Why so frosty ? Help

[Cntrmass]

I am adding a little tin to wheel weights and casting temp is a little over 600,just enough to flow out of a bottom pour pot.

I get mostly frosted bullets from my lee 45 moulds.

I melt and clean the wheel wieghts,add a little tin and pour ingots.
Then when I cast I just melt the ingots.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[targetshootr]

Sounds like your lead might be too hot. The thermometer on your pot could be off.

[Namerifrats]

If you don't cool your mold it'll frost the as well.

[Ben]

Cntrmass :

You may be casting too quickly.

Try slowing down to about 1/3 or 1/2 the speed you are casting now.
A moist sponge touched to the sprue plate ( with bullets in the cavities ) prior to the opening of the mold will help cool the mold down a little also.

Thanks,
Ben

[Namerifrats]

I'd also reccomend getting a reloading book / manual with a section on bullet casting. It'll tell you all the basics such as what causes frosty bullets. 2 good ones I can reccomend are ABC's Of Reloading and the LEE 2nd Edition Reloaders Manual. Both have sections on casting and I gained alot of knowledge from there. Also, when keeping a moist or wet towel nearby for cooling make sure it all steams off the mold. It it doesn't then you've over cooled your mold and risk getting water in the pot, not good!

[JeffinNZ]

How do they shoot? Forsty doesn't necessarily mean bad.

[leftiye]

Centermass,
Regardless of what the control SAYS the temperature is- if you want it to be cooler, turn it down. Cooling down should abate frosting. There may be a problem with your alloy in that it may frost regardless. Not necessarily so, just maybe. Regardless, experiment with the temp control.

If you're coating the mold with mold prep, match flame residue, Carbon from whatever source, soapstone, pencil lead, chicken boogers or whatever, try stopping. Clean the mold and see what happens to the boolits' surfaces. Lee molds (in my experience) are a little tricky as to surface condition. One that I've got started out requiring very high mold temp, and very high alloy temp during the first casting. That was with mold prep. During subsequent sessions, necessary temps came down to normal, and prep became unnecessary. Only idea that I can come up with is that the mold surface became cleaner (though I had cleaned it very well) and "seasoned" or "wore" in with further use. I suspect that it took that long to burn off some bullplate lube that got into the cavities (even after cleaning with lacquer thinner).

A little frosting is generally thought of as a good thang by a majority of casters, and depending on alloy, may be unavoidable, so look for good fillout and consistent weights accepting some frosting if necessary.

[Cntrmass]

They shoot just fine, they just don't look as good as some I've seen a friend cast.

I measure the temp with Lyman thermometer and can't go any cooler or it won't pour out the bottom of the pot.

I may not be fluxing properly according to the lyman manual.

[Single Shot]

What is the source of the Tin you are adding?

If it is from lead free solder, that is 5% antinomy. This has caused me frosting in the past.

If you are using a LEE aluminum mold, they say you can touch the bottom of the mold to a wet cotton towel about every third cast to keep the mold cooler.

This has work well for me with a Lee 45 mold.

Go to this site: http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm all sorts of casting info.

[454PB]

I normally run 700 to 750 degrees using WW metal in my Lee moulds. I get light frosting, which I strive for. It's hard for me to imagine 600 degrees causing frosting unless there is a contaminant in the alloy or you are casting VERY fast.

[OLPDon]

They shoot just fine, they just don't look as good as some I've seen a friend cast.

I measure the temp with Lyman thermometer and can't go any cooler or it won't pour out the bottom of the pot.

I may not be fluxing properly according to the lyman manual.

Good Looking holes in paper are better then Good Looking Boolits in the case. Ifen your rifle don't mind the way they look then............. Mooch some of the pretty ones from your shooting partner and see how they do. He may and you might both be suprised.

Just my thought.
Don

[454PB]

In case you didn't know it, you can use a rag to polish that frosting off of the boolit.

[Newtire]

As long as the boolit doesn't stick in the mold, I wouldn't worry about it being too hot. Like someone said already, if it is filling out and frosty without getting stuck in the mold, that's about as good as it gets. Cooling down the sprue plate on a wet towel makes for a nice clean cutoff in my experience.

[cast-n-blast]

Frosty bullets hold lube better and have less voids than shiney bullets. I strive for frosty bullets.

[stubert]

I run my bullets in a tumbler for 15 minutes or so after they cool down. It takes the frost off and they all come out a dull gray, I don't get any damage to the bullets. I am using an old Midway vibrating tumbler.

[Shiloh]

What is the source of the Tin you are adding?

If it is from lead free solder, that is 5% antinomy. This has caused me frosting in the past.

If you are using a LEE aluminum mold, they say you can touch the bottom of the mold to a wet cotton towel about every third cast to keep the mold cooler.

This has work well for me with a Lee 45 mold.

Go to this site: http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm all sorts of casting info.

Is there something else in the 95/5% solder that causes frosting??
That is the tin I use to help stubborn range lead ingots to flow.
Is there another type of tin that is readily available??

Shiloh

[Buckshot]

................A frosted surface over the entire surface of the cast boolits isn't a bad thing in itself. So long as the boolits are sharply cast, you have a good one. Usually frosting is indicative of high temps. I've found that a fully frosted slug may drop from the blocks a tad smaller in OD then one that isn't.



These are from a Lee 358-158RF 6 cavity mould. They were ALL cast with a high alloy temp (over 800*). The slug on the left was cast in a cooler mould. After dumping boolits, the closed blocks were slowly dragged across a folded rag in a saucer of water, then refilled. So the blocks were cooled.

The middle boolit is frosty and was cast using the BruceB fast casting proceedure with just the lead puddle on the sprueplate touched on the same damp rag, swung and dumped.

The boolit on the right was dropped from a hot mould with the sprue being allowed to setup for however long it took, swung, dumped, and re-filled as fast as the sprue allowed. You can't see it in the photo, but it's appearance is different then the frosted slug. This one had a surface that had a crystaline like appearance. Visualize a sheet of electro galvanized steel, vs hot dip.

All 3 were sharply cast and well filled. I used to recall the diameters and weights but they've slipped from my mind now. However the left and right slugs cast the largest OD's and were effectively the same measurements. The middle one dropped slightly smaller in OD.

Naturally different alloys may reverse the measurements for the 3 proceedures above.

...................Buckshot