Another newbie question on temperature

[contendernut]

Hi,

I'm casting pure lead using a lee pot. I had some problems with the spout plugging up but cleaned it and it works much better now. I cast quite a few bullets this past weekend but still have a high percentage of rejects.

I was wondering how hot to run the melt? If I don't run it on 8 or 9, I get pour fill out. It looks like the nose of the bullet cools before it is filled out completely. After I get the block up to temperature, it casts good bullets but then I get a blue tint on the nose of the bullet. I guess this is from the mold getting to hot. I guess it is a fine line between too hot and too cool. I don't get the frosty looking bullets but that may be only from an alloy like WW. Should pure lead frost when it gets hot?

I bought a RCBS thermometer but I think it is defective. The melt runs about 1000 degrees at 8. With the lowest setting, it runs about 800 degrees. I think the thermometer may be damaged as I saw several posts that the Lee pot wouldn't get above around 900 degrees.

[StanDahl]

I wouldn't worry about the blue tint on the nose, I doubt that hurts anything unless you're trying to cast round balls. (Everyone knows that blue balls can be painful.)

My Lee pot can reach pretty close to 1000° (RCBS thermometer also), but I usually turn it down before it gets that high. I don't know about frosting with pure lead, I've only tried casting with pure lead once, but I need to do it again soon - running out of round balls and R.E.A.L.'s for my Old Army. Stan

[454PB]

Pure lead will not get frosty, it has no antimony.

[44man]

Correct, pure lead does not frost. Just run it hot and be happy with good boolits. Doesn't matter what color they are. The only problem with too hot is the time it takes for the lead to harden so you can cut the sprue. If it gets too hot, you will get fins in the air vents. Lee moulds don't have air grooves so you won't get that.
I run mine on 8 for everything.

[454PB]

I have three Lee pots, two ten pounders and a twenty pounder. all of them cast best between #7 and # 7 1/2 on the dial.

So what's the consensus on this? What temperature settings do others use?

The few times I've had mine up to #8, it was WAY too hot!

[44man]

7 is OK. I cast very large, heavy boolits or heavy with 20 to 1 mix for BPCR. I need the heat. Smaller boolits do not need it. Just adjust to what works for you. I also keep two moulds going so by the time I cast the second one, the first has cooled just right. With one mould, I would turn down the pot.

[lovedogs]

Yeah, 44man is right. I, too, cast large and heavy bullets so need the heat, 500 gr. .45-70's, for example. But my "little" bullets, 250 gr. .44's, take less heat. You'll have to adjust temperatures and cadence with each different situation. With most alloys I find it works good to run hot until bullets start frosting then turn it down just to the point they quit looking frosty. Frosty won't hurt anything... they just look better if not frosted. I have a thermometer but it just is used as an indicator. The mould and bullets are the final determining factor as to where to set the heat.

[pdgraham]

My 2 cents..

My aluminum Lee molds require hotter lead then my RCBS and Lyman steel molds.. I guess that's because the Aluminum molds cool down faster than the Steel molds..

I run my Lee pot on 9 for the Lee molds and on 7 for the Steel molds.

Of course all that depends on the outside temp.. I cast outside on an open back pourch

[Dale53]

Keep in mind, that lead vaporizes at 900 degrees. I, for one, do not EVER cast above 850 degrees. I use a quality dial thermometer and mostly cast my Schuetzen bullets at no more than 750 degrees. WW + 2% tin works well at that temperature. I cast pistol, schuetzen, .40 BPCR and 45/70 bullets. Alloys from ww+2% tin, to 25/1 lead/tin. I see no reason to cast at such elevated temperatures. There is sure an excellent reason not to exceed 850 degrees - breathing lead fumes is NOT GOOD. Of course, all of know the need for good ventilation...

If you use linotype you can cast well at 600-650 degrees. I DO believe in pre-heating the mould (hold it in molten bullet metal for 30 seconds if aluminum and up to 5 minutes if steel or iron) then you will start immediately getting good bullets.

I know none of this is particularly new to most of us but it may help a newbie.

Dale53

[Bman]

My 10# runs way too hot at anything over 5. At least for me running one mold at a time. Usually I run mine at 2 or 3 and still keep the mold temp up well and do not notice much change in the boolits when i add metal. I do set my ingots on the rim to pre heat. I wonder if the heating element or thermostat is different these days? Or I could just be doing it all wrong!

[mike in co]

i see lots of guys saying what setting they cast at and lots of references to pot dial settings.
you guys need to understand that voltage varies through out the day. this means that at any time the setting on the dial and the temp have little relationship. in the welding biz we adjust settings morning and after lunch to compensate for voltage change.
my suggestion to all is to use a decent thermometer is you want consistancy.

[carpetman]

Mike in Colo---Thats not nearly as vague as the person that when asked what kind of gas mileage their rig gets tells you something like they can drive from Rooster Crow,Idaho to Bison Bill(Buffalo Bills identical twin bro)Wyoming on half a tank of gas.

[garandsrus]

Hi,

When lead vaporizes, will it steam/boil similar to water or simply turn to invisible vapor? I was just wondering if there was a way to tell if it was vaporizing without a thermometer. I do have one, but it's not always in the pot.

Thanks,
John

[sundog]

I run my pot wide open. At least until I have to wait too long for the sprue cool. I casted this evening - 314299 with a WW/Shot/Tin mix. Had a little trouble with the mould that had been producing superb boolits last weekend, so I quite for dinner, threw what I had in the pot and set the mould aside to cool. After supper I 'cleaned' the mould with a q-tip and Drop-out, reheated, and the rest was history. About 200+ perfect boolits. While the pot was going down, the temp was going up, so several times I had to reduce temp. Now, what I'm about to say is not meant to be expertish (is that a word?) or arrogant or condesending or anything of the like. It's simply a learned behaviour after many years of casting - you know, do all the wrong things long enough you find an acorn or three. The alloy, the pot temp, the air temp AND humidity, wind direction, condition of the mould, pouring method, MOJO - yea this is a big'un, dipper/ladel/bttom spout condition, and a few other things known and unknown ALL have an affect on how a run pours and comes out. Each run of boolits, just like each firearm, is an individual. Tonight is certainly not the first, and I expect certainly not the last time I will ever have such a drastic change in mould operation in the span of only a few days. btw, NE Oklahoma is unseasonably warm, forecast extremely windy and 80 for tomorrow, and STILL burning. This is a way bad drought we are in. Part of my gun club burned off Monday afternoon - cause unknown at this point. When the wx changes this weekend to 20s and 30s and icy-snowy I expect that if I pour some more boolits the moulds will run a little different. I know for a fact that my very best casting days are rainy in the middle temps. I guess what I am trying to get across here is that it depends. How's that for pinning it down? I've poured tens of thousands of boolits, and I am still learning. I pour many more boolits good than bad now adays, but I still have my moments when 'thangs don't work right'. sundog

[454PB]

I hear you, Sundog. A few years ago, my Son finally took interest in casting boolits. He saw me doing it for his 35 years, and did inherit the shooting/reloading bug, but never had an interest in casting. As he acquired some big bore handguns and a Marlin 1895 45/70, he soon decided that purchased bullets were restricting his shooting volume, plus he had problems with supply. I gave him some of mine, and he was highly impressed with the improvement over commercial cast bullets.

Now after all these years, I'm standing beside him, giving instruction. We all know that casting is damn near vodoo.....as you described. He's right handed, I'm left handed and very opinionated about how this works. Within an hour he had developed his own means and rythym that looked wrong and awkward to me.....but it works for him. So now, I let him run his own show on my equipment, and I go to the other end of my loading room and size his boolits......and I must say he casts some very nice ones!

[sundog]

454, Hooah! How is it that your son is opinionated?

[Dale53]

Sundog;
>>>The alloy, the pot temp, the air temp AND humidity, wind direction, condition of the mould, pouring method, MOJO - yea this is a big'un, dipper/ladel/bttom spout condition, and a few other things known and unknown ALL have an affect on how a run pours and comes out. Each run of boolits, just like each firearm, is an individual.<<<

As much as I hate to admit it :razz: , you have something there. Now, I fancy myself a pretty dern good bullet caster, with most of the answers. I have somewhere around 55 years in casting including a pretty good stretch where I was doing commercial casting. Hundreds of thousands of cast bullets have run through my fingers.

Frankly, I seldom have a problem. However, it DOES happen :violin:. Not very often, but sometimes those good bullets will just not come. When that happens, before I get too frustrated, I just shut the operation down and go do something else. I'll come back the next day, turn the pot on, same temperature, same mould, same everything and things just go dern near perfect.

The truth is, "I don't have a clue" as to what is happening". Perhaps that old saying, says it best, "Some times you catch the bus and sometimes the bus catches you"...

However, I do :lovebooli

Dale53

[Newtire]

I turn it up to max on my Lee pot in this wet weather (about 50º) and have used the #7 setting in the summer. As long as the bullets are good & frosty, I'm OK.

[mike in co]

Mike in Colo---Thats not nearly as vague as the person that when asked what kind of gas mileage their rig gets tells you something like they can drive from Rooster Crow,Idaho to Bison Bill(Buffalo Bills identical twin bro)Wyoming on half a tank of gas.


i know things get pretty deep down in texas...so here try this

because voltage changes during the day, the temp of your melt will also vary if you use the exact same dial setting.

if one was to use a "5" setting on monday am, its is unlikely that you will have the same temp at a "5" setting on monday pm.

if the boolits you make monday am are great, there is no guarantee that your pm casting will produce the same quality.

so for those in texas, get a thermometer, and only use the dial as a reference, not a rule........

was that better ???

[454PB]

I only wish my pots thermostat was as accurate as the voltage control of the electric utility that I worked for for 37 years.

[44man]

I feel that the only time you would have a problem with voltage variations is when the casting is done at the low end of the temperature for that mould. I would find the setting needed with a thermometer when the voltage is a little low and just use that setting all the time.
I tweak my dial all the time for different moulds, alloys and weather conditions and how fast I am casting. Just have to watch how the boolits are coming out. No fixed rule and no two pots have dials or thermostats that are the same.
It is just easier to keep the temperature a little high.