Practice!

[slide]

My son and I have gotten most of our equipment together to try our hand at casting. We have two molds from Mihec. After seeing a lot of info on this site and reading past posts we decided to set everything up on our table(inside under ac). We started dry running through the steps if as we were actually casting boolits. It has helped a lot. This way we won't have to learn with a mold full of hot lead. I got to thinking though,are we possibly hurting the molds by doing this. They are opened and closed as if you were cutting the sprue and dumping bullets. What do you guys think?

[canyon-ghost]

No more than using them will. I suggest using lead, watching it solidify to a glazed silver appearance, then cutting the sprue. There's a certain rhythm to it. That will take practice all by itself. It isn't something really hard to do, if you use an alloy that's the same all the time.

I started casting just after reading the Lyman "Cast Bullet Handbook #3" by myself. If a guy can figure out how to make bullets on his own, about anybody can.

Oh, nice avatar. Lon Cheney? the real Wolfman?

[slide]

Lon Chaney Jr. You are correct,give that man a cigar. I am looking forward to our first casting (when it cools off some) Just gathering equipment has been a blast.

[Catshooter]

slide,

That's an excellent idea and won't hurt your moulds a bit.

One tip I have for you is that I am absolutley wonderful at knocking stuff over, bumping into things, stubbing my toe. With that in mind, casting on a table makes me nervous and I would just hate dumping over a full pot of lead. I try to use something like a bolted down bench or something really heavy to set my pot up on.

Good luck, enjoy casting with your son and welcome to the site too.


Cat

[slide]

We thought about the pot too. Screwed it to a piece of 2x6 and clamped it to the table. It is a good idea to check the clamps sometimes. How do you secure your pot?

[Mk42gunner]

Since my bench is made out of recycled 2x6's, I drilled a hole on each side fo the base of the Lee 4-20 and use a couple of drywall screws to secure it.

Robert

[mdi]

We thought about the pot too. Screwed it to a piece of 2x6 and clamped it to the table. It is a good idea to check the clamps sometimes. How do you secure your pot?

I bumped the bench once and saw how easy it would be to tip over the pot (Lee 4-20) so I drilled a couple holes in the base and ran wood screws through the base and into the bench top (better a couple small holes in the bench top than 20 lbs of hot lead sloshing around!)...

[Catshooter]

Like was said above, screws work wonders.


Cat

[cbrick]

I got to thinking though,are we possibly hurting the molds by doing this. They are opened and closed as if you were cutting the sprue and dumping bullets. What do you guys think?

Won't hurt anything but I highly recommend using the sprue plate lube that came with the molds. Keep opening and closing the sprue dry isn't something I would do with a brass or aluminum mold. Wouldn't run your car engine without oil would you?

Rick