Casting Technique

[Shawrco]

Not sure which area is best to post the question, so I'm putting it here (this will also help me get to my 25 posts so I post a trade message to see if anyone is interested in trading a Lyman 410663 for a Lyman 410678...).

I just signed up for a 45acp bullet mould group buy. This will be a 6C mould. I've always had bad luck when casting in multiple cavity moulds. I'm accustomed to large bore BPCR type slugs and use a dutch oven pot and ladle.

What technique do you use to get the lead in all those holes and get a good boolit out of each hole???? I'm almost wondering if it's easier to bottom pour into pistol moulds. I've had good success holding the mould up tight against the pot spout. How well does this word with a 6C mould. Are there threads on this in the archives?

Thanks for the help.

[Bob Jones]

I bottom pour all my pistol bullets, works just ducky for me. Most of them are 6 cavity molds. I hold them about and inch or inch and a half under the spout and let a good puddle form for the sprue. Just make sure that the spout is flowing well, rate of pour is important, you want it to fill as fast as possible for best results. Sometimes the spout will get a little crudded up or a bit of grit gets in and the flow slows, you can end up with second rate bullets, but if you have a good fast flow they'll be fine.

[mooman76]

I top pour and had no problems. But like Bob said you have to move quick. The key is getting the mould hot enough and keeping it there. Have a good size pot, keep stoking it so it doesn't get low, have everything ready so nothing slowes you down. Some people even preheat the lead so it melts quicker and keeps the heat up. Also have a big enough ladle. Using a small one that doesn't fill all the cavities at once doesn't cut it!

[BigGun]

i have a 6 cav. 200gr .452 mold for 45acp, my method is to preheat the mold .
with ladel full i start at the cavity at hinge point of mold, pour untill spru puddles
good, imediately move to next cavity and do the same as the first one, i hold the
mold at a down hill position so that spru puddle does not flow into the next
cavity in line.
hope this helps
later
BigGun(ted kelley)

[Shawrco]

with ladel full i start at the cavity at hinge point of mold, pour untill spru puddles
good, imediately move to next cavity and do the same as the first one, i hold the
mold at a down hill position so that spru puddle does not flow into the next
cavity in line. later
BigGun(ted kelley)

I don't have any 4C or 6C moulds ATT, but I looked at Lee's website... by "hinge point of mould" I assume you mean where the sprue cutter hinges (on a lee - on the end away from the handles)? Thanks for the replies.

[38 Super Auto]

What technique do you use to get the lead in all those holes and get a good boolit out of each hole?

If you have wrinkled noses or poor detail, it could be poor venting, dirty cavities, insufficient tin in your alloy or low temperature.

If your bases on large bullets are not completely filled out, it could be poor venting or low temperature.

I bought a Lee 452 255gr RF and 3 of 6 cavities would not drop a good bullet. The bases wouldn't square up before the alloy solidified. I scribed out the vent lines and that helped. I scribed them out again and that did the trick.

I have said it before. I think the Lee venting on 6-cavs is getting worse. I didn't have any venting issues on my other 5 Lee 6-cavs that I bought in the 1999-2001 timeframe.