First time cast

[histed]

At Christmas time my daughters bought me a couple of molds. For my birthday they got me a Lyman 10# pot and a Lee dipper (what did they know - me either at that point). "Bout the same time, Brass Magnet sent me a 533 Lee miniball mold for my .54 long rifle. Today I cast my first boolits. I'd done some round balls for the flinchlock, but I don't think they count. Made some real rookie mistakes, like dumping half a dipper of lead ON the mold instead of IN the mold. Everything stopped for a while until I took it apart and cleaned it (NO I have learned enough here NOT to scrape the molds. I used a propane torch set very low and went slowly). Also nearly got a visit from the tinsel fairy. In all, it was GREAT! So relaxing, even when tings went wrong. Now I can't wait to get to the range and try these. Most aren't perfect - some not even close - but at this point I don't care. They'll get better as I get experience. I make no promises on the pictures below, the quality may not be the greatest. However, whatever you see that you can suggest how to improve, I'm all ears (or eyes in this case)
99016 99017

99018 99019

[runfiverun]

a little more heat in the mold will make that shiny and those wrinkles go away.
but it looks like you are starting to get the hang of things.
you'll soon outgrow the pot and the lee ladle, but they are still useful I use my little heat pots to melt pewter and solder in.

[bangerjim]

Practice makes perfect. We all started somewhere!

Keep up the good work.

Welcome to the madness.

banger

[CastingFool]

Nice job, Histed.

[JASON4X4]

Congratulations

[gon2shoot]

I always throw back the pretty, shiney boolits. :coffeecom How do they shoot?

[Duckdog]

They look pretty good. Hopefully you cast more than that because those won't last long!

[Wayne Smith]

Get a bigger ladle. Lyman or RCBS works much better than that Lee teaspoon.

[Shiloh]

Keep casting, keep reading the forum, and learn from your mistakes. There are thousands of years of collective knowledge here on the board.
I am a better caster and shooter of cast boolits because of it.

Shiloh

[histed]

runfiverun - I appreciate the advice. Getting the mold hotter should help and I want to pick up an old hot plate, as I see a lot of people here recommend using that to heat and maintain mold temp. Wonder if an old coffee maker would work??
gon2 - didn't get the chance yet. Wanted to get out today, but... With DST I hope to get out Tuesday. Supposed to be 60+ and I'll let you know.
Wayne - 10-4 on the ladle. Got a Lyman on order, since it converts to southpaw
Shiloh - you betcha! Rumor has it that this is a life long illness. I'll just have to cope

[runfiverun]

coffee-maker is too much trouble.
a hot plate [single burner electric cooker thingy] from wal-mart or walgreens are 10-15 bucks brand new.
an old saw blade on top will even out the heat and if you wanna get super fancy you can get a metal electric outlet box for another 4-5.