.306 diameter ??

[swabbie]

the good news is: following all (most) of the advice,I was able to produce 25 very good looking CTL 312 160 2R boolits today.

they drop right at 160 grains according to my digital scale,but they're only .306 at the widest area..what do I need to change?

thanks for the help.

[badgeredd]

The first question will be from the guys who really know will be"What is your alloy?" or possibly "what temperature are you casting at?" Both of these questions have helped me to get good boolits and I am rather new to this casting thing. Another thing I have found , is to make sure your mold is up to temp. Good luck but it sounds like you are on your way to becoming addicted.

[runfiverun]

that would be my first question a 312 boolit at 306? wow
stereo type or foundry type? i don't think even them would go that small
and your weight would be like 140 or so.

[oneokie]

Nearly pure at a very high temp? The closer to pure and higher temps causes more shrinkage.

[swabbie]

I gotta get a thermometer

the alloy is almost pure WW with some linotype thrown in..not too much.

weight is sure enuff 160

[Ricochet]

You're measuring the smooth cylindrical bore rider part, right? That's about right for that boolit. Mine come out at about .3145" across the bands, but it's tricky measuring across those narrow microbands. A .314" Lee sizer just polishes off the tops of the bands. I think mine are about .307" across the bore rider part.

[RU shooter]

I agree with Ricochet I get a .314 on the bands and .307 at the base of the nose section and tappers smaller as you go towards the nose. Hope you get it figured out ,Thats a great boolit and shoots well in everything 30-31 cal. I have tried it in so far.

Tim

[swabbie]

I got enuff problems without creating problems that aren't reely there

thanks for the help..I'll continue stumbling along....practice makes perfect

[swabbie]

my used lee drip o matic isn't dripping.the spout is clogged too much, and that's causing my casting problems..according to my new casting buddy.

we tried everything to unclog it..ouch hot,hot,hot

guess I'll stick a screw in it.

now if only both my ladles weren't too big for the pot

not buyin any mo used pots from evil bay

[docone31]

The spout is clogged with zinc.
I ran into the slow drip on pour after I had added zinc.
Take a coat hanger, drill an hole into a broom handle cut to about 3". Run the pot on high for a bit. Stir after fluxing. A real good flux I used is Liquid Soldering Flux. I got it at Ace Hardware. It is for low temp, and high temp metals. Mostly HCL acid. I got a suprising amount of scale, oatmeal like lumps, etc.
After doing that, Take some copper wire. About 20 guage. Strip off the coating. Work harden it by pulling it through a rag so it attempts to coil up. Do this several times. Then straighten it up and put it in a pin vise. Bend the very end at a right angle and insert it into the spout, in and out several times. Do this until it flows. Then turn the spout rod several times in the shut off position.
Repeat the probing process.
The pour spout is fairly small in diameter. Even small pieces of crud can block it. High heat is not enough to clear firescale, dross, or zinc globs.
Once I put in the zinc, I got good pours untill it just slowed down to a crawl. I had been adjusting the screw untill I got small pours also. It just slowed to a crawl, then stopped.
I had thought, fluxing, the crud would float to the top of the pot. Wrong. Some stays in suspension, almost in colloidal state. That daggoned zinc, after being stirred in, was tenacious! I had globules enmeshed in the pot. I am sure, I have more in there. I had smelted outside of the pot, and added ingots to the pot for the melt. The tips of the ingots immersed and then melts had oxides that were trapped near the bottom of the pot.
Upon fluxing and stirring, I got black crusty lumps that popped up on the surface after tossing clean ingots into the mix.
Don't six the pot just yet. Might need a little maintenance..

[leftiye]

Docone, A great idea I picked up here is to use a hardwood dowel to stir and also stir when fluxung with it. You see, the wood itself is a fluxing/reducing agent. Have you done a search here on fluxing/fluxes yet? Best info there is available.

BTW, there is fluxing which separates crud out of the melt, and reducing which retrieves oxygen from oxides, and returns tin, etc to your metal. Cargbon based fluxes do both. Hydrocloric acid is a gas which is in solution in water. Don't know how else to say it, I have never heard of using it as flux, might donate a hydrogen atom, and reduce something. The water has some real negative possibilities though.

[docone31]

I do my silver work on framing lumber for that specific purpose.
As a reducing agent it really helps in an alloy.
silver needs back heat. The framing lumber acts as charcoal absorbant for O2, and back heat.
I am going to have to try a wood dowel for the stir. Any residual carbon will eventually float.
that is a good idea. I have used a wood float on smelting, never thought of a stir. I have been working with high heat metals for so long, I have had to relearn lead.