Why do all my sprues tear?

[Gtek]

"Anything that was shiny or painted didn't go anywhere near the melt when I was putting up ingots"? Careful the Zn monster can live in your culling criteria and the grayish silver lead ones melt just fine keeping the never exceed temps and diagonal cutters keep as your friends. Advice is like, well you've heard it I'm sure. But as hard/critical as you seem to be on yourself- experiment for FUN. Try another source of lead, pot at 725, pre-heat mold or cast till you get frosty and then ease up on the gas just a touch with maybe just a little smaller sprue- just for fun.

[5Shot]

What will the smaller sprue achieve?

[Le Loup Solitaire]

There is in my opinion nothing wrong with the first bullet pictured. There has to be a mark/point visible where the alloy flows into the bullet cavity. If it is level with the bullet base or even close, and it is centered as shown, it will not effect accuracy. Experimenting with sharpened sprue cutters and variations in the alloy will/can make things look smoother at that point but it would be an exercise in measurement with regard to differences in group sizes. If the bullets group well or better then whether or not they are pretty means nothing. LLS

[KYCaster]

All clip ons...I set all the stick on ones aside.

I only flux once prior to casting, just to get the tin/dross combined back into the melt. Should I be fluxing multiple times, EVERY time? I just assumed that once I had added the wax or whatever that it would be ready to go and ready to go the next time. What does fluxing several times accomplish? I flux again, during the casting session, when the top of the melt starts to look like cottage cheese



I am heading out for a bit of serious group shooting this weekend - I will let you know how this last batch performs. Groups have been decent in the past, but nothing to really get excited about. Of course, I am shooting these in a 5 Shot Bisley Conversion, full throttle, so much of that could be me.

**************

One other thought I had - could some of the surface imperfection be due to the soft bullet hitting the folded up T-Shirt when it comes out of the mold? The landing surface gets little bits of lead on it over time...

The T-shirt could very well be causing the surface blems......if it's not 100% cotton it will melt on contact with the hot boolit. Use only natural fibers around your casting operation.

Flux until the only thing left on top of the melt is fluffy, gray ash. If there's anything in your dross that looks metallic, you need to flux again. Use a paint paddle (free at the home improvement store) to scrape the bottom and sides of the pot. Crud will stick to the pot and can cause surface inclusions similar to what you have.

Seems like the heavier the boolit, the worse the inclusions. I've found that anything over 350 grains or so does much better with a ladle rather than bottom pour.

Jerry

[TXGunNut]

They look good to me, if they were any prettier you might be happier but I doubt they would shoot better. That cosmetic issue on the nose may very well be due to landing on a knit shirt, I see similar "defects" on my boolits. Good job, go shoot!

[plainsman456]

Just liberate a towel from the house.
They look fine to me,the only time i worry id when the sprue has a small lump,then it is time to adjust the sprue plate.

[Garyshome]

Maybe more fluxing!

[steamerjames]

Your lead is probably wheelweights or silimar . Too Hard, if your into BPCR and were using 30-1 or 20-1 lead, tin it would never tear like that. When mine tore like that I knew it was too hard. Of course 20-1 is not any good over 1400 FPS or so. But that is not a problem with pistols which is all I shoot these days. I cannot lug all the rifle stuff around anymore, and I only shoot indoors with AC on account of the heat here in TX.

[Tar Heel]

Definitely polish your bullets. Makes them more aerodynamic and better looking. You can get an extra 250fps with polished bullets!

[5Shot]

You guys were right...polishing worked. I think I'll really get the extra 250 fps too!

[62chevy]

^^^^ WOW ^^^^^ Nice !!!

[youngmman]

Send a few hundred of those good looking bullets to me. I'll test them for you LOL! I cast with LBT, H&G, Lyman and Hardline molds with a 93/5/2 alloy and my sprues look virtually identical. I flux often with Bees wax and still get the dirt like look with some bullets that usually comes when the alloy fluctuates at the high end of its range. I have a Magma Pot and the temp will fluctuate between 725-775 as the pot reaches temperature then shuts off until it cools a little. The dirt like look tends to come when the temp is at the higher end of the limited range. Maybe it's to do with the Ant as was mentioned but they shoot fine so I don't worry about it.

[Bob Maerdian]

Try casting at 710* to 750* (*=degrees), use a thermometer to check the temp of your melt. Try opening the mold using your hand in a heavy glove. I get smooth bases that way.

Bob 11B50

[dragon813gt]

"Most"...
I claim pure B. S. !
Just how did you come up with this claim ?

Most have freely admitted to polishing them. It takes less that a second per bullet.

As far as the OP. No rounded edges or major defects means they get loaded and shot. So many suggestions for no good reason when everything is fine w/ the OP's bullets.

[Tar Heel]

"Most"...
I claim pure B. S. !
Just how did you come up with this claim ?
Shiny bullets do not require that you polish them ! The choice of alloy and alloy temperature play an important role. Jerry

Good looking bullets! What did you polish them with? I hear silver polish works best.

[Beagle333]

My bases have always looked like that.

[detox]

Try casting at 710* to 750* (*=degrees), use a thermometer to check the temp of your melt. Try opening the mold using your hand in a heavy glove. I get smooth bases that way.

Bob 11B50

BINGO! Opening the sprue plate by hand has will definitely help, but sprue must be cooled with damp sponge to prevent tearing. Also apply downward pressure against mould blocks when opening by hand. This will make a nice flush even cut with base of bullet. Pistol bullets are not as critical as smaller rifle bullets.

I always buy 2 cavity moulds for easier cutting. Four cavity moulds can be a real pain to open by hand.

[Tar Heel]

I surrender !

Jerry

Too funny.....

[JeffG]

I open the mould, cutting the sprues by hand now instead of with a mallet. That helps and as soon as you feel them cutting like butter, they are probably starting to tear so I add a few more seconds before opening the mould. That seems to do it for me.

[rosewood]

Here is a factory cast boolit. The sprue plate cut isn't centered and isn't real smooth either.