I appoligize!

[Duckiller]

I wish to apologize to everyone that has asked for help. I never said anything but sometimes I had less than charitable thoughts. Thursday I tried casting with a new mould. Started out with a Lyman 358156. Have used it in the past and had no problem, No problem Thursday. Then I tried my new mould. A SAECO 069. 200+/- gr SWC for 45ACP. Could not fill the mould cavity before EVERYTHING got hard. Turn up heat on lead. Sprues filled but boolit cavties were 3/4 full. Partial boolits were heavily frosted so I turned down the heat. That didn't work any better. Should add that I cast outside in my patio. Temp was in mid 70's with a fairly good breeze. Was about ready to turn everything off and come in to the computer to beg for help. Before I did I tried putting the sprue into the pot spout. This worked! I had tried this before but it had never been necessary. This time it was the only way I could get complete boolits. I am assuming that the breeze was cooling the mould/lead too much and preventing complete boolits. Finished up with a Lyman 311440 poured with an air gap and had no problem.
At various times members have asked for help for what I thought was a simple problem and they were were advised to take standard steps to cast boolits. I never said anything but occasionally had less than charitable thoughts. After Thursday I now understand that some moulds can cause special problems and need special treatment. I promise that I will not think bad thoughts about casters that have problems and will try to make helpful suggestions. Duckiller

[leadman]

Somtimes the frustration makes one not think the problem thru and in asking for help the thought process is started again.

I have an old Saeco with the sprue plate pivoted on the handle screw with a thick sprue plate that it is normal to have to dip the plate in the pot or the cavities will not fill. Helps with the new thicker Lyman plates also.

[sagacious]

It's all a process of learning... and sometimes one runs into a new situation that forces one to go back down the list of standard fixes. :)

I suspect you're right about the breeze cooling the mold. A little breeze can really make a big difference on mold/melt heat management.

The reverse of the situation is that a small fan set on low can speed-up your pouring session if the castings are taking too long to solidify.

[Bret4207]

What's even worse is when you've had the problem before, can't figure it out and come here to do a search, only to find YOU YOURSELF provided the answer to someone else!

[wiljen]

Try heating the mold on a hotplate at about 3/4 heat while you are letting the lead melt. For problem child iron molds, I find that to be the most common fix.

[mooman76]

As long as you learned somthing all is good. Everyone has had problems with moulds one time or another. Sometimes you have a problem mould and sometimes it's just a simple unkown factor or something we are missing and sometimes we are just having a bad day. If I am having to much problem casting I usually will just turn it off and come back later and the problem is usually gone. On a rare occation I keep stuggling til I find the problem.

[RP]

I have found very small changes make big differances with casting and they are easy to (not see) until you step back and look or ask. Having this site is the best thing sometimes for getting a answer even if its a simiple answer.

[462]

Duckiller,
Glad you got it figured out.

Isn't it interesting how many fixes there are for any particular casting problem? And then we are to remember them all? No, just ask away.

[Dale53]

I have cst literally hundreds of thousands of bullets (NOT a misprint). Typically, I do not have problems, period. However (ahem, seems there can ALWAYS be a "however") on occasion there can be just plain VOODOO! I cast pretty frequently (because I shoot frequently - see how that works?:veryconfu). At any rate, I was casting last year and was having problems with fill out. Things just flat were not working. Finally, in frustration, I quit.

This was in the morning. Later, that afternoon, I went back. I did everything EXACTLY the same way. Same pre-heat on the hot plate. Same pot of bullet metal. Same mould. Like I said same everything. There was ONE difference - everything worked splendidly. No problems whatsoever. The bullets filled out, they fell from the mould, and near perfect production was had until the pot was empty.

VOODOO!! That's what it is/was, VOODOO!

Thank goodness, that it seldom happens. But-t-t, when it does sometimes it helps to step away from the action and try again later...

FWIW
Dale53

[Trey45]

One of the most satisfying aspects of this hobby for me is solving problems I encounter. Often times I think I've got an issue solved only to find out later it's not, a little light reading here on this forum, learning from the labor of others and following advice has fixed most of the issues I've run up against. A good friend of mine got me started in this adiction, we'll get on the phone and talk for hours about a certain mold, or a bullet style, or a particular set of load data, and how to improve it, or make it do what we want it to do. Mistakes are part of the learning curve, learning from those mistakes and applying the solutions to other problems is part of the process.

[1Shirt]

I consider all molds and all firearms to be female! Accordingly, they are all different, have different needs and feeding cares, as well as being tempermental. Once I accepted that premise, I have seemed to get along with most of my molds and firearms. AND---those that I CAN'T get along with, I divorce via gunshows and ebay.
1Shirt!:coffeecom

[RBak]

What's even worse is when you've had the problem before, can't figure it out and come here to do a search, only to find YOU YOURSELF provided the answer to someone else!

ROTFL..... Bret you're sooo right.

Some folks may not appreciate the real humor in this, that is until they reach the age of 70 or so. Even then I suspect it will be some sort of 'sick humor' at best, but it will darn sure make you chuckle.

These so called Golden Years just ain't what they were cracked-up to be.

Trey45 mentioned that "one of the most satisfying aspects of this hobby for him is solving problems"....I like that!
In fact, I think we all go through a stage of looking for challenges, working them out, congratulating ourselves for a job well done, and then bathing in that euporic feeling that follows such accomplishments.

But, I also think that there comes a time when we get tired of "challenges" and want to kick ourself in the butt for getting into a such a pickle in the first place.
This just might be the time we go looking / asking for answers and find, as Bret said, we already did that! Duh!!!

It seems Duckiller worked out the problem on his own but it also seems it got him to thinking about other folks. I like that too!
It made me think that perhaps all of us old timers should stop and think about the new fella's question just a little bit more....kinda like cramming for finals??

Russ

[JesterGrin_1]

I have to say I am kinda new at casting. And had no big problems with my Lee Moulds or my Lyman Moulds. But I had one HUGE problem with the brass group buy mould from here that is the 44/444 300Gr Hollow Point. I went through about 60 pounds of lead through that mould and could not get complete fill out lol. Drove me nuts but after I got tired it worked lol. What I was doing is like every other mould I had is put the lead stream directly in the middle of the sprue hole. But when I let the lead stream hit the edge of the sprue plate and have the lead stream swirl into the mould it worked every darn time lol. And yes I was very happy lol.

I did ask here for help with this brass mould but almost all of it was not enough tin too much tin and so on. And I am sure most of the time that would be correct but in my case it was simply the method I used to pour. :)

So yes if I can help I will jump in as when I need help I hope others do the same as in my simple thinking we are here to help each other out and to give information that can not be found in a book. :)