First casting attempt, good, excellent and remelts !

[Road_Clam]

So it was 50F today so I decided to have a go at some casting. I tried my new single Old West .45 cal 547 gr Silhouette mould, and my dual cavity Lee 312-180 mould. Started out doing good with the .45's but I was observing some odd inclusions along the sides of the bullets. I had no idea how to diagnose this issue. I tried different heat settings on my LEE pro pot, really didn't help, then I tried different flow adjustments, that seemed to help a little bit but still not perfect. I was keeping my moulds hot in a cast iron pan with propane heat. Turns out I believe my moulds were simply too cold. I experiemnted with heating up my moulds with a propane torch and then working pours and this definitely helped smooth out the surfaces of the finished castings. I think I have all my heat and flow settings adjusted well. I also have a better feel of how hot I need to keep the moulds to allow a nice consistent pour. When my moulds are hot enough a easy tap on the sprue plate gets it open. When my moulds are cool it takes a few brisk thumps to get it open. This is definately a "feel" type learning experience. I was getting very frustrated early as I thought I had a heat or flow issue, but turns out it was all mould temp. The big 547 gr mould is made of brass and it seems far more tolerant to varying mould temp to get a nice surface. The LEE 312 mould is more challenging to get the perfect "pour" . Here's a few pics of "mould too cold" and "mould hot" pics :

Nice hot mould:



Cold mould:

[Yodogsandman]

A yard sale hot plate works great for molds. A cut down #10 can make a good cover to make a sort of oven. A wood handle on the can keeps you from getting burned. See the top left side of the photo.

[Eddie17]

Like the stove hat idea! Yodod!

[Yodogsandman]

Using a PID to control the pot heat adds another whole dimension, too. This would reduce the learning curve in halve. PID plans are on the site.

[Road_Clam]

That's a great idea with a stove cover. I think that would give me some needed additional mould heat while I'm not pouring .

[Wagnerwerks]

Man... I'd like to try some of those 45s! How long are those bad boys?

[Road_Clam]

Man... I'd like to try some of those 45s! How long are those bad boys?

It's a "Silhouette" design from Bernie Rowles at Old West Bullet Moulds:

https://oldwestbulletmoulds.com/prod...e-cavity-mould

1.435" OAL . She should thump a 12" steel gong with authority ! LOL

[slim1836]

One word of caution, don't tap the sprue plate to release the boolits, instead tap the mold handle hinge pin.

Slim

[Tazman1602]

You nailed it, mold too cold -- for $10 at Walgreens you can buy a single burner electric hot plate and it will last for years. I preheat all my molds this way and it works great.

Also --- what Slim1836 said, don't tap the spruce plate, tap the mold handle hinge point and bullets will drop right out. If you tap the sprue plate sooner or later it will bend and really cause you headaches. You'll know if mold is too hot because bullets will come out frosty.

Art

[Walter Laich]

I like a bit of 'frost' on mine

makes the PC stick a bit better

great looking ones--did the one on the right shrink in the dryer?

[1Hawkeye]

Nice first attempt. One of the beautiful things about casting is any mistakes can go right back into the pot. Like the others have said never hit the sprue plate or mold blocks always hit the hinge screw holding the handles together or you could damage the mold.

[Hossfly]

I think he’s hitting the spruce plate to open it not to release boolits.

[gregtu]

You nailed it, mold too cold -- for $10 at Walgreens you can buy a single burner electric hot plate and it will last for years. I preheat all my molds this way and it works great.

Art

This is pretty much what I have, but bought at Wallyworld, and I also put ingots on it to speed up melting when it is time to add to the pot. When I put in on high though, lead was melting on it! Very good to get molds up to temp. Also when I had a Lee 2 cavity mold on it on high, I had to let it cool because the sprew plate was wiping melted metal--it actually can make the mold too hot.

[1Hawkeye]

Oops Hoss your right that is when you do want to hit the sprue plate.

[Road_Clam]

I think he’s hitting the spruce plate to open it not to release boolits.

Correct. I think there's some confusion here as to my boolit extraction method. Just to educate myself I reached out to Old West Moulds and asked Bernie for his method : Tap open the sprue plate with a wood pin (or slide open with a welding glove), then tap the handle pivot bolt. The only method I was doing incorrect is I was initially tapping the back of the moulds to free the boolits.

[1Hawkeye]

Yep you got it right.