My Frosties Ain't Round

[Rex]

I didn't have enough light where I was casting today and couldn't see the bullet well as it fell from the mold. Had the mold too hot and bullets were frosty. When I pushed them through the sizer they weren't round! Always had a gap on the bands that the sizer never touched. Saved 9 bullets out of the bunch and probably should have thrown them back also. Does anyone else have this happen?
Lyman mold and wheel weight melt.

[geargnasher]

Mould and/or alloy too hot will cause shrunken boolit syndrome quite reliably. If the "frost" won't wipe off with a twist of a dry rag and leave a shiny boolit, the mould was too hot.

Gear

[runfiverun]

molds expand outwards when hot.
the hole where the lead goes is outwards.

[Rex]

Thanks Gear. I'm trying to learn to use a bottom pour after quite a while with a burner and a pot.
I started up again and slowed down, openiing the mold and fanning it a bit between casts, lowered the melt temp to around 660-670 and it got better. Think I'll try a wet washcloth to cool the mold between casts. Still would like to have the driving bands cut out a thousandth or so more.

[44man]

The fellas came through again. All is true, too hot can make out of round boolits because of the way the blocks expand.
Be patient, it will come together for you.

[1Shirt]

Yep, like they said. However, I like a little frost, think it holds lube better. Just my opinion!
1Shirt!

[williamwaco]

I will not argue about how the hole expands but I will argue that severely frosted bullets will almost always be undersized. Sometimes very much undersized.

Check the third bullet down on the right side of this page.

http://reloadingtips.com/how_to/frosted-bullets.htm


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[Gtek]

I would leave the wet cloth in the shower. I would think it would cool mold uneven. I start going till I get a hint of frost and then back off the throttle. I think you will find out the same thing about everybody here has found. Every mold and alloy wants something a little dfferent. Try counting between pour, sprue change, dump, and back under. Write everything down, mold, temp, alloy, timing, air temp, etc. Goods and bads. It has saved me a bunch. Everybody swims a little different, just make it to the other side. Gtek

[fryboy]

one comment i didnt note about hot or too hot ...if you dump the mold and they're still too hot a casting can and will slump also making a out of round/oblong casting , i say casting because i've done it with ingot molds as well

[Rex]

Thanks for the information. I slowed down a bunch yesterday and it helped a lot. This is my first go with a bottom dripper, I sure have to cast slower than with a pot and ladel. Of course 100 degrees plus where I cast doesn't help a lot either, I usually cast in cooler weather when I used the pot.

[41 mag fan]

About the only thing I found the wet cloth helps on is when the sprue takes to long to solidify. Flip mold over, place sprue plate on wet rag for 5-10sec and keep going from there.
About every 10 casts I leave mold open and put in front of fan i use to blow fumes out the garage door for about a minute. This works esp well when I'm using my brass molds.

Whew...100* heat.....wouldn't need a wash cloth to cool sprue plate down, the frosty the snow man melting off me would take care of that!!

[mdi]

Mould and/or alloy too hot will cause shrunken boolit syndrome quite reliably. If the "frost" won't wipe off with a twist of a dry rag and leave a shiny boolit, the mould was too hot.

Gear
I reciently learned this when (shrunken boolit syndrome) when working with a stubborn Ideal mold. As Gear suggests; just a few degrees over liquid is a good.

[Marlin Junky]

Problem could be your temperature differential.

I get better results when the mold is near 500F and the alloy near 700F. Pouring an 800F alloy into a 300F mold could produce crappy boolits that are hard to release.

MJ