#4 buckshot

[Budzilla 19]

Davedude, heat that Lee 00 mold on a hot plate, put a circular saw blade on the heating element it work better, I built a small “ oven lid” for mine out of a coffee can I cut down,set the plate on maximum setting! Let it heat for a while, like an hour, then set your pot to 750f and just cast with a quick cadence, till they fill all the cavities!
I’m using range scrap/ wheel weights 50/50 and having fair to good luck with that same mold! Stay with it, you’ll get it. I also try to get the stream directly in the sprue plate hole, if possible.
Good luck.

( when it works correctly, it is a thing of beauty) till it does, it can cause you to lose your grip on your sanity. Hahaha!!

[beagle]

Got one of the Sharpshooter moulds. I Normally sit down and run a pot full of pure with a little tin. Then, I shut down and trim 'em all. Amazing how many you can make at 20/throw. Once it get's really hot, they fill out nice and for sure, gloves are required. Then I sit there and snip off the sprues as close as possible. Empty Sidewinder tumbler and put buck in empty with a little dash of powdered graphite and let her rip. Then leave for about 6 hours as that is one noisy mother. Come back and empty and you have #4 buckshot as good as store bought with very little sign of where the sprue cut was. Keep about 5-10 pounds on hand most of the time./beagle

[centershot]

I recently tried my 18 pellet Lee 00 buck mold for the first time. Pretty much a total fail. I used what I thought was an appropriate amount of tin (2%) with a 14 BHN alloy and could not get all three vertically connected cavities to fill. I went to 800 degrees and would dip the edge of the mold in the melt for 10 sec before each pour which was better but still no joy. Because the top row would always fill out I did end up with some useable shot. I think I need to get this 00 mold to work right before trying the 18 pellet #4 buck mold. Do I need to go up to 5% tin?

No, 2% tin is enough. What you absolutely need to do is get your mould up to proper casting temperature. That mould is a great big block of aluminum with a big steel heat sink (sprue plate) screwed to the top of it. It needs to contain a LOT of heat in order to work well.

I have a Lee 6 cavity #1 Buck mold that works like a charm! It's the same size mould block as yours, if I can do it with less heat per pour, you can do it too! As suggested, use a hotplate to pre-heat the mold. I don't use one, I dip the corner of the mould into the lead for 3-4 minutes before I start pouring.

Also, that sprue plate is sucking heat out of that mould every second that it is closed! When you pour, pour LARGE sprues! Add heat into that plate! Heat will transfer to the mould to help keep it hot. Be quick with your pours and when the sprue hardens, count to three and cut it. Don't be *****-footin' around, that mould wants to be HOT! Pour-Cut-Dump, Pour-Cut-Dump, Pour-Cut-Dump, get a good cadence running, it'll all come together.

[BJK]

Dave, how are you pouring lead into the mould? I use a ladle with a nipple and put the nipple directly onto the sprue hole to form a loose seal. Then turn both, keeping the alignment and inject the lead into the mould. Each hole gets that double wrist flip lead injection treatment. Even using a preheated mould the first few tries aren't 100% successful. Then after the mould heats up, and you want not a warm mould but a HOT mould, success follows over and over. If you're using a pot with a bottom valve I have no idea how to do it since I don't use that. Oh, and take a break? It starts all over again. Or at least it does for me even if I put the mould where it can stay sorta hot.

I can't stress heat enough. I also use a unknown junk mix of wheelweights and mostly roof sheathing. Hardness and actual composition is unknown. I have no idea how accurate the thermometers are, so you might increase the temp' of the melt some more too.

If I can do it anyone can. I don't know much (more like nothing) about casting. Good luck!

[Davedude]

My apologies to the OP, did not mean to derail this thread. My understanding is what has already been posted that harder shot is more better
My thanks to all who responded. I will operate with a hotter mold. That makes sense to me. I'm using a Lyman Mag 25 bottom pour. I do have a bottom pour ladle but I don't think it has the capacity for the mold.

[6pt-sika]

what is the diameter?

The 0000 comes from a Lee .380" mold .

The 00000 comes from a Lee .395" mold .

The 000000 come from a pair of Tanner .415" molds .

I typically roll the the ones from the Lee molds between a piece of steel and a piece of aircraft aluminum . The ones from the Tanner molds have no sprue plate and I use a pair of dikes to trim the sprue then tap it a bit .

The 000000 is for the 8 gauge exclusively . The 0000 and 00000 were acquired for the 10 gauge doubles but if I ever plunk a deer with the 000000 in my 8 gauge I'll try the two smaller sizes at some point .

[trebleplink]

I cast a fair amount of buckshot and I found the Lee #4 mould to be a total PITA with the incomplete fills and clipping the pellets apart. It went down the road to annoy another caster. Gp

+1
I have cast many with it, and everything has to be just right to get all 3 in the string to fill out. My alloy has about 2% tin - and is about 12 BHN, and I run it hot at 398C. I chose to cut out the individual balls, which is a pain. I have heard some folks do not cut them, but I just cannot see the string flying very true. I would love to be convinced otherwise as it would be easier.
After cutting, I run them in the large Harbor Freight vibratory "tumbler" for about 6 hours. They turn glossy black and much of the sprue nubs are gone. I've pretty much switched to the .310 balls 6x mold for buckshot.

[centershot]

+1
I have cast many with it, and everything has to be just right to get all 3 in the string to fill out. My alloy has about 2% tin - and is about 12 BHN, and I run it hot at 398C. I chose to cut out the individual balls, which is a pain. I have heard some folks do not cut them, but I just cannot see the string flying very true. I would love to be convinced otherwise as it would be easier.
After cutting, I run them in the large Harbor Freight vibratory "tumbler" for about 6 hours. They turn glossy black and much of the sprue nubs are gone. I've pretty much switched to the .310 balls 6x mold for buckshot.

That's the choice we're faced with when considering moulds for bucksho. I purchased the 6 cavity .310" Lee mould from Track of the Wolf after the recommendations of many members here. I'm not sorry at all! That mould delivers buckshot as quickly as I can pour it, didn't take long to make up 30 pounds. I tumbled them in my vibe tumbler 10 lbs. at a time for 12 hours each batch to clean up the sprues. They were lino & lead, 50-50, so 6% antimony and water dropped from the mould. They tested BHN 24!

[Geezer in NH]

Thanks 6pt-sika , That is some big Buck-Shot!