Finally

[RustyFN]

I cast my first bullets today. Thanks to Aneat I used a Lee 10# bottom pour pot.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db07b3127ccec460ae1ea36300000046100DZOGblm4Yg9 vPhI
I know my mold wasn't hot enough but I thought the easiest way to bring it the rest of the way up to temp was to pour a few. Here they are.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db07b3127ccec46198dc02c600000046100DZOGblm4Yg9 vPhI
I also don't think I was pouring consistant enough. I was pausing between cavities.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db07b3127ccec461dcaa029200000046100DZOGblm4Yg9 vPhI
These are some of the better ones from the beginning.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db07b3127ccec460d477a33700000046100DZOGblm4Yg9 vPhI
Here is the junk pile.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db07b3127ccec460517062da00000046100DZOGblm4Yg9 vPhI

[RustyFN]

Here is the good pile.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db07b3127ccec461fb52c3d100000046100DZOGblm4Yg9 vPhI
Then I changed the way I was pouring. This is the sprue after I changed.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db07b3127ccec4615465832900000046100DZOGblm4Yg9 vPhI
I also let the bullets cool in the mold longer before I dumped them out and this was the result.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db07b3127ccec460d2f0a3b300000046100DZOGblm4Yg9 vPhI

Was I thinking right by letting them cool longer? Does anybody see anything I did wrong or anything I should change. Thanks to everybody for your help and advice.
Rusty

[oneokie]

Looks good. Can't see the bases of any boolits, any of them have divots in the base? If you have divots, let the alloy cool just a little longer.

[imashooter2]

The bands are pretty rounded. More heat.

[Junior1942]

Thanks for the non-megapixel photos!!!!!

[RustyFN]

I was casting around 725 degrees. How much higher is safe. I have also read where people add a couple feet of solder because of the tin. Would that help square the bands up?
Rusty

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db07b3127ccec4602beee34900000046100DZOGblm4Yg9 vPhI

[RustyFN]

Looks good. Can't see the bases of any boolits, any of them have divots in the base? If you have divots, let the alloy cool just a little longer.
I didn't look at all of the bases real close but they looked nice and flat to me. I also haven't weighed any yet. They should be 200 grain SWC. I'm curious to see what they weigh out at.
Rusty

[copdills]

congrats Rusty, I just hope mine look that good:-D

[docone31]

You be on the right track.
It gets more professional with each session.
Sometimes, I just cast to get better at it. Nice thing about lead, you can just remelt it.
My idea of fun.

[Calamity Jake]

Yap, looks good but like imashooter said more heat, that lyman 4 cav mold requires a lot of heat. A little tin (1 to 1.5%) max will help too.

[runfiverun]

what calamity said
i like to set the mold on top of the pot while waiting for the sprues to cool

[ANeat]

They look pretty good Rusty. Are you using straight WW? , A little tin might help. I think your temp is OK for WW. Casting a little faster will help get the mold up to temp better. If not try 750 or so. So many variables.

A small electric hot plate works great for getting the mold up to temp.

Just play with it. You will have to develop your own pace. Like Okie mentioned, if you start getting a small divot where the sprue gets tore out instead of cuts you need to wait just a little longer

[RustyFN]

They look pretty good Rusty. Are you using straight WW? , A little tin might help. I think your temp is OK for WW. Casting a little faster will help get the mold up to temp better. If not try 750 or so. So many variables.

A small electric hot plate works great for getting the mold up to temp.

Just play with it. You will have to develop your own pace. Like Okie mentioned, if you start getting a small divot where the sprue gets tore out instead of cuts you need to wait just a little longer
Yes I'm using straight WW. I was going to go buy some 95/5 solder like I was reading in a different thread but haven't been to the store yet. I will pick some up this week and give it a try in my next cast. The 10# pot worked great, thanks.
Rusty

[docone31]

A little tin definately helped my fillout. I used too much at first. I also got 95/5. I had someow figuired 1lb tin to 9lbs wheel weight. Waaaaay too much.
With wheel weight, I ran out that batch blending it back into the next batch, ultimately leveling to just a bit, per 20lbs.
I took the half pound spool of 95/5, then took it all off, folded it in half, then folded it in half, then folded it in half. I did this two more times.
I would add a piece of tin I cut off by cutting all the folds in half. I did not weigh it, but it was radically smaller than the original mix.
I now had pieces about four inches in length. I would add one, cast a mold full, inspect. If it needed it, I would add another. If I added too much, I would readd ingot WWs to fill the pot, and kinda pour untill it leveled out.
It really sounds complicated but it was not. I just looked at the molded bullets. If they had lots of wrinkles, I added a piece of tin. Small piece. I accepted some wrinkles, small ones as I felt that was consistant with hand pouring.
I also watched my sprues. If they cut easily and did not withdraw after cutting, the temp was about right. If they cut hard, it was too cold. Wrinkles also come from a cold mold.
After a while you get a rythym.
Good first casting.

[RustyFN]

I was talking to someone that adds a three foot piece to a 20# pot with good results. I was going to try a foot and a half in the 10# pot.
Rusty

[docone31]

I found that length was too much. It was essentially wasted tin for the casting.
I ended up using 50/50 bar solder cut into four equal pieces with a fresh batch of WWs.
I put one piece in 20lbs with a touch of tin.

[imashooter2]

You need the blocks hotter, not necessarily the lead, but you can try hotter lead too. The goal is good consistent fill out with sharp bands. Practice makes perfect. You can't start right off and be Yehudi Menuhin.

[ANeat]

When I add tin I have a small digital scale that I use. I always figure 2%.

If Im doing a small batch, mixing in the casting pot, I will weigh the lead Im about to put in, say 5lbs, or 80 ounces. 2% would be 1.6 ounces or so. If im using 50/50 solder I just double that and not worry about the extra lead added.

If I plan on casting a large ammount out of one alloy I will mix up a batch in my smelting pot, 100lbs or so and add the tin needed at that time. Then I have ingots of all the same alloy that I can cast off of without mixing anything.

[AZ-Stew]

A good number of the boolits in the last photo also show incomplete fillout. You finally managed to get the mould hot enough to get rid of the wrinkling that's seen in the first photo of your boolits, but it's not quite hot enough. A little tin may help, but I'd try a bit more heat in the mould first. If you can get the mould hot enough to get good fillout with straight WW, you can save yourself the cost of the solder.

You must wait for the sprues to completely cool, but a couple of seconds after the spot above the sprue hole solidifies, it's OK to cut the sprues. Placing the mould across the top of the casting pot while it comes up to temp will get you started, but you may have to cast several moulds full at a rapid rate to get it up to casting temp. After that you can slow your pace a bit. Just be sure you wait for the sprues to solidify before you cut them to avoid smearing lead across the top of the mould blocks. If you start getting boolits with a crystaline surface (frosty), it's time to slow your casting pace a bit more. An overall dull gray appearance is OK, but the crystaline appearance is an indicator of too much heat in the mould. It is often accompamied by a low spot in the boolit surface at the location of the frosty area.

Your 725 degree pot temp should be sufficient. No need to increase it. You can adjust the heat in your mould by vaarying your casting rate.

Regards,

Stew

[RustyFN]

Thanks for all of the help and pointers. So now I have to ask are these OK to shoot or should they be melted back down?
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db07b3127ccec460d2f0a3b300000046100DZOGblm4Yg9 vPhI
Rusty

[ANeat]

I would shoot em, some may be a little rounded but if they held lube and didnt fall thru the sizer I would shoot them.

[madcaster]

From what I can see,the bases are all good and well defined,for the most part.
I always figured be critical of your own work and nobody else can be!

[RustyFN]

OK here are a few new pictures I took.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db06b3127ccec4633bf51a0a00000046100DZOGblm4Yg9 vPhI

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db06b3127ccec462ed103ac800000046100DZOGblm4Yg9 vPhI

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db06b3127ccec4638a54db5b00000056100DZOGblm4Yg9 vPhI

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db06b3127ccec4630b191afe00000046100DZOGblm4Yg9 vPhI

[HeavyMetal]

Run them through the sizer and any that don't have full bands ( completely sized) put back in the pot!

[Alchemist]

Thanks for all of the help and pointers. So now I have to ask are these OK to shoot or should they be melted back down?
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db07b3127ccec460d2f0a3b300000046100DZOGblm4Yg9 vPhI
Rusty

Rusty,

Have you weighed them yet? Since the bands are filled out to varying degrees, I'm guessing that your weights are going to be erractic. That said, try lubing some and shooting them...they may work o.k. for plinking boolits. If they shoot o.k. that's great! If not, you can pull the boolits and remelt 'em. Either way, congrats on your first casting session. It just gets better from here.

Cheers :drinks:
Alchemist

[Alchemist]

I hadn't seen the bases at my prior post...bases look pretty good. I would suggest a little bigger sprue puddle to provide metal for when the boolit draws lead into the mould as it cools. (Does that make sense?) It would probably help eliminate the pinholes at the edge of the spruehole on the boolit bases.

Hope this doesn't sound like gibberish....not sure how to phrase it.

Alchemist

[AZ-Stew]

There's nothing unsafe about your castings. You'll just get better accuracy if you can get things up to temp and get sharp edges at the boolit bases. These are a bit rounded.

Regards,

Stew

[DLCTEX]

Lube e'm, load e'm, shoot e'm. DALE

[Goatlips]

Rusty,

Shoot 'em all, let God sort 'em out

Goatlips

[Echo]

Yo, Rusty;

I would say they are fine to shoot, but don't expect best accuracy. Are they for a .45ACP? If so, seat them out 50-60 thousandths.

Regarding tin - anything over 3% is wasted. So figuring 10 pounds of straight WW (160 ounces) with .5% tin, adding about 4 ounces of 95/5 would put you in the right ballpark.

IMHO.

EasyEd
USAF Ret
NRA Patron
O&U

[yeahbub]

Rusty, most of the general details have been covered by others - a little more heat, maybe a touch of tin - but there's a bit of technique that helps a good deal in fill-out when the mold is up to temp. As you are filling the mold, allow the stream to just touch the edge of the sprue hole as it enters the mold. This induces some turbulence in the flow and improves fill-out and the rejecting of dirt from the alloy as it is poured. Also, allow the stream to flow a second or so longer than it takes to fill the mold. This will get the heel with a sharp corner. I get more consistent weights that way. It's no problem if the boolits turn out frosty. That's a casting temp related characteristic that begins to show up when the mold is at or a little above good casting temperature. Mine are routinely frosty , filled out, and the reject pile is smaller.

[RustyFN]

OK I'm getting confused, not hard to do. Some are saying that 18" of solder is too much in ten pounds. That 2% is just about right. In order for me to get 2% I would have to add a 8' piece of solder, 25% of the roll. This is what I'm using,
http://images.grainger.com/images/products/1UYG9.JPG.
How much of this should I start off with in a 10 pound pot?
Rusty

[Bob Krack]

OK I'm getting confused, not hard to do. Some are saying that 18" of solder is too much in ten pounds. That 2% is just about right. In order for me to get 2% I would have to add a 8' piece of solder, 25% of the roll. This is what I'm using,
How much of this should I start off with in a 10 pound pot?
Rusty

That being a 16 OZ roll, 1/4 of a roll = 4 OZ.
10 pounds = 160 OZ.
2% of 160 OZ = 3.2 OZ

Since your base alloy (wheelweights) probably has around .5% tin, and you want to end up with 2% to 3% total tin, you will need to add between 2.4 OZ for 2% or 4.0 OZ for 3% tin. (1.6 OZ = 1%)

If it were me, I think I would just ad about 2 OZ since you will not have a full 10 pounds in the pot and as long as you keep the pot fluxed and mixed, you will be very close to 2% which seems to be an acceptable standard for hand casting.

Hope this is not muddying up the water?

Vic

[HORNET]

Personally, I'd add about 1 ounce/10 pounds and see how they fill out. But then I'm a tightwad..Excuse me...I mean I'm Frooogal [smilie=1:and hate spending more on alloy than absolutely necessary.

[RustyFN]

Thanks guys, I guess it would be better to start low and work up until I find the magic length. HORNET just for the record I am a tight wad and proud of it.:)
Rusty

[dromia]

Congratulations Rusty you've done good mate. :drinks:

Firstly I'd crank the temp up a bit to say 850, frosting is OK so long as its even.

That might save you a bob or two on solder/tin.

Secondly of course you got to shoot some of them, them's your first boolits how could you resist shooting them.

So long as they aren't under groove diameter then they should do OK.

Finally and most importantly, are you having FUN?