Brittle lead?

[jgh4445]

Maybe I'm not waiting long enough for the melted WW to cool off and set up in the ingot mold, but I'm having some of them break off when they fall out of the mold. Anyone ever have this happen? They look like cornbread inside where the break is. I know I have some zinc ww and I have tried hard to keep them out of the melt. I've also kept the temp down below 650 while smelting or so says my cheapo thermommeter. Maybe I'm just paranoid about zinc. The stuff I'm pouring into the mold looks like mercury. Pretty, clean and shiney. What worries me is that I found several zinc ones so far when I looked for them, but got busy(lazy) and didn't sort a few bunches and only had two float to the top. How would I know if some go meled?

[Will]

I've had that happen if I got in too big a hurry. They are still good and make good boolets.

[Down South]

I have just what you described happen a lot when I'm casting 1 Lb sinkers for fishing. You just need to let it cool a little longer.

[4570guy]

Same thing has happened here. I've only noticed it happening when I'm casting with a Lee mould and start to cast too quickly. Slow down the process a bit and the problem disappears.

I've never had this happen with my brass CBE mould.

[blysmelter]

Just place the mold on a wet towel for 15-20seconds after the surface has gone solid and then dump the ingots. Speeds things up quite a bit.

[Ricochet]

Like everybody else said, they're just too hot and still contain some slush. When they're water dropped they come out fine, but will break when dropped on a towel. Best to let them cool a little more before opening the mould.

[jgh4445]

Did ya hear that? That was the sound of a great big sigh of relief! Thanks guys...oh, by the way, I'm pouring ingots not boolits yet. Using home made angle iron molds. Boolits come next. Never have done that before. Looking forward to it though. Already have my molds.