John 242
02-28-2011, 04:52 PM
It's been over six-months since the last time I cast bullets thanks to having been overseas. Casting bullets, for me, is a love hate relationship. Sometimes things go well, someitmes I drive myself crazy trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong.
I dropped a couple wheel weight ingots into my Lee Pro 4-20 and added about a quarter pound of tin. I decided to try something different when it came time to flux. Based on the recommendations of those of you hear on this forum, I went ahead and fluxed with used walnut media from my Lyman vibrator/tumbler. The smoke and stink were a little overpowering, but the breeze blowing through the garage quickly took care of the stench. I don’t know if the walnut is a better flux than the candle wax I usually use, but I stirred it in and left the ash covered the top of the melt.
Once fluxing was complete, with the melt temperature sitting at about 750 degrees, I was ready to start casting some bullets. This would be my first use of my brand new Lee 312-185-1R (2 cavity). I had prepped the mould by washing it with dish soap and then sprayed it with brake cleaner. I lubed the bearing surfaces (what passes for a pin on a Lee 2 cavity) with a little bit of bullet lube.
I started filling the lee mould and got badly wrinkled bullets as the mould continued to heat up. The bullets wouldn’t fall from the mould unless I beat on the nut holding the handles together. I really had to smack the heck out of the thing. The mould grew hotter and hotter, but the bullets kept coming out with wrinkle spots. I wracked my brain trying to figure out why. Was it the brake cleaner? The bullet lube?
I let the Lee mould cool and then scrubbed it, first with mineral spirits and then with Dawn dish washing soap. I used a hair dryer to dry it off and retreated back to the garage to try again. I got everything back up to temp with the same results. I tried bumping up the melt temp to 800 and then 900 degrees, with no luck. I tried heating the mould in the melt and got it hotter and hotter, but the bullets still had spots on them… wrinkle spots. At this point, I was pretty frustrated and cussing Lee and their cheap moulds. I set the Lee mould aside and used my Lyman 314299 to cast up about a 100 perfect bullets at about 850 degrees melt temp with no problems.
Normally, I’m not a very patient guy, but I figured I’d try one more time with the Lee mould before giving up on it. Once it was cool, I gave the cavities a couple shots of Frankford Arsenal mould release from Midway and let it dry. I then got everything back up to temp, started casting and… victory! The Frankford Arsenal mould release made all the difference in the world. The bullets came out perfectly filled out almost from the first cast and they dropped from the mould with a little shake of the handles.
I couldn’t ask for better results. I’m not trying to sell that stuff, I normally don’t use it, but in this instance it really came to the rescue. I usually don’t smoke my moulds, but the Lee mould definitely needed it.
Latter, I busted the o-ring in my RCBS LAM-2 but that’s another story.
Thanks everyone for all of the great advice and the knowledge that’s shared every day. Without this forum I wouldn’t be casting.
I dropped a couple wheel weight ingots into my Lee Pro 4-20 and added about a quarter pound of tin. I decided to try something different when it came time to flux. Based on the recommendations of those of you hear on this forum, I went ahead and fluxed with used walnut media from my Lyman vibrator/tumbler. The smoke and stink were a little overpowering, but the breeze blowing through the garage quickly took care of the stench. I don’t know if the walnut is a better flux than the candle wax I usually use, but I stirred it in and left the ash covered the top of the melt.
Once fluxing was complete, with the melt temperature sitting at about 750 degrees, I was ready to start casting some bullets. This would be my first use of my brand new Lee 312-185-1R (2 cavity). I had prepped the mould by washing it with dish soap and then sprayed it with brake cleaner. I lubed the bearing surfaces (what passes for a pin on a Lee 2 cavity) with a little bit of bullet lube.
I started filling the lee mould and got badly wrinkled bullets as the mould continued to heat up. The bullets wouldn’t fall from the mould unless I beat on the nut holding the handles together. I really had to smack the heck out of the thing. The mould grew hotter and hotter, but the bullets kept coming out with wrinkle spots. I wracked my brain trying to figure out why. Was it the brake cleaner? The bullet lube?
I let the Lee mould cool and then scrubbed it, first with mineral spirits and then with Dawn dish washing soap. I used a hair dryer to dry it off and retreated back to the garage to try again. I got everything back up to temp with the same results. I tried bumping up the melt temp to 800 and then 900 degrees, with no luck. I tried heating the mould in the melt and got it hotter and hotter, but the bullets still had spots on them… wrinkle spots. At this point, I was pretty frustrated and cussing Lee and their cheap moulds. I set the Lee mould aside and used my Lyman 314299 to cast up about a 100 perfect bullets at about 850 degrees melt temp with no problems.
Normally, I’m not a very patient guy, but I figured I’d try one more time with the Lee mould before giving up on it. Once it was cool, I gave the cavities a couple shots of Frankford Arsenal mould release from Midway and let it dry. I then got everything back up to temp, started casting and… victory! The Frankford Arsenal mould release made all the difference in the world. The bullets came out perfectly filled out almost from the first cast and they dropped from the mould with a little shake of the handles.
I couldn’t ask for better results. I’m not trying to sell that stuff, I normally don’t use it, but in this instance it really came to the rescue. I usually don’t smoke my moulds, but the Lee mould definitely needed it.
Latter, I busted the o-ring in my RCBS LAM-2 but that’s another story.
Thanks everyone for all of the great advice and the knowledge that’s shared every day. Without this forum I wouldn’t be casting.