Some Casting boolits errors!

[Chrome1981]

hello, i'm newbie and could you help me to solve some errors like this!

I Use:

Lee mould 6 cavity 1r 452 230 gr
Rcbs lube a matic 2
Lee fournace 4 - 20
for reloading i have RCBS Pro 2000

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/377/imageqdf.jpg

As you can see from the picture sometimes bullet's grove are smaller then other and the lead towards up on the tips, as some bullets are larger than others.

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/4007/imageoab.jpg

when i make a cartridge with a bullet problem as shown, when i put cartridge in sti spartan's chamber, after I have trouble to extract the cartridge, showing a certain resistance (my barrel groove touch the bullets).

Unfortunately i don't have a thermometer maybe it depends on the temperature:

cold mould?
cold molten lead?
any ideas?

thank you!

[WHITETAIL]

Not bad for your first try.
And welcome to the forum.:cbpour:

[Chrome1981]

Not bad for your first try.
And welcome to the forum.:cbpour:

Thank you very much.

You're too good, maybe I was wrong to take a mold of 6 cavity because some bullets seem large, and other small. Maybe is this mould little bit hard to use?

Thank you!

[Chihuahua Floyd]

couple of questions.
Are you trying to hold all three handles of the mold when you cast? On a previous thread there was a recomendation to only hold the two mold halves closed and not hold the sprue cutter.
The lost lube groove is where the sizer is pushing excess lead into the groove. You can see that you are swaging lead almost all the length of the bullet. I would recomend that if it looks like that, remelt it.
Try another casting session, holding only the mold handles together. Are a set number of bullets to large? 1/6, 2/6,ect. If it is a constant problem, it may be a bad cavity in the mold.
Are those finished rounds in the picture? Looks like 45 ACP with no crimp as the brass has way to much lip around the bullet.

A cold mold usually gives me wrinkled bullets, not oversized.
CF

[Bret4207]

First thing to do is check your mould for any debris that would keep it from closing all the way. Look for any drops of lead on the faces or in the alignment holes and grooves. Look also for any left over material from the machining process. In fact, it would be a good idea to do a search for any article or thread here on "Leementing". This is the process of finishing the moulds Lee provides. It works on other brands too, but Lee being so popular and, truthfully, so often not quite completely ready to start casting it got the Leementing name.

When you have assured yourself your mould isn't the issue then look at the handles. They can bind and they can be twisted and either can cause your mould halves not to close correctly. Lube is also important, both on the mould and the handles and where the screws go through to attach them. Simply rubbing the bearing surfaces with a #2 pencil, or better a good quality carpenters pencil will usually provide the lube you need.( Bullshops lube is unavailable at the moment IIRC, but it's supposed to be THE LUBE for this stuff.)

Once you have that figured out it's down to ensuring you aren't causing the problem. As Floyd noted, don't try and hold all 3 handles, just hold the 2 mould handles and not the sprue plate handle. Try to hold them the same way with the same pressure each time. I don't think holding them tightly will cause the mould to spring apart, but holding them loosely can give them the chance to separate slightly.

All this is to ensure the mould halves meet squarely, tightly and consistently. If after all this you still find some boolits are being sized more than others then it's time to check each cavity for what sice boolit it's dropping. It's possible one of more cavities are slightly larger than the others, but it's more likely you have a mechanical issue causing the blocks not to close completely.

[Chrome1981]

couple of questions.
Are you trying to hold all three handles of the mold when you cast? On a previous thread there was a recomendation to only hold the two mold halves closed and not hold the sprue cutter.
The lost lube groove is where the sizer is pushing excess lead into the groove. You can see that you are swaging lead almost all the length of the bullet. I would recomend that if it looks like that, remelt it.
Try another casting session, holding only the mold handles together. Are a set number of bullets to large? 1/6, 2/6,ect. If it is a constant problem, it may be a bad cavity in the mold.
Are those finished rounds in the picture? Looks like 45 ACP with no crimp as the brass has way to much lip around the bullet.

A cold mold usually gives me wrinkled bullets, not oversized.
CF

NO I hold only 2 handles, now i cast my bullet together with a friend and we hold the mould in a garage, maybe a little bit dirty.
Then my sprue plate make a lot of line up the mould, and sometime i must hit the muould with a mallet to drop the bullets.

When it is possible i must measuring all 6 holes.




First thing to do is check your mould for any debris that would keep it from closing all the way. Look for any drops of lead on the faces or in the alignment holes and grooves. Look also for any left over material from the machining process. In fact, it would be a good idea to do a search for any article or thread here on "Leementing". This is the process of finishing the moulds Lee provides. It works on other brands too, but Lee being so popular and, truthfully, so often not quite completely ready to start casting it got the Leementing name.

When you have assured yourself your mould isn't the issue then look at the handles. They can bind and they can be twisted and either can cause your mould halves not to close correctly. Lube is also important, both on the mould and the handles and where the screws go through to attach them. Simply rubbing the bearing surfaces with a #2 pencil, or better a good quality carpenters pencil will usually provide the lube you need.( Bullshops lube is unavailable at the moment IIRC, but it's supposed to be THE LUBE for this stuff.)

Once you have that figured out it's down to ensuring you aren't causing the problem. As Floyd noted, don't try and hold all 3 handles, just hold the 2 mould handles and not the sprue plate handle. Try to hold them the same way with the same pressure each time. I don't think holding them tightly will cause the mould to spring apart, but holding them loosely can give them the chance to separate slightly.

All this is to ensure the mould halves meet squarely, tightly and consistently. If after all this you still find some boolits are being sized more than others then it's time to check each cavity for what sice boolit it's dropping. It's possible one of more cavities are slightly larger than the others, but it's more likely you have a mechanical issue causing the blocks not to close completely.

Thank you very much, as i said as I said may be a combination of things:

For now the place where I keep the molds is dirty, it's possible that i have a mechanical issue, than i hit close to the mold cavity to drop the bullet.

I'm changing home and soon i will buy all mine moulds! :cbpour:

[JSnover]

I had a similar problem when I first started. I ran the lead too hot. Instead of stabilizing at the right temperature, the pot (plus the lead, and the mold) would get way hotter than it needed to be. It caused size and weight variations like yours.

[Chrome1981]

I had a similar problem when I first started. I ran the lead too hot. Instead of stabilizing at the right temperature, the pot (plus the lead, and the mold) would get way hotter than it needed to be. It caused size and weight variations like yours.

Thank you for your tip, i have order "NOE Lead Pot Thermometer" yesterday.

[357shooter]

It can help to tap the mould with a sprue whacker when you close it. Sometimes that's all it takes to get it closed and flush, before the next pour.

[williamwaco]

Refer to the first photo of three bullets. The bullet in the center has narrower grooves.

The cause is this: The center bullet is larger by several thousands than the others. When you sized it, the sizing die swaged away most of the lube groove. The groove is narrower at the bottom than at the top so when the wide part of the groove is removed, the remaining groove is narrower.

I have seen this several times with Lee molds with shallow tumble grooves and with rounded conventional lube grooves.

In my experience, the bullets are about .004 to .005 larger than normal. Example: My mold normally casts.358 to 360. The larger bullets will measure around .362 to .363. (Before sizing) The remaining grooves are significantly smaller. sometims they almost disappear, smaller than those in your photo.

The only way in my experience that the bullet can be this large is that something is holding the mold partially open when the bullet is poured. Since I don't find these bullets until long after the casting session, I am not sure what. Common causes are slpashes of lead, mis-alligned alignment pins, mis-aligned sprue cutter, flake of sawdust flux. etc, etc. ( lots of examples in the other posts here. )

Check you mold by closing it normally, leaving the sprue cutter open. Hold the mold up to a very strong light source with the base facing the lignt and look into the bullet cavities. If you can see any light through the closure, the mold is not closed completely.

[w30wcf]

Chrome1981,

It appears to me that your lubrisizer / top punch / top punch alignment just might be the problem and some of the bullets are being sized more on one side than the other.

I would suggest using a flat faced top punch and see if that takes care of the problem.

w30wcf

[dskjeie]

I am also new to the casting and this site .
what i am hearing here is the boolites are sticking in the mold some times and some are saying that the mold halfs might not be mateing togeather. have you tried Lee-Menting the mold. there is an awsome artical here on it and over at castpics

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=4790

[geargnasher]

Chrome1981, you have been given some excellent advice that would cover all of the possible reasons you mould is casting some boolits too big and some the right size. Make it a practice to do the "daylight test" each time you close the mould like Williamwaco said in post #10. Be more careful of lead debris or other junk getting in between the blocks and keeping them from closing. Other than that, you boolits look fine.

Gear

[Echo]

Chrome1981, what do the boolits weigh? Is the center one (in Post#1) heavier, as I suspect? The above mentioned compressing of the loob grooves can be caused by a fat boolit, and THAT can be caused by several things, including mis-made cavities and uneven pressure on the mold handles.

[Chrome1981]

I would like to thank everyone for the excellent advice that i received!!


Chrome1981, what do the boolits weigh? Is the center one (in Post#1) heavier, as I suspect? The above mentioned compressing of the loob grooves can be caused by a fat boolit, and THAT can be caused by several things, including mis-made cavities and uneven pressure on the mold handles.

I did another test, i weighed 2 bullets with my dillon scales:

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/5079/imagexcy.jpg

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/4543/imagetbc.jpg


The "normal" bullet on the left weighs 230.6 gr and the right one weighs 238 gr.

As said geargnasher i have to pay more attention when i close moulds of lead debris or other junk [smilie=b:

[EDK]

Measure boolits from EACH cavity and see how close they are to each other.

Clean the mould with a solvent like Brake Cleaner and then dish soap and hot water. Check the holes for the alignment pins as well as the faces of the blocks for debris blocking them or burrs....it doesn't take much to hold blocks apart.

If boolits stick, do a search about lapping the cavities...especially the smaller ones. You do not need a lot of lapping...a second or third small session is better than one big one.

You might also do a search on venting the mould, but your boolits look pretty good.

Hit the bolt that the mould handles pivot on...not the blocks if you can avoid it. LEE moulds aren't bad, but aluminum is soft and will deform/warp.

There is some adjusting on the sprue plate, etc that you will do by trial and error. Sometimes it seems casting is more an art form than a science.

:Fire::cbpour::redneck: