My First Casting Session!

[mpbarry1]

OK. I admit that I am a little slow. I have been working on collecting supplies, reading, asking questions, driving people crazy since i got the bug last April 8th when joined this town. My motivation is really learning and making friends on here. I’m not a mechanist or a mechanic. However, the journey to this point has been a blast.

So, I finally decided to go out and give that Mihec HG 58 mold a try. I grabbed the the hot plate and the new lee pro pot and set the mold on the hot plate to heat. added 10 lbs otof lead to the pot and let everything heat up. Guess the problem yet?

Ran over and got my structural firefighter gloves and realized that i forgot to get a spoon for skimming the pot. (Hope I make it to walmart before the wife misses it.) I was ready. I fluxed and Skimmed.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_185834f35e0cac4d72.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3900)

So, I put the mold under the bottom pour, and lifted the handle. My preheated mold took in the liquid metal like it knew what to do. Did I clean the mold first? Nope. I figured i would just get the feel of it and other things I read say Mihec molds are good to go, Just like my first wife. So I waited for the sprue to cool. Waited some more. Still waiting. uhh, This isn’t what I was thinking. Finally, cracked the sprue plate and flipped it over. Out came these. Now I promised Ken my first boolits so no fighting guys.

?http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_185834f35e014aa5f2.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3898) http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_185834f35e07a1c6a1.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3899)

Oh no, Zinc? No the pot looks good, Lets try another. This time the lead poured right through the bottom of the closed mold. might be a smidge hot. lol … so I set the mold on the cold concrete and turned the lee down form 5 to 4. I Waited a few minutes and tried again. frosty but better. At this point I looked at the mold and noticed that it had some lead stuck between the plates. dang. Kept pouring and putting the cool sprues back in the pot to get it cooler. It took 20 boolits to get it to cool down.


All of the sudden the boolits started looking better. Then good. Then ...wow I’m good. (OK, Miha is good).

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_185834f35e11e0f5f2.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3901) http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_185834f35e181afefe.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3902)

All told i only cast for a about an hour leaving some led in the pot for next time. All together I got 165 shootable Boolits and about 30 or so boolits that did not fill out or were too frosty/malformed.

If any of you can help, I want to know how to clean up that bass mold to get lead off the inside of the mold joint without hurting it. I don't think they were over out of round and measured .454 to .455 while the are still warm. Should all be .454 when they age I think. But I don’t really want my beautiful Mihec mold to be covered with led. Also, I forgot to leave some boolits in the mold, How should I preserve the brass?

Thank you everyone! http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_185834f35e1f006fc1.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3903)

[HangFireW8]

Congrats, you're off to a good start! You picked a great mold, too, if that's the 200 gr brass 4-banger Mihec, I have it too, one of my favorites.

Don't leave boolits in the mold. That's very old school, and has proven to be a bad idea. Store in a low humidity place, or coat with a preservative and clean it off next time.

[runfiverun]

just heat the mold up like you did this time, then wipe the melted lead off with a rag.
a couple of more runs will season the mold and make it cast even better.
now that you have learned that mold temp is the key to casting happyness things will go easier.
and don't leave no boolits in the mold.

[geargnasher]

Get yourself a seasoned stick or dowel of any sort about the size of a pencil, preheat your mould again and use the stick to gently scrub off the lead. You want the mould on the upper end of casting temperature where the lead bits are almost melted, but not quite. 44man mentioned using the head of a used kitchen match like an eraser on a hot mould (strike it and blow it out before more than the phosphor coating burns), but I haven't tried that yet myself.

Don't leave boolits in the mould, even a brass one, it's a waste of time at best with brass and aluminum and with steel moulds will eventually cause them to rust.

Gear

[stubshaft]

Just use the sharp corner of an alloy ingot to scrape the lead off of the mold. Maybe give it a quick spritz of kroil to get under it but in general the ingot will scrape it off and won't harm the mold.

[mpbarry1]

Today, I replaced the wifes spoon, then headed home and heated up my mold, melted a full pot of lead, fluxed, and got started. The Lee pot leaked like crazy today. I always figured that 60 percent of the pot would go to boolits. It looks like it is more like 30 percent. After sorting I ended up with 400 shootable boolits. Here are some things I think I learned.

1. Preheating the mold is good, but it is easy to get it too hot. That first pour today had to sit for a full minute and half on the concrete before the sprue cooled off. On my second pot, I didn't heat it at all and got my first wrinked boolits. It took quite a while for the mold to get up to temp. I need to experiment a bit on preheating and I'm beginning to see the value of probe hole.

2. I could tell when the mold was getting too warm. If it was too easy to break the sprue, it was too hot. If I had to use the wood, it was too cold. It tended to get too hot quickly. I must have had a good pace, too good. I could also tell by the sprue mark on the bottom of the bullet. If there was a big divit, it was getting Hot! A Moist Towel here?

3. The Lee Pot setting I used at 5 was way too hot. I finally settled on 3 and 3/4.

4. The 4 hole closest to the handles seemed to have the most trouble filling out. Even hot, if I had one with an poorly filled out base, it was this one.

5. This is one I'm curious about. My best boolits with the best fill-out were slightly frosty. Not terribly so, but frosty all the same. The bright shiny ones were either wrinkly or not filled out at the top band. Is there something else I need to do here?

Finally, being a good little guilt ridden catholic boy, if frosty boolits are ok to shoot, is it still a sin?

Thanks guys and gals.

[454PB]

Frosty boolits are fine. Actually, that frosting will wipe off with a cloth after the rounds are loaded. Using a wet cloth to control mould temperature works well.

After some more experience, you'll learn how long to preheat the mould. It sounds like you are way over doing it now. I experimented with my IR thermometer and found that bringing the mould up to about 250 degrees works well.

[geargnasher]

Don't worry about base puckers, they won't hurt a thing as long as they are consistent (it's all in the timing and consistency of pace of your casting), and neither will the frost as long as it's not so heavy that it won't wipe off with a twist of a dry rag. When the mould is so hot that it drops boolits that look like freshly broken cast iron, it's too hot.

Gear

[WD2A7X3]

To fix the lee leak most people just take the wood handle off, slide on a stack of washers for extra weight, then put the wood part back on. I went overkill and hung a medium padlock behind the wood handle and it works great, I get 0 leakage.

[geargnasher]

That's a patch at best and can cause excessive wear on the linkage and "worry" the shoulder bolts loose in the weak channels that hold the threads.

The "Fix" is to lap the valve pintle with valve grinding paste, only put clean ingots in it, and don't scrape the bottom with a stick or do anything that will carry dross/oxides/ash/dirt etc. to the bottom where it can get trapped under the melt and work its way to the valve. Mine has literally not leaked a single drop since I did this, that's probably 2-300 lbs of alloy ago.

Gear

[mpbarry1]

The "Fix" is to lap the valve pintle with valve grinding paste, ...
Gear

Thanks Gear. Being the guy whose set of tools have cost him more money than than he paid for them (Mechanics charge more when you bring a box of parts to him to reasymble), I will need some guidance on this one.

[geargnasher]

We mechanics have a term for that, it's a called bringing in a "Basket Case", because it's usually a basket or box of parts that the owner brings in because they can't get back together. The running joke is that the labor rate goes like this: Say the shop rate is $75/flat rate hour, but is $85 if you wait on it, $95 if you want to watch it being fixed, $120 if you help, and $150 if you worked on it first!

Gear

[mpbarry1]

My guy has the same sign. Laughs at me a lot! :). Thats ok, sometimes he needs something from me. Is this Lapping thing similar to lapping a die? I'm a Geologist, so you might have to draw me a picture. :D

[geargnasher]

It's like lapping a valve in a car engine. Where the pointy end of the valve rod meets the hole in the spout to make the seal, you can improve the fit of these two parts by using valve grinding compound to "lap" them so they get to know each other better by spinning the rod in the seat after coating the tip of the rod with the paste. Just make sure the rod is lined up straight and sitting in its working position in the actuator assembly or you'll make it worse.

Gear

[mpbarry1]

Thanks, Do I need to empty the pot first?

[geargnasher]

:smile: It would help! You'll know when you've done it enough when you can see a clean point of contact all the way around both the pintle and the seat. Clean out all traces of the grit before casting.

Gear

[Three44s]

I had more leakage problems when I fluxed with Marvelux. You don't happen to be fluxing with that material?

I'd clean the dickens of your valve rod and seat where it shuts off the molten lead. And if that does not do the trick, I'd sure lap that seat.

(I read the above posts and yes, you ought to empty your lead pot to the very last drop of alloy, I'd get it hot and then unplug it after you've emptied it the conventional way. Get your heavy gloves with a firm grip and upend the pot in a safe way to pour the last vestiges of lead out ........ but be careful and methodical about it)

Also, you should be proud that you did the research before you plunged into casting. The last thing we casters like to see is a new caster getting a "tinsel fairy" visit. We want you safe and healthy and casting for a very LONG time!!

Good going there guy and a BIG welcome to boolit casting!!

Three 44s

[mpbarry1]

Thank you Gear/everyone. I want to get 2000 45's on the bench before I do this. I will let you know how it goes!

344: I flux with sawdust. The guy from the truss shop gave me a lifetime supply!

[Jammer Six]

My guy has the same sign. Laughs at me a lot! :).
I'm a retired general contractor.

The last time out, my painter looked over my jobsite, and then told me "in the future, you can call me or you can try to paint. But this is the last time, ever, that you can do both."

[mpbarry1]

Day 3: Casted two pots-full today and got about 400 good boolits. I only had about 10 percent rejects, and half of those were due to letting my towel fill up too full. The hot boolits dropping on the pile damaged them. I have an extra towel for next time.

I think I figured out why that 4 hole is yielding rounded bases. I think it is because the back of the sprue plate is not getting hot enough. I started piling up a big sprue back there and the problem went away.

I heated up the pot of lead and used a screwdriver to exercise the valve rod for a few minutes. The pot barely leaked today. :)

I also tried to get shinier boolits by trying to find a little lower mold temp. I was able to do that, but the upper band became rounded when I did (should be sharp edges on the band. So I am committed to slightly frosted boolits at this point. I polished some off in a towel, and they shined right up (just like you guys said they would).

One question for today, I have been putting those boolits with a slightly rounded bases in the sprue pan. Other than being a few grains lighter, is there a negative consequence to shooting these after sizing? i.e. leading?

[geargnasher]

The base is the most important part of the whole thing, it's where your accuracy comes from. Rounded, inconsistent, or damaged bases all react differently when they part the gun at the muzzle crown. Reject bad bases before any other defect, you'd be surprised how little defects in the nose affect boolits at short range.

Looks like you're getting the hang of it, experimenting and adjusting the technique (like sprue puddle adjustment) to get better results. Most of this is just fiddling and trying things until you eventually get it figgered out. Then you get another mould and start all over! That's the fun, though, cracking the code of each casting session, because they're all different.

Gear

[Crash_Corrigan]

You might consider dropping your freshly molded boolits into a 5 gallon plastic pail filled with 4 gallons of cold water. Take an old tee shirt and stretch it over the top of the filled pail and secure the edges by using a bungee cord stretched around the circumference of the top edge of the pail to hold the fabric taut.

Then cut a slit of about 6 inches into the center and drop your newly molded boolits onto the fabric. Their weight to take them to the center and they will drop into the water and cool immediately and be a mite harder than air cooled.

The fabric prevent any splashing of water out of the pail into your mold or your pot although both will be so hot to turn the water immediately into steam.

I usually put an inexpensive collander from a bargin shop or garage sale into the water first. This will allow you to remove the boolits without having to pick up the pail.

This is kinda nice since once you get a few hundred boolits into the water the weight rapidly increases and the handle on the pail will fail and drop the pail onto your foot and you will have a bad day.

I usually heat up my molds by dipping them into the molton alloy prior to casting.

That sticky chamber in your mold might need Leementing. The procedure is simple and is very well explained with photos in the sticky section on this forum.

[mpbarry1]

I looked at water dropping early on in my studies. One concern I have about it is that the boolits change after a couple of years. If I remember correctly they shrink. Not a big deal if you are shooting them right away. Is this a concern for long term storage? I kind of dismissed the idea early on.

As far as lee menting. I have miha's mold running just fine. I'm casting about 180 good boolits an hour now and have over 1000 in the box. :)

[454PB]

Age of quenched WW's is not a concern. I have some that were cast in 1983, diameter is unchanged and hardness only went down a few BHN.

[mpbarry1]

Day 4 . 400 more frosty boolits. That is interesting 454pb. will come in handy for rifle boolits. Can't remember where i read that.

[geargnasher]

I think the age-softening of heat-treated antimonial alloys is one of those Urban Casting Myths we encounter so often. They do soften, some, over decades, but if you haven't shot them in ten years it's probably time to break them down anyway.

CBRick I believe, and possibly 45 2.1 both have posted about heat-treated boolits many years old only losing a few points of hardness, if any at all. Essentially it's not that much of a factor.

The advantage of heat-treated, low-antimony alloy for rifle shooting is so great compared to using alloys that air-quench to the same hardness that even if they only lasted a few years they would still be worth making.

Gear

[mpbarry1]

Thanks guys. I will re-read that Frywell piece on heat treating. I have a 7mm hunter rerun mold on the way. might be good for that.

[trixter]

Just a note from my experiences, short as they may be. On two cavity molds, after the pot gets up to temperature, dip the mold in for 30 to 40 seconds and then cast, for 6 cavity molds I put the nose in for 60 to 70 seconds and then cast. Works great every time. I am too cheap to go buy a hot-plate.

[MtGun44]

It is absolutely unfair for a new caster to get to start with a Mihec mold in H&G 68! That
completely shortcuts the crummy molds and crummy designs that most of us have worked
through to figure out what is really good! ;-) Fantastic choice of mold and design, sir!

With such great choices, you will do well. Put that boolit over 4.8 Gr Titegroup in a .45 ACP, set LOA
to 1.250" and give it a good taper crimp in a separate operation and you will have great
ammo for a 1911. No or inadequate tc is THE most common cause of feeding issues in
the 1911.

Bill

[mpbarry1]

I am pretty spoiled w Miha's mold. :D. Tonight i cast 460 Boolits w only 12 rejects. I have 2100 of them on the bench ready for the FWWFL lube. Got the ingredients from Randy Rat and have the oil polymerized. Yep. Spoiled rotten. When i get these lubed up I will do a Ken benefit auction. You guys are awesome.

[Bob Krack]

To fix the lee leak most people just take the wood handle off, slide on a stack of washers for extra weight, then put the wood part back on. I went overkill and hung a medium padlock behind the wood handle and it works great, I get 0 leakage.
In over 30 years of using mostly the Lee bottom drippers, I found that a very small pair of vice-grips clamped onto the top of the rod helped the seal - especially with a full pot (the steel rod actually will float were it not attached).

The extra weight does not seem to affect the linkage or function otherwise.

Bob

[mpbarry1]

Good idea Bob. Thanks!

[mold maker]

Partially filled out bases or uneven bases will cause fliers. As the boolit leaves the barrell, the gas behind an uneven base acts like directional jets, which push the boolit sideways.

[mpbarry1]

Made some boolit lube today. FWWFL with the components that Randy Rat sold me. I think it went well.

.http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_185834f3eaf769b36b.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3999)

My plan was to put this in the microwave and fill the lube sizer. one question will the Micro overheat the lanalin?

[geargnasher]

Yes, it can. If you use the microwave, set it to a low power setting (I use 50%) and melt it in short bursts of two minutes or so. The lube can also pop as hot spots boil and make a royal mess in the microwave.

I think the best route to go is get a candle warmer, the kind that looks like a coffee mug warmer, and set your Pyrex on that. It will take a couple of hours to melt, but it will not overheat or make a mess. I can't remember who it was here that suggested that, but I'm glad they did, for I started doing that a few months ago and it really works well. I got a warmer at Biglots for a couple of dollars. For the lubesizers, if I'm going to be lubing more than 50 boolits or so, I start the lube melting when I start lubing and top-off the sizer reservoir with the melted lube at the end of a session so it's always full and I don't have to wait for the lube to melt.

Gear

[mpbarry1]

:-D

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_185834f405e261647f.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=4021)

Another silly question. Can I dump thense in a box or will it hurt the lube?

[454PB]

No, no!

Place them gently in a container (I like the clear plastic food storage boxes) and separate the layers with cardboard partitions. Keep them covered to prevent dirt and dust collection. Those plastic food containers can be stacked about 5 deep before they start crushing.

[mpbarry1]

Saw that post a little too late 454pb ... wife wanted her table back. Spent an hour sorting them back out and relubing several i messed up. I put them back in the old lazer cast box base down in layers of 100 separated by cardnoard.

So. Don't just dump those freshly lubed bullets in the box!

Thanks.