first attempt

[craigdennis23]

Well I finall got all my gear together and was so excited I figured well its nice and cool here in az at 12 am so why not. Took floodlight front of the garage and had at it. Let me say I've.got the.lee 4-20 bp and when the lead alloy was molten she started making lead waterfall designs. I must admit I was in a bit of a panic cause it was a comin out quick (probably my imagination) so I turned the screw and turned and turned ect. Well I guess you gotta stop turnin it to see if its gonna quite lol. It stoped and I fluxed with candle wax when It was at temp and stirred. Then began, I'm a newb completly and only know what I've read on this great forum. After that short story my queation is, if I post pics of the results can you tell me if the temp was close for.the melt and the mold or anything else for that matter?
Pics will be up shortly

[303Guy]

Welcome aboard, craigdennis23.

Post those pics, someone will be able say.

[craigdennis23]

hope they post

[Muddydogs]

Hard to tell from your pics but I didn't see wrinkles or frosting so it looks like you ars in a good temp range

[Czech_too]

I'm a relative NOOB myself but from what I can see the boolits aren't frosted from to high of a temp. Here, I have to say that some of mine are, especially if I'm using an aluminum mould. One thing I think I see are rounded edges on the base of some of the boolets though.

[captaint]

Welcome craig. - Looks like you're on the right track. May need some more heat in the mold in order to sharpen up the bands on those boolits. No biggie - it's not like we have to eat our mistakes !@!! Might try a little tin. Probably no more than 1/2 pound for the 20 lb pot. The tin helps with mold/boolit fillout. Sharpen things up a little - you'll see. Try not to run the melt above 675/700 deg. In the beginning, I had to learn to pour faster and stop lookin at my work. Most of it went back in the pot anyhow !! It gets better, and when it does, we gotcha - you're done. No going back. enjoy and keep us posted. That's a fine beginning. Mike

[375RUGER]

it doesn't look like your bands and bases are filling out. did you add any tin to the mix? you might need to run a little hotter also. a little frosting is not a bad thing. my best boolits come out lightly frosted.
You should give as much detail as you can, mould, alloy, etc.

[runfiverun]

definately mold temp.
you are close though.

[R.M.]

There's one thing beginners do that can cause poor fill-out, and that's their pour-rate/puddle size. They try to not make a mess, so they pour slowly, and don't leave a big enough puddle.
Keep an ingot mold or something of the sort below the mold to catch any run-off. In time you'll get the hang of filling fast with a good size puddle, yet not spilling all down the sides of the mold. All it takes is time. You'll get the hang of it in no time.

[craigdennis23]

i think the mold heat may be somewhat the cause like someone mentioned for what little i know. because as i got towards finishing for the night (guess early morning 1:15am Lol) they got much better and a little larger? also the pour rate someone else mentioned is probably another issue, like you knew i didnt wanna make a mess.

you all are so great, nice to have a group whom ive never met take time to try to help out.

ill try and add tin also (where or what is a good source? the alloy is 20#s i bought off that un named auction site so im not sure on exact alloy but ill ask him.

the mold is a saeco custom precision no. 5g they come close to 200grains (197ish) swc oh also there .452 if that helps any

[craigdennis23]

also do you think if i sort through for the better ones theyll be ok to size lube and load? or remelt and try again. im gonna go shootin today so it would be neat to take a handfull with me to see the fruits of my late night .

[375RUGER]

I'd shoot the ones that have nice square uniform bases. or with a bevel base design a nice uniform bevel. If the grooves and front band is not perfectly square, no big deal as long as they are uniform.
Enjoy your fruits.

[runfiverun]

lube some and try them.
you'll most likely only want the bottom groove filled anyways

[craigdennis23]

wow i sorted through and gathered maybe 8 and loaded them up after completing them and shot them out of a norinco 1911 with the recomended starting point of unique and i am suprised. i also had hornady xtps hollow points ( i know store purchased ) and the swc gotta be fairly soft cause i had made a target out or 3/4 mdf bonded together so 1.5" of mdf shaped as a vertically challenged stick figurish man and wow these things blew bigger holes out of the back by a large margine and i was pushing the hp bullet alot faster than the boolit

[craigdennis23]

o and they were more accurate too boot so it seemed

[Bullet Caster]

Welcome to the forum craigdennis23. Now that you're hooked and addicted to casting it's too late to turn back now. Looks like you're off to a really good start.

I've also got a Norinco 1911 and I dearly love that pistol. I know I've had mine for over 15 years now and I purchased it new for $299.00. How long have you had that Norinco? The only mod to my Norinco is that now it has a polished feed ramp with wooden rosegrips. Didn't like those plastic ones. Oh yeah I had my friend (gunsmith) to change out the arched main spring housing and put on a straight one since I have small hands.

Enjoy and be safe. BC

[DrCaveman]

Well I say nice job.

I found that my first time shooting my own cast (about 6 months go) that mine shot amazingly straight, and blew big holes, and expanded waaaay better than my store bought 'HP' rounds at similar velocities. I predict that things will keep getting better for you.

If I have any words of wisdom, other than Visit this site and read as much as you can! It would be to run the Lee pot at full blast till the lead is melted, flux it, skim it, and pour 2 or three casts and dump them straight into the sprue pan. Then turn the pot down to about 4or 5, and pour maybe 2 more, dump into sprue pan.

Next pours should drop fairly frosted, but as crisp as can be. Frosting will drop after that, if your experience is anything like mine. I can usually run 10 pounds further at this point, with no obvious rejects. I usually have to adjust the pour rate at one point, about when the dripping starts.

As one addicted rookie-year caster to a newcomer, welcome, and enjoy your exposure to people far wiser and more experienced than us!

[DrCaveman]

When I say 'dump into sprue pan', I mean: let the boolits cool, open sprue plate, and drop as normal. Sorry if it was thought that I was suggesting dumping hot lead out of the mould.

[craigdennis23]

thanks again for the tips. ill try those settings with the pot and see how much better they get. addicted is probably the right word for it. i was up that night pouring my first boolits at maybe 1230am and got up this morning early to size lube and load a few.

i find that the money i had in paypal went quick as i kept buying molds.

i see the brass multi cavity hollow point molds on here and think ill probably jump in the next group buy that suits my needs.
ill need to slug my 9mms though from what ive read most say a .357 is a better fit than .356.

to top this off i want to brag i suppose! im fairly newly married with a three week old boy and momma wanted to go shooting my new shiny boolits today as well so grandma got to visit the baby for a cpl hours. just somethin about seeing a 120lb blonde shooting a 1911 and enjoying it. (also was the first time she shot a pistol, forgot the 9mm pistol at the house so 45acp it was, she is a freaking trooper emptied em as fast as i reloaded mags lol.)
o and my norinco was a well used purchase that since has been freshend up with a nice crisp short creep trigger and new match barrell. only thing is, is that it has colt rubber wrap around grips, id swear theyre like pacs but got the horse on em want to change them but they feel so good. it hasnt had the exterior touched yet because i cant decide what finish i like. (im a sucker for a jewled blue tho)

[JIMinPHX]

If the boolits have wrinkles or rounded bases, then you are too cold. If the boolits drop out of the mold shiny (like yours) then you are near the bottom of or below the proper temperature range. If the boolits come out dull, then you are probably OK on temperature. If they come out frosty looking, then you are at the upper end of the temperature range that you want to use. If you smear the base of the boolit when cutting the sprue even after waiting 20 seconds for the mold to cool down, then you are way too hot.