Here ya go fellas. Not perfect yet but i`m thinking after a few castings this mold is gonna be a winner. I`m gonna load these up and see how they do. The camera makes `em look worst than they are. I`m also gonna do another cleaning on this mold with some Comet and the wifes toothbrush. LOL !!!!
buzzard`s gotta eat, same as the worms
Josey Wales
Burch
If you casted those from 50/50 WW-Pb alloy, did you water drop them? If you did, I would suggest waiting at least a week for them to cure and harden evenly. That's about the minimum time I've found. Longer is better for serious accuracy trials. 357Maximum and myself have found that with WD boolits, you can pretty much work up to any max jacketed data (plus) for an equivilent weight bullet. H335 is a real winner as well as BLC-2 and 3031. I've never tried them air cooled as I had a need for speed.
Let us know how they work out.
Yes these are water dropped and thanks for the waiting tip, I didn`t know that. I`m planning on running these at 1800 fps max outta my Marlin 336 - 35 Rem. At this maximum speed will I have to GC `em ? My bore dia. is .354-.355 and I can size `em at .358
buzzard`s gotta eat, same as the worms
Josey Wales
Hey man those look GREAT!!Originally Posted by burch
Here ya go fellas. Not perfect yet but i`m thinking after a few castings this mold is gonna be a winner. I`m gonna load these up and see how they do. The camera makes `em look worst than they are. I`m also gonna do another cleaning on this mold with some Comet and the wifes toothbrush. LOL !!!!
Art
If the bullets aren't frosted I'd say you still need more heat.What is the BTU rating on your furnace? I recently went from one rated at 25,000 to one rated at 60,000 and boy what a difference.All my molds just seem to work better.
I think a slightly frosty flat finish makes the best casting
Melting Stuff is FUN!Sent from my PC with a keyboard and camera on it with internet too.
Shooting stuff is even funner
L W Knight
Yes, you'll want to gas check them for that speed. We were driving the same boolit/ alloy well over 2,000 fps with outstanding accuracy. Your groove diameter seems aweful tight for a Marlin. Have you checked for bore constrictions? They are common in Marlins. I size to slip fit into a fired case. This fills the throat and helps control the boolit base prior to it getting fully in the bore.
As long as your boolits are fully filled out and to size, don't worry about them being frosty. Mine never are using 50/50 alloy and seldom were with straight WW's. I try to run my ladle pot at the lowest temperature that will consistently cast good boolits. Lower heat means less or slower dross buildup and possible inclusions. It will also produce the biggest boolit with less out-of-roundness. These long, 6.5mm Loverin boolits were ladle poured with 50/50 at a little over 700F.
I have never seen a marlin 35 that tight in all areas of the bore. When you slugged it did you feel any tight spots byt the stampings/barrel bands? Sounds like a constriction to me..wow.
I would start with measuring a fired case as Babs has pointed out already. I shoot the 360-220 basically unsized and just lubed/checked in an oversize die in my pre micro marlin 35's.
Explain, bore constriction and i`ll recheck everything. I used a .375 lead round ball. I honestly didn`t feel anything out of the ordinary but i`ll do it agin to be sure. I used some case lube on the ball.
buzzard`s gotta eat, same as the worms
Josey Wales
You have to remember that the steal handles are sucking a lot of that heat out of the aluminum mold to begin with so like everyone says, more heat on the mold, if you get too much you will know it. Good luck.
Use dish soap. It doesn't take up that much room in the bore.
The obstruction will be felt by the ball, suddenly slowing down after it enters the bore.
No bore is perfect, you will feel it -----go----then drag, then -----go--- drag --go.
With my Enfield, I had to guess at the size, then on my patched loads, I smeared valve compound. I fire lapped the barrel.
Much better.
Pound your slug all the way through
Relube it with vaseline or similar
reinsert it into the muzzle by aligning the land/grooves to your slug
Push it through again and mark your rod with a sharpie when you feel a tight spot.
Lay the rod on the barrel and see where the tight spots are
Normally the constictions in a lever gun are at dovetails/mag hangers/ and the writing on the barrel. If you have constricitons...do a search on beartooth bullets site on "firelapping"............it works when it is needed.
I like using a hollow egg fishing sinker, the soft lead ones as there are some harder ones on the market now. Being egg shaped they start easily. The hollow through hole allows someplace for the lead to upset into rather than giving you any springback. With a cleaned, lightly oiled bore, pound a lightly oiled sinker all the way through, from muzzle to breech. I use a plastic or wood mallet to start it til it's flush with the muzzle where it usually cuts a nice ring of lead. Then I use a plastic punch to get it down the bore an inch or so. From there it's a close fitting steel rod that has been ringed or fully covered with electrical tape. I pound them through with a 3-4 lb hammer using the inertia to push it through. Little taps, with a light hammer, can upset the slug more than necessary and give a false reading. Use a good micrometer and measure the slug in several places. This full pass slug will have been sized down to the smallest portion of the bore. In Marlins, it's common to have constrictions at the dovetail cuts, roll markings, and barrel thread areas. Where they are is not absolutely necessary to know right know.
To determine if you do have any constrictions, use a second egg sinker. Do this one the same way, except when you have it just below the muzzle end, drive it right back out from the breech. Measure it and compare the dimensions to your first slug. If this second slug is bigger than the first one, then you have some constrictions. If you doubt your technique during any step in the slugging operations, do a second set for comparision by all means. It does take some experience to get the "feel". down
I usually consider any constriction of 0.0005" or less to be inconsiquential. It won't take long to shoot out with jacketed or some hearty cleaning with JB Bore Cleaner. If your getting more than that, then I look to firelapping. Assuming you've never done this, I would highly recommend a call to Marshall Stanton, at Beartooth Bullets. Give him your information and measurements and order one his lapping kits with the manual. Once you have the kit, you'll never have to buy anything else for other guns, if needed. There's plenty of lapping compound for 10-15 guns and you can cast your own boolits later on. It's well worth the $35-$40 for the first time. I would avoid any of the Tubb's lapping kits or any with bullets harder than 10-12 bhn. Hard bullets/boolits have a certain amount of springback which defeats the purpose of progressively lapping from breech to muzzle and achieving a slightly tapered bore.
If you have any doubts, do some posting on MarlinOwners forum. There are a bunch of people there you have had to lap there Marlins when needed. I've never had a firelapped barrel shoot worst than before. In fact they have all shot way better.
Well I have to say I have had problems with zinc contamination in my alloy and this is the first time I ever read about adding zinc to your alloy. Not something I would do.
If a man has nothing greater to believe in than himself, he is a very lonely man.
I assume the PP bullet has smooth sides and therefore will not have any filling issues?
wheeze
Actually they looked like chewed up bubble gum and clogged my spout on my Lee 10lb bottom pour. And I was casting with high temps. Took a lot of work to get the pot clean. Hope I never get any zinc in my alloy again. None.
If a man has nothing greater to believe in than himself, he is a very lonely man.
docone31
I gotta Lee 20lb bottom pour pot.
I turn it up all the way. I add zinc to my melt.
Flows nice as could be.
A little zinc, not much. With paper patching, zinc is no issue. I find the hard castings desireable.
I noticed that when I read it too, but figured docone meant tin, not zinc.
I have this issue as well. Do wrinkles affect accuracy? Do they shoot just as well?
Nope, zinc.
When I first started casting, I had a lot of wrinkles. I thought the pictures I saw were photos and not actual castings.
As time went by, and my heat got more under control, my technique got more consistant, my castings got smoother and smoother.
I am not sure how they affect accuracy. By the time I got any kind of pattern at all, my casting had improved to where I had no wrinkles.
I do incorporate zinc in a lot of blends I use. The trick is to blend lead into the zinc, rather than blend zinc into the lead.
I got miserable oatmeal crud, plugged spouts, I got it all. I found my mix, and it works with my paper patching. I only have 200yds available, so I have no clue what it will do past that range.
I have not fired zinc blend in non-patched loads.
I'm glad someone is working with zinc in boolits. By the time my grandchildren take up shooting and casting , lead may be a thing of the past like asbestos.
Melting Stuff is FUN!Sent from my PC with a keyboard and camera on it with internet too.
Shooting stuff is even funner
L W Knight
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