Casting for a friend

[hedgehorn]

A friend of mine asked me to cast some boolits for his custom made 45 caliber muzzleloader. The fellow that made the rifle also made a mold for it. I spent three hours getting it to cast a decent boolit. The mold has no vent lines and I was having a heck of a time getting it to fill out completely. I only cast 96 of them before it got dark. Boolit is pictured next to a 45acp
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h137/hedgehorn/IMG-20111106-00068-1.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h137/hedgehorn/DSCN0475.jpg

[waksupi]

Thar's your problem. They ain't round balls!

[hedgehorn]

Yes waksupi I would have probably been allot more successful casting round balls. I was beginning to wonder if the mold would ever fill out. I have never had so much trouble casting. I cast a 425 grain boolit for my 45/70 and if the mold is pre heated it fills out wonderfully. I think I had twice as many go back in the pot than I had keepers.

[mooman76]

Give the mould back and tell him it needs vent lines.

[hedgehorn]

I am going to give him 96 boolits and the mold. I will let him know that the absence of vent lines makes the mold very hard to work with. I think I will give him my old lyman pot and ladle as well ;)

[Good Cheer]

Looks like the rifle could be a lot of fun. Mine is put together with a .458" bore diameter so as to use most any 45-70 mold.
Yeehah!

[451 Pete]

Just a couple of thoughts. Over the years I have cast a lot of large .40 and .45 cal.. ML and BPC bulllets. I even have one custom mold that was made by a friend in England that casts a 530 grain hex for a Whitworth ( it is an aluminum mold with no vent lines ). For casting large pure lead bullets I run my lead pot at very high temps and wide open ( directly off of the electrical cord and bypassing the rheostat that comes with the pot ) to a temp of at least 800* or better before I start my casting. ( BTW I have had the same pot over 20 years now and this does not hurt your pot. ) I pour a full ladle for each bullet to force any air in the mold cavity out and never cast below a half a pot of lead or put the cut off sprue back into the pot. I have run a thermocouple ( accurate to 1/10th of a degree ) in my pot and found that a single cut off sprue will change the temp of the 20 lb. pot by a degree in temperature. Different temperatures equate to different weights of bullets. The pre heated bullet mold will stabilize it's temp to that of the pot after the first 5 or 6 bullets and if you keep a rythme going with your casting, subsequent bullets should be within + or - a grain or less. One last thought is to make sure that the cut off plate on the mold is tight as a loose one will give you fits too.

Hope this helps ..... Pete :coffeecom

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

i wonder if you beagled the mold with a few thin strips of aluminum tape if that would be enough to get it to vent then size it down

[P.K.]

Tell him to invest in a REAL mold the next time he needs boolits. ;-)

[zuke]

A little tin perhap's?

[docone31]

Do you preheat the mold?
I have found, wrinkles mean too cold.

[hedgehorn]

I did preheat the mold but I am thinking that the temp of the melt had allot to do with it. The longer I cast the better the boolits came out. The rifle is a copy of a Rigby and slugs .448. A little tin may have helped with the fill out. I noticed that it would not fill out until the sprue stayed liquid for quite some time. The boolit that my friend gave me prior to my casting had a plastic disc stuck to the bottom of it with lube that I think must have been intended to be a gas check of sorts. I will see what can be done about adding vent lines to the mold. Thanks for all your input..

[docone31]

I want my sprue to "freeze" in six seconds. If it freezes sooner, the mold is too cool. If it takes longer to freeze, it is too warm.
Before you add vent lines, try that. Just for hars or giggles. You can always add lines later.
I also do not smoke the mold. I use it flux less.
Give that a try.
You can always add vent lines.