My Lee 230gn 300 BLK mold came in a few days ago, I reread some of the info in the stickies on mold prep and had a go at it, some wheel weights and the gas stove and a HF noncontact thermometer and instant fun! Only cast a small amount pouring straight from the stainless bowl, they all came out at .309" at the lube grooves, first few lead at 300 deg. mold at 110 deg. to cold wrinkles, second pour 330 deg. lead 130 deg. mold better, last pour lead 350 deg. mold 150 deg. NICE!!
Last edited by machanic; 09-05-2012 at 01:02 PM.
Those temperatures must be in Celcius...
No actually they are in degrees F, just not accurite, noncontact infared thermometers don't record accuritly on shiny surfaces, I'm hoping for repeatable results at best. I have to get a ladle of some sort and clean up my lead before I can try again with a little more production.
Last bullet on the far right, bingo, that's the stuff!
In all, the .41 Magnum would be one of my top choices for an all-around handgun if I were allowed to have only one. - Bart Skelton
Wheee! That thermometer is off by at least 300º on your lead, then -- and I wouldn't count on it being repeatable, either, as it'll probably read higher as the lead skins over with oxide even if the actual temperature is constant.
If you had a bottom-pour casting pot, you could probably get a good reading off the spout at the bottom, or if you get an actual casting ladle (about six bucks plus shipping for the Lee unit -- too bad you didn't order one with the dies, you've have saved four or five dollars by combining) and let it stand in the melt long enough, you should get a good reading off the cast iron ladle surface.
I skimmed just befor the temp check so I'm hopeful, I did make a few snap caps to test mag and barrel feed, blue urathane primer plug allows dry fireing.
Thanks canyon-ghost, with all the pros and cons I read about Lee molds I was concerned about quality, I read a lot of GOOD info on this site!!
Hey Machanic...
Is that Lee mold only available from Midway??? Or did you get it somewhere else???
A cheap lead thermometer would do you more good than the IR. I use an IR at work but it's only to find radiant tubes in floors. You are not going to be able to get repeatable results. The surfaces are to reflective and are constantly changing. You need to match the emissivity to the material. And for any hope of accuracy you need to practically be touching the object you're measuring.
Bullets look good so whatever you were doing was working.
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Midway, didn't weigh them yet, not enough good ones to see if there is an issue!Originally Posted by StratsMan
As for temp yeah a good thermometer would be better but it is all I had at the moment and I wanted to try out this mold
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