First Cast

[Calehedron]

My Lyman 429667 4 cavity moulds arrived yesterday but my Lee pot got delayed until tomorrow. So... being the impatient guy I am, I fired up the gas burner and dutch oven and mixed up a batch of WW and 95/5 solder to give them a run.

I boiled the molds in soapy water then clean water first thing this morning before I went out junkyard diving for more WW. When I got home I sprayed the moulds down with the Frankford Arsenal stuff (didnt know it was BLACK paint in a way). Melted down my muffins and solder and cast up 160 bullets, a few fishing sinkers, and some ingots of my my new mix.

I have about 35 that are a tad grainy or didnt quite fill out at the butt end and looks too rounded for my taste. Other than that I am very pleased at how well my very first try turned out using pot and ladle. Tomorrow when the Lee 4-20 bottom pour comes in, I will be a casting machine.

Gonna give the ingots and "bad" bullets a few days to mature and see how my hardness turns out. I did water quench also since these are going in my Super Redhawk and I would like to see how well they can perform at full magnum loads.

:castmine:

With Flash on:

http://members.cox.net/calehedron/gunstuff/Lyman429667_4a.jpg

Without:

http://members.cox.net/calehedron/gunstuff/Lyman%20429667_4b.jpg

[JIMinPHX]

They look pretty nice.

I see that you’re down in Queen Creek. Where do you usually go shooting at?

[Calehedron]

If you know where the Pork Shop is on the corner of Combs and Schnepf Farms road is, you are almost there. Head south on Schnepf and it will curve hard left a few miles down and become Skyline. Continue east a few miles until you come to a sort of a road closed barricade. You can go thru it, doesnt block the road. Once you have past it, you are in open range land and there are a few dirt roads off to the left about 1/4 to 1/2 mile past the barricade. We usually go about a mile back and have a burm picked out that we use for handguns and rifles and we just toss clays in a safe direction for some scattergun fun.

I also head out to Maricopa city where some coworkers live. I think the spot is off 283 (Mobile Rd and 83rd). Head a few miles back and you will see a few hills that people head around to the south side and fire into them.

PM me if you want better directions. Maybe we can get together for some fun one weekend.

[montana_charlie]

When a guy posts pictures, it is either to brag (which is just fine) or he wants constructive criticism. I know the good feeling you get when you turn scrap into something useful, but I don't think you are ready to brag about your product.

Bases are decidedly round on the corner...may need to look at venting under the sprue plate. Low heat might be the problem, as other corners are round, too.

I see a dent, or two, that is probably bullets striking others when dropped from the mould.

Don't know how much solder you use per pound of alloy, but more might help those corners.

Your are close to 'good bullets', and not too far away from 'excellent bullets'. But you need more pot time and a very critical eye.
CM

[Calehedron]

Definitely not bragging, it was just me being impatient before my pt got here and trying my hand at ladle casing. I accept all criticism since im just starting out. I have gotten similar feedback. Mostly not having the lead hot enough and moulds not broken in enough. I'm sure they will get better with more practice. Thanks though.

[garandsrus]

Calehedron,

From looking at the picture and a picture of the mold in a Lyman brochure, it looks to me like the boolit is a bevel base/rounded base, so you did get good fill out. There's no other way to get the consistent rounded portion of the boolit base the way you did.

As was mentioned, give the boolits a few more seconds to harden before opening the mold.

I wish my first boolits looked that good :)

For what it's worth, I don't think that too many people use mold prep on iron molds, or any molds for that matter. I have only used it on one.

Have fun...

John

[hedgehorn]

Handy!

[JIMinPHX]

I’m guessing that shooting spot is somewhere east of the rail road tracks, about where Riggs Rd. would be if it didn’t end at Ellsworth. But then, the way that they keep building new roads around here…

I’ll drop you a PM when I figure out what my schedule is going to be like for the coming week.

By the way, for a first time out of the gate, those boolits are nothing to apologize for. It’s true that with a little more time & experience you will probably develop a few refinements to your process, but I would expect that you will get good results from that first batch just the way that they are (assuming that you lube them). It can be hard to get boolits that good using a propane pot & no thermometer like you did, even for an experienced caster.

[JIMinPHX]

How'd you make out when that Lee pot arrived?