it cost you to throw them back in the pot?

[454PB]

I agree, alloy and mould too cold.

[triggerhappy243]

I'd bet they would whistle going down range.

[wlc]

More heat.

[FALaholic]

Alrighty....more heat and starting over. Thanks guys!

[RED333]

By the title I was looking for a pic of something worse, like lead on the floor.

[44man]

My friend has two RCBS pots and neither gets real hot even turned to max. Need 800* for pure and all of his boolits look like that and he ladle casts.
My old Lyman gave up even with a new thermostat, lead would freeze before cycling on again. No adjustment worked.
My Lee works best.

[Foto Joe]

It sounds like you're going to remelt them which is a good idea. Shooting badly wrinkled RB's in a Remi or Colt can lead to a chain fire. If you were shooting a single shot front stuffer then you could easily shoot them. Chain fires are more excitement than I need when I'm relaxing making smoke.

[pjames32]

Preheat the molds, turn up the heat on the pot! You will get there with more practice and you can re-melt the bad ones!
PJ

[Pb2au]

Pretty much everyone else hit the nail on the head.
Pot is a bit cool, as well as the mold. I am not familiar with the temp control on the RCBS pot, but give it a crank and turn it up!
Once the flow from the spout is steady, you can cast with a rhythm and your mold temp will come up and get steady.

[Foto Joe]

I'm also guessing that since your casting RB's that you're using about as close to pure soft lead as you can get your hands on. If so you might want to add 1%-2% tin to the melt. It won't appreciably harden your RB's but it will make casting them a lot less finicky.

[dtknowles]

Using Aluminum moulds, it seems I have to cast about as fast as I can to keep the mould hot and I leave sprues that are so large the overrun the sprue plate.

Tim

[ballistim]

Also, if it's a new mold it should be cleaned & decreased if that hasn't been done. Lots of previous info in the forum for mold prep.

[gwpercle]

First castings seldom go well. But don't give up just yet.
Practice may not lead to perfection but your boolits will get better.
Keep at it....gary

[FALaholic]

All good advice. I really appreciate the guidance and suggestions guys...thank you all again.

The RCBS goes from 650 to 850. I thought for $350 the thermostat would have been spot on, but its slightly cooler according to my lead thermometer.

At any rate I am using x-ray lead from dental films. I would love to own a lead hardness tester to know for sure, but from my research this should be pure lead yes?

[bangerjim]

PREHEAT your molds on an electric hotplate to CASTING TEMP....not just warm! Those roundballs are prefect examples of cold mold/cold lead.


bangerjim

[nagantguy]

I'm also guessing that since your casting RB's that you're using about as close to pure soft lead as you can get your hands on. If so you might want to add 1%-2% tin to the melt. It won't appreciably harden your RB's but it will make casting them a lot less finicky.

This is 100% correct even 1% tin would help with "fill out"

[12ga_melter]

Just a new-bee throwing my 2 pennies in.After lurking here for a while gathering info on casting,iI found that my best investment for temperature consistency was a thermometer.You did'nt state if you had one.And good luck with the next try.Best thing is you can recycle your boo-boo's .Just keep trying. you'll get good results in no time.

[454PB]

At any rate I am using x-ray lead from dental films. I would love to own a lead hardness tester to know for sure, but from my research this should be pure lead yes?

I use the dental X-ray foil too, and it hardness tests around 7 BHN, so it's not "pure" lead. Some say it contains 1% tin, which sounds logical because it casts very well.

[44man]

Those pots do run cooler then what the dial says.
Have to remember, there is no heating element in the bottom so the spout is colder. I would ladle cast the balls. More heat at the top.

[FALaholic]

Success. Advise was spot on reference the melt being too cool. I ran it at 800° with no further issues. Only imperfections are tool marks from the mold.
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq69/fnfal2/IMG_1306_zps8b2b7351.jpg (http://s434.photobucket.com/user/fnfal2/media/IMG_1306_zps8b2b7351.jpg.html)

[RED333]

[smilie=w:

[pjames32]

Looks much better!
PJ

[AFK]

Those are some nice shiny balls you got there.........er...........uh............I mean they look great! [smilie=1:

[gwpercle]

Well formed balls are a joy to behold......that doesn't sound right...you know what I mean!
Way to go FAL, you got this casting business by the tail on a downhill drag now!
Gary