First Casting

[Knightflyer]

So, last night I tried my first casting! Mostly rejects, but got some good boolits too. Thought I ought to share a pic:

The middle boolit was cast by Brassmagnet. The other two are mine. Thought I should put a good one in there for comparison.

[daloper]

And down the rabbit hole he falls.

[bangerjim]

If you preheat your molds on an electric hotplate B4 starting to FULL casting temp (not just warm!), you will get perfect drops from the 1st one. I always do! You are just wasting time trying to heat your molds up with Pb pours. Also preheat your feed ingots for you pot to save recovery time when adding more ingots.

Welcome to the insanity.

[toallmy]

They look good to me , so don't let the rejects bother you they can be recycled HaHaHa and practice makes perfect . Good job

[fredj338]

Well done! Good tips on preheating molds, either hot plate or the top of the pot works too.

[Biggin]

I helps to have a mentor, welcome to the addiction!!!

[Rcmaveric]

Those look good enough. You can also dip the corner of the mold into the lead for a 10-25 count. When the lead falls off and doesn't stick to the blocks it is hot enough. A tempo or rhythm is important to casting consistent bullets.

[lightman]

It looks like you are off to a good start. Welcome to the addiction!

[copdills]

looks great welcome to the club

[T-Bird]

Boolits look good, you’ve come to the right place for your habit that you don’t know you have yet. Lots of enablers here!

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Knightflyer.

Thanks for the post.

Those bullet look like they might be .30 caliber, not that the size is really that important for my comments, but ------------------

Casting and sizing .30 caliber 175gr bullets, I was having a real issue with concentric results, meaning that the bullets were not coming out of the sizer/luber evenly sized.

I really doubt that such lop sided bullets could have done much for accuracy.

So, due to the recommendations of my 45/70 cast bullet mold maker for using a two step sizing and lubing process on those bullets I started to wonder if a two step process might solve my problem with non-concentric bullets.

It did and now my .30 caliber bullets are wonderfully even.

I first run the cast bullets through a push through die of the desired dia., in my cast .309, and then run them through a .310 sizer/luber die for lubing.

End result, excellent!

By the way, the reason for the suggested two step process with the 45/70 bullets was not to solve a concentric bullet problem, but that idea provided the pathway to solving the issue with the .30 caliber lop sided bullets.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[Knightflyer]

If you preheat your molds on an electric hotplate B4 starting to FULL casting temp (not just warm!), you will get perfect drops from the 1st one. I always do! You are just wasting time trying to heat your molds up with Pb pours. Also preheat your feed ingots for you pot to save recovery time when adding more ingots.n

Welcome to the insanity.

You know, my MIL gave us a hot plate if I can find it around here...

[Knightflyer]

Knightflyer.

Thanks for the post.

Those bullet look like they might be .30 caliber, not that the size is really that important for my comments, but ------------------

Casting and sizing .30 caliber 175gr bullets, I was having a real issue with concentric results, meaning that the bullets were not coming out of the sizer/luber evenly sized.

I really doubt that such lop sided bullets could have done much for accuracy.

So, due to the recommendations of my 45/70 cast bullet mold maker for using a two step sizing and lubing process on those bullets I started to wonder if a two step process might solve my problem with non-concentric bullets.

It did and now my .30 caliber bullets are wonderfully even.

I first run the cast bullets through a push through die of the desired dia., in my cast .309, and then run them through a .310 sizer/luber die for lubing.

End result, excellent!

By the way, the reason for the suggested two step process with the 45/70 bullets was not to solve a concentric bullet problem, but that idea provided the pathway to solving the issue with the .30 caliber lop sided bullets.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

They are indeed 30 cal bullets from a NOE mold.