Acceptable Out-of-Round

[hammer58]

I am still learning about casting and am sure you guys can give me some advise. I just cast a couple of hundred boolits for my 1911 in .45 cal. I am using the Lee TL452-230-2R mold and an old small Lyman (I think) pot. It has no temperature control and is a ladle pour pot.

I know I should have checked sooner, but after casting them, I decided to make sure they were pouring to the proper size. That's when i found that they are measuring anywhere from .448" to .456" and most of them are out of round anywhere from .001 to .004.

I have already fired about 400 of these lubed with LLA and have seen only a small amount of leading.

What is an acceptable out of round for these boolits? Should I get a .454 mold and size them down to .452 to make sure they are the right size?

[Outpost75]

For practical purposes 0.05% of bullet diameter...

[Bzcraig]

Generally speaking once you size your boolits they come back to round or certainly within allowable limits.

[hammer58]

It was my understanding that the Lee TL boolits are designed to shoot without sizing. I guess I should invest in a .452 sizer? But if some of the boolits are measuring smaller on one side than .452 would I be better off getting a .454 mold then size to .452?

[happy7]

Keep in mind that out of round is not that bad. Out of balance is. Usually if a bullet is out of round, it is across the part line. If you think about it, it is still balanced. Sizing a bullet doesn't really change that much in terms of out of round because often it just fills in lube groves. But sizing does not necessarily change the balance. Molds that have been lapped can be out of round and no amount of sizing will bring them in balance. A bullet will also be sized by the barrel as it travels down it. So my take on it is that it is not that big a deal, especially if it is across the part line.

Cast bullets are in my experience almost always a half to a whole thousands out of round, even expensive molds. Two or three thousands out of round is abnormal and cause for returning or rejecting or fixing the mold.

[ioon44]

As stated a bullet will also be sized by the barrel as it travels down it, the groups on paper is what matters.

I coat with HI-Tek and never have a leading problem.

[flyingrhino]

Just get a 452 sizer. That will make sure the max dimension is not oversized which will result in chambering issues. You will cast a few now and then that are a little on the large size if you don't have your mold closed tightly. Happens to me once in a while when I really get to cranking. At pistol distances you aren't going to see any accuracy problems.

[MUSTANG]

I would not be exceptionally worried about out of round in your application. I would look to see "Why?" they are out of round. Do you have a small piece of lead or grit trapped in a vent grove or other surface on one of the Mold Halves?

As another aside, at times one may intentionally enlarge the mold through a process called "Beagling a Mold". In essence you create a small shim that causes the mold to be held slightly open (.001, 002,etc..) resulting in a larger boolit when cast; but it also results in a slightly out of round projectile if the mold cast a "Perfect" boolit before hand. I've use the technique in a couple of .308, 30-40, and 30-06's that have slightly large bores.

A quick search using the site search resulted in this as the first result. There are many postings on CastBoolits concerning "Beagling".

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...eagling-a-mold

[Lead Fred]

After sizing if they are out of round, we dump them back into the furnace.

[Soundguy]

Are the mold surfaces perfectly clean?

can you see any light thru them when closed?

[dverna]

"measuring anywhere from .448 to .456"

There is something wrong. Bullets should drop with much less variation than that. You have a mold issue or are not operating the mold properly.

Don Verna

[Soundguy]

.448 on a .452 mold is an underpour maybee. .456 is a mold not closed..

[44man]

Understand out of round. A mold expands funny so too hot makes boolits more out of round. Also smaller with more heat. Small amount will mean nothing at all. .001" out of round is common but get too hot and you will get smaller boolits. Mold heat is so important.

[ShooterAZ]

If it is a six cavity mold, keep your fingers off of the sprue plate handle.

[flyingrhino]

If it is a six cavity mold, keep your fingers off of the sprue plate handle.

What he said. That's exactly what I do wrong when I get to really cranking the pace and it results in an out of round bullet.

[hammer58]

Are the mold surfaces perfectly clean?

can you see any light thru them when closed?

No light is visible.

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[hammer58]

I think I found the problem. One of the guide pins is recessed about .020 of an inch. Looking at the base side of the bullets with the mold closed and the sprue plate open, you can see a small misalignment of the mold halves. I have added a couple of pictures so I hope everyone can see it.
Also, what do you guys use to clean the molds?

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[Soundguy]

I know they are lee, but those molds are usually mandrell swage formed and pretty darn exact. Small projectiles can be underpour, too large means the molds not closed completely.

[hammer58]

Also, I weighed a random handful of them tonight on a Frankford Arsenal digital scale, and they all weighed between 233.0 and 234.0 grains. Is this normal weight variation?

[scottfire1957]

I do not weigh them. Cast, powdercoat, size, load, shoot. I am, however, not a precision shooter.

I do not overthink this stuff.