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bcr
07-15-2011, 08:18 AM
On Saturday I had my first real solo casting session (I got sidetracked the last few months when we moved from AZ to NM). I was testing out my new Mihec H&G68 clone. I had fun and got some beautiful boolits, but my yield was quite low. I suspect this was because it was hard to keep the temperature in my 10 lb Lee pot very constant, and also because I may not have let the mold get hot enough when I started. It seemed like the end of the session after the mold was good and hot I got better consistency. I was using clip on WWs/linotype in a ratio that gave me about 2% tin.

I have tumble lubed about 120 of these with LLA, and I'm planning to load up a couple this weekend and see if they chamber in my gun. If they do, I won't size them (they seem to be pretty consistent .453 falling from that mold).

The two most common problems I saw were that the front driving band (I'm not sure that's what it's really called) was a little bit rounded, not perfectly sharp; and second, that the base of the boolit was often not flat, but had a small crater in it.

I have heard the base of the boolit is the most important part for accuracy, so how concerned should I be about the imperfect base and the rounded front driving band? The circumference of the bases of the booilts are very nice and square. I assume that's really the important part? These will be used for plinking, so I don't need MOA accuracy from my 1911 Commander, but I'd like them to have reasonable accuracy.

Brasso
07-15-2011, 08:27 AM
The reason for the crater is not enough alloy is left for the sprue. As it cools the metal shrinks a little and needs metal on the sprue to fill in. The 'front driving band' problem could be from a number of things.

Sam