First boolits casted...

[tinhorn97062]

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/01/030381b399c0a3e4f46eb4c7a4822ff0.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/01/780d48f6dca27011a8b62f5d9acff934.jpg

Well, they seem shootable to me. By much researching on this forum, I learned what "too hot" and "too cold" look like. I ran into both of those issues. These aren't quite perfect, but I think they're worth loading up. What's everybody else's opinion? Critique away!

[Bzcraig]

Definitely worth shooting! And save that target too.

[Cherokee]

I see some round edges and void in the band, but I would load them up and see how they do. Save the target for comparison to better quality results as you gain experience. Good start, practice...

[tinhorn97062]

I see some round edges and void in the band, but I would load them up and see how they do. Save the target for comparison to better quality results as you gain experience. Good start, practice...

What would help alleviate the roundness in the bands? Would adding some tin do the trick?

[jcren]

Add some tin, more heat in the mold (gives the lead more time to flow) and breaking in the mold if new will all help. Great first run!

[jcren]

Btw, as backward as it seems, speeding up the casting tempo will put more heat in the mold.

[JSnover]

A little tuning will do the trick.
Those are just fine for hunting, load testing, casual target shooting. Nice work.

[4719dave]

Well done its only the beginning ..lol

[tinhorn97062]

Add some tin, more heat in the mold (gives the lead more time to flow) and breaking in the mold if new will all help. Great first run!

That was straight WW alloy with no additional tin added. I wasn't able to go super fast, due to the learning curve. There's a couple changes in going to make to my process that should help with the speed, and subsequently with the mold temp.

[tinhorn97062]

Well done its only the beginning ..lol

Thanks! Yes it is only the beginning. [smilie=s:

[Bzcraig]

That was straight WW alloy with no additional tin added. I wasn't able to go super fast, due to the learning curve. There's a couple changes in going to make to my process that should help with the speed, and subsequently with the mold temp.

There is a rhythm to casting and each mold has a little different rhythm. For your first pours they look good, they will improve as you get more time under your belt. Yes, tin might help some but I think experience will help the most because you can get perfect boolits without adding tin. The one thing I would advise against, if you don't already know this, is putting anything in your casting (wood shavings and the like) pot except wax/paraffin for reducing. If you take the time during smelting to get your melt real clean, you do yourself a huge favor. Clean alloy and finding the right temperature for your mold, at least in my opinion, are the keys to nice boolits. I have one mold that needs pot temperature of 775 to get good boolits. Which reminds me, get a PID or thermometer.

The answer to your signature question is 'yes'

[Yodogsandman]

Good job for your first casts! I'd bet that once the mold is broke in, all those pesky little problems will go away. With a new mold, mine come out that way for the first few sessions, too...sometimes. Go shoot em up and make some more! You can get pickier when your skills are better.

[tinhorn97062]

Couple more pics...

145887

145888

[Frank V]

Those lood good to me, a little round, but I'm betting they will shoot.

One caution about casting too fast. If you open the sprue plate before the lead has hardened enough you will tin the underside of the sprue plate & top of your mould. This will cock the sprue plate up away from the mould blocks & allow a feather of lead on the base of the bullet. It's a pain to clean, (been there done that) I always wait till I see a different color creep into the puddle then wait a few more seconds before I knock the sprue plate open.

[tinhorn97062]

Those lood good to me, a little round, but I'm betting they will shoot.

One caution about casting too fast. If you open the sprue plate before the lead has hardened enough you will tin the underside of the sprue plate & top of your mould. This will cock the sprue plate up away from the mould blocks & allow a feather of lead on the base of the bullet. It's a pain to clean, (been there done that) I always wait till I see a different color creep into the puddle then wait a few more seconds before I knock the sprue plate open.

That's great advise, and I appreciate it. For lack of a better method at the time, I slow counted to 6 and then knocked the cap open. The first few dropped right out without an issue, but after a few were poured, they started not wanting to drop out very easily. I'm thinking the mold was getting a little too hot maybe? A little jiggle and a little whack with a stick encouraged them to drop, but it wasn't as easy as the first ones.

[454PB]

Try preheating the mould, it speeds up the process and your first boolits will be well filled and wrinkle free.

[bangerjim]

Good 1st stab at it! [smilie=s:

As said above...2 ideas for you to ponder:

1. Add up to 2% Sn for better fill-out of the sharp edges. COWW's only have, at most, 0.5% Sn. Normally not enough for good fills.

2. Preheat your mold(s) to FULL CASTING TEMP, not just warm, on an electric hot plate and you will drop perfect boolits from the 1st one. I do it all the time. Gone are the olden golden daze of trying to heat your mold by laying it on the pot while it heats up. The mold will never get hot enough there. Buy a hotplate.....almost a necessity these days! Or casting dozens of boolits and throwing them back just to heat up your mold...a total waste of your time and effort.

banger

[popper]

Additional tin is not needed. As the mould heats up, alloy cools slower and may cause harder to drop boolits. Ladle or BP pot? Make sure your alloy is clean. I see drive band pits which are bad. Make sure mould edges in that area don't have burrs and vent lines are good & clean. Mould/plate temp will affect the band & base fillout. That big a slug needs really good venting. I just dumped & cleaned my Lee pot - ugh - large pile of crud under a big slab of alloy, on the outside edge of the bottom. Stopped using wood for flux long time ago (just wax now) IMHO it's from scraping down with my spoon, not up. Also use a putty knife for scraping the bottom & sides. Need to figure out another 'tool' to scrape stuff from there.

[bangerjim]

I use a gasket scraper I got at Checker Auto. Nice long sturdy square steel shank with a big rubber handle.

You can grind a curve on the end of the thick blade to fit the contour of your pot if you wish.


I quite using paint sticks a long time ago after getting garbage stuck in the pour valve! Now ONLY beeswax.


banger

[tinhorn97062]

Additional tin is not needed. As the mould heats up, alloy cools slower and may cause harder to drop boolits. Ladle or BP pot? Make sure your alloy is clean. I see drive band pits which are bad. Make sure mould edges in that area don't have burrs and vent lines are good & clean. Mould/plate temp will affect the band & base fillout. That big a slug needs really good venting. I just dumped & cleaned my Lee pot - ugh - large pile of crud under a big slab of alloy, on the outside edge of the bottom. Stopped using wood for flux long time ago (just wax now) IMHO it's from scraping down with my spoon, not up. Also use a putty knife for scraping the bottom & sides. Need to figure out another 'tool' to scrape stuff from there.

I was using a ladle. Sounds like a lot of the imperfections can/will be eliminated by making sure things are at the right temp...at least that's what the general consensus from the masses seems to be. I was using a single burner Walmart special to heat the lead, which worked really good. It was so cheap that I might buy another just just to preheat the mold and such.

I really appreciate all the criticism/tips/advise/etc.

[popper]

Temperature and venting. You are probably pouring pretty fast and the air has to get out before the alloy begins to solidify, else you get smiley faces on the surface caused by lead on top of air bubbles. Just like wrinkles.
Curious as to the pile of crud under the alloy, that couldn't get stirred to the top.