Lee Minnie Bullet Weight

[I Haines]

Received a new Lee mold in .58 cal minnie bullet from a friend who doesn't cast. It's supposed to throw a 472 grain boolet but with pure lead mine weigh in at 455 grains. What would explain this much of a difference? Thanks in advance........IH

[Crash_Corrigan]

Usually if the boolit is supposed to weight 158 gr mine come out lighter. Like 140 or so because I use a lot of 60/40 solder with my ww's and they are lighter. Normally the makers of molds give the weight of the boolit as cast using Lynman # 2 alloy and yours if made of pure lead should be a lot heavier?

[Buckshot]

............That IS quite a weight difference. Is the Minie' well filled out? I was also going to suggest you might have a void (and it'd have to be big) but I suspect you've cast several Minie' bullets, so what is the weight varience on say 10 of'em?

..............Buckshot

[I Haines]

Buckshot,

I weighed 20 of the minnie boolets tonight. Was suprised at the spread.
451.0 gr to 457.1 gr for a 6.1 gr spread.
But 10 of them were between 452.0 - 452.6
Normally a hundred of my cast roundballs will be within 2.0 grains of each other or better after throwing out the culls. Of course they're lighter at only 177 grains.
I had problems with this mold using the bottom pour spout of my pot and found that things went better using a dipper. If I can get the boolets to pour consistant I'll be happy but still wonder why they turn out 20 grains light......... I Haines

[dromia]

What tremp you casting at? What alloy you using?

If you are using a soft alloy or pure lead then the temp needs to up high I find.

For these big beauties I find dipping the best method with a high temp.

If not I get cavities just above the top of the base plug, some times you cant see it as it gets covered over but a poke with a pin usually shows they are there.

Fill out around the base plug is key and a hot alloy gives it better fluidity and keeps the alloy melted long enough to get that fill out and avoid air spaces.

[I Haines]

Dromia,

I'm using pure lead. I don't have a thermometer but I did have to crank my pot all the way up and use the ladle to get boolets that looked good. What would be considered normal for spread in wieght for a large minnie like these? I Haines

[shooter575]

Yup,Wide open hot 825 or so with a dipper.With the Lee pot the lead will get hotter once the level gets down about 1/2 way.Goes up about 75 deg with mine.It is how the elements are located.
I dont bother weighing the minnes.I do inspect real close and throw back anything not perfect. On a real good session I may only pitch 2-3% a bad day will be 30-40%.
It is real easy to get a void in between bottom of cavity and at the nose cut off.Even on a carefully inspected one.The few guys that weigh I know set some standard 5gr on a 500 gr is what most say.