So, I'm a moron

[ScottJ]

and maybe dyslexic. I have managed to mis-read my dial calipers.

I thought I had .431 boolits and .431 throats but I was reading it backwards.

The throats are .429 and most of my 200 boolits had to be rejected because measured correctly they were .428 at the base. All are bigger on the 2nd and 3rd driving bands but the bases are always .001 smaller which tells me I probably still didn't have the alloy and/or mold hot enough.

Either that or I managed to miss a zinc weight and got it into the alloy.

I have test fired 7 rounds with the lighter 22.3 grains of 296 load. As you would expect I got some leading. Fortunately it came right out with the bronze brush.

So, what I've done is set my calipers at one needle-width more than .429 and rejected any that weren't at least snug between the jaws. That yielded 56.

I've applied another coat of LLA. I don't think I had enough. I had only put it on so you could feel it. Didn't change the color of the boolits. Now they have a light amber tint to them.

Going to try these over 13.5 grains of Accurate No. 5 and will try to get some better casts another day. I figure I should be able to get .430 out of this Lee mold if I do my job. Might have to air cool rather than water drop.

[Firebricker]

Scott, Anybody can have a bad day that certainly does'nt make you a moron. I would check your mould make sure there's no oil or anything preventing the base from filling out. If its an aluminium mould try smoking it. After you cut the sprue look at the bases if they dont look filled out dump em in your remelt can. FB

[HeavyMetal]

First it doesn't matter if you air cool or water drop if your boolits aren't filling out in the mold...well they aren't filling out in the mold!

You say you are using a Lee mold but didn't say how many cavities.

If it's a single or dual cavity mold dip a corner of the mold block in your alloy and, when the lead doesn't stick to the mold any more, dip the sprue plate, the area designed to be struck with a mallet, into the alloy until you can't get lead to stick to it.

Now pour a few and you should be able to get maximum fillout! Odds are you will have to dip the sprue plate ever 3 or 4 casts to keep it hot enough. this is the technique I've come up with when casting HP's and it has really improved fillout and quality of boolits cast.

If your using a 6 banger you'll need to find another way to heat the sprue plate.

What I did was weld two 1/2 inch square 4 inch long strips of steel to a flat 1/4 inch steel plate just far enough apart to hold the handles on a Lee or Lyman mold.

Setting this plate on my electric hot plate and setting it just under medium generates enough heat to get the Lee 6 banger hot enough to cast with. In use I set the mold "sideways" in the "cradle" formed by the steel strips. the handle "prongs" which the mold bolts to keep the mold from falling over and, on it's side, the sprue plate is always in contact with the metal which keeps the sprue plate up to temp!

I then rotate a pair of six bangers, or Lyman 4 bangers, through my casting process.

Again I have found this is great for base fillout and getting maximum fillout from all bands on any mold I cast with.

[ScottJ]

I did smoke the mold (Lee 2 chamber for 200 grain .44s) and heated it once by dipping the front corner in the lead.

Didn't try the sprue plate. Will have to try that next time.

What makes me feel like a moron is that I've been reloading and using dial calipers since 1993. Have no idea how I got so discombobulated. Probably because I was shocked to have 200 boolits that looked decent first time out.

[Trey45]

As a machinist i have seen senior journeymen machinists misread a mic or a caliper on more than a few occasions, it just happens! Don't beat yourself up over it. At least you weren't working an expensive piece of material in a lathe and undercut it! Yes, I have seen that happen too. A $125,000 piece of special order bronze was undercut by a journeyman machinist in my old shop his 2nd cut!

[ScottJ]

As a machinist i have seen senior journeymen machinists misread a mic or a caliper on more than a few occasions

As a coder we usually at least have backups :)

Although I have over the years clobbered critical data when there was no undo.

The one the always sticks in my mind was when some poor operator was forced to re-process an entire mail tray of payments because I was careless with some DELETE FROM statement.

I think I apologized to her for a month.

[qajaq59]

What makes me feel like a moron is that I've been reloading and using dial calipers since 1993. If I had a buck for everytime someone misread a dial caliper I'd be shooting Gold bullets. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

[theperfessor]

ScottJ - If I had a quarter for every time I've misread a standard micrometer movement by exactly 0.025" we could both have a good steak dinner. And a "backwards" micrometer movement such as on a depth micrometer always makes me slow down and double check my readings. At least you can always remelt and try again.

Have you considered that maybe your Lee mold is actually smaller at the base, i.e. the cavities are tapered and not truly cylindrical? It is difficult to measure any part of the cavities except the base diameter without special tools.

[ScottJ]

Have you considered that maybe your Lee mold is actually smaller at the base, i.e. the cavities are tapered and not truly cylindrical? It is difficult to measure any part of the cavities except the base diameter without special tools.

I sure hope not. Lee usually makes pretty good stuff IME.

I'll check the base (and read the freaking dial better I hope :D ) this evening when I get home from the office.

[theperfessor]

Don't get me wrong, I like and use a number of Lee molds, but their quality can be a little spotty. I know at least one of my Lee molds has slightly tapered cavities, but the bullets are big enough to size down in my Lyman 450 and it doesn't seem to have any effect on accuracy. I understand that shooting undersized bullets as cast is another issue.

[Huntducks]

like I would worry about .001 I don't think so some are getting way to carried away casting loading and shooting should be fun not a second job.

[Freightman]

like i would worry about .001 i don't think so some are getting way to carried away casting loading and shooting should be fun not a second job.
yep!!!

[ScottJ]

like I would worry about .001 I don't think so some are getting way to carried away casting loading and shooting should be fun not a second job.

I also have the under-lubed factor to consider.

I'm using LLA and didn't have enough to color the boolit. I was taking Lee's "less is more" advice a bit too literally.

[wallenba]

Don't think you're a moron, everyone flubs one now and then, here we own up to things. Why don't you ask Crash Corrigan about his first Lee six cav, LOL? Funny story! And he does'nt mind tellin' it. Myself, I loaded my 45 Colt Vaquero with 44 specials, could not figure out why there was no recoil! Shot three before I got real curious and unloaded and found the walls blown out of my new brass! This was less than three months ago, and I've been reloading since 1977.

[ScottJ]

Why don't you ask Crash Corrigan about his first Lee six cav,

Was that the sticky I saw about not realizing he needed handles?

That was a good one.

[wallenba]

Was that the sticky I saw about not realizing he needed handles?

That was a good one. YEAH!!:razz:

[303Guy]

ScottJ, that makes you pretty normal! It's also normal for us to beat ourselves up over mistakes like that.:mrgreen: (Been there a few times!):drinks:

[ScottJ]

I definitely have my share of "moments" and they've gotten worse as I age.

I know that shorts are a no-no but for my first session I took the "just be careful" approach. Especially since I was using welding gloves that came up almost to my elbows. I reached out to get at the alloy and do all pouring so I wouldn't have it over my legs.

I did really well at keeping molten metal from bare skin until right at the end when I was putting excess into a muffin pan and reaching further than I had all session. Got a tiny glop on my leg and now (a week later) have a sore to remind me not to do that again.

I also learned my 40 year old body can't take sitting cross-legged on concrete for 2 and a half hours any more.

[EDK]

Your burn, aka a visit from the tinsel fairy, makes you a member of the club.

I wear long pants and shirts all the time...I work in a power plant. When casting outside, I use a plastic lawn chair and a table that is covered with welding shield cloth. I'll be doing better soon...the step son and I spent the day on the 12 X 20 reloading shed (see my thread GETTING EVICTED.)

Use a micrometer if you have one...dial calipers have accuracy and repeatability problems unless you're a skilled machinist.

Look up the sticky about how RANCH DOG does his boolits. Tumble lube, seat gas check, dip in LLA, let dry and run through sizer. Boolits processed that way have actually removed lead from my VAQUEROS.

A harder alloy will cast larger. You might also want to read up on venting moulds, beagling, and other tricks for larger boolits. You can also lap it out larger...which should also give you easier release from the mould.

There's a million tricks to solve casting problems...and a whole bunch of people here willing to share knowledge they gained the hard way.

:Fire::cbpour::redneck:

[ScottJ]

I wear long pants and shirts all the time...

I'm in AL and have been blessed with a very active cooling system.

If I try long pants and sleeves in our Summers I'm likely to create a tinsel fairy visit off my sweat.

[Bret4207]

Smoking the mould both insulates the mould from the heat it needs to cast well and produces a smaller boolit. The heavier the smoke, the smaller the boolit. Your size problem may well be related to the dinky Lee "ladle". Try a larger ladle, it gives you more flow and you can get better fill out. If ANY of your boolits are coming out larger than others then it's either your mould not closing tight every time or a fill out issue.

I don't know how anyone can cast sitting. Way too much to do to be sitting down, for me at least.

[JSnover]

I scrounged up an old (heavy!) wooden table with a 4' x 4' top and I do all of my smelting and casting on it. No sitting, squatting, bending, and everything is right where I need it.

[bigboredad]

instead of smoking your mold try polishing your cavities. I also had much much better results when I went to a bigger ladle and even better results when I drilled a 3/16 pour hole in the side

[canyon-ghost]

:coffee: Think we might have that in common here. I've had that trouble with a 9mm. The bases fill out better with hot lino/ww mix but the weights don't want to work out well for me.
I'm considering tin, they claim that makes the bases fill out better. Pure wheelweight does that also. My smaller rifle rounds don't have that problem, the long bearing surface in the center takes care of it. That's an instance of lead elasticity because they are all air-cooled and soft.
If you don't have a headache from all that, you aren't human.

[ScottJ]

Finally got around to measuring the bases of the chambers of the mold. One is.430 on the button and the other about .4305

[Whitespider]

I’m sure we’ve all experienced blunders that make us feel like a moron; let me quickly tell you of one of mine... so you know you’re not alone.

A few years ago I was on a weekend reloading marathon, getting ready for a trip west to shoot prairie dogs and also the summer trap league. I’d just finished trimming a bunch of cases, several calibers, and the bench was covered with brass chips, as well as a few dead primers that had bounced during some decapping. I was setting up my shotshell reloader and spilled about 2-cups of Red Dot all over the bench, as it was mixed with brass chips, dead primers, #7½ shot and whatever else was lying on the bench it couldn’t be saved. I just swept the whole mess into the large ash tray I keep on the bench, planning to properly dispose of it later. Well I finished the trap loads, put all the powder and primers away, washed my hands, flipped on the TV news and kicked back to deburr all those cases I’d trimmed. I lit up a smoke, couple big drags and set it in the ash tray... WOOOOOSH!!!

HOLY CRAP.... Do you have any idea what 2-cups of Red Dot do when ignited? I actually screamed out loud in horror. I’ve still got the scorch mark on the ceiling to remind me of that bone-head move.

[qajaq59]

HOLY CRAP.... Do you have any idea what 2-cups of Red Dot do when ignited? I actually screamed out loud in horror. I’ve still got the scorch mark on the ceiling to remind me of that bone-head move. I've had a few blunders over the years, but I'm sure glad I skipped that one. :kidding: