Just cast my first boolits

[41MagShooter]

I just cast a bunch of .38 semi wad cutters from a Lee mold. Some were good some were obviously bad. I'm wondering about the ones in the middle. How perfect does a bullet need to be. If there's small dimpling (like really small) in the lube grooves of my tumble lube bullet is this to be worried about or should I load 'em up?

P.S. I apologize if this has already been asked

[rondog]

Heh, I just tried casting tonight for the first time too! Definitely got me some learnin' to do.

[41MagShooter]

I don't think mine was too bad. I cast about 300 .38 158 gr LSWC in about an hour using a six cavity mold. About 3/4s of them look, to my eye, to be perfect. Half of the ones that aren't perfect have slight imperfections that I wonder if they'd shoot just fine.

[41MagShooter]

Of course that was after I stuck my first five pours right back into the pot. I learned quickly that if you purposely connect the sprue with lead, you can then wait for it to cool and pull the whole lot off the top of the mold with a pair of needle nosed pliers, let it cool for a minute, and slide the whole thing back in the pot.

[41MagShooter]

Is there a rule on this forum that you can't add a photo until you've made a certain number of posts? I'm trying to show what I'm talking about but can't.

[zuke]

For me, it depend's on what I'm shooting. If it's close and for fun the standard's come down. Distance shooting? A little bit more QC

[srd]

Go ahead and shoot the ones that do not look perfect and then shoot the ones that do. Compare the accuracy of the two different culled boolit groups.That way YOU can see what difference it makes. Nice thing is...you can put the ones you don't like back in the pot and remelt. My first mold was also a 38 special..158 gr. RN but that was 45 years ago. Welcome to a very interesting and rewarding hobby.

[Yodogsandman]

Lots O' fun, huh? Shoot em up! Small imperfections in close range pistol boolits isn't a concern at all. You won't see any difference till you want to shoot at 100 yards. Congrats on your new found hobby!

[RobS]

The base is most important, it's the steering wheel. I am a type A so anything that isn't with perfect fill out goes back into the pot. Short range handgun plinking...... if it looks good it goes down the bore. Rifle, then each is even weighed and I separate out to the nearest +-2 tenths.

[Bodean98]

One thing I have noticed is that your "eye" for imperfections gets more keen as you cast more. I seem to notice the rounded edges and other imperfections easier. Learning how to correct them in your casting is another thing. There is much to learn and like you I am just beginning. Shoot them and compare your results and adjust from there. You may be completely satisfied with what you have.

[Beagle333]

Try casting a little faster. You shouldn't really have time to be messing with pliers and putting sprues back. After you get complete fillout and/or it starts frosting, then you can slow down and find your pace. Go at it hard though until the mold gets completely up to temp. Don't smear the sprue,.... let it solidify completely, but don't waste any time once you break it before you refill the mold.

It's good that you're makin' boolits that resemble boolits on the first go 'round though. My first ones more resembled fishing weights. 8-)
Good luck! :Fire:

[Cherokee]

Congrats on your first go...keep at it. Practice will bring higher quality. Perfection is not necessary for normal handgun use as long as the base is uniform.

[Blackwater]

Welcome to casting .... and LEARNING! Beagle gives excellent advice. The first few bullets always come out flawed unless you use a hot plate to warm your mould before beginning to cast, but it doesn't take many to get the mould up to temp. It has to be very warm, too. And I'm not sure I understand what you were doing with the pliers. As Beagle notes, you should never have the time to use anything like that. Just whack the outstanding leg of the sprue plate with a stick of softish wood to cut the sprue, dump and repour, & repeat. You may notice that as the pot level goes down many pots will require you to turn the thermostat down a mite. This is because if you leave it up, and have a lesser quantity of metal in it, its temp will rise accordingly - same heat, less stuff to be heated = higher temps. One of the first things you'll need to learn to notice is how the lead pours - is it flowing more freely or beginning to pour more like syrup? This is a very good indicator of whether your temp in the pot and mold is within a good range or not. Adjust accordingly. It'll be largely intuitive in deciding how to deal with this. Just try what looks best, and adjust as you learn.

I've read where many don't like putting cast back into the pot, but I've always done it (despite good advice to the contrary, of course) as a simple convenience, and the cooled bullets WILL, if you put enough of them back into the pot, cool the metal, but a few won't hurt much. Just be sure to keep the mix stirred and fluxed well. As you learn to control mould and pot temps, your bullets will get more and more uniform.

One last tip: smelt in another pot, and clean the metal, and you won't have as many "inclusions" in your metal, and thus in the bullets. Keeping the pot stirred and fluxed well helps here too.

You've taken the first step in a long and very rewarding pastime, and one that'll allow you do do MUCH more shooting on whatever dollar amount you have to spend on it. That's a BIG step toward becoming a really righteous shot! I think you'll enjoy it, but be sure to observe the safety rules, especially at first when one CAN make a mistake. Once you get used to the process, and conditioned to it, you may then want to cast in your shirt sleeves as I do, but you HAVE to have a lot of confidence to do that, and a lot of conditioning and developing good habits helps BIG TIME with that.

Welcome to a worthy and very interesting pursuit. You'll never learn ALL there is to know about it - noone does - but the learning is the most fascinating, intriguing and satisfying part.

[41MagShooter]

This is what I wound up with. Based on weight, there's somewhere north of 350 bullets in there. I'd welcome any feedback. Is there any issue with a small amount of dimpling where the sprue plate cut off the sprue? That may go to what beagle was talking about with not being so slow. Tonight I simply flipped the sprue off onto a pair of leather gloves and put it back in the pot. I'll say the close-up picture is kind of the worst case of what I was talking about. That one, I wound up throwing in the scrap pile. But there were a few that were about half that bad, and not on the front driving band or base that I kept. Not sure if this is ok or not. We shall see.

[41MagShooter]

The only problem with this whole thing, is between casting, I'm looking for other things I can cast for to add to my collection. A .45-70 or a .30-30 looks like it'd be a lot of fun.

[Butchman205]

I'm with you 41...I'm trying to find as many calibers I can load for!
From what I've already learned, steel moulds work better than aluminum...and once I get the moulds up to temperature, the boolits look great!

[pworley1]

It looks like you have been hooked.

[41MagShooter]

Beagle is definitely right about that. Once you get the load pouring right, I pour as fast as I can.

[yman]

Did you smoke the inside of your mold really well with a candle, I have several Lee molds and have had the same problem. I found cleaning them with a good degreaser, like gun scrubber or even brake cleaner. then hold a the mold over a candle and smoke them, and don't be wimpy about it, smoke them like you have nothing better to do. Black, I mean cant see the day black, then I very carefully wipe off the flat surfaces with a soft clean cloth being careful not to remove any of the suite from the bullet cavity, you have to remove the suite from the flats because this is how some the air/steam escapes(so I have been told). Anyway, this process has worked for me with Lee molds, I have even smoked a few couple times the 2nd and 3rd times I have used them and this seem to solve the problem. Oh, If you use brake cleaner I would suggest putting a small drop of oil back on the hinge pin and spur plate pin, while it works it dries the crud out of everything and will cause it to bind up sometimes.

[41MagShooter]

I think the problem was due to mold heat. Last night I was really slow. Tonight was much faster. I'm kind of glad I pitched most of my really bad castings last night. I only wound up with 50 or so from last night. Tonight I cast a much larger number. Maybe 425 or so. Once I cast the first couple mold pours, they all came out great. I might have had to send one out of 20 back to the pot. That's not too bad in my book.

[runfiverun]

don't go putting no candle wax in your mold.
any smoke is a Band-Aid, and some is harmful to your efforts.

I put back anything I see with a flaw.
a torn mark on a base is of no concern unless it's super deep, it's also an indicator to take another 2 counts before opening the sprue.

[Butchman205]

I've never put candle wax on my moulds, but a thin piece of beeswax foundation sheet wiped quickly on the hot mould works great for me.