Why People Give Up On Casting

[44man]

No, it cut a ring of lead off by the time it got started down the barrel, although I did not measure it prior. Still, I had to pound it into the barrel.

I also suspect the size because a slug should not slide out with a dowel by hand. The bore must be oiled, not just the slug and you should have to pound it all the way. Brass rods the best, close to bore size.
I get a slug in the barrel and upset it with a brass rod at both ends. Yes, I can even do that with a revolver. You can wear the slug to a smaller size. Only pure lead should be used so it can upset to the groove bottoms. No spring back. I found round ML balls the right size work very well or pure sinkers, never an actual boolit.
let me find my ruler!

[ArrowJ]

I did oil the barrel and use pure lead (well roofing lead that I could cut with scissors), but did not use a brass rod.

I found it odd that it would push through with hand pressure after getting it started as well. I do not have the right tool for the job as concerns the brass rod so I will have to find that first before I attempt it again.

[44man]

JonB has really hit the nail without it bending. Life is easier when you don't worry. I retired with little money and needed molds so I made a vise out of cast iron to make my own out of scrap aircraft aluminum I had and scrap 1/4" stainless for sprue plates. I have a cheap Smithy lathe, drill, mill.
I make cherries and finish them by hand, harden and temper. I do not draw boolit designs, just cut what looks right and nobody has made better shooting boolits. Some have altered them for a custom but they are only close.
What I have learned can't be read anywhere except here.
You have a little problem casting is all, try to make molds!
I want you to stay and learn how great cast can be, all of us are here for a reason.

[44man]

I did oil the barrel and use pure lead (well roofing lead that I could cut with scissors), but did not use a brass rod.

I found it odd that it would push through with hand pressure after getting it started as well. I do not have the right tool for the job as concerns the brass rod so I will have to find that first before I attempt it again.

Roofing lead is good but have to admit I had access to a lot of things at work that is hard to find, some I had no idea at the time I got it for what use it was. Big, huge block of aircraft aluminum they were going to toss. Brass rods to 1". I worked at the airline and they tossed a lot that I could take with a slip signed by a supervisor. I have tables, doors, file cabinets, steel and all kinds of stuff from nuts and bolts.
I was ramp, loading airplanes but hung out with mechanics and had access to the tool rooms and parts departments. I used the tools and machines. The bench I am sitting at was tossed, I put my name on it and got a slip to take. i can adjust the height. I had combinations to parts lockers so I could put new blades on band saws. Or belts on sanders. I could go into the parts department to get drills, etc. Nobody from the ramp ever did what I had.
Mechanic supervisor would come in and ask what I was making. Life was great.
Many of my friends are aircraft mechanics that come to shoot, use my boolits and loads and even have me fix plumbing in their homes or electric and siding. I fix guns and have made more customs then I can name. I have done everything and anything from poured basement walls to fixing TV's, laid block to build my addition to roofing. Found my room was 1/8" out when hanging drywall. There is nothing I have not done from furniture up.
I have little tolerance for someone that can't make their way. Pie safe I made for Carol from a white oak that fell in the woods. My work carving a ML stock. Then checkering my Swede stock, cherry tree that fell in the woods.

[44man]

Can't cast a good boolit? In ten minutes with me and you will make thousands.
Ever checker a stock?Attachment 165261Attachment 165262My friends Enfield.
Ouch, ouch, Make a bad boolit and quit? How about making a scratch on a $300 piece of wood and quit?

[44man]

I know fear, it is there in spades when a guy brings a super piece of wood to make a stock from and checker it. Bring a kit ML and want it carved, they have no stinking idea. I did it anyway.
The mold is nothing compared to the fear I have had.

[Yodogsandman]

44man, that's some serious craftsmanship! Nice, nice stuff!

[44man]

I can't do it anymore. I would stare at wood for a long time and think about it longer.
The point is that once a chisel touches, you never stop even if it took a month before starting. Yeah I would procrastinate like nobody else.
My ML stocks were made from huge planks of curly maple I bought at a kiln. If you want something hard, that wood needs cut cross grain only or it will chunk out. I could not find store bought tools that cut so I had to make my own. I would leave the stock 1/8" larger, carve it and then take the rest of the stock to final dimensions. All cross grain.
Checkering was a real challenge, I tried the tools on scrap and tore it to shreds so I drew a pattern on a .22 smooth bore I had made a stock for, Winchester gallery gun I got free, no stock and broken firing pin. Much fun but it costs more to shoot then a whole box of .44's!
Anyway I did not make a single mistake with the checkering, something where practice is a waste of time. I never could put effort in practice. My second job was my Swede. I bought a fancy pattern from Brownel's. one that you wet and slide onto the wood, cut through it. I made all kinds of layout tools too so I could just draw a pattern. Cut grooves parallel, etc.
Then trouble with Ruger's with short transfer bars so the bar would drop off the pin with a light trigger. Made my own from a slab of thick tool steel by hand. Harden and temper.
Made ML mainsprings and frizzen springs by hand and none ever broke.
Had a guy bring an old double Ithaca, forearm was missing with all the steel. I made the steel parts by hand and let me tell you the part that rides the action was no picnic. I could not find any to buy. Then I made the parts to lock it on and the spring. Plus the wood.
I was crazy and nothing was too hard. I could fix cracked stocks so they never broke again and you could not see the fix.

[Handloader109]

Don't sweat it so much..... Get the pot out and try again. Btw, I made decent the first time out of the gate, had a lot of very frosty bullets, but they worked. Now the second, third, and fourth time I struggled mightily and had a lot of trouble. Tried too hard to make perfect bullets.... Oh, I have absolutely NO PROBLEM with turning on my Lee 20 pound pot and walking away while it melts my lead...... I ALWAYS close off the spout when I finish casting. Once melted and I am ready to cast, I open it up.... If it drips or slows down, I close it off and reopen the spout. Easy! Oh, I installed a wing nut on it to make it easy. The stupid slot for a screwdriver drove me crazy. Heat your molds up, I agree, about 4-5 seconds to frost (after about 5-10 casts) and once hot, I can open and cut sprue with gloved hand. It always seems to be easy, but it is tedious, trying and not always successful. Even now, I'll go start and shut down if things are not going right... And then try again another day. Don't pc, just size to. 357 and alox

[trapper9260]

I see no one said about, just make sure you vent the area you are casting in,that way you will not have problems later with your health. As for me I started from making sinkers when I was about 6 to 7 years old years ago, my dad taught me how to do it with out a mold usen sand and newspaper.But then later use a mold.I took up casting boolits on my own.It all take time to learn what will work for you and go from there.For pre heat the mold what I do is when I melt my alloy I have my mold on the hot plate at the same time .The time I have my pot all fill .My mold is alot of times up to temp and cast good. after you get a system on casting you keep it going you will not need to keep the hot plate plug in. Also if you need to stop for some reason and still have your plate going keep the alloy in the mold and set it on the plate till you get back to keep going. The alloy will help to keep the mold up to temp that will work. I do not use a term. to see what the temp is.I go by what the mold will tell me.Because with different mold makes and size booilts will not cast the same as others will. Like you have a mold to cast 22 cal and you have one for 44 cal the temp will be different. Just take you time to see what will work and go from there. The first ones i done did not come out good also.But learn from it. I also learn alot on this site also for some of the things I need to improve with.I am here to learn and give advice for what works for me.As to clean the mold I do the same as the OP and it works for me and I smoke it right after also. the first 2 to 3 sometimes will have some bad and good boolits but after that it is good after depends on how fast or slow you go.As for size of the boolit .it also depend on the alloy you usen of what is in it.That is what i found out. the softer and larger the boolit and the harder and smaller it will be.unless someone else have another reason for that beside the temp.

[ArrowJ]

I see no one said about, just make sure you vent the area you are casting in,that way you will not have problems later with your health.

I have the garage door open, a fan blowing, and wear a cartridge respirator. I was going to open the window, but that day the wind would have been blowing the fumes at me instead of away. I am guessing it is not as ventilated as it seems because a lot of it is probably caught in the rafters. I did my smelting at the front of garage almost outside.

[trapper9260]

You do good then .I just want to let you know about have it vented.Do not worry about the it going in the rafters.the main part is not get it going in your lungs. If you where not far from me.I am in NE Iowa,I would show you how I do it. Also what works for me.

[BNE]

ArrowJ, I read the first few posts on this thread and then skipped to the end....

Don't give up or get too frustrated. I started casting and ran into a lot of the same issues. I finally took every bullet I cast the first year and melted them down and started over. AFTER I read a lot of the advice given here. I was glad to hear you are 40. I'm 46 and feel like a little kid when I see what the "Old Guys" here know.

Keep asking questions, there is good help here.

[jonk]

Lots of good advice so far. To reiterate.

Don't worry about powder coating, or lube, or temperature. Worry about making good boolits.

I assume you degreased your mold.

Turn the Lee pot on high. When all the alloy is molten, let it go another 10 minutes. Dip the corner of your mold in for 60 seconds.

Now start casting.

if you still get poor fill our your alloy is contaminated. Otherwise, a frosted bullet is what you will have, and it's no problem.

Now make a pile of them.

We can go from there.

[44man]

I have the garage door open, a fan blowing, and wear a cartridge respirator. I was going to open the window, but that day the wind would have been blowing the fumes at me instead of away. I am guessing it is not as ventilated as it seems because a lot of it is probably caught in the rafters. I did my smelting at the front of garage almost outside.

Entirely not needed. There is no danger from casting except the dust when you skim. I dump it into a coffee can, it does not float in the air easy.
Smoke from flux catches fire and I mostly use wax, not an unpleasant smell.
I cast on the workbench in the garage by a window but in the winter I don't open it.
Our pots do not get hot enough for lead to fume.

[lablover]

Entirely not needed. There is no danger from casting except the dust when you skim. I dump it into a coffee can, it does not float in the air easy.
Smoke from flux catches fire and I mostly use wax, not an unpleasant smell.
I cast on the workbench in the garage by a window but in the winter I don't open it.
Our pots do not get hot enough for lead to fume.

This is good news, I've been casting in the garage with hardly any ventilation. If I'm cleaning the pot I wear a mask but thats it.

[Bonz]

I too got very frustrated when I first started casting. Had lots of issues and no one to ask for help. Finally I decided to think through it logically.

1st thing I did was buy some actual Lyman #2 alloy so that I was 100% sure that I had enough tin to get proper fill in the mold. That helped quite a bit.

2nd thing was discovering how temperature really has such a huge impact on casting. Both mold and lead have to be in the right temperature range. Bought a hot plate to maintain the mold temperature and it made a huge difference.

I have fine tuned my casting since I have been on this site. Most advice is good and helpful. I've used Alox since day one but I also want to get into powder coating. Alox is a "no brainer" and you just need to be sure that everything is covered and let them dry before loading them.

Have 2 Lee pots and the temps are all over the place and I was forced to babysit them with a thermometer. I finally broke down and bought a PID from a member on this site. No doubt the best thing that I have ever bought to improve my casting.

I bought a Cabine Tree lead hardness tester to remove a lot of the guess work. Linotype/Monotype is expensive and I just add enough to get my lead to about 15 bhn. Sure I have paid for the tester by now by not wasting Linotype/Monotype while hardening softer lead.

Read the stickies; lots of good info there, protect yourself from lead splatter/spill, keep your area ventilated and mostly enjoy yourself.

[flyingrhino]

Hang in there. It really is relaxing and rewarding. You sound like you are in information overload right now. My suggestion is to set your temp, preheat your mold and commence to casting. Goal here is to just get the flow of the process down. Dont worry about making good boolits. If you are taking time while casting to check your boolits you wont get good ones. Its too slow. Just crank out some lead and see what happens. They WILL get better and it wont take long. Correct heat and pace results in good Boolits. Dont over think it. People have been casting for hundreds of years with nothing compared to what we have today for equipment.

[ArrowJ]

People have been casting for hundreds of years with nothing compared to what we have today for equipment.

Good point!

[ArrowJ]

[QUOTE=Bonz;. I finally broke down and bought a PID from a member on this site.[/QUOTE]

What does a PID cost?