Made Me Some Boolits

[sparky508]

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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[Boolseye]

Lookin' good! Not sure how impressed your cat is :-?

Seriously, though, those will shoot fine. congrats.

[mold maker]

Getting through your first successful casting, with boolits that look that good, is a matter of pride, you will always remember.
Congrats to ya.

[littlejack]

Boolits look good.
Your cat looks like he/she resents that haircut really bad.

Regards
Jack

[runfiverun]

I think i'd like that cat just fine.
except for the haircut.

try not smoking the mold [I know what lee says] and see if things improve somewhat.

[Cherokee]

Good first effort, go shoot 'um

[sparky508]

Have to admit that its not my cat, but I am inspired to give the old ladies a matching hair cut :twisted:

I did smoke my molds, I'll give it a dance without and see how that plays out. After today's session, found a couple that were a real bear to run through the sizer. I suspect I'm running my mold to hot and getting over sized boolits? :confused:

Sure is a good feeling when you look down and see a big old pile of boolits that you threw yourself, especially knowing that your the only kid on the block that has any!

Now if I could just get a recipe for some Power Pistol.......

[runfiverun]

keep your thumb off the sprue cutter handle.

[Boolseye]

I suspect I'm running my mold to hot and getting over sized boolits?
I doubt it. When the mold is too hot the bullets get really frosty, which yours aren't.
BTW–big bullets are good! I had to lap that mold to get them bigger.
Also, those Lee molds like running hot.

[WHITETAIL]

Great job![smilie=w:
Now tell us how they shoot,
and what they were shot out of.