My First Batch of Lee Drive Key 1oz slugs

[Ambrose]

It was the last warm(ish) day expected or a while, and I had the afternoon free, so I fired up my lee bottom pour put and put some stick on wheel weights bars in, and took my mold out for a test drive. Once things were running hot enough, I got what's below. I had some issues with the slug sticking to the drive key insert, so suggestions on that would be appreciated.







a better, higher resolution picture of the slugs (also a bit more of a closeup.. click for full resolution)

[Hogtamer]

I try to enlarge and it gets grainy, but is there a good bit of wrinkling on the slugs? If so need to get a little hotter all around.

[Retumbo]

Look for a burr...common problem. Just starting out myself

[Ambrose]

I'll check the key section for a burr and try and smooth it off. I added a better picture, so please feel free to let me know if they generally look good or if they look like 1oz ingots for my next attempt. Either way I had fun and learned a lot, so I'm calling it a success.

As for heat, it's possible. I ran the pot pretty hot ( 791 as I recall), but I didn't have a good groove and has plenty of starts and stops that let the mold cool off, so a decent # of them wee probably poured into a cool mold ( especially since windy and 50 isn't exactly furnace heat :P )

[longbow]

Yeah, my Lee 1 oz. mould had more than a few burrs. It needed a little TLC to fix it up but casts well now.

More important than alloy heat is a steady cadence to your casting so that as the sprue hardens, you cut the sprue, drop the slug, close the mould, close the sprue and pour again, repeat until you have a pile of slugs. This steady fairly rapid cadence will keep the mould hot. A hot mould = good fill out.

While maybe a bit wrinkled, they don't look bad to me. Weigh a few and mike them to check consistency in weight and diameter. If they are within a few grains of each other and within a couple thou in diameter they are good to go in my opinion.

Are you shooting rifled gun or smoothbore?

Longbow

[Ambrose]

Smoothbore. For me that's my Vepr 12. I generally shoot with my Brother in law, who also has a smooth bore ( a cz 612 in his case).

I sort of want to try one of the paradox chokes Moltot makes (they make one that will extend the barrel out to 26 inches, that seems like it would have enough rifling to do something...), but I can't get any reports as to whether or not they improve anything on lee drivekey or lyman 525 slugs, or if they just cost money.

[Cap'n Morgan]

I learned the hard way not to let the mold get too hot when casting finned slugs, as they would tend to stick in the cavity (push-out mold). Apparently a really hot mold will cause less shrinkage. For the same reason a hot mold may be better when casting Lee slugs since less shrinkage means less binding between slug and core, but I'm only guessing here...

[Hogtamer]

Well, they seem ok...you might polish (not grind) the groove in the "key". I use a bit of baby oil on a q-tip to lube the mold, get it hot enough to cast and let the first few stay in the mold a few seconds each to bring mold temp up till they drop clean and quick. A wooden tapper is your friend on those first few.

[bikerbeans]

Your slugs look way better than my first attempt a few years ago.

BB

[FullTang]

Polishing the core pin will help with sticking; you can also use some dry lube, or mold release, or smoke it more. The wrinkling will go away as you get the temperature up and get the mold seasoned a bit more.

[Radarsonwheels]

My 7/8oz Lee mold needs a healthy tap until I start running it hot enough that the sprue is almost going to smear and the slugs are still soft when they drop- like if I drop them from more than a couple inches up they will smoosh out of round! If I cast them hot like that then I just open the mold almost on my towel and they drop by themselves.

[nicodiesel]

i cast and shoot thousands of them a year and they work well. heat up your mold by putting a corner in pot and also smoke the key with bees wax candle and its should work just fine.

[Ambrose]

I'll definitely polish and de-burr the drive key before I use it again. I'll also clean, relube (with extra care ), and give it a good smoking. And, then I'll cast more slugs and we'll see how it goes.

[SniderBoomer]

They look good, way better than my early attempts.

Do try the 7/8th oz Lee Slug too, a number of my buddies who shoot slugs with smoothbore, insist they are WAY more accurate.

[sluggageslinger]

Yours look good to me. I've molded, loaded and tested three 7/8 recipes so far. I've launched a bunch of them that looked no better than yours. I'm seeing them fly straight and tight at 50 yards and been unable to tell them from the much fewer more perfect examples we produced.

Great thread for folks like me who are just getting into this reloading thing. Thanks to all ya'll!

[Ambrose]

I've heard the same about the 7/8 being superior (as well as using less lead.) My next mold to to try is the lyman 525 style (I've already ordered one of the lovely brass 2 cav ones from mp molds), especially since I may be getting a rifled choke to test them with, but the lee 7/8 is definitely on the list of ones to try.

Also, it is good to know that my first attempt turned out decently for a first try, since I'm sure that subsequent attempts will be better.

[Hardcast416taylor]

If there are no burrs holding the slug in place and you have the right pouring temp going, I found that using a Q-Tip with the smallest amount of 2 cycle synthetic oil on it I then wipe the slug insert. To each his own cure for this mold from LEE.Robert