Dolomite_supafly
12-04-2012, 02:10 PM
I have looked an can't seem to find an answer.
I got a 3 cavity brass Accurate mold and it looks great. It is using a bullet I designed for my 300 Blackout. I have tried every subsonic cast bullet "designed" for the Blackout and every single one of them sucks. I was pretty disgusted with the cast bullet designs currently out there for the 300. On every single mold out there you have to load them to magazine length which can affect reliability in a standard magazine. When you seat the bullets deeper, for reliability reasons, you expose the lube groove to the powder.
The "new" design is 240E in Accurate's catalog and actually comes in at 244 grains using wheel weight lead. I removed the bottom lube groove to allow the bullet to be seated to 2.10" without exposing the lube groove to the powder.
So on to my question. I cleaned the mold using Dawn dishwashing soap and a very soft tooth brush before use. I let it dry overnight then began casting this morning. This is my first brass mold and I have always used aluminum molds in the past with great success.
But it seems like the brass mold is either harder to warm up or needing more heat to cast bullets. I set my pot at the same temperature I do for my Lee aluminum molds. I am using a Lee production pot and I set it at 4.5-5. I pour the mold then set it down for about 20-30 seconds. Knock the sprue off then drop the bullets out. I cast about 50 bullets and the mold was still throwing wrinkled bullets. I stopped what I was doing and allowed the mold to cool for a couple of hours. I cleaned it again to make sure a contaminate wasn't causing the problem. And again it was casting wrinkled bullets. Other than the wrinkles they are nice and shiny and dimensionally identical. I tried casting bare as well as with the mold sooted up and could not see a difference other than the sooted mold didn't have bullets as shiny as the bare mold. The bullets are not sticking either when clean or when sooted.
Is the mold not hot enough?
Is the lead not hot enough?
What temperature should the mold be for lead wheel weight lead?
I am going to pick up a thermometer so I can measure the mold's temperature. Also, is there a temperature I want to stay below to prevent warping?
Thanks
Dolomite
I got a 3 cavity brass Accurate mold and it looks great. It is using a bullet I designed for my 300 Blackout. I have tried every subsonic cast bullet "designed" for the Blackout and every single one of them sucks. I was pretty disgusted with the cast bullet designs currently out there for the 300. On every single mold out there you have to load them to magazine length which can affect reliability in a standard magazine. When you seat the bullets deeper, for reliability reasons, you expose the lube groove to the powder.
The "new" design is 240E in Accurate's catalog and actually comes in at 244 grains using wheel weight lead. I removed the bottom lube groove to allow the bullet to be seated to 2.10" without exposing the lube groove to the powder.
So on to my question. I cleaned the mold using Dawn dishwashing soap and a very soft tooth brush before use. I let it dry overnight then began casting this morning. This is my first brass mold and I have always used aluminum molds in the past with great success.
But it seems like the brass mold is either harder to warm up or needing more heat to cast bullets. I set my pot at the same temperature I do for my Lee aluminum molds. I am using a Lee production pot and I set it at 4.5-5. I pour the mold then set it down for about 20-30 seconds. Knock the sprue off then drop the bullets out. I cast about 50 bullets and the mold was still throwing wrinkled bullets. I stopped what I was doing and allowed the mold to cool for a couple of hours. I cleaned it again to make sure a contaminate wasn't causing the problem. And again it was casting wrinkled bullets. Other than the wrinkles they are nice and shiny and dimensionally identical. I tried casting bare as well as with the mold sooted up and could not see a difference other than the sooted mold didn't have bullets as shiny as the bare mold. The bullets are not sticking either when clean or when sooted.
Is the mold not hot enough?
Is the lead not hot enough?
What temperature should the mold be for lead wheel weight lead?
I am going to pick up a thermometer so I can measure the mold's temperature. Also, is there a temperature I want to stay below to prevent warping?
Thanks
Dolomite