Frosting won't go away?

[kens]

I gathered up wheelwrights back during the Clinton/Brady gun scare of the late '90s. I smelted lots of them down to clean ingots. But they were all a frosted appearance, and when cast into boolits, I still get a frosty look , as if too hot. I have lowered the temp, and still frosting. I even lowered temp until the melt wouldnt pour.
Given the age of late '90s WW, I doubt there is any zinc in my melt.
Any body else seen this?

[gofastman]

"frostiness" has more to do with mold temp rather than alloy temp in my experience

[kens]

Yeah, but I get frosted even with a fresh cool mold.

[Calamity Jake]

A light frosting is a good thing means good fillout. Heavy frosting means the mold is to hot
and the booit will be small for caliber and poor fillout.
I have never had frosting from a cool mold.
Get a casting thermometer, set melt temp. 675-725 and adjust casting pace to control frosting once the mold
is at casting temp.

[kens]

Even my ingots look frosted. I don't think it is a hot temp thing because they are frosted from beginning to the end until the melt is too cool to pour,

[ffries61]

That your ingots look frosted shouldn't have any effect on how your boolits come out of the mold, are you by any chance using any of the "mold drop out" sprays ? I used to back when I first started casting, and they give a rough textured finish to the boolits.

Fred

[kens]

No, not drop out sprays. However, the last session I did 'smoke' the molds a bit, it seemed to help boolit drop out. But, still got the same frosted looks. With this WW alloy I got, I just cannot get those bright shiny boolits. I weighted these WW boolits and the weight comes out on spec.
I switch to soft lead for shotgun slugs and got bright shiny wrinkled cold mold slugs.

[ffries61]

maybe a pic of the frosted boolits would help, I rarely get bright shiny boolits, more often a dull gray finish, but I don't consider this a "frosted" boolit.

[kens]

maybe a pic of the frosted boolits would help, I rarely get bright shiny boolits, more often a dull gray finish, but I don't consider this a "frosted" boolit.

OK, let me ask another way,
Does your WW boolits look as equal shiney as your soft cast boolits?
OR, does your soft cast boolits look as dull grey as WW?

[Calamity Jake]

I cast boolits with two alloys, 50/50 WW/lead and 75/25 WW/lino, I run my melt/mold temp
to cast a lightly frosted boolit and they both look the same.

[Bzcraig]

Kens, my boolits cast from coww never come out shiney. I can however 'polish' them against a towel or tee shirt and they shine right up.

[kens]

Kens, my boolits cast from coww never come out shiney. I can however 'polish' them against a towel or tee shirt and they shine right up.
OK, yeah, I can do that too. Last couple of casting sessions I added a bit of 95/5 solder and/or some Pewter, and they fill out much more nicely, . But the added tin seemed to to serve me better by having many less culls in the batch. I was casting nearly 100% good bullets for a good run of hour and half.
Still got that light frosting though.

[Defcon-One]

Kens:

Your older COWW lead likely has a bit more Antimony than the current batches coming out. None of my Antimonial alloys cast shiny bullets. I only get them with pure lead or 25:1 which is a binary, Tin/Lead alloy. Even then, they go gray over time.

I believe that you are getting good bullets, it is just the Antimony that makes them look dull gray and somewhat frosty. As long as your melt temp and mold temp are good, you should be fine. A light frosting is normal and a good sign that you are at, or just above, optimal temperature and that is where I like to be.

Adding Tin to COWW lead is always a good idea. I typically add 1-2% to mine and they fill out amazingly well. Very few culls go back into the pot so you maximize your production rates by making only good bullets.

[louism]

I agree with the above. I have cast thousands of boolits and I rarely get a bright, shiny one. They are silver but a little dull. A quick brush with a cotton rag shines them up but I never worry about it. Sometimes I think some of the castings I see in photos may have received the rag treatment to make a good photograph. Just cast them and shoot them. How well they work is the real test.

[Defcon-One]

....Sometimes I think some of the castings I see in photos may have received the rag treatment to make a good photograph....

I agree with this guy 100%. They probably shine them up for the photos! I would!

You can't always believe what you see in pictures. Especially these days.

[plainsman456]

Sounds like you just have a very good batch of ww.

They have more antimony that the ones currently found,different time,different laws.

[Trey45]

Not to be contrary here, but if your bullets are not undersized, or have badly filled out detail, why is the frosting bothering you? If they're filled out well with good bases and lube grooves, and they're not undersized, lube-size and load them!

[kens]

OK, Thanks to all.
Thats the same as I am getting, I got older WW and they are never shiney. I was worried about the dreaded zinc involved. Yeah, I shoot them just fine.

So you think the pics with the bright & shiney boolits are polished up??
I should have known........

[Trey45]

Shine a boolit before taking a picture of it?
Who would do such a thing!!

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/375039_528213503902793_1449094835_n.jpg

[smilie=1:

[louism]

Not that's (points up) funny right there.

[cbrick]

I can say in all honesty that I have never polished or even wiped off a boolit to take a picture of it. Sized with GC & photographed. I was once accused of using lino & claiming WW but I haven't had any lino in many years, these boolit's are COWW + 2% tin.

711677116871169

I don't know that frosty hurts anything but it's sure not needed for good boolits either.

Rick

[Defcon-One]

You can always count on a Moderator to prove a point!

Trey45: Those are clearly "AS CAST"! [smilie=1:

Rick's look like mine do, of course we are not Moderators!

[Trey45]

Just think how purdy ya'lls boolits would be if you were mods! ;)

[Shooternz]

If you want shiny boolits without all the hard work put some in your pants pockets and by end of day you have nice photographic quality boolits no elbow grease needed.

[kens]

OK, OK. Now you makin' me go and get a pic of some of mine................
gotta figure how to get the camera that close to boolit tho

[geargnasher]

Light, satin frost, polishes off with dry rag or tee-shirt. These are also COWW +2% pure tin added, alloy at 675, mould at ~420 F. These are not polished. Note they look like electro-galvanized roofing metal.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=28901&d=1296091775

Gear

[palabman]

I don't remember whether it was in the Lee mould directions or in Modern Reloading but it stated that a light frost is beneficial when using liquid alox as it allows for better lube adhesion.

[palabman]

OK, OK. Now you makin' me go and get a pic of some of mine................
gotta figure how to get the camera that close to boolit tho

Set the camera in macro mode. :D

[runfiverun]

I use the same alloy temp as gear.
but less tin and a slightly lower [390-400 f] mold temp according to my electronic thermometer.
I get a little less of a galvanized look and more of the satiny look of Ricks.
if I water drop them they look a bit flatter color than Gear's.
if I up the tin content then they stay bright and shiny like Trey's, regardless of whether I water drop or not.

must be something going on if a bunch of us get super similar results under different casting conditions just by slightly different manipulations of temp, alloy, and tempo.

[kens]

Light, satin frost, polishes off with dry rag or tee-shirt. These are also COWW +2% pure tin added, alloy at 675, mould at ~420 F. These are not polished. Note they look like electro-galvanized roofing metal.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=28901&d=1296091775

Gear

YEAH, you nailed it. Looks like light galvanize. That is why I was so worried about zinc content. Mine look just like that, and it does wipe off rather easily. And as someone above had mentioned, my older WW likely have high antimony, maybe that is why the last time I quenched them, they worked so nice in .375 H&H.

[hermans]

Well I suppose taste does differs......I actually like the look of slightly frosted boolits, and prefer mine to be like that. That way I know that the chances of them being well filled out, is pretty good.