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Thread: Past two hours: wasted

  1. #21
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Some days loading & casting is therapeutic, some days it's torture. On the bad days I just shut things down and find something else to do, if things aren't going well I'm better off not handling 750 degree lead or gunpowder.
    Endowment Life Member NRA, Life Member TSRA, Member WACA, NRA Whittington Center, BBHC
    Smokeless powder is a passing fad! -Steve Garbe
    I hate rude behavior in a man. I won't tolerate it. -Woodrow F. Call, Lonesome Dove
    Some of my favorite recipes start out with a handful of depleted counterbalance devices.

  2. #22
    Boolit Master ACrowe25's Avatar
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    Did you learn ANYTHING? If so, nothing was wasted. Did you learn nothing? Then yes time was wasted and you need to figure out WHY

  3. #23
    Boolit Master Just Duke's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pretzelxx View Post
    Wanted to get the oil changed today since I've got a free change on the dealer. I figured might as well get a good two hours in on casting! 630 I put the mould up top of the pot and cranked her on medium while I dropped the wife off at work. Got home at 710 or so, and turned it up to 9. Let it get hot for an extra 20 minutes with the mould warning still. That's when things turned annoying.

    The first 20 casts went like normal, stuck boolits and loads of wrinkles. The next few were starting to bother me. The lee wood handle fell off.... again. So I ram it back on the metal and continue. No good boolits about 20 minutes in with fiddling around, trying to get the boolits to drop decent. Then the handles fall off again. And again. My penta point at this time is releasing well, but still wrinkled. The rear cavity is holding on to every single boolit that comes its way! Oh, and the handle fell off again. What a royal pain. I quit. Its 920 and I spent almost two hours with this mould and about 15 lbs of lead reheated and cooled, I'll try next weekend when maybe I haven't had the worst week in two years.

    Just blowing off some steam. How's everyone else doing? I need a drink, its not even 10 yet.
    I heard Al makes some nice handles. Mine are Lees with hand made wood handles.

  4. #24
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bad Water Bill View Post
    If you REALLY want those *$% handles to stay, take a file and cut notches in the metal part of the handle and use the product of your choice to glue them in place.

    Just remember even you will not be able to get them loose ever again.
    Along the same lines, I like to use a small cold chisel and knock up a few barbs on the corners of the handles before I put them back on with RTV.
    ”We know they are lying, they know they are lying, they know we know they are lying, we know they know we know they are lying, yet they are still lying.” –Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn

    My Straight Shooters thread:
    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...raight-shooter

    The Pewter Pictures and Hallmarks thread:
    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...-and-hallmarks

  5. #25
    Boolit Master Just Duke's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by imashooter2 View Post
    Along the same lines, I like to use a small cold chisel and knock up a few barbs on the corners of the handles before I put them back on with RTV.
    And JB weld.......

  6. #26
    Boolit Master pretzelxx's Avatar
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    I like lee cause its from my homestate, might as well employ people to make good products for the price bracket, and with a little modification make it perfection. Guess it wasn't entirely wasted, I've learned to not start casting when my anger is getting the best of me, and that I MUST have a hotplate. SO, hotplate comes in tomorrow. Also, don't spare the RTV, go heavy or it'll fly off again. Why waste a mould when I can grab a tube of the stuff and go to town!
    I'm glad I'm in the hands of highly experienced casters, thank you all!
    Using Tapatalk

  7. #27
    Boolit Master silverado's Avatar
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    Today I hit my hand with a 2 pound hammer and spilled 1/2 pound of powder while reloading.... decided to quit and pick up a pack of beer instead....
    You better watch where you go and remember where you been
    That's the way I see it I'm a Simple Man. - Charlie Daniels
    For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. -Matthew 6:14-15

  8. #28
    Boolit Master pretzelxx's Avatar
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    Oh.... that's really bad. I feel for you, it's almost like losing gold down a wishing well, or bad luck well I guess.
    Using Tapatalk

  9. #29
    Boolit Bub
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    I always warm my mold up on a hotplate and it drops good boolits after just acouple of pours. I have to set my hotplate on the low to medium setting or it gets to hot.

  10. #30
    Boolit Master pretzelxx's Avatar
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    Click image for larger version. 

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    Batch of today's junk. I just can't seem to get good boolits!
    Using Tapatalk

  11. #31
    Boolit Master

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    You need heat.
    Let the mold float on the melt untill the lead falls off it.
    I do not even smoke mine. I just soaked it in mineral spirits for a day, and it has been happy ever since.
    For real sticky molds, I cast several for each cavity, put a sheet rock screw in the base of each, then hand spin it with valve lapping compound. Does not take much. I cast a few for each cavity so I do not change size much. If it changes at all, it is even.

  12. #32
    Boolit Master Just Duke's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pretzelxx View Post
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Batch of today's junk. I just can't seem to get good boolits!
    I'll be living just west of again soon. Give me a jingle and I'll help you get some decent ones made.

  13. #33
    Boolit Master pretzelxx's Avatar
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    I'm going to clean them again really well and watch some more videos, I'm frustrated. I got the concept down, just some of the finer details keep ruining what should be a great time
    Using Tapatalk

  14. #34
    Boolit Master pretzelxx's Avatar
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    I might even remelt my ingots and clean them up a bit more. I wonder if my lead is slightly dirty. I flux two or three times with pine bedding and it looks clean on the top, after I make ingots and cast, it seems to start showing black spots in the boolits. Kind of a gross dirt like appearance.
    Using Tapatalk

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check