So I tried my hand last night at casting my first set of 125gr 356 9mm. Of the 6 in the mold, only 1-2 came out ok. All the others had issues. My pot was a Lee 10# pot with the PID set at 700*. I cleaned the cavities of the mold with lighter fluid as described in the instructions and a cotton swab. I set the mold on my hot plate while the lead melted, my "recipe" was 9# COWW with 2oz of Pewter Tin added. Here are a few pictures of the issues I see.
Looks like dirt in this one, small little specks in the lead:
Just a few came out OK, the rest had flaws:
HAD to try my hand at this ASBBT deal, figured I wasn't getting any better at pouring, but it really shows you more in detail the issues I'm having:
But the smash test was a success!!
So......., is it my temperature, mold, lead, technique, all of the above, none of the above? Just curious because I can see why so many people cast now. It's relaxing, fun, and in the long run allows us to shoot so much more!
Thanks guys, sorry for all the pictures, just wanted to be detailed as possible! (Do you prefer the small thumbnail sizes pictures or the full size ones? I can't figure out how to size down the full size ones so they don't take up half a page a picture! LOL)