sparky508
04-12-2013, 03:20 PM
Well I finally got my LEE handles and casted up my first time ever boolits! Had a bit of trouble at first, melting some Super Hard down with some tin, so I could cut in some lead, but got over that hurdle. Never did seem to all mix in right but the ingots all looked about the same. (Grainy on the inside, harder than hell, and Shiny!) Learned they take a little longer to harden up then lead does after I broke a couple open dumping them from the ingot mold. I cut them with some pure lead and thanks to Bumpo’s alloy calculator, I came out with a 95.5% Lead 1.79 Tin, and 2.68 Ant, alloy, with an EST Hardness of 11.6.
I used some high temp nickel anti seize to lube the pins, sprue plate and, every bolt thread and hinge point I could find. Even got some on the old lady’s cat. Smoked the cavities with a lighter. Threw a couple of loads into the mold, to warm it up, and tossed them back into the pot, not stopping to see what they looked like, and then went to town.
They all threw a little on the heavy side from my LEE 6 CAV 230gr Round nose mold, about 237-240gr, but calipered out at .452”. All of them minus two or three fell right out of the mold and into an awaiting bucket of water. When I was done, I was pretty impressed with myself, and if it weren't for the cat, the old lady would have been too. Out of a hundred and change, I only had a couple that had the wings from, I assume, the mold not being closed tight show up, and the rest were pretty good.
Thank you gentlemen, reading through all your post, and not having to figure out a whole lot on my own made this seem pretty easy!
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I used some high temp nickel anti seize to lube the pins, sprue plate and, every bolt thread and hinge point I could find. Even got some on the old lady’s cat. Smoked the cavities with a lighter. Threw a couple of loads into the mold, to warm it up, and tossed them back into the pot, not stopping to see what they looked like, and then went to town.
They all threw a little on the heavy side from my LEE 6 CAV 230gr Round nose mold, about 237-240gr, but calipered out at .452”. All of them minus two or three fell right out of the mold and into an awaiting bucket of water. When I was done, I was pretty impressed with myself, and if it weren't for the cat, the old lady would have been too. Out of a hundred and change, I only had a couple that had the wings from, I assume, the mold not being closed tight show up, and the rest were pretty good.
Thank you gentlemen, reading through all your post, and not having to figure out a whole lot on my own made this seem pretty easy!
67208
67209
67210
67211
67212