Hardest to Cast?

[Bzcraig]

It occurred to me that my short experience in casting has been pretty rewarding (enough to cause an addiction) so far with few mishaps. Even my boolits have popped out pretty well. So I got to thinking.....what is the hardest boolits you have cast and what changed when you started getting good ones? BTW, I do credit this site and all ya'll for my casting success, coupled with some luck and divine guidance!

[GaryN]

I think the smaller you go the harder to cast they get. One problem is keeping the mold hot enough to keep dumping the bullets the way they should. Those little boolits don't transfer very much heat to the mold. Then I think the small inclusions that can be in boolits are more important in small boolits so you have to cull ruthlessly.

Hollowpoint molds also add another dimension that can cause problems

[otter5555]

i preheat my molds on a hotplate as my production pot heats up. both are ready at the same time. i cast a LOT of .225's for AR's and this really helped me.
otter

[220swiftfn]

I'd have to put a guess that the old smaller Postel's would be the hardest to cast well.... (Lots of sharp grooves and bands really puts your ladle technique to the test.....)


Dan

[grampa243]

I'd have to put a guess that the old smaller Postel's would be the hardest to cast well.... (Lots of sharp grooves and bands really puts your ladle technique to the test.....)

Dan

i'll +1 that dan. I was loaned a Lyman #457643 Mold. small bands and very square cut. temp and pour has to be just right. release was difficult needed to tap the handles to open the mold and tap more for it to drop the boolit.

[44man]

I never found much difference. I have cast .22's to 560 gr boolits, tons of round balls from .36 to .54. Any mold.
I have had friends bring molds because they had troubles and I showed them I could cast without a reject. I show and hand them the mold and they fail. Many just can't get their hands to work separately. I ladle cast.

[koehlerrk]

I'll agree with 44man, when I started I had a heckuva time. Then I got in touch with the man who has become my mentor. Alan has been casting for over 60 years, so when he told me my problem wasn't the mold, it was me, I believed him. He then showed me how to cast one day, pointed out everythng I was doing wrong, and got me pouring them right. Haven't had much in the way of problems since.

[pdawg_shooter]

I always get better bullets with a ladle. Any size any weight. Fewer rejects, less work. I have plugged the spouts on 3 Lee drip-o-matics. I keep a different alloy in each pot so I dont have to clean one out to change alloys. Straight lead with 2% tin in one, COWWs in one, and 50/50 COWW and linotype in the last.

[runfiverun]

I don't have a lot of issues with design it is individual molds that cause grief.
sometimes it is just part of the mold causing the problem.

[Harter66]

The long rifle bullets hands down 32 and up are ok but there is this 30 that just gives me fits, it seems like it is forever too hot or too cold in an interesting twist the new 7mm doesn't have that issue(or maybe I've side stepped it w/the expirences from that 30).

[wallenba]

Most trouble I have is with the long skinny rifle molds. In particular my 6.5mm 160 gr Lyman. I end up culling a lot because my glasses don't work really well at arms length. They have bifocals for reading and lenses for distance. I really need a pair for just this. So when things are not going well I miss them til later. I just cast a lot more than I need to compensate.

[Lizard333]

I can cast molds without an issue. No HP molds are a whole new kind of crazy. Pain in my rear. I gave up on them.

[Rooster931]

I agree with lizard the hollow point mold not so much trouble just found not really worth the time IMHO.

[Bigslug]

A brass mold making 685 grain nose-poured, hollow-base .451 hexagonals for a Confdederate Whitworth replica - although the grain of salt here is that this was the very first mold Pops and I ever cast with, we haven't needed to fire it up for a long time, and we've learned A BUNCH since then. Kinda wanna make more just to see if it's still a motha.

[Cane_man]

so far i have cast .243, .357, .40SW, .44 Mag, .45 ACP and the hardest by far has been the 0.40SW Hollow Point... real hard to get them to come out without the hollow point tearing in some way... seems like if you wait too long then the hollow point grabs on to the pin and it is hard for it come out of the mold and then tears... if you dont wait long enough they tear because they are not strong enough due to being too soft...

seems like they come out best if i break the sprue when it frosts over, then open the mold after about 2 more seconds...

[lksmith]

Pointy 30cals over 200grs. my only HP mold took some learning but not too bad.
I have a .309 Lee 230-5R and a .311 NOE 247, I can never seem to be able to get pretty boolits

[texassako]

I have pretty good luck with most molds, but some have a bit more of a learning curve. The only mold that gives me fits is a Lyman 257388 HP single cavity with its' skinny cavity, pointy nose, and little skinny HP pin. It never wants to fill out to its' almost sharp edged hollow pointed nose. Finally I just kept the ones that filled out everywhere else and squared up their noses in the minilathe.

[uscra112]

.22s always gave me fits. I've sold all my .22 moulds.

[Baryngyl]

The one I have had some problems with is a Lyman 58 Cal. 512 Grains hollow base for my BP rifle, the hollow base skirt does not always want to fill out all the way.


Michael Grace

[Boolseye]

My NOE 9mm HP mold is the most work-intensive mold, but worth the effort.

[cbrick]

I never had much trouble with the 22's but I had been casting for years before I got around to casting .224". Seems the most difficult to get right was when I started casting long skinny boolits such as heavy 6.5mm. But it was just like most all other casting, get the mold temp right and perfect boolits will fall out, success is easier and quicker if you don't let it get you frustrated.

Rick

[rintinglen]

Molds that give me trouble tend to fall in two categories: small, light weight boolits and long, multi-groove, mid-bores.

The problem with the small boolits is that you don't get enough heat in the mold from the alloy. You end up with incomplete fill out. I get my best results by preheating my mold and casting as fast as I can, using a large sprue, then reheating the mold whenever I start to have troubles. My 257-463 makes good boolits this way, but every 5 or 6 casts, I have to dunk a corner of the mold back in the pot for 30 seconds to warm it back up.

Long, skinny boolits give me trouble too, sometimes. By far, the worst mold I have for casting is my aluminum 311-407. Those squared-off, multi-groove, lube grooves just refuse to let go. And all the while the mold is cooling. So the next cast comes and the mold is once again too cold. Result: 4 more in the reject pile. I have not found a really good solution to this one, Hotter melt helps, but I am still running 20-40% rejects. I have several other Louverin Molds, but all are angels compared to this one.

[Shiloh]

In inherited a .25 cal hollow pointed Lyman mold. When I played with it, I found it very difficult to get good boolits.