Been lurking a little while and finally did a first casting!

[skud007]

I was so glad to find this forum and go through all the valuable info found here! Thank you everybody. I finally decided to get into casting after reloading off and on for about ten years. I installed my pid controller on my lee 4-20 pot and it ran pretty well. It did leak a little and my temp probe wasn't submerged enough near the end of the session so it continually stayed on since it wasn't getting an accurate reading. I stopped there and just left the lead in the pot. I hope that won't hurt anything or cause it to drip upon the next fire up. Anyways the mold is a lee 309-190 F and my material was some ingot formed range lead that I purchase off ebay. Bullets then were water quenched when dropped from the mould. Here are some pics. Any input and or criticism is greatly appreciated :-)

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee110/skud007/Firstcast21-17-15_zps4d17843a.jpg (http://s231.photobucket.com/user/skud007/media/Firstcast21-17-15_zps4d17843a.jpg.html)

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee110/skud007/Firstcast1-17-15_zpsb8830c6f.jpg (http://s231.photobucket.com/user/skud007/media/Firstcast1-17-15_zpsb8830c6f.jpg.html)

[chsparkman]

Looks to me like you did a good job. Let us know how they shoot.

[gwpercle]

Always put a catch pan under a bottom feeder. Mine never leaked a drop until that one day, upon warming up, I turned around and lead was dripping all over the bench top .
So just slip a little pan under there just in case.
Gary

[sdcitizen]

Looks like your mold could stand to be run hotter/faster casting pace. That should get rid of the wrinkles on a few of the boolits, other than that, I'd sure shoot em!

[osteodoc08]

Always put a catch pan under a bottom feeder. Mine never leaked a drop until that one day, upon warming up, I turned around and lead was dripping all over the bench top .
So just slip a little pan under there just in case.
Gary
Stainless shot glasses from Wally World work well for me!

[skud007]

Thanks for the critiques guys! I did cut an aluminum can bottom off and have that underneath. I like your idea too osteodoc. ...... sdcitizen, I will follow your advice and agree that I could go a little faster. It's kind of an optical illusion in the pics because most what looked like wrinkles may have been from the water quench because it would wipe off. Some did have some wrinkles though.

[62chevy]

They look way better than my first rifle boolits. Toss the ones with voids back in and shoot the rest.

[kweidner]

Brace yourself its about to get expensive. Started the same way and now have a bullet master and I can't even begin to know how many molds. Order lead by the ton. It bit me hard��

[tward]

Boolits look good! It's all theory til they go boom. I usually put a Lee ingot mold to catch the drip, started after I got a 10 lb modern sculpture. Tim

[WHITETAIL]

Great start!
They look great!
Now load and shoot, and report back.:holysheep