My First Batch

[jlucht01]

Well, I bit the boolit and bought a newbie Kit. Lee 4lb pot, dipper, and a 356 two holer. I purchased 50lbs of range scrap from XD-40 and melted 4lbs down. Turned the 4lb pot to 7 1\2 and let the mould warm up.

I don't seem to be getting the volume out of a pound that i predicted. 7000 grains to a pound. My 122 grn mould is kicking out 131 grn boolits, So I expect 53 boolits per pound. I managed to get 70 out of almost three pounds(two Ingots) There is a good size nugget in the pot that the Lee dipper can't quite scoop out. I do have 15 or so that I rejected and haven't remelted due to throwing them in some water to cool them off after letting them sit. I am not water dropping. So I am worried that I am doing something wrong.

My first batch was rather wrinkled. I remelted the boolits and and turned up the pot to 8. I noticed that anything above 8 I would get glowing embers on top of the molten lead. After letting the mould heat back up I finally produced decent boolits and they measured ok. .591 in height and .3555 to .3565 in diameter.

The only thing left to do is check the hardness. They appear pretty hard by the finger nail test.

BTW.. this is an awsome forum!!

Joe

[wallenba]

Wrinkles can come from a cold mold, or a too slow pour. Also check to see if your ventilation, fan if you are using one, is blowing on the pot. If your mold is aluminum, they require in my experience, some external heating to keep at temp if your rythm gets broken. I use a cheap hot plate. Also your pour technique, got to keep the ladle close to the sprue plate.

[jlucht01]

I work my mold over my pot all the time. If my rythem gets broke for any reason the mould gets put on the pot. After 5 or 6 cast they cleaned up.

[Bret4207]

Get your mould hotter to lose the wrinkles. Make sure its clean, clean, clean too. Many moulds seem to take 2 or 3 casting sessions before they decide to cooperate.

When you get a chance get a different dipper than the little Lee spoon. You'll find a Lyman or RCBS works a lot better. The glowing embers on top of your melt are probably flux of some sort.

[armyrat1970]

I had the same idea as you at first because the Lee pot is labled as production pot IV. It is not a 4lb pot but a 10lb.