Petander, sorry I wasn't clear; boolets are coming out "normal" , I just have a blue tint on the surface of the melt.
It's a bottom pour pot, so surface isn't a real issue, I may try to ladle pour some just to see if it matters.
No more oatmeal so far , dropping ingots on the floor and listening of the "ring" - soooo scientific !
Cogno, Ergo, Boom
If you're gonna be stupid, don't pull up short. Saddle up and ride it all the way in.
Thanks for all the help folks !!
So far, so good. I put aside a few ingots that just don't "ring" right
Still haven't remembered to grab some acid from work, sucks to get old !
One other thing I tried; some flux I had gotten from Midway years ago (a version of "Marvelux" I think, maybe).
It's supposed drawback is it is hydroscopic and can make the pot rust.
Well, it sure cleaned up the blue oatmeal !!!!!
When I get a little blue, now I just add a pinch and stir it in (doesn't even stink !!). Add normal flux and back in biz.
Cogno, Ergo, Boom
If you're gonna be stupid, don't pull up short. Saddle up and ride it all the way in.
Ok...so...I decided to do some casting yesterday. I picked the first “biscuits” I made last week...the ugly ones. Loaded up the bottom pour kettle. There was that same ugly oatmeal looking stuff on top when melted with plenty of colors. I fluxed it with saw dust, which made a thicker slag, but helped. Poured a bunch of decent 230g .45s. Loaded some more ugly biscuits. More crap on top. More flux. More decent boolits. But the metal was odd. There was a kinda tail at the spout of the pot. And the metal started to flow more slowly. Had to be zinc. Right? So, I cranked the temp up and kept pouring. Boolits looked fine.
Got through the ugly stuff. Made a bunch of .38s this afternoon. Pretty as ever.
Ya’ll may already have known this, but it seems that if you do run into some Zn in your alloy(as long as it’s not too much), turn up the heat and keep pouring.
Last edited by 468; 11-28-2020 at 09:21 PM.
Mould forth, and load in peace.
468 : Yup even with the oatmeal on top, bottom pour was giving good boolets, crap is lighter than lead . lol
I had a good 3" at first, dipped that out, any grunge now gets fluxed in.
Cogno, Ergo, Boom
If you're gonna be stupid, don't pull up short. Saddle up and ride it all the way in.
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 |