Why would...

[CPL Lou]

My bullets drop from the mold all nice and shiny, then when they cool, look like galvanized tin ?
Alloy was WW/Lead/Tin - 75% WW, 15% Lead, and 10% Tin.
Funny thing is that when they first dropped from the mold, they looked perfect.
ALL bullets cast, whether from a cool mold (wrinkled), or when the mold got up to temp, did the same thing.

Thanks for any input !

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
You are most likely casting too hot. The alloy not necessarily the mold, but that can get too hot as well. I do not think the frosting will hurt much.

[CPL Lou]

Alloy temp was never higher then 700 degrees.
I know, has me wondering too.
WW had NO zink in it (I melted it myself).
Maybe the WW had more tin in them then the usual ?

Thanks !!!

[R.M.]

Way too much tin. 2% is all you need.

[MtGun44]

Just the crystals forming to their final state in the metal as it cools, nothing to be
concerned about. If you really do have 15% tin, there is nothing whatsoever wrong
with this other than wasting rare and valuable tin. About 2% is all that is required to
get good liquidity in the metal so it fills out the mold well, after that tin only adds
a very small amount of hardness, and is much more expensive than wwt metal so it
is like adding gold to your beer. No damage but a waste of money.

Dilute this with straight wwts back to around 2% and you will be making most efficient
use of your valuable resource.

As to the frosty looking - nothing bad about frosty boolits. If you cast a bit cooler this
will minimize and go away, but it is not harmful. lower pot temp or slower casting rate,
or a small fan blowing on the mold or a wet rag to touch the mold bottom to for a couple
seconds every so often are ways to lower mold temp. Nice but fill out is critical, frostiness
is not.

Bill

[Rusty Shackleford]

I agree with previous 2 post on the subject. Scrimp on the tin, it's your most valuable ingredient of an alloy. I only cast for handgun and buckshot, but frosty bullets (IMO) are just the result of a successful casting session. Hot molds means things are working great. I work it as fast as I can. You can take a break when the pot is empty.

Hang in there LOU

[Lizard333]

I went through the same dilemma a while ago, wanting to know why my boolits weren't "purdee". I have been trying to get my mold temps down, and it helps, but at the end of the day, what does it matter?? A well formed "ugly" boolit from a good mix, will shoot just as good at 1000 fps as a really shinny boolit.

I have to admit, from what I have seen on this Forum, I have a lot to learn. I have been Casting for only six months, and I am getting better every time I cast, but some guys here are truly producing pieces of art. Almost, and I stress almost, to purdee to shoot!!

[CPL Lou]

This board has been a great source of information to me over the past few years.
Actually, it's all your fault I got into casting in the first place
I had been thinking about casting since I was a teenager but couldn't quite commit to 'just do it'.

I want to thank all of you that replied to my post and thanks for ALL the information.
I do believe each of you had a piece of the puzzle.

Great people, great resource !!

Lou

[gray wolf]

Use 1 or 2 % tin --It's all you need

Alloy temp was never higher then 700 degrees.

With that mix you probly were liquid at about 500* I would cast that mix at 600 to 625*
Shiny then frosted = mold , metal or both a little hot. Not bad but a little warm.

[geargnasher]

Probably a result of over-tinning your alloy by about seven times! When there is more tin than antimony present in your mix, the tin forms pure nodules throughout the mix like graphite does in nodular cast iron. Whether or not it really hurts anything is a subject of some debate regarding propensity of overtinned alloys to lead, but the main issue seems to be with appearance and high-velocity applications where alloy composition is more critical. Properly-tinned antimonial alloys will frost quite nicely, like these, if your mould is hot enough to produce the effect.

Now here is an example of different mould temperatures affecting fillout and frost level, that's WW +1% tin. The ones on the right were wrinkled, shiny, and poorly filled-out, and there were coold spots in the mould yet. The ones in the middle are what I call "just right", lightly frosted from a nice, evenly hot mould just above the "shiny" temperature, and it will wipe off with a dry rag leaving a shiny boolit beneath. The ones on the left are from an overheated mould showing heavy frost, pitting, rounded edges, and the "sandblasted" effect:

Gear

[CPL Lou]

The bullets on the left side look exactly like what my bullets do.
This was my 1st time using a 6 cavity LEE mold (230 gr TC for my .45 ACP) so I probably did overheat the mold (also 1st time using a hot plate to pre-heat the mold).
Like I said, everybody had a piece of the solution !
I think next time, I will see how hot that hot plate is before I set the mold on it and see if that helps.
I am definitely going to cut back on the tin !!! I had bought 30 ingots (Lyman) of 50/50 lead/tin just before I went back in the Army, so I have allot of the stuff on hand. Also got 60 ingots of pure lead at that time.
I spent a couple of hours smelting down WW yesterday (50 lbs) and decided after I did the last batch to go ahead and cast some bullets.
So I added a bar of 50/50 lead/tin and 2 bars of pure lead. Don't know exactly what that came to alloy wise but it did fill my 20lb LEE pot.

Thanks again folks for all the help !

[gray wolf]

if it was a 1 pound bar that's a 1/2 pound of tin.
I think 8 Oz. of tin is still a little rich for a the pot. Don't forget that pot does not hold a true 20#

[CPL Lou]

I cut my alloy 1/1 with additional WWs and ran mold mold a bit cooler.
I had to slow my casting pace down and I made double sure my alloy stayed around 600 degrees.
The reward, nice shiny (almost) bullets.
No more extreme frosting, just a light haze (I can live with that !).

Thanks again for all your help !

Lou

[MtGun44]

Good job Lou.

Bill

[mroliver77]

Lou, are you using your 20lb Lee pot for smelting the WW? If so that is not a very good idea. It will crud up your pot and result in the drippity drip syndrome. It is also good to have fairly large batches of alloy to keep results uniform. I salvaged a burner from a gas hot water heater, a couple gallon freon tank for a crucible and an expansion tank from a hot water heating system as a jacket to surround crucible and keep the heat on it. I use an old torch regulator from an oxy- acetylene torch set to regulate the propane. You can really throw the fuel to it!

For .45ACP, 38Spcl boolits I use WW/lead 50/50 with 1%-2% tin added. For 9mm, .357Mag, .44mag I water drop same alloy or go with straight WW + 2%-3% tin

If I can be of any help just ask. I have lots of pots, pans, buckets, barrels, steel, hubcaps etc.
And, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!!!!!
Jay

[CPL Lou]

I have a 20lb Lee Magnum Melter that I smelt and cast from. Up until today, I have been a ladle caster and until a few months ago, all my casting was for my muzzle-loaders. I started casting for my .45 ACP and also a 9mm about 3 months or so ago.
I just did get a LEE Pro 4-20 bottom pour pot (today, as a matter of fact), so I'll be giving it a go tonight.

As for my service....NO CHARGE.

Lou