Farming Mould

[dagger dog]

Hey,

Finally got some boolits to grow my mould on. :mrgreen:

My 245415 double mould and handles arrived Wed. and Fri. I broke out my new Mini Mag furnace and 10 lbs. of the "almost" Lyman #2 alloy I had previously smelted, the week before.

Now you guys got to remember this is my first try at this casting thing,and I did get a little dicouraged. The first 100 or so boolits came out of the mould lookin' like some one that had a bad reaction to their Botox injections. I mean WRINKLED!
and not filling out the mould , in other words mutant .22 cal. boolits, all these went back into the furnace along with the sprue and all the other spatterings, of an inept rookie.

So I break out the Lyman "BIBLE" and also start probing the nether reigons of this burnt out grey matter thats rattling around in side my skull trying to remember the stickies from Cast Boolits, and the little light bulb started to glow, now I didn't say how bright.

The little glowing light told me that the mould was too cold even though I had placed it as close to the heating element in the furnace, and it was HOT ENOUGH to burn the %#@ out of my finger.

So I fired up the turkey fryer, and warmed that sucker up, and while I was doing this the furnace seemed to kick into high gear( 750 degrees) I know this 'cause it was where Mickies big hand was pointing! The alloy got this real shiny look to it ,and it started flowing through the dipper like water.

So the next hundred filled the mould real well but I had to stop to reheat them every 10 or so pours. I let these drop into the 5 gallon bucket of water and heard them sizzle when they hit. So I hope there was enough arsenic and other trace metals in that "almost" Lyman # 2 alloy ,(9 lbs WW clean smelted with 1 lb. 60-40
solder that was the best I could do in replicating the mix) to get them to harden.

So I wound up with 80 after culling .22 cal bullets. Took these up to my reloading bench and popped them on the scale to see how they weighed. There was a .8 grain difference in just about 1/2 (40) 52.2 gr- 53.0 gr.The Lyman info gives the 225415 a 55gr in their # 2 alloy.

So in planning on running them through the 4500 .225 die and installing the gas checks today, I placed them in the top drawer of the gun locker where it's nice and dark. Now this is the discouraging part I was talkin' about, THERE AIN"T A DANG BIT OF MOULD ON MY BOOLITS, what did I do wrong.:confused:

[runfiverun]

gotta leave them in the water for bout three months you'll see the mould.
btw, had you cleaned that new mold it would have went a bit faster for ya.

welcome in.

[leftiye]

Starting out doing .22 cal cast is doing it the hard way! These little pills are amoung the most difficult to cast. The key is to get your mold hot enough (and keep it hot enough). You might have to use a hotplate with a steel plate on it to heat the mold(steel plate keeps the hot plate from burning up, and distributes the heat evenly). Put a can over it with the side cut out to heat the mold evenly.

[dagger dog]

runfive,
I thought I cleaned it pretty well, I used denatured alcohol, but next time I'll use some aerosol brake cleaner and get it squeeky clean. I was worried about rust in between times so I oiled the mould down prety heavy. Plus I was thinkin' about storing the boolits with a slab of colby or longhorn to get the process working! nice to be here!

leftiye,

I just about picked up a hot plate at Wally World today, but I'm anal retentive, and I think the war department has an old electric skillet and I'm going to try that to see if it'll work,and I got just the right size 1/4" diamond plate piece of steel to use. Thanks for the tip!

[montana_charlie]

I just about picked up a hot plate at Wally World today,
If you get back in the mood for a hotplate, and you aren't in a hurry, look at eBay.
Their 'Healcare, Lab, and Life Science' listings have hotplates that do a real job of holding a desired temperature...and some can be had for around twenty bucks.

I have one like this http://cgi.ebay.com/TERMOLYNE-HOTPLATE-HPA1915B-115V_W0QQitemZ200239052408QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item 200239052408 and really like it.
CM

[beagle]

I throw a torch on mine to start with and use alloy at 775 degrees. Once I burn the preservative off and stop getting wrinkles, I cast like mad to keep the mould hot. Hard work but worth the effort./beagle

[dagger dog]

Back again. Those Lyman people must know their stuff. Got the gas checks on those little buggers. It took a little bit of fiddling to get the lube sizer set to the correct depth as not to smear lube over the whole bullet. I'm not used to that lube stuff, it takes some doing not to get lube everywhere. But when I put a couple back on the scale with the lube ,gas checks and bullet came to+-.2gr of55gr.

Going to try some in some .223 Rem and others in 22 Hornet. Gleaned 2 articles on the Hornet and cast bullets, and am looking up some others on the .223.

By the way, any of you guys have any favorite loads in Hornet or .223 in55 gr? If yes please sound off!

[dromia]

You've done well dagger dog. :-D

Those .22" moulds aren't the easiest to work with.

[jameslovesjammie]

dagger dog,

If you're looking to load the .223, these three articles are a MUST!!!

http://www.castpics.net/memberarticles/Cast%20in%20the%20.223.htm

http://www.castpics.net/memberarticles/Cast%20in%20the%20.223,%20Part%20II.htm

http://www.castpics.net/memberarticles/Cast%20in%20the%20.223,%20Part%20III.htm

I've learned a bunch here and don't even own a .22 cal mould yet!

[jameslovesjammie]

And here's one on the hornet.

http://www.castpics.net/memberarticles/Cast%20Bullets%20in%20the%2022%20Hornet.htm

[Boerrancher]

Glad to hear you were successful on your first attempt to cast, esp 22's. I had been casting for over 10 years before I ever attempted 22's and they were for a lever action 22 Hi-power. Just be careful. Boolit casting can become very addictive. Before too long you will have a dozen molds or more, and be constantly chasing that elusive magic load with the perfect cast boolit and powder combo. Been chasing it myself for 30+ years and have never found it, probably never will, but it is fun trying.

Best Wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

[dagger dog]

So much to read, so little time. Just on the first scan through the articles by beagle,looks like I had better start that 225415 in my 12FV Savage, with the factory 1-9" . The '415 is probably to long for the 1-14" twist in my Hornet.

So that info makes me quite happy as now I'll have to look for a shorter and lighter weight .22 cal.mould to shoot in the Hornet.

:coffee:I set here in front of this screen and my mind wanders a little , now just how long would it have taken me to gain all this information. It's not really experiance yet. But with all the help from the members it will be shortly. Thanks guys:mrgreen: