Cast Boolit Weight Difference

[Gunlaker]

You should be able to see a rounded base as soon as you cut the sprue. I generally only see these in the first few bullets cast, and you are right, they go right back into the pot as soon as they fall from the mold. Once up to temperature, with a clean mold, and a good consistent tempo you really shouldn't get any rejects. It took me maybe 8 years of casting to get to that point and I'm sure I'll learn more in the next eight.

Chris.

[indian joe]

It would be interesting to know where in the run those 11 light ones were poured.

good question - ya can see em tho - just a little rounded on the base - not much but its there - we got a little cold or poured a little slow

Your spread is right at 1% right now. As stated above over pour the mould. keeping the base hot longer.

Good tip, something I mostly do but hadnt thought enough about it, usually quit once the mold is hot enough

Make sure the mould is clean and up to temp. Set the mould on top of the pot while its heating up,

yep got that bit - easy to get these aluminium molds too hot once you get going!

monitor temps and maintain as close as possible.

No way of doing that - eyeball it - used to use a piece of newspaper - jab it in and out quick, tell by the colour

If possible order up a lyman or better still RCBS ladle.

yep got a RCBS ladle

You might want to open the spouts hole up to .200-.210 size for better faster fill.

Yep done that - and the mold sprue plate also - all just too small

I usually ream them out to the next size to gain a smaooth surface so flow is better and dosnt stick as easily.
Keep the ladle in the pot as much as possible.

It lives in there !

A hardware store stop collar on the shaft makes a stop to hook on the edge of the pot to keep it from falling in.

Thanks - I will pay more attention to pouring over the sprue plate , hadnt thought enough about that.

[Lead pot]

Knowing Kurt, I doubt if he has very many Lee molds. On the other hand, I would bet that he can.

Once a pond a time I had a round ball mould and it was the last
I just spent 20 minutes on how to cast a bullet that is properly filled and it got lost in cyberspace so I isn't doin it again.

[indian joe]

Once a pond a time I had a round ball mould and it was the last
I just spent 20 minutes on how to cast a bullet that is properly filled and it got lost in cyberspace so I isn't doin it again.

Wouldnt we be a boring mob if we all thought the same !! - I would take a LEE RB mold over anything else I have seen so far - its the only cast RB I have used where ya dont need to go lookin for where is the sprue when ya load it -
Yes to the second part - soon as I get to trying to type lookin at the screen - yeah you get going real good and @ $ & - its gone !!! some combination of keys along the bottom left corner that just vaporises stuff - ppppfffft vanished !!
I am proly not so focussed on perfect as you either ..... most of em in that plus or minus 1 grain does it for me .... frosted dont bother me at all ...anything with a wrinkle at all goes back .....I like soft boolits.
Maybe I am cheap but a RCBS mold out here costs two hundred bucks - that makes me swaller some .

[rfd]

lee ball moulds are best for me, too. been pleased with bullet moulds from BACO and Accurate.

[sharps4590]

Interesting...all but one of my round ball molds are Lee and all have cast buckets of RB's. There's definitely better quality RB molds out there but frankly, I have yet to see the need to spend the difference for a RB mold.

The first Lee bullet molds I bought, over 30 years ago, I did not like at all. Recently, sort of out of desperation, I bought a Lee 8mm mold. It was for a heavy for caliber bullet....does 240+ grs. sound right? Anyway, it is one HECK of a lot better than the old Lee bullet molds I have. There's still some things about it I don't like but for what I needed....or rather wanted to try....it beat paying over a "C" note for a mold that might not see much use. As it turned out...it won't see much use, at least in the 8mm rifles I have now.

[Lead pot]

Wouldnt we be a boring mob if we all thought the same !! - I would take a LEE RB mold over anything else I have seen so far - its the only cast RB I have used where ya dont need to go lookin for where is the sprue when ya load it -
Yes to the second part - soon as I get to trying to type lookin at the screen - yeah you get going real good and @ $ & - its gone !!! some combination of keys along the bottom left corner that just vaporises stuff - ppppfffft vanished !!
I am proly not so focussed on perfect as you either ..... most of em in that plus or minus 1 grain does it for me .... frosted dont bother me at all ...anything with a wrinkle at all goes back .....I like soft boolits.
Maybe I am cheap but a RCBS mold out here costs two hundred bucks - that makes me swaller some .

Joe the problem I had with that mould was the way it closed. If you did not pay attention it would not close square, to much slop with the alignment.
Here is what I do with the cast round balls to get rid of the sprue cut on a round ball.
I take a hundred or more that I just cast and put them in my tumbler with water and tumble them about a hour if I don't forget them. They come out looking like a swaged round ball.

[indian joe]

Joe the problem I had with that mould was the way it closed. If you did not pay attention it would not close square, to much slop with the alignment.
Here is what I do with the cast round balls to get rid of the sprue cut on a round ball.
I take a hundred or more that I just cast and put them in my tumbler with water and tumble them about a hour if I don't forget them. They come out looking like a swaged round ball.

Yeah the older style LEE molds with the long alignment pins were touchy - the new style mold is heaps better design - they had some QC issues with some of em but seems like they got it ironed out - hey thanks for the tumbler tip, I made a new spare canister for mine just recently so next lot I will do it. We have a couple pistols we make a 464 ball with a pedersoli mold - nice cast mold but sprue is too big to ignore - that trick will work.

[rfd]

i do a lot of flintlock rifle/smoothbore loading/shooting. IME, the "new" lee ball moulds work just fine with their tangential sprue cut off, and are more than ready for loading and accurate shots after cooling down without any further fiddling. lee bullet moulds can easily be a whole 'nother story ...

[sharps4590]

When I received the 8mm mold previously mentioned I noticed it appeared as if Lee had borrowed from Accurate molds in their locating pins and venting. If so, Lee definitely borrowed from one of the best.

[mazo kid]

Regarding the question of where in the casting process the lighter boolits show up.....I drop my boolits on a folded towel. I then fill the mold, line up the previous boolit on the towel and drop the new one. Fill the mold, line that previous cast one next to the the first one, and so on. I usually line up 10-12 boolits in a row. The lining up of the boolit gives just enough cooling time for the cast boolit to drop cleanly, establishes a sort of natural rhythm, and lines the boolits up in the order cast. Then if you want to check weight, you can pretty much tell where the variances came in.