Rate these boolits for me

[DODGEM250]

Recent cast of 400 boolits, this is an example, of what I have on average out of the 400. Does anyone have any issues with these ?

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Yeah, they are missing a gas check and lube. You better get on it!!

:p

[fatnhappy]

mediocre. rounded bands, the front driving band on the 4th from the left looks particularly bothersome.

Since a couple lube grooves show indications of frosting at the same time you have incomplete fillout or rounded bands I would suspect you have a contaminated mould and/or venting issues.

A better picture with good lighting would help.

they'll ring a gong or bust cans just fine though.

[littlejack]

The boolits look prety good, not perfect. There are some inclusions showing. I'll bet you used a bottom pour pot. They should shoot very well if your firearm likes them.
+1 on the gc'ing, lubing and sizing.
Jack

[DODGEM250]

Yeah, they are missing a gas check and lube. You better get on it!!

:p

LOL yeah that'll come later. Not worried about that right now.

[runfiverun]

still a little oil in the mold.
you either have some gunk building up in the alloy, or are running a little tin rich.
other than that you are getting there.
i prefer to run my molds a little hotter than you are.
i'd shoot most of them though.

[Boolseye]

They look perfectly shootable. Your gun won't care about the imperfections, i'll wager.

[DODGEM250]

still a little oil in the mold. How do you know there is oil in the mold?

you either have some gunk building up in the alloy, or are running a little tin rich. No tin in this batch

other than that you are getting there.

i prefer to run my molds a little hotter than you are. How do you know how hot this mold was ?

i'd shoot most of them though.

I'm just asking for answers, nothing more.

[DODGEM250]

The boolits look prety good, not perfect. There are some inclusions showing. I'll bet you used a bottom pour pot. They should shoot very well if your firearm likes them.
+1 on the gc'ing, lubing and sizing.
Jack

I use a Lyman 4" pot and a Lee dipper.

[stubshaft]

Some minor inclusions and a couple of rounded bands. Good enough for plinking loads.

[Crawdaddy]

They look like shooters to me. I wouldn't cull any. If it were a rifle you were going to use for hunting I would be more worried but not for plinking ammo.

[camaro1st]

i can see the problem now!! the problem is in the lee dipper :kidding: that cheep stuff never works[smilie=l:

[littlejack]

I stand corrected.
Looks as though you may need to flux and clean your alloy a little more. Get vigorous with the stirring. Stir with a wooden stick. Add some candle wax. This will help flux as you stir. Don't forget to scrape the sides and bottom of your pot. When finished stirring and scraping, dip off all of the trash on top.
I ladle cast also and like it better than the bottom pours.
Jack

[runfiverun]

i can tell by the color of the boolits.
the oil is causing the rolled/creased edges on the drive bands.
the little indents are caused by either inclusions [oxides or dirt] but they are smoothed over and not black causing them to look like tin spots.
things will improve as you break in the mold,and flux properly.

[DODGEM250]

i can tell by the color of the boolits.
the oil is causing the rolled/creased edges on the drive bands.
the little indents are caused by either inclusions [oxides or dirt] but they are smoothed over and not black causing them to look like tin spots.
things will improve as you break in the mold,and flux properly.

Thanks. I had to ask.

[DODGEM250]

i can see the problem now!! the problem is in the lee dipper :kidding: that cheep stuff never works[smilie=l:

One fact about this Lee dipper is, I did have to modify it, by bending the shaft a few degrees. The straight shaft was no good and have to have to angel added to it.

[DODGEM250]

I stand corrected.
Looks as though you may need to flux and clean your alloy a little more. Get vigorous with the stirring. Stir with a wooden stick. Add some candle wax. This will help flux as you stir. Don't forget to scrape the sides and bottom of your pot. When finished stirring and scraping, dip off all of the trash on top.
I ladle cast also and like it better than the bottom pours.
Jack

Yes sir, I do flux the lead and I constantly clean the slag from the top of the lead. Every few casting sessions I will clean the entire inside of the pot with a wire brush and my drill to make sure I get all the garbage out of the pot right to a shine.

I really prefer the hand dipping method over pouring from a pot. Pot dripping in to a mold seems too commercial / contemporary for me. I like doing things like it was the 1800's I guess. I you understand what I mean by that. The bottom pour pot is fine, but, there's just something about pouring with a dipper that makes me feel like I'm doing something.

[DODGEM250]

As for plinking ammo. Yes, these will only be used for lighter loads in my wife's .357 revolver. I am pouring these for both .38 and .357 loads for her. I have been working with a borrowed 1970's Lyman mold that was covered with extreme rust on the mold blocks.

I have been restoring these blocks for about a week, casting, cleaning, trashing casts, and repeating the process a few times. I finally got to the point where I was confident enough that I had a usable boolit coming from this mold, so, I decided to post this photo of some of my "fine work" and see if there is anything else I could do to improve them. You guys have replied with some upfront and intelligent replies and I appreciate your honest and mature answers. I also have some more information to use and improve this old mould.

[Bret4207]

You have some shootable boolits. I've certainly cast worse. It's funny, but some of my best casting iron moulds have been rejects other people abused and let rust. A bit of work lapping or with an abrasive stick and they cast very well. The boolits don't look so pretty though.

[DODGEM250]

You have some shootable boolits. I've certainly cast worse. It's funny, but some of my best casting iron moulds have been rejects other people abused and let rust. A bit of work lapping or with an abrasive stick and they cast very well. The boolits don't look so pretty though.

Well Bret, here's what it boils down to with this mould, as you know I have been having problems with it from the other threads' discussion, this mould went by the wayside because the owner, my neighbor, could never get a good bullet from it.

When I originally asked him if he by chance had a 38/357 mould I could play with, he sort of chuckled and said, "Yes. I do have one", in that expression of, you might not accomplish much with it, but, I have one.

At this point, compared to what this mould was producing, these boolits are beauty queens now. Since the issue has finally gone from a Casting Equipment issue to a Cast Boolits concern, I present... See Here (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showpost.php?p=1550109&postcount=53).

[LAH]

Please don't consider me an expert at this but the cavities may need cleans. A little WD40, etc. & a good stiff brush followed by some starting fluid.

As for the bullets pictured, bet they shoot fine.

[TJF1]

They look good to me

[DODGEM250]

Please don't consider me an expert at this but the cavities may need cleans. A little WD40, etc. & a good stiff brush followed by some starting fluid.

As for the bullets pictured, bet they shoot fine.

I actually had to clean these blocks really good. I even had to go through the process of using some Blue and Rust remover on them. I brushed the cavities well and even put the dremel in there with a wire brush. These blocks were horrible. The small pits you see on the bullets are actually rust pits, but, without a microscope I can not see them until I put the camera flash on them. I can't complain, to take this mold from what it was to what is, is two different worlds now.

[runfiverun]

lapping a mold with valve compound or toothpaste is much gentler and far more effective.

[geargnasher]

If you start shooting long-range silhouette matches, you might want to get a better mould, but I doubt you'll notice any problems from the few rounded bands and pits for most shooting. If they were a plain-based design, a rounded or uneven base will make a great deal of difference in the way they shoot.

Gear

[dk17hmr]

Not perfect for reasons already stated. BUT I have shot a lot uglier boolits. I actually take most of my reject rifle boolits, tumble lube them and use them for small game with really little loads. For stuff that I really want good groups and for hunting i look my boolits over with the help of a 100 watt light and a weigh them on my digital scale.

For pistols if they are 95 percent of better I load them. Even with ammo put together with extreme care I'm not much of a pistol shot.

[Aunegl]

Reload and shoot those boolits. See where they print on the target. Then you can decide how anal you want be when culling boolits.

[Boolseye]

lapping a mold with valve compound or toothpaste is much gentler and far more effective.
+1. This will improve the mold, and may even address the minor rust pits.

[DODGEM250]

Reload and shoot those boolits. See where they print on the target. Then you can decide how anal you want be when culling boolits.

LMAO YES ! I said the same thing ! Excellent reply.

For the excessive amount of time it takes to pour one little baby tiny bullet from a single cavity mold, I said, the most of you little 'tards are going the barrel. Where you hit might be a luck shot, but, I'm not making more of you with a single cavity mold.

[MikeS]

If the mould is rusty, the best way to get the rust off is soaking the blocks in Evapo-Rust. It's a safe product, without bad fumes, so you can do it indoors. If you soak it overnight it will remove all rust, even the bluing (which is a form of rust). You should never use a wire brush in a mould cavity, that's a quick way to ruin a mould! If you're just casting plinking boolits, the ones you showed in the picture will do fine. Plinking boolits can have quite a few flaws in them, and still work fine, as long as they're casting large enough that you can size them to the proper size needed for the firearm they're being fired out of. It's when you need more accuracy for either target shooting, or hunting that you need to make the best boolits you can.

Having said that, there are 2 schools of thought concerning 'plinking quality boolits'. One is the one I already stated, that as long as they fit the gun, shoot them. The other is that it's real easy to remelt those, and cast better 'keepers' all the time. The first method works as long as you don't let it make you complacent about your boolit quality, and while the second method might be the better way of getting better boolits, it could also have you recasting boolits so often that you start loosing interest, as it might seem like you'll never make perfect boolits. I find that for me, a mix of the 2 works very well. generally I'll throw back any boolits that have flaws, but if a few get thru my initial inspection, and the flaws aren't that bad, I'll load them and shoot them.