First try casting = ugly bullets

[dbarnhart]

Mind you I did not expect museum-quality boolits from my first casting session. I'm doing exactly what I figured I would be doing: Asking the experienced folks here for help.

- Pot is a used Lee Production Pot 4 (bought used for $5 hee hee!)

- Lead is reclaimed range lead in 2.5 lb ingots

- I have a thermometer and the molten lead is almost exactly 750 degrees

- Mold is a Lee 2-cavity mold, 45 ACP 230gr, Lee # 90346

The first few I cast were really frosty-looking which I interpreted as the mold being too hot. After a bit though all my boolits started to look like these.

What do I need to do differently?

[waco]

A little frosting is no big deal. Make sure you completely degrease the mold before you cast.
I would scrub it out good with a toothbrush and brake cleaner, or mineral spirits, then boil in water for about 10 min.
Make sure to keep that mold hot. Cold & greasy molds equal wrinkles.
Waco

[geargnasher]

Waco about covered it.

The thing about frost and aluminum moulds is that when your mould first gets hot enough for frosty boolits (assuming you started with a cooler mould and not with the mould preheated to above casting temperature) the frost usually occurs right on the edges of the base and driving bands, making ugly, crystalline rounded edges on an otherwise shiny boolit. Many casters take this as a sign the mould is too hot and slow the pace down or cool the mould with a fan to get back to the shiny boolit stage. But if you keep letting the mould get hotter by casting fast and steady, or preheat it well to begin with, the heavy frost on the edges will go away and the whole boolit will take on a light, even, satin frost and the edges will be sharp again. If you go too far, the boolits will look dull and sandblasted, like freshly broken cast iron, and probably be undersized as well.

I prefer to cast fast enough to keep the mould at the temperature that throws slightly frosty, satin boolits. I get better fillout and find that the temp range for consistency is a bit broader and more forgiving than trying to keep the mould on the cool side of frosty. There is a very fine line between rounded, poorly filled edges and perfect, non-frosty, shiny boolits.

One thing I'd do for sure is add a little tiny bit of tin, like 1% by weight or so, to that range scrap. It's fresh on my mind because of another thread where a fellow was having some issues due to not having enough tin in the alloy. If you do this, keep your alloy temperature below 750, in fact 700 is probably better, that way your tin can do it's job. Due to rate of tin's oxidation, its antioxidant properties (whicy have the effect of making the alloy cast better) ar mitigated by excessive heat. Use your casting pace to regulate mould temperature for good boolits. Changing the pot temperature, overheating it, or otherwise dinking with it won't make your boolits any better, focus on mould temperature.

......But don't forget to degrease the mould like Waco said!

Gear

[dbarnhart]

What if I preheat the mold by letting a corner of it rest in the molten lead?

[glicerin]

I preheat the mold on top of furnace while it's warming up, then dunk mold corner and sprue plate 30 sec. for 2 cav., 60 sec. for 6 cav. I don't worry about some frosting, and always add 1% tin to ww and scrap bullet alloy when available.

[hedgehorn]

They will look better next time

[idahoron]

Don't get the mould too hot. It is possible to get it hot enough that when the puddle on top sets up, but the lead in the mould can still be liquid. When that happens you will open the mould and the liquid lead will dump out. It will get into the alignment pins and everything else making a HUGE mess. Don't ask how I know. Ron

[Bret4207]

I think there should just be a big bold header on the top of the page that says "CLEAN YOUR MOULD! IT"S NOT HOT ENOUGH EITHER!" I think it would help a lot of people. I know it sure would have helped me 30 years ago! I got to where I thought boolits (they were still "bullets" back then!) just had to look like prunes.

[dbarnhart]

Well I have some tin on the way. Rotometals has these tin pellets that are each about 2oz:

http://www.rotometals.com/product-p/tinhighgradepcs.htm

[geargnasher]

Don't get the mould too hot. It is possible to get it hot enough that when the puddle on top sets up, but the lead in the mould can still be liquid. When that happens you will open the mould and the liquid lead will dump out. It will get into the alignment pins and everything else making a HUGE mess. Don't ask how I know. Ron

Simple fix for that: Don't worry about overheating it too much during preheating, and if your first pour takes more than eight seconds for the sprue to set, cut the sprue and look at the bases carefully BEFORE opening the mould blocks. If the bases are still mirror shiny and smeared a little lead when you opened the plate, WAIT to open the blocks. But you know that now!

Gear

[Chihuahua Floyd]

I just buy lead free solder at the hardware store and cut into 2" pieces. add one piece with each lead muffin ingot.
CF

[MtGun44]

Yep - wht they said - more heat, clean the mold. Add tin to the mix. Cast faster, do not
spend time admiring your work. FILL, CUT, DUMP, FILL, CUT, DUMP - NO BREAKS.

Bill

[Hang Fire]

I have found Lee molds given a good wash with carp cleaner spray, wiping out with a lint free cotton rag and preheating the mold on hot electric hotplate has the boolits dropping out easy and looking good on first cast.

Others mileage may vary.

[stubshaft]

What Brett said!

[Recluse]

One thing I'd do for sure is add a little tiny bit of tin, like 1% by weight or so, to that range scrap.
Gear

Yep - wht they said - more heat, clean the mold. Add tin to the mix. Cast faster, do not
spend time admiring your work. FILL, CUT, DUMP, FILL, CUT, DUMP - NO BREAKS.

Bill

In case you missed what Gear and Bill said. . .

Dirty, cold mold. Solution--clean mold thoroughly, heat mold thoroughly. Keep mold thoroughly hot. The only time I ever "dip" an aluminum mold is when I get tired of trying to scrub any residual grease or oil out of it; I just dunk it for ten/fifteen seconds and THAT pretty much evaporates it out.

But then I have to let the mold cool.

Another thing I'll add about adding tin. Those micro-band boolits? My experience has been to add extra tin to even normal Lyman #2 alloy and you'll get much better, more consistent fillout around those bands which is what you definitely want in a TL boolit--because that's where your lube will be.

I first tried this with my beloved old Lee TL358SWC boolit. I was getting pretty danged nice boolits with normal alloy, but when I added more tin than I normally ever would for any other boolits, the boolits came out looking like works of art.

Fillout was perfect. All bands and edges nice and crisp. LOTS of nice, even, perfect surfaces to hold my tumble-lube concoction. Well worth the extra tin.

So remember: Clean, Hot, Additional Tin.

[runfiverun]

those don't look like cold or dirty mold issues to me.
that looks like kirksite or calcium in the alloy.

[GT27]

( Cold mold syndrome) It will get better with time,you get a (feel) for it when your casting,everything clicks mind,pot,and mold! And with experience will come more success, and the occasional failures...: Confusious say: Man with 500 degree pot,hot mold,and cold water for dip,have warm heart,big smile,and shiny boolitz!

[kweidner]

you may also be filling the mold to slowly. it only takes around a second to fill a large cavity like .434 of .454. That pot takes a little getting used to. either your pouring to slow or you lift handle too much and make a mess. put old cookie sheet under pot, wear leather gloves and go for it. You will eventually get the feel for it. Happy boolits are cast fast from pot to mould. tiny streams cause wrinkles.

[geargnasher]

those don't look like cold or dirty mold issues to me.
that looks like kirksite or calcium in the alloy.

I took a better look and I think you may be right. Notice the tiny pits in the surface indicative of contamination.

Dbarnhart, you didn't melt all that nasty range scrap right in your casting pot, did you?

Gear

[dbarnhart]

>>>you didn't melt all that nasty range scrap right in your casting pot, did you?<<<

no. bought it ingotized from another caster.

If it is contamination what can I do about it?