Are these what you call frosted bullets?

[Bait O' Eggs]

I have poured thousands of pounds of lead for fishing, never gave it much thought on the finish of the lead, its going to get beat on the bottom, as long it has shape and hard I was good. But boolits seem to require a little more fit and finish. I have been reading this forum for a while, got set up to cast bullets, 4-20 bottom pour pot, lee 124 grain 9mm 6 cavity mold. I had read the thread "Something I learned last weekend, about temp" sticky on this forum, excellent read, geargnasher and several others provided their knowledge.

Last night I poured around 500 boolits, some were slick and shiny looking, and some had a rougher finish. I assume that rougher finish is what is referred to as "frosted"???? I included a pic of some of the boolits, I assume the ones on the left are frosted, the ones on the right are not. Can somebody confirm this is what is referred to as frosting? I am using scrap lead, I dont know its origins, but a sample was tested and had 6% Antimony, 2% tin.



If I am powder coating these boolits, is the frosting a bad thing? Do I want the boolits smooth? Seems my mold may have been to hot, lead maybe not hot enough. I dont have a thermometer for my lead pot yet.

I used the HF red powder, in a #5 tub, 20 minutes in the toaster oven at 400 and they come out pretty good. I smashed one with a hammer on the anvil and the paint stayed in place so I think I got that correct.

The top batch, I coated and cooked twice, the lower batch I did once. I didnt separate them in the oven, just tossed them in a wire cage and hoped they didnt stick together and didnt end up with shiny spots with no coatings.

[Tom W.]

Frost isn't a bad thing, but people have been so used to seeing shiny silver boolits that most folk don't know to like them... I can't say good about the dents on the base of the boolit, those will cause erratic groups at best.

[popper]

Too frosted. Running the alloy too hot, turn down the pot temp. Parting marks, dented bases and fins give it away. Frosting is typically from hot/overheated mould. Sb freezes on the surface, making the rough look. High Sb and alloy temp produced yours. For pistol moulds, shiny is OK. I normally try for slight frosting in the middle of rifle boolits. Must be a lee mould, even the shiny ones show the parting line as a groove.

[Walter Laich]

once my molds are up to temp I get shiny for a period of time then towards the end of my 45 minute casting sessions they start getting a little frosty.

all PC in great fashion and haven't had any problems with them (I shoot cowboy and the steel targets haven't complained about them )

[ShooterAZ]

What are you dropping your boolits onto when they drop from the mold? Are those bases getting dented from hitting a hard surface? If so, you might get yourself an old double folded towel to drop them on.

[Bait O' Eggs]

I was dropping them in a metal pan, I didnt notice the dents until I took the pic and saw them on the monitor. It sucks getting old and the eyesight fading away. Figured I would post my pic, mistakes and all. I have read of the frosty bullets and wasnt sure just what that was, but when I was getting the "textured" look, I was pretty sure that is what I had been reading about.

[lar45]

You might want to try leaving the bullets in the mold for a few more seconds. It looks like some of the bases are crooked. I put a sponge in a bucket of water and drop my bullets onto the sponge. This lets them cool for a second before they roll off into the bucket.
If you drop hot bullets onto other bullets you will get dents.
Another thing to look for is flat bases. If you're getting rounded basesthen you need to pour a larger puddle onto the sprue plate. As the bullet cools, it will contract, if there's a molten puddle on the sprue plate it will draw from there to fill out the base and give you a square edge on the base.

[lightman]

I would say that some of those are frosted. It don’t really hurt anything. It might cook the tin out a little quicker. I’ll take frosted r bad fill anytime.

[country gent]

Heres another way. I use a paint roller pan sheet metal one. I have a bunch of smaller bar towels and put a stack of them in the pan leaving the front rolled edge bare. 4-8 towels in the stack depending on the session. I can then when I get a pile of bullts grab the four corners of the top towel and pick it up and set it aside opening the next towel in the stack for bullets. The paint roller pan allows bullet to be spread out on the ramp area then when full the bullets can be pushed down into the resivour area of the pan.

[Bait O' Eggs]

I learned a little more tonight. The Lee mold says 356 for a diameter, I ran the castings in the pics thru a 357 Lee sizer tonight. Most of them slid thru pretty easy, but some took some heft and came out the other end smeared, no paint left etc... It was pretty obvious if the bullets didnt look round they didnt like going thru the sizer. I cast up another couple hundred, carefully dropping them on a towel, then powder coated them and they all went thru the sizer much easier. I wasnt expecting the size of my pile of rejects that get to go liquid again. Note to self, be gentle with these things.

All of those went thru the sizer, pretty easy to pick out the rejects

[243winxb]

Frosted will be smaller in diameter by a tiny amount.

If bullets are oval, the mold is not closed compleatly.

[Rcmaveric]

Casting with two molds that are the same type (IE aluminum) and close in bullet weight can help you get better tempo and keep your molds at a more stable temp. Consistent mold temps keeps your bullet weights and sizes more consistent. Aluminum heats and cools relatively quickly. Then you can cast quicker because your not twiddling thumbs waiting on the mold to cool. If you don't have another mold you can always tap it on a damp sponge or set one of those little desk top fans to blow on it. I have tried it all and it works to some extent, but using two mold just fits my circadian rhythm better when casting.

[lar45]

I put my molds on a hot plate to start warming up when I turn my lead pot on. With your molds pre-heated you will get good bullets quicker and won't have to cast for 5 min throwing them all back in the pot looking for flat bases and crisp lines on the lube grooves...
Looks like the second batch is much better than the first.

[popper]

PC missing on just one side? Bases aren't flat. You also may need to buff the entrance to the sizer a bit. Your original pic showed bevel base, these aren't + it showed some kind of mould alignment problem - can't tell from the pic what it is. I have trouble with the Lee sizers when they first get a 'scrape' of PC, most that follow will also have the scrape - junk in the bore. I have a dremel with the tapered buffing tip I run through to clean the sizer.

[Soundguy]

In general, the frosting won't catastrophically hurt anything, and may not be even noticed for non match use.

I agree with the others, you are running the mix too hot / the mold is getting too hot. I'd check the mold.. you shouldn't be getting parting marks, clean that mold. might not be shutting completely. I think i see some rounded bases.. as others mentioned.. more puddle on top should help that. the dented bases may be from dropping to hot onto a hard surface.

I either drop into a 5g bucket filled with water with a towel over the top with a hole cut in it.. or if dry dropping, I take old jeans material, like the legs and fold it over and line my drop pan with it.

[Silverboolit]

Suggestion if you are using a folded cloth for dropping cast boolits on, do not use any microfiber towels. They are made of poly and will melt with hot casting poured on them.

[Shiloh]

I'm more picky about my rifle boolits. You can try touching you mold to a damp towel for a second or two before opening.

SHiloh