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Thread: My First Cast Bullets

  1. #21
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    DxieLandMan's Avatar
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    They look good to me. I have the same mold and I shoot them with just a little lube or Smoke's powder. You are going to be hooked now that you casted your own!

  2. #22
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    Your doing great, if your having fun doing it!

    (Bullets look just fine)

    CW
    NRA Life member • REMEMBER, FREEDOM IS NOT FREE its being paid for in BLOOD.
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  3. #23
    Boolit Master Wag's Avatar
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    I don't use a thermometer. I just turn the pot up all the way and have at it. I also plan to throw out the first few boolits until the mold heats up. When they start looking good, I cast away at it.

    After I pour the boolits and I'm waiting for the sprue to cool, I set the mold on a hunk of lead I have on the bench just for that purpose. It acts as a heat sink and cools the boolits more quickly. Occasionally, I'll turn it over of set out a different chunk of lead when the first one starts to heat up.

    It's as much art as it is science, or so it seems. You can follow all the rules and recipes you like but after that, you just have to do it. The more you do it, the more you start to get a feel for it. How your equipment works, how the boolits are formed, how they fall out of the mold, the motions you make to put it all together. Just take your time and all of that will get into your habit and you'll be the next guy telling a newbie how it all works!

    As an aside, I'm still a newbie, too.

    --Wag--
    "Great genius will always encounter fierce opposition from mediocre minds." --Albert Einstein.

  4. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by DxieLandMan View Post
    They look good to me. I have the same mold and I shoot them with just a little lube or Smoke's powder. You are going to be hooked now that you casted your own!
    I can't wait to shoot these. It's just a matter of finding a little time to lube 'em and load 'em and head to the range. I can already fell that hook getting set.

    Quote Originally Posted by cwlongshot View Post
    Your doing great, if your having fun doing it!

    (Bullets look just fine)

    CW
    Thanks! I am having fun with this!

    Quote Originally Posted by Wag View Post
    I don't use a thermometer. I just turn the pot up all the way and have at it. I also plan to throw out the first few boolits until the mold heats up. When they start looking good, I cast away at it.

    After I pour the boolits and I'm waiting for the sprue to cool, I set the mold on a hunk of lead I have on the bench just for that purpose. It acts as a heat sink and cools the boolits more quickly. Occasionally, I'll turn it over of set out a different chunk of lead when the first one starts to heat up.

    It's as much art as it is science, or so it seems. You can follow all the rules and recipes you like but after that, you just have to do it. The more you do it, the more you start to get a feel for it. How your equipment works, how the boolits are formed, how they fall out of the mold, the motions you make to put it all together. Just take your time and all of that will get into your habit and you'll be the next guy telling a newbie how it all works!

    As an aside, I'm still a newbie, too.

    --Wag--
    Yeah, I think I'll get a feel for it when I start casting more. This first time was really just to try it out and see what all's involved. I probably attempted about 60-70 boolits, but only ended up with this couple of dozen worth keeping. But I learned what to do as I went along. And all the advice on the forum has been a big help.

    Dave

  5. #25
    Boolit Master Wag's Avatar
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    Whenever I'm casting, I get a rhythm going and before I know it, I've cast out a whole 10 lb pot of lead. It's moderately frustrating to have to wait to melt up another 10 lbs.

    When I was first getting started, I cast up about 10,000 rounds of 230gr LRN .45 ACP boolits in very short order. I don't even have that much brass and still haven't shot up the 1,200 or so that I actually loaded up. But they're purty. I can't even bring myself to melt 'em back down and make 9mm which is what I've been shooting more lately.

    Yes, it's addicting.

    --Wag--
    "Great genius will always encounter fierce opposition from mediocre minds." --Albert Einstein.

  6. #26
    Boolit Master daloper's Avatar
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    HELP! HELP! And down the rabbit hole he falls. Welcome to the group. Be sure to put your location in. Maybe you are close to someone that can offer some hands on help .

  7. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by daloper View Post
    HELP! HELP! And down the rabbit hole he falls. Welcome to the group. Be sure to put your location in. Maybe you are close to someone that can offer some hands on help .
    Thanks! I didn't realize I never added my location. I'll take care of that now.

    Dave

  8. #28
    Boolit Master pjames32's Avatar
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    I think with a bigger dipper and more temp you are on your way. When you are casting, don't stop to look at the boolits. You can keep a better pace and cull them later. A thermometer would be a good addition. I do flux even clean ingots. Some use sawdust (I do when smelting dirty lead) and some use wax or bullet lube. There are several good threads on fluxing to look at. Good luck!
    NRA Benefactor Member

  9. #29
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    Thanks to tward and Czech_too, I've already got the bigger dipper taken care of. (Thanks again, guys )

    Now that I know to get and keep my mold temperature up, and to stop looking at them as they drop out of the mold, I'm eager to try it again.

    I think I'm well on my way down daloper's rabbit hole.

    Dave

  10. #30
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    Second Session

    I gave it another try today, and here are the results.

    My second batch of SWCs:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    And my first try with the Lee TL358-148-WC mold:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    I can see I still have a ways to go to get this right. These are what I kept. I'm not thrilled with most of them, a few of them turned out great, but about 10% of the SWCs and about 30% of the wadcutters got culled. The rest look good enough to to me to shoot, but I can't say there are more than a couple of the WCs that I think look really good. Probably about a quarter or so of the SWCs look pretty good to me. But I'm hoping they will get better with practice.

    I concentrated on keeping the mold hotter this time, dipping the corner of it into the melt before starting, and pouring generous sprues. I also rested the mold on the edge of the pot while pouring. I also turned the pot up a little higher and fluxed with beeswax before starting.

    This time I used the ladle that Czech_too sent me. That's so much better than the little Lee ladle I did my first batch with, and I was able to get into a little bit of a rhythm this time. Thanks again, Brian.

    Another thing I learned - my little 4 pound Lee Melter is going to need to be upgraded to something bigger. I used to think I'd get a bottom pour pot next, but with the right ladle it's so much easier and I like being able to see what I'm doing, so it may be a 20 lb Magnum Melter.

    It seems harder to get good fill out with the wadcutter mold, especially at the bases. I might try adding a little tin to the mix next time.

    Now to tumble lube them in Lee Liquid Alox, load them up, and "choot 'em".

    Dave

  11. #31
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    Dave, you have come to the right place for help. These guys are great. I lurked here for over a year before I made my first buy of any equipment. I don't post often as I'm still learning myself. Keep it simple and as you said, one change at a time. And just think of all the money you will be saving !!

  12. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by DEC505 View Post
    Dave, you have come to the right place for help. These guys are great. I lurked here for over a year before I made my first buy of any equipment. I don't post often as I'm still learning myself. Keep it simple and as you said, one change at a time. And just think of all the money you will be saving !!
    Oh and the pride in mastering a complex process over time...I enjoy the casting and loading almost as much as shooting itself!

    Economy also helps...I got exponentially better with pistol after 9mm and 38 spc started costing me 5 bucks a hundred! Never think about the cost every time I squeeze the trigger just focus on shooting better

    Sent from my Moto G Play using Tapatalk

  13. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by DEC505 View Post
    Dave, you have come to the right place for help. These guys are great. I lurked here for over a year before I made my first buy of any equipment. I don't post often as I'm still learning myself. Keep it simple and as you said, one change at a time. And just think of all the money you will be saving !!
    Yes, the people here have been a great help. I lurked here about a year or so before I started reloading, then another year before I started casting. Learned a lot about both.

    Quote Originally Posted by John McCorkle View Post
    Oh and the pride in mastering a complex process over time...I enjoy the casting and loading almost as much as shooting itself!

    Economy also helps...I got exponentially better with pistol after 9mm and 38 spc started costing me 5 bucks a hundred! Never think about the cost every time I squeeze the trigger just focus on shooting better

    Sent from my Moto G Play using Tapatalk
    I know what you mean. I'm getting to really enjoy the loading, and I think it will be the same with casting. And the economics help, too.

  14. #34
    Boolit Grand Master tazman's Avatar
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    Don't be afraid to run the mold hot. When I am running in a good rhythm, I typically have to wait several seconds for the sprue to harden enough that I can cut it without smearing.
    The boolits come out looking a little grey instead of shiny. The shoot well like that.
    The boolits in your pictures look fine. No problems there.

  15. #35
    Boolit Master
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    Try shooting some of those "culls" to see what they do. You might be surprised.
    The only amendment the Democrats support is the 5th.

  16. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by tazman View Post
    Don't be afraid to run the mold hot. When I am running in a good rhythm, I typically have to wait several seconds for the sprue to harden enough that I can cut it without smearing.
    The boolits come out looking a little grey instead of shiny. The shoot well like that.
    The boolits in your pictures look fine. No problems there.
    I actually ran into that, toward the end of my casting session. It took a while for the sprue to solidify so I figured the mold was heating up. I had to wait a few more seconds after it solidified to be able to get a clean cut.

    So it sounds like I can't really get the mold too hot? Why do some people cool their molds on a damp towel or in front of a fan, just so they are shiny instead of frosted?

  17. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by upnorthwis View Post
    Try shooting some of those "culls" to see what they do. You might be surprised.
    Actually, there are quite a few in those pictures that were initially culled out, then I went through the culled pile and threw most of them into the "keep" pile. The only ones that aren't in the picture are ones that were obviously deformed or incomplete. Rounded bases and poorly formed lube grooves were kept. I figured that they're good enough for shooting steel in the mild 38 special loads I'm using.

    I'm sure I'll get better the more I do it, but I'm happy to be making cheap plinking boolits.

  18. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by tazman View Post
    The ones in the picture look good to me. I would shoot them.
    Getting your mold up to heat is always an issue and causes wrinkles and boolits that don't fill out correctly. Lightly frosted boolits are not a problem.
    IF you read the Lee instructions, it told you to heat the mold by holding part of it in the molten lead for a few seconds to heat the mold up. This works and can be fine tuned by experimenting. For me, 30 seconds works well with double cavity molds. If using 6 cavity molds, you can hold it in longer. Make sure you keep the mold blocks closed as you do this.
    As far as temp controls on the pot, I set mine at full temp and turn it down as the mold continues to heat up. Each pot and mold combination seems to vary a bit as to what temp setting works best.
    Keeping the mixture a little too hot for fastest casting just costs you a little time waiting for the sprue to cool. It won't hurt anything as far as the boolits are concerned.
    When casting with a dipper, I use an old Lyman dipper that holds enough for several of those boolits you are making.
    Excellent advise here Tazman! I have learned to do much the same but I am a bit crude in most ways so I use a small handheld self lighting propane torch to help warm up the mold if it appears too cool. I also like to mold them as fast as I can get into rhythm to do. Which keeps the mold nice and hot. It is easy to tell when it is getting too hot, by the frostyness thing and having to let the lead set for a while to jell, then just let it cool a bit . But too cool of a mold can confound people. When I tend to have problems ....increasing the heat of the mold is the first thing I try. It usually solves the problem.

  19. #39
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    Bottom pour 20 pound lee pot is the way to go, especially with a 6 cavity mold. Ladle stinks. TOO SLOW and you get a lot of **** for the top of pot.

  20. #40
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    A bottom pour Lee 20 pound pot is the way to go, especially with 6 cavity molds, Ladle stinks. Too slow and you get all the **** from the top.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check