First ever attempt at casting...

[JayT]

Well, all my casting goodies arrived today and I decided to take a run at it this afternoon. Not too terrible of a process, having never done it before.

230gr from the 309 Lee Blackout mold. Random samples all mic out at 310 or so using processed range lead. Water quenched, ladled from a Lyman Big Dipper.
First batch:



Thoughts, opinions, criticisms?

[MyFlatline]

Look good to me, hard to tell in the picture but how are the bases, square or rounded. Any wrinkles?..

Congrats. on a new beginning..

[William Yanda]

Welcome! You are not alone.

[JayT]

Look good to me, hard to tell in the picture but how are the bases, square or rounded. Any wrinkles?..

Congrats. on a new beginning..

Bases are nice and square. I had to throw a few back, but I guess it’s part of the learning curve. There are some imperfections, but I’m wondering if PC will even them out. Just some subsonic plinking rounds. I’m certainly not ready to cast for accuracy. Lol.

[MyFlatline]

Bases are nice and square. I had to throw a few back, but I guess it’s part of the learning curve. There are some imperfections, but I’m wondering if PC will even them out. Just some subsonic plinking rounds. I’m certainly not ready to cast for accuracy. Lol.

Heck I still have culls. PC helps some but try and pick the good ones. not bad that the culls go back in the pot with no waste. I prefer the PC, might be worth pursuing.

Good job, you hooked now..

[EMR]

Nice! I just started too. I got into this to save money but so far it’s just been a money dump with the mould group buys etc LOL. You’ve been warned!

[JayT]

I hear ya, there. I wasn’t sure if it would be something I would enjoy, as I initially just wanted to save some money with all the shooting I do (300-400 rounds per week), but now I find myself looking at bigger pots and more molds for other calibers. I’m hooked.

[waco]

"I got into casting to save money."
Famous last words! Lol. ��

[OS OK]

Well, that's good news that you are hooked...welcome aboard.
While you are working this mold, try this...get yourself a hotplate and put an old skill saw blade over the coil, turn it up to 50% and place that mould on the saw blade on the hot plate while your lead is melting in the pour pot. Prop the handles if you have to so the bottom of the mould is flat on the blade and it will heat evenly.
When the lead (Pb) is ready the mould will be up to temperature too. It may or may not cast perfect casts the first fill but within a couple of cast it will start throwing perfect casts without wrinkles.
Another tip is to pour your Pb in the center of the sprue plate hole so it doesn't chill as it enters the cavity. Give yourself a generous puddle over each cavity...that'll do two things, one..it'll give the cooling cast extra metal to draw from as it solidifies in the cavity, two...it will get that sprue plate good and hot so it won't chill the Pb as it hits in the hole.
(edit)> A couple of those cast look like one part of one of the cavities may have a minute smear of oil in it...make sure you scrub the mold with dish soap and hot water with a nylon tooth brush, the cavities and mould faces must be kept clean.
If you can understand what you are doing with that long rifle cast, pistol rounds will be a breeze.

Keep us posted and post good, well lit photos of your work so that helping you troubleshoot will be simple.

glad your here . . . c h a r l i e

[CASTER OF LEAD]

JayT, First off welcome to the addiction that is casting.
I think those look very good for your first attempt. As was stated earlier you want good crisp square bases and proper fill out. I cast 174gr. Lachmiller FN boolits for my 2 - 30-30 rifles. (Marlin 336sc, and REM. 788.) I shoot pan lube , lube sized, as well as PC from both of them. Just a tip. Don't rely on PC to take up any imperfections. 2 reasons why: 1. Culls are easily remelted and cast. 2. It is the beginning of a habit that may haunt you down the road.
By that I am saying if you concentrate on making the best possible boolits now. It will help with your casting in that, your learning process will develop to the point where you know every boolit that you are casting and keeping will perform as consistent as you are. PC is a great thing ,but work on your casting abilities. I don't make "plinking boolits" any cast boolit I keep is as best as I can make. It pays off later down the road. Keep at it and one day you will sit back and say That man might have been on to something. Lol just my opinion and ain't saying it's the only way. Welcome aboard and enjoy the hobby it's a great way to spend time. Oh and do t fall into the "we do this to save money trap". It's how we all started thinking and found out down the road it's all a lie. You will soon find out . I need this , I need that, that would be a good mold for this gun. Etc.etc. Lol. HOPE I HELPED. - CASTER

[copdills]

looks great, congrats brother , you are now a member of the silver stream

[JayT]

Thank you all for the advice. It will be heeded, as I realize what a learning process this.

Took some of the first batch and tried powdercoating today.

[Smoke4320]

I would say you are off to a great start. Watch the bases and drive bands .. If target or Hunting bullets ...If bases are not square or drive bands wrinkled chunk em back in the pot .
good job

[OS OK]

Mic them...size if needed and start your load work-ups...post pictures of your targets with info on load, distance ect. Prolly lots of fellas here can give you some good advice on dialing those 'orange torpedoes' in easy.

Some here find casting and coating easy...looks like you are in that group.

[Grmps]

JayT , welcome to the world of casting and powder coating.

the google custom search @ the top right of all forum pages can be your best friend for information. It will lead you to thousands of threads on this forum answering practically any question you may have. If you can't find what your looking for you can alwys ask it's very rare that someone here won't have the answer your are looking for.

Rifle bullets are more sensitive to imperfections than handgun /plinking boolits since you push them harder/faster and any imperfection will escalate the imbalance especially in longer range shots.

Many of us have done worse in our first casting experience.

I have a few items to think about

A lead thermometer and eventually a PID controller to keep your lead @ an even temperature.

Scrub your mold (again with a toothbrush and dish soap, acetone, alcohol ...) lightly smake the cavities (I use a stick lighter) lube the pins and sprue plate pivot.
Here are some basic help videos @ Lee that might help https://leeprecision.com/bullet-cast...lp-videos.html

I smelt all lead before putting it in my pot. Seeing your dipping it's not a critical but do flux the lead once or twice before casting.

Your boolits aren't quite filling out all the way, this could be from a cold mold, to cool lead, not enough tin (pewter) in your lead.

PC really shouldn't be relied on to cover imperfections, PC is lighter than lead, the boolit will look good but will not be balanced.

Extreme Hardness is not always your friend or required, bullet fit is the most important equation. Slug your barrel, and start 2 thou over then go up or down from there. Lead hardness and how hard/fast you push the boolit can affect diamiter requirements and need for gas checks

PC looks a little thick/lumpy ( great job for the first try) try knocking off the excess PC before coating

If you are PCing, quenching your boolits after casting is not gaining you anything cause the oven heat in PCing will take the hardness boack out of the lead. Quenching after PCing may help a little (this I do not know for certain)

My 2 ¢ worth -- food for thought

[JayT]

These will all be shot subsonic through a suppressor on an SBR, so I figured this would be a good round to get my feet wet with, since there really isn’t any use for these bullets over 30-50 yards with an 8” barrel, and they don’t have to be as accurate as if they were hunting/target rounds. I do, however, want to get them as perfect as I can before I start casting for my distance guns or for my 9mm SMG- no room for imperfection at 600 yards or 850 rounds per minute!

Today’s casting had better fillout than yesterday’s, and I think that’s because I left the mold on the rim of my pot longer to bring it to temperature. All the bases seemed more square and I think my pressure pour technique has improved, as I had no obvious culls from bad bases as I was water dropping them.

With the powder coat, the second batch had better (more even) coverage, as I preheated the bullets at low temp this time before applying the powder and baking.

[MyFlatline]

Sounds like you are on a roll..Congratulations.

It's a great feeling , isn't it...

[Grmps]

Glad things are getting better.

What PC are you using

[JayT]

Glad things are getting better.

What PC are you using

Junk Harbor Freight red. Cheap and readily available, but I think I’m gonna step up and buy some real powder and see if that covers better. Guess it’s like any paint- you get what you pay for.

[JayT]

Sounds like you are on a roll..Congratulations.

It's a great feeling , isn't it...

Thank you! And yes, it’s very cool to be able to form the cases from .223, create the bullets from lead ingots, and then load them up. Total investment per round is right around $0.15. Sig’s subsonic .300 BLK is more than $1 each around here. Can’t see paying someone else that kind of premium just for the convenience.