First cast boolits

[Tac9]

Hi everyone, so this is my first time casting boolits as well as my first post of this forum. I just wanted some general feedback on how they look. I had a bit of trouble getting them to fill our correctly for a little but kind of go the hang of it after a bit. These are 200gr .452 FN from a lee double cavity mold.

Thanks in advance!

-tac9

[runfiverun]

first off welcome to the board.

your initial problem was getting the mold hot enough to cast well, once that come up to temp you started getting good boolits.
now you need to work on getting the bases and bottom drive band filled out better.

this generally requires either more heat on the sprue plate, or better venting.
try casting at a higher pace and opening the sprue plate with a gloved hand, the gloved hand allows you to feel for a consistent opening pressure and allows you to maintain a quicker more even casting pace.
and to control the pace by slowing down if things get frosty or speed up if things get shiny.
shiny from the mold is gonna happen but when the boolits cool off they will turn a galvanized satin grey color which is what you are looking for.

[waco]

Very nice for your fist go at it. Listen to what R5R said. I know my first boolits didn't look that good! Congrats.

[Tac9]

Thanks for the info runfiverun! I'll be sure to work at it. Would you guys think these are ok to lube, size and shoot?

[Beagle333]

The ones with square or anywhere-near-square bases and driving bands, I'd lube em up and shoot em. The really rounded ones might not give you a good seal and you could get some leading and/or keyholing when you shoot them.

Good first try though. Do cast a bit faster. One of the biggest problems for new casters is resisting the urge to admire their work. Don't stop to cull or even roll them around a little to look at them and don't put the sprues back, just cast, cast, cast, until you get good fillout and/or frost. And pour a big sprue puddle until you get the plate good and hot, it'll help square off those bases for you. You're really close! Good work!
:drinks:

[runfiverun]

oh yeah.
the ones with good or near good bases will work.

as you go along and get the hang of things your casting will improve and so will your ability to judge good from bad with just a quick glance as you open the mold.
you'll see what is good and what isn't even better when you size them.

my routine is to open the plate and return the sprue immediately back to the pot. [since it's in my hand anyway]
some dump the sprue in a box and the boolits on a towel right by each other.

[Tac9]

Thanks for the info guys! I'll post up again when I make some more and maybe some shooting results.

[Seeker]

They look pretty good for a first timer. I'll vouch for the gloved hand method. My first time, I used a dowel and it just felt clumsy. Went to just running the sprue plate with my hands and it all fell in place. Congratulations, welcome to the addiction and Cast Boolits.

[bangerjim]

Not bad. Heat your molds on an electric hot plate to full casting temp and you will not have any fill problems from the 1st drop. Also run2% Sn for good fill-out.

Works every time for me!

Welcome.

banger

[Budzilla 19]

First of all, welcome to Cast Boolits forum. Lots of great folks here. You know of course,Tac9, you're hooked now! Might as well jump in with both feet and hang on, enjoy the ride! Nice looking boolits. Good luck to you.

[gwpercle]

Welcome to the addiction, you are doing well.
We all start out with cold moulds, warming the mould, casting a few, and getting things up to temperature is just SOP (standard operating procedure). Let me caution you about one thing. Watch your mould temperature if preheating on a hot plate. Aluminum moulds can be damaged by overheating, don't just put it on the coils of a hot plate and let it cook, I didn't understand that and almost ruined a Lee 2 cavity mould. I went back to corner dipping those in the melt, Maybe 45 seconds , cast a few and corner dip another 30 seconds. I didn't think I had left the mould on the hot plate that long, but the sprue took a minute to frost over...couldn't figure out what was going on. Way too hot! So don't over heat them.
Gary

[pjames32]

Welcome-good first cast. Lube/size and shoot the ones with good fill out. You've gotten some good tips. Keep casting, it will get easier with more "perfect" boolits.
PJ

[paralaska]

I had the same problems with my first casts until I took everyone's advise and got an electric hot plate to heat up molds . . . Now the first pour comes out good . . .

[runfiverun]

I probably oughtta get one of them hot plate things.
I just put a steel top on my pots and use it as a heat sink for the molds [and the next ingot] it also adds mass to the little lee pots and helps control temp fluctuations.

[Beagle333]

A hot plate sure is nice. Especially if you get a coffee can or an electrical box and fashion a simple little mold oven on top of your hot plate. Then, not only will your first or second pour be perfect, but you can also just set the mold back in there and wander around if you need to stretch or answer the phone or cool off a few minutes (if you cast outside like I do.) 8-)

[Down South]

Welcome to the asylum, errrr, I mean forum.
Practice, Practice, Practice. As others have said, you need more heat to fill out those bases. The right rhythm and temperature is an art that you will soon discover.

[44man]

The mold oven made from an electric box sure works. I put a BBQ thermometer in the top and set the plate to give me 500° and let the mold soak there until the lead is ready. 500° works perfect and you will get the first boolits perfect.
I use an $8 plate from Wall Mart but had to jump the thermal fuse. Darn thing blew out.
Anyway, good job and welcome.

[Tac9]

Ok guys so today I decided to run a test round to make sure it will chamber correctly. The thing that gets me is that it will only pass a plunk test at a OAL of 1.13 or less. It will cycle fine at this length it seems but my question is if this is safe or not? There is not much load data I can find on this specific round. Most other people I have seen don't go below 1.16 for their OAL.

Shooting from a Springfield XD mod. 2 (.45 ACP)
this is from a lee double cavity, .45 flat nose 200gr

[runfiverun]

it's the gun.
the XD's don't really have a throat they just have a chamber and rifling.

you know your oal, now you just need to start at the bottom of the load chart and look for functioning.
once you have 100% functioning then you tweak things for accuracy.

your oal is what it is, just adjust the powder amount to work around it.

[44man]

Yep, not rocket science.

[OnHoPr]

One more thing to ponder on is if you drink a lot of coffee or Mountain Dew or the like. It can give you the little shakes whether bottom pour or dipper messing up the smooth silver stream to give those characteristics. Shoot em though.

[SniderBoomer]

Nice first cast post - well done, the advice already given nails it.

In time, you come to terms with this new addiction... ;-)

[Tac9]

well thanks for all the help everyone. Today's casting session went a lot better. Took the advice of keeping the mold hotter and out of 100 boolits only had about 5 defects, so I think it went well. Also using a glove instead worked great.