To Frost or Not to Frost....?

[Fish_N_Russ]

So which is better.....keeping temps low (about a 3 on my 20lb Lee Pot) when casting.....or cranking it to 8-9 and making boolits that are frosted looking......both are nice and filled out, the only diff being in appearance. Does the hotter casting do something better molecular wise or vise versa or doesnt make any diff??? thanks

[Willbird]

I prefer to run hot and touch the mold on a damp towel if need be to drop the mold temp. Signs of needing to drop the mold or sprue plate temp is when the sprue takes too long to harden, once I get moving I quench the sprue plate every cast.

It is 55 in my shop right now and at that temp I never need to quench the blocks on a 6 cavity.

Bill

[sniper7369]

It's pretty cold in my shop, so I run the pot pretty warm. About 7 or 8 on my Lee 10lb production pot. The frost wipes right off. I usually run two or three molds at once also.

[Junior1942]

I prefer frosted bullets. I think they hold lube better.

[NuJudge]

Frosting on bullets has never been a problem for me. The higher heat improves fill-out without Tin.

Crank that heat control up and cast them fast.

I've never studied the freezing of Lead, but my guess is there is a skin of almost pure Lead on shiny bullets freezing first, and hotter molds and hotter Lead alloy results in something closer to normal dendritic freezing of the alloy at the surface as well as through the bullet.

Some links:
http://www.theworkshop.ca/casting/course/MTB70/4/MTB704.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrite_(metal)

[Bret4207]

See Boer Ranchers thread on frosting further down the page. It hurts nothing AFAICS

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=44550

[Fish_N_Russ]

well the only reason I bring it up is because when keeping my temps lower, I can go as fast I can...but running hotter I have to wait a while for the boolits to cool or else im dropping half-liquid boolits.....ive tried the damp towel and never really found that to keep the temps much cooler

[sniper7369]

well the only reason I bring it up is because when keeping my temps lower, I can go as fast I can...but running hotter I have to wait a while for the boolits to cool or else im dropping half-liquid boolits.....ive tried the damp towel and never really found that to keep the temps much cooler

If you run 2 or 3 molds at once you can crank up the heat and go as fast as you can. :mrgreen:

[Willbird]

well the only reason I bring it up is because when keeping my temps lower, I can go as fast I can...but running hotter I have to wait a while for the boolits to cool or else im dropping half-liquid boolits.....ive tried the damp towel and never really found that to keep the temps much cooler

My towel is WET not damp :-)....and it for sure lowers the temp of the mold. I take a section of towel and fold it 4 square, and place it on a bucket lid, and really wet it good, there is water standing on it more or less.

Bill

[superior]

I'll take mine frosted!

[Fish_N_Russ]

If you run 2 or 3 molds at once you can crank up the heat and go as fast as you can. :mrgreen:

oh yah im sure I could but I can only afford so many molds! :)

[sniper7369]

oh yah im sure I could but I can only afford so many molds! :)

Haha, yeah, me too. :-D I just cast 9mm and .45 at the same time until I can afford to get multiple molds for the same caliber.

[Echo]

And Roger on the WET towel - I let my mold set on it until it steams - takes away the excess heat. And replenish the agua every so often...

[Wayne Smith]

For me it depends on the mold. Yesterday I was casting my 457122 Gould hollowpoint and, between 800 and 825 degrees, the bullets literally fell out of the mold. At 745 degrees they began to stick and needed more than a shake. On the other hand, I have an Al MM 416-265 that drops them around 700-725. Don't need to get that one hotter. Other molds like other temps. I don't care if they are frosted or not as long as the mold runs.

[Calamity Jake]

Frosted, execpt 22's, I can't cast fast enough to get them to frost and I use one mold @ a time and 800° for 22's

[454PB]

I'm a frosty guy, and I'm also one that doesn't weight segregate my boolits, but.....

If you really want to see the difference between frosted boolits and shiney, do some weight segregating.