311291 Difficulties...

[Edward429451]

I've tried twice to cast some 311291's and havent got a good bullet yet. Cleaned, degreased, the driving bands come out all rounded. I tried casting at a higher temp, and lower temp. Ladle pour and bottom pour, no go.

What could it be? The bases come out nice & sharp as well as the noses.

This is the smallest diameter rifle boolit that I've ever tried to cast for. Whats the trick to get the mould to fill out completely? (my 148g bnwc's come out good).

I'm missing something and I just can't put my finger on it.

[AnthonyB]

Edward, I had the same problem with my 311291. Problem went away when I 'beagled" it with aluminum tape to drop larger boolits. I suspect it was a venting problem and the tape held the block just far enough apart for good venting. Tony

[Edward429451]

I'll try that. I have aluminum tape.

Did you give up on the 311291, having no 310 sizer die anymore or did you go to a different sizer?

[David R]

It sounds like it could be venting. I have a 311291 and it casts boolits like crazy. Nice looking boolits. What is your melt?

For venting you can take a small file or even an emery board (womans nail file) and make a few light swipes at 45 dagrees (degrees?) where the mold halves meet on top to help let the air out. Just one or two light passes should do it.

More tin? I use 2 to 4% depending on how the mold fills out. Some won't agree with me but what the heck.

That is a nice boolit once you get it to cast properly.

David

[Edward429451]

My melt is WW's with a 1 lb roll of 50/50 per 20 lbs WW's. That mix has always worked good for me in my pistol boolits even though I've been told that it may be too much tin.

Good idea on the venting and not something I'd thought of. I plan to try it this weekend if it doesn't snow. I'll post back with my (success) results and let you know how it went.

Thanks.

[Maven]

Edward429451, What is the temperature of your melt (alloy)? If it's too low, poor fill-out may result. (I cast @ 725 deg. F - 750 deg. F with #311291.) Also, have you smoked both cavities with a wooden match or butane lighter? This really aids in the production of perfect bullets.

[Edward429451]

Maven, I do not know. I've never used a casting thermometer. I keep telling myself that I need to pick one up and stop guessing but have not.

On the Lee bottom pour I have it's generally set about 4 to 5 with higher at first and gradually turn it down towards the bottom of the pot. On the big pot that I ladle cast from I have ut on high at first and bump it down to where they do not frost. It's worked pretty good for pistol boolits. I've never felt the need to smoke moulds. After they're warmed up the release easily.

Question for you guys...I've 'heard' that frosted bullets will be brittle and break up...but I hear some of you guys talk about just wiping them for astetic reasons and their fine. Whats the scoop on that? Frosted ok for target but not for game, or is that just a wives tale? thanks.

[454PB]

I own 3 Lee pots, and they all cast best with the thermostat set between 7 and 7.5. Try that setting and see what happens. Frosted boolits are just fine, in fact I like them that way.

[buck1]

Frosted are just fine as long as its a even frost. They are surface micro cracks that can be wiped off.It only effects the surface. I like it because I know Its less likely to have a void (liquid longer)
Try letting the lead run even after your ready to stop. Sometimes the 1-2 seconds longer will fill the boolit out better (BIG sprue).
A scribe and a light touch on the vent lines should let it vent if thats your problem......Buck

[chunkum]

Edward429451,
That is a good bullet and it should cast better for you than you describe. I've found that a combination of the following will generally augment proper filling on that pesky front driving band. First off, spray you mould with the non-chlorinated brake cleaner some more. When the mould's hot is good, and, for me, helps this problem. Second (and third too, I reckon.) "There are few casting problems that cannot be solved by the addition of more heat and a lilttle more tin." Some wheel weight batches demand more tin than others to achieve the surface tension needed for sharp angle fill out. And "ditto" on the frosted bullets. I like 'em that way and what the guys have said regarding them is also my experience.

[Edward429451]

Well, I'm getting better boolits now. I cleaned that mould real good paying particularly good attention to the vent lines, plus ran it a little hotter than usual. Dunno which idea was correct but am happily churning out good 311291's now. Appreciate the heads up on this.

[Edward429451]

So what GC do I use with this 311291 boolit? I have some hornady's and they're too small. Annealing them and opening them up with a round screwhead didn't work so well for me....

[Harry O]

Ed. That number sounds familiar. I have cast with that mould (and probably that very one). I think the casting temperature is a lot of the problem. My primary pot is a Lee pot like yours (and two others that I rarely use, one of which does not have a maker mark on it). Anyway, I have never gotten good bullets below about 7 to 7.5 either. Actually, I generally cast a little bit hotter (7.5 to 8 for regular bullets and all the way up for hollow-base bullets). That works best for me.

[Edward429451]

What kind of GC's were you using?

I've been casting hotter lately. About 8 is as low as it goes until it get to the bottom of the pot. I've read about using different kinds of checks but I can't find it through a search and don't really want to gamble another 20 bucks to guess at it.

Nice boolits, just need to get em checked.

[Buckshot]

..............The 311291 is a 30 cal, so it would take 30 cal GC's. If your 30 cal GC's work with your other 30 cals then the problem would be with that mould dropping oversized GC shanks. Assuming the mould is dropping round boolits and the blocks aren't offset to each other due to damage you can send the mould blocks back to Lyman assuming they aren't obviously abused or really old and well used.

Your other option is to make a simple tapered hole in a bit of steel or aluminum. Set the GC shank into it and give the boolit nose a rap.

..............Buckshot

[Harry O]

What kind of GC's were you using?


Just standard 30cal Hornady gas checks. Don't remember any problems with that. I have a couple of .375 bullets that don't fit the Hornady GC's very well, but I cannot remember having a problem with that in any 30cal mould I have.

Hotter always helps for me, at least until I start getting partial frosting. If it is still not working well, I crank up the temp until it is a uniform frost all over. If that doesn't work, I add some more tin. 99% of the time, the two (heat and tin) take care of any casting problem I have.

[twotoescharlie]

I recently got in on a fat 30 group buy. I recieved my mold and it cast pretty good. problem is that I don't know what I have got as the box that it came in was not marked.
can someone post a picture and the approximate weight so that I can figure out what I have?

many thanks,

TTC

[Buckshot]

I recently got in on a fat 30 group buy. I recieved my mold and it cast pretty good. problem is that I don't know what I have got as the box that it came in was not marked.
can someone post a picture and the approximate weight so that I can figure out what I have?

many thanks,

TTC

............On custom buys from Lee none of the boxes come marked. As a Honcho I've never bothered to mark any I've headed up. If it was for the "Fat 30" which had been done twice, the slug should be about 185grs and .316" on the bands and .303" on the nose or thereabouts, depending.

Best deal would be to go back to that thread and send the honcho a PM about it.

...............Buckshot

[Dale53]

I recently bought a used Lee mould (six cavity) from someone on the board here. He had marked the underside of the mould blocks with a vibrator "engraver". Now, that's a dandy idea. I think that I will do the same to my other Lee moulds. It will save trying to "recall" just what it is by looking at the mould.

Dale53

[drinks]

I recently bought a Lyman lead thermometer. I tried it with the 10lb Lee bottom pour at my usual setting of "7", it was 700'.
That does not mean your pot thermostat will be the same as mine, but is one example.

[fourarmed]

I noticed that the Gator .30 caliber checks were enough larger than Hornadys that they would go on a shank that absolutely would not take a Hornady.

[Edward429451]

I'll have to try some of those Gator checks. Got a link for them?

I'm kind of in uncharted territory here with the cast 30's. No other 30 moulds and my first try (s) with it or any rifle slug w/GC. No problems with casting them good anymore, just those darn checks.

I tried again this weekend with mixed success. I had not tried using my GC seater for my 450 so gave it a whirl. Some of the annealed and flared checks went on fine, while none of the non modified checks did at all.

The new problem came in attempting to lube the checked slugs. My sizer die smears one side of the boolit. Lube grooves either gone or just seriously diminished. Not fit to shoot. Bah.

I think my sizer die hole may be a little bit off centered...?

Or that the small diameter of the sizer is screaming for just the right touch (doubt it) from the operator somehow.

Or my press has alignment issues which I doubt also because I'd have problems with other calibers also if that were the case (I think). I mostly size for .430, .452, .460, and a few .358's.

I'm tempted to pan lube the remaining 30's and see how that works, but am a little hesitant because they drop from the mould at 312 to 313 and that might be a little too large. What do you guys think?

[44man]

Everyone is right, you are casting WAY too cold. I cast hard lead at a minimum of 7.5 and some large 20 to 1 boolits will even go as high as 9 on the Lee.

[Edward429451]

Oh I'm casting hotter now. The boolits come out nice, it's just the GC/lube problem now.

Am I going to be ok pan lubing these and shooting them at .311-.312. These for a microgroove 336 and a 700ADL. Thanks.