Casting with a 6 cavity

[Mel-4857]

Finally got a chance to fire up my new Lee 20 lb pot and try my new 6.5 mould. Had a few a bobbles ,had to slow the lead feed down ; not used to such a small cavity. But my big question do you try for a single pour for each cavity or do I keep the tap open and just move the mould? I found if I started pouring in the cavity closest to me and moved the mould while keeping the lead pouring I got the cavities filled and a long sprue. The mould dropped the bullets quite well til I got it too hot. Any help will be appreciated. Mel

[waksupi]

Mel, I like the long sprue. It seems to drop off of the cutter easier, than the small ones. And, I believe you will generally get better fill out on the 6.5 mold with this method.

[David R]

Long sprue works for me, Keep a wet towel near your casting equipment and press the mold on it for a few seconds to keep it cool. I also alternate filling from front to back, then back to front. Read the article about BruceB's speedcasting.

Have a blast!

[Buckshot]

..........Mel, it 'may' make a difference how the mould is filled, ie: front to back, or vice versa, but it may make more difference in how the pot and you are situated. My pot sits on top of a box, atop the workbench. The spout is just below eye level but I can see it. I lift the valve and just let the alloy flow, with the blocks tipped down toward the front (hinge end slightly lifted). This seems to fit how my shoulder, elbow, and wrist work, with me just to the right.

You can see the alloy 'bounce' up out of the spruehole as the cavity fills. At that instant the mould gets pushed forward, and it's all a pretty smooth motion. As each cavity fills some alloy runs over the previous. The long sprue is heavy and just about falls off the plate as it's swung over the blocks.

The last 6 cavity I ran was for 148gr wadcutters. A very simple boolit! All the slugs just fell out as the blocks were opened. With sprues falling off and boollits leaping out 6 at a time, the pile of wadcutters grew scary fast! How neat. It was a true shame when I had a substantial quantity and had to quit.

.............Buckshot

[Mel-4857]

Thanks for the replies. Guess I was moving in the right direction. Its really great to see the bullets pile up .I have a couple of friends looking for 6.5 bullets for a Krag, Swede and Carcano plus of course my own three Swedes. Now the fun begins. I've watched great interest on all the input on the 6.5x55. Now to get my other two new six cavities up and running. Thanks again, Mel

[Dick Dastardly]

Howdy,

I'm a Cowboy Action Shooter and I've sold hundreds of the LEE six cavity molds of a special design that has very large lube groves for black powder shooters.

Once you get the mold running, watch the temperature of the pot and the mold. It really helps to have a good lead thermometer. If your mold gets too hot and you start cutting the sprues too soon the metal will start to "wipe" or "smear" on the backside of the sprue plates and on the mold blocks. It can start to build up and allow lead to flow between the sprue plate and the mold blocks.

When this happens, some casters make the mistake of cranking the sprue bolt in the mistaken idea that they can "cure" the problem by tightening the sprue bolt. Usually they end up stripping out the bolt.

All that is needed is to clean the metal off the mold parts with a piece of hardwood and continue casting. If the temperature is right, the sprue should cut like butter, but not like water. Temperature is the solution.

DD-DLoS

[Willbird]

If I am having trouble getting the mold to fill I will run each cavity as a seperate pour, but "welding" that sprue onto the previous one. This is to ensure that I am not getting sloppy filling the cavities, once I have isolated the problem with fillout and cured it, I go back to fill, move, fill, move..all with the lead hose running....I know I didnt invent anything when I tip the mold so the overflow runs back towards the already created sprue not into the next empty cavity...

I have noticed with a couple 6 cavity that when they are cranky they like filled from one direction or the other......it they get up on plane and really run nice that pretty much goes away, but like pouring each bullet seperate it can help you isolate another larger factor causing problems and eliminate it.

I use the BruceB method, and with bullets 230 grains and under so far I have not had to do much quenching on the blocks (6 cavity) I just cool the sprue plate.

[Mel-4857]

Thank you guys for all your help. Next casting session I"ll put all your knowledge to good use. Mel