things to look for

[twc1964]

Ok guys, i have a new lee 6 cav 452-228 mold that I'm starting with. my first batch had a lot of wrinkles and were hard as a brick. i added some soww to soften it up and really got the mold hot before i started. now I'm getting well filled out but frosty boolits. i notice that a seam appears on many of them. really can't feel it but can see it. is this bad? I'm casting between 675 and 700 degrees. thx all

[merlin101]

The bulls eye will never even feel that seam, it also won't care about the frosty look.

[454PB]

Frosty is good!

[dubber123]

The seam is normal, and about impossible to completely avoid, even with very expensive molds. If you start to get a noticeable FIN on your boolits, then that would be a cause for concern. No worries, have fun.

[John Boy]

twc - appears you don't own a thermometer, correct?
OK, heat the pot melt and the mold so when you pour (however your doing it) ... the sprue puddle frosts in 5 seconds. HOLD THE POT TEMPERATURE THERE!
That temperature will produce bullets filled out and not frosty

[canyon-ghost]

When you soften them up, you lower the melting temperature. They'll get frosted faster, it's getting hot if you have a seam. If you can't feel it under your fingernail by much, it will run through a lubersizer.

[lonewelder]

Frosty is good just don't go past that.a seem you can see and not feel is normal

[twc1964]

John boy, i do have a thermometer but my lee pot jumps around like crazy. if. my thermometer says 675 degrees, itl frost in less than 2 seconds, really it frosts by the time i pull it from under the pot. at about 715 or so, i get 5 seconds or so before it frosts over. may be getting mold too dam hot i guess. il just keep on pluggin.

[rintinglen]

Of all the pernicious falsehoods floating around, the one about needing a thermometer to cast good boolits is about as bad as any. The boolits will tell you if you are hot enough, and as you have already discovered, a non-PID Pot will jump around 30-50 degrees. I find it much easier to get good boolits from a Large Lee mold if I try for frosty, well filled, rather than shiny and rounded. A light frosting is a good thing; it means you are getting enough heat for good fill out. Now even beer is bad if too much is taken, so you can over do frosting, but for a 6 cavity 40+ caliber mold, it is hard to get consistent, good boolits without at least a bit of frost. At least if you have antimony in the melt.

[twc1964]

Rintinglen, i do have antimony in the mix. I'm using 50 percent coww and 40percent lead pipe. added a bit of tin and a small ingot of lino to the mix. air cooling tbem also as they got hard as a rock when i tried water dropping them . a bit of a learning curve lol

[Garyshome]

Frosty the Boolit! Works for me!

[gray wolf]

i added some soww to soften it up

When you soften them up, you lower the melting temperature.

How do yo add pure (SOWW ) and lower the melting point ? when I add pure I raise the melting point.