Yay or nay? Casting noob needs your feedback...

[diyahbeetuz]

my main critique would be making 1,400 of something when your not sure if there casted well or correct alloy for the gun ect. why not make 50 and test them before going all in.

I took it as a practice run of some sort just to get the hang of casting. Everything I did so far was my first time, so it was worth the few hours of work. You have a good point though, I'll keep that in mind next time I cast, thank you.

[diyahbeetuz]

Boolits prior to sizing. Axalta Powder Coating (eBay). Single coat, dry tumble. 15 mins @ 380. Dumped into a wire tray, will probably stand them up next time for cleaner and uniform coating.


Tested the PC, smashed with a hammer 5 times on top of an anvil. Pretty good bond, no significant chipping.


Post-sizing. I don't think any paint came off but if some did then it was very minimal.


Lost 3 rounds to the case gauge, probably had some cases with the "Glock bulge". Otherwise they look good.
356-124-2R mold
Mixed range brass
4.0gr Universal
Federal SMPP
1.125 Average COL


Will be testing soon, I hope the accuracy is acceptable at least for plinking. Thanks everyone for the feedback.

[diyahbeetuz]

Yup, inclusions are from dirty alloy. Stir in some sawdust, let it carbonize (it is the carbon that does the job) and stir it into the mix. When it comes to the top scrape it off and dump it. It will have most of your impurities in it. If you get a skim of material on your melt that is the tin oxidizing out - and wax puts it back into the melt. Candle, crayon, beeswax, it really doesn't matter. Put a little wax on your melt and light the smoke, it will burn and you won't have the smell. You will notice you have a shiny surface on your pot again.

But then, you used up all your alloy with your casting! They do look good and very shootable. Hope you can access more alloy.

Well, the guy I bought the isocore from shot me an offer, and I couldn't resist. He wanted $250 for a dozen, so I got some more. That's about a dollar and 5 cents per pound of clean alloy that could be used straight up to cast boolits. My wife is going to kill me now LMAO.

[Minerat]

Your lost now, the bug has you and it will only get worse. Before long you will have more molds in sizes you don't have guns for, then it's dies, then a shell holder and finally brass. Then you will need a 45-70 1874 Sharps so you can use them and are willing to wait 2 years after ordering it. All cause you got that $50.00 mould. So welcome aboard and your boolits will shoot just fine.

[farmbif]

that's quite the score of a nice clean alloy. got me wondering exactly what an isocore is composed of. but 9mm only shoots at about a max velocity of 1200fps, and power coating you should be good to go for a long time.

[Winger Ed.]

. My wife is going to kill me now LMAO.

You might get by with only a bad limp unless you tell her ya got the money out of her shoes and make up fund.

[reddog81]

Congrats on the good looking bullets and congrats on scoring more lead. With fewer lead wheel weights out there having a source of lead is a huge benefit.

How’d you melt form the cores into ingots?

[diyahbeetuz]

Congrats on the good looking bullets and congrats on scoring more lead. With fewer lead wheel weights out there having a source of lead is a huge benefit.

How’d you melt form the cores into ingots?

I put the smaller, upper part of the core into the pot, melt it, then slowly introduce the rest of the core into the alloy. I also applied heat towards the sides of the core while the bottom is melting using a propane torch. Took about 10 mins for the whole thing to start melting consistently.

[diyahbeetuz]

Did a quick range trip this afternoon to test the rounds. I think I got lucky on this one, maybe I don't have to melt down all the boolits I casted yesterday lol. Target at 15ft, shot out of a Canik TP9SA Mod 2. Yes, my sights are off and I need to get it adjusted.




I'm calling my first try a success. Thanks to the resources on this site and to everyone who chimed in and gave their 2 cents

[cstrickland]

I started by using COWW that I got locally from a fellow caster. I then bought 55# of ISO core and found it to be just as good as the COWW in my 9mm and a few other calibers.

I actually just go another #165 pounds of small ISO canisters from my source , as it works great. the canisters are bare(vs painted),so there is virtually no contamination. So little in fact I typically melt the canisters right in my pot and start casting . I will certainly get another couple hundred pounds when he has more.

Great score on that and for a great price as well. Should keep you shooting for a few months at least !! LOL

great job for first time for sure !!

hard for me to tell looking at the pictures if that is really dirt in there. Are you able to pick anything out, or are they just pits that reflect shadow differently then the rest of the bollit ?? Kinda looks like dings or dents from say dropping a hot bullet on another.

[fredj338]

As others noted, quite a few inclusions, plus never been a fan of TL designs. Try fluxing with sawdust. Stir the casting pot with a wooden stick every time you add metal.

[Kosh75287]

Have you weighed them? You might weigh 20 of them & see what kind of an average & standard deviation you come up with. It depends on the use you put them to, but if you get weight variations over about 3%, it can affect accuracy more than you like. Of course, this depends on application and distances.

[RogerDat]

I would just recommend sawdust flux for in the big pot making ingots, nothing but clean lead in the casting pot. Lead going into casting will develop skim of dross from oxidation. In casting pot a small bit of wax from time to time and a small household table spoon to skim should be all that is needed there.

There has been some discussion on PC temperatures. I think 400* rather than 380* is the more generally advised temperature to use. You should be able to set the bullet on it's base and pound it to half height without any PC coming off. Bullet laid on it's side again should be able to pound to half thickness without PC coming off. Hammer strike can "thin" it some, even enough to see lead but no flaking or peeling.

PC lube is tough enough that it allows use of softer alloys for a given load. E.G. For 38/357 I might use 50/50 mix of WW & lead BHN of around 10.5 with PC that works fine. Bullet expands into rifling of barrel well (obturation) in the short time it is in barrel. For a hotter load I might want to go WW+tin for a BHN of around 12. Or Lyman #2 if I know my bullet size is a good fit for the barrel.

Softer lead will provide more obturation (marshmallow kicked in the butt expands, lead does too, just not as much) and yield potentially a better fit to the rifling. Less expensive alloy used is a bonus.

You should contact member BNE who for a pound of lead and a pea sized sample will provide an XRF analysis of the alloy. Then you will know exactly what you have there in good supply. My own guess is you have alloy suitable for cutting with some plain lead and probably don't need more tin. You might want to drill a sample and melt to send in to BNE as well as a sample from an ingot. Just to confirm you ingot making isn't stripping excessive tin out.

Copper is nice for hollow points, supposed to help prevent them from fragmenting. More an issue for hunters who want that bullet mass to stay together rather than become a bunch of little pieces lacking penetration.

[RogerDat]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...PC-long-enough

Post on baking PC long enough. There is some debate and discussion. I will say I once left some in a touch too long, alloys melt at lower temps than plain lead. These were Lyman #2 I made bullets for shooting around corners, at least that is what I tell people who saw the slumped over bullets.

[diyahbeetuz]

hard for me to tell looking at the pictures if that is really dirt in there. Are you able to pick anything out, or are they just pits that reflect shadow differently then the rest of the bollit ?? Kinda looks like dings or dents from say dropping a hot bullet on another.

Can't really pick out anything, it's like it's just paint tarnish or something. It's most likely just some ash or crap from my Lee pot since I didn't get to degrease the thing before using it the first time. Thank you for the feedback!

[Dukeconnor]

You know you've crossed over, when you call the winter pothole season, "wheel weight season".

[AndyC]

Welcome aboard, new caster Satisfying, isn't it?