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Thread: First bottom pour casting session

  1. #1
    Boolit Master

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    First bottom pour casting session

    I started casting when the ammo madness started several years ago. My equipment has consisted of Lee molds, a Lyman iron pot, a Lyman ladle, and a Lee stirring spoon. That's it, except for my Bayou Classic burner and a section of broom handle about 18 inches long.

    So I bought a Lee 4 20 furnace and used it for the first time today. Melt time was as advertised, about 20 minutes. I had the valve screwed shut, but there was no dripping while melting.

    I was using a Lee .379 for 38-55 that was bored by JES. I sized the boolits to .378 in an RCBS lubrisizer using White Label 2500+ lube. I am the kind of guy who wears belts and suspenders just for extra safety, so after sizing I did a light application of 45-45-10. Boolits sized and lubed came in a 253 grains.

    For mold lube I used Lucas semi-synthetic 2 cycle oil, because that's all my local Autozone had in stock, but before this I had only used wax.

    Some observations:

    I never had to use the broom handle to release a boolit using the Lee bottom pour, but I have to use the stick pretty frequently when using the ladle.

    There is no comparison between using wax as a lube and 2 cycle oil a mold lube. I now think I have destroyed some molds with wax. But I learned on Lee molds, so I guess that's cheap tuition.

    I only got drips one time: when I added more lead to the pot. The Lee pot began to drip a lot right after that. I guess the rapid addition of a large ingot raised the valve from its stem. It was easy to stop.

    I opened the valve one full turn. I had too many boolits with wrinkles. I think I should have opened the valve more for faster flow.

    I got more near-perfect boolits that I ever got from ladle casting.

    Lead temperature was much easier to control as compared to my Bayou Classic. I never over heated the mold. With propane I have probably destroyed a couple of aluminum molds due to over heating.

  2. #2
    Boolit Buddy
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    Glad you like it. You can't beat it for the money. I made a pid for mine and it brings it to the next level.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master dikman's Avatar
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    In my experience wrinkles are caused more by temperature than flow. In my case I dropped the temp from around 750 to 650 and got much nicer boolits. (But I have a PID ).

  4. #4
    Boolit Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by dikman View Post
    In my experience wrinkles are caused more by temperature than flow. In my case I dropped the temp from around 750 to 650 and got much nicer boolits. (But I have a PID ).
    So as you lowered the temperature you got better boolits? Why does higher temp result in wrinkles?

  5. #5
    Boolit Master el34's Avatar
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    A cold mold seems to be a big contributor to wrinkles. But how cold is cold? I've fiddled with a way to measure mold temp, it pretty much worked, and found that lead at 700 and the mold between 400-500 makes everything happy. But that was only on 230gr 45 boolits, Lee 6-cav mold. Smaller boolits seem to get a bit trickier and hotter lead/mold seems to help out.

    Frozone www.jconninv.com has a box with a pot PID controller AND a mold temp measuring thing all in one chassis. Don't know how cumbersome it is to have a thermocouple stuck in a mold but it's intriguing and might become commonplace someday. Finding the happy combination of lead and mold temps would be great. And repeatable.
    "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H. L. Menchen

  6. #6
    Boolit Master dikman's Avatar
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    seaboltm, that was my recent experience casting .44 cal 212 gn boolits. I had the pot set at 750 (I'd been casting pure lead for roundballs) and the boolits had wrinkles and weren't very pretty! So as I was using range scrap I decided to drop the temp, as alloys usually need lower temps than pure lead. Result was nice smooth boolits.

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    Very interesting. How do the boolits look? What was the weight spread, on how many boolits, and what percentage did you throw back?

    I shot CBA Matches and Schuetzen both, for several years competitively, and never saw good agg's with bottom pour in competition. I would appreciate your' sharing the accuracy with us as compared to the ones shot with the ladle. I poured 250-400 boolits, 215gr 32 caliber with a 3/10ths spread over a two to two and one half hour casting sessions. I threw the first half a dozen back, then kept the next hundred or so before refilling the post and fluxing.

    Rich

  8. #8
    Boolit Master

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    I did not weight them for spread. I generally use boolits for plinking and light hunting in calibers like 44 magnum and 38-55 Winchester and 45-70. Truthfully I prefer jacketed bullets for serious accuracy or hunting work. I did not cast many, about 56 as I only have 50 38-55 cases. Of those the first 6 were not so good as the mold was brand new, so I had to heat it up and season it a bit. After the first 6 the next 50 were fine with 45 of them near perfect and 5 of them with minor defects but usable. So other than the first 6 through a brand new mold, I threw none back. But truthfully, if were into long range accuracy with boolits, I would have thrown the 5 back into the pot, so that is not too good at 90%. But, once I had things going and the mold was hot, I was getting a lot of great casts. Had I cast 100 I am sure the percentage of keepers would have gone up.

  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master
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    ALWAYS preheat your molds on an electric hot plate to CASTING temp, not just spit-sizzlin hot. You will get wrinkle-free perfect boolits evey time........I sure do!

    As said and you have found out, temp is the key to good castings.

    Send me those molds you "destroyed with wax"!

    Only way to really destroy one is ding the cavities or warp it. Wax will NOT ruin anything. It is a hydrocarbon and can easily be dissolved and removed with a little acetone and 0000 steel wool. I have done it successfully numerous times. I use beeswax all the time as screw/plate lube for my molds and never a problem. NOT candle wax or paraffin! Haven't ruined a one yet!

    banger

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BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
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