9 (nine)

[Blammer]

Out of 150 bullets cast 9 were good! What a disaster!

I was rollin right along, bullets were commin like shellin corn.... after the pot ran dry I started inspecting. Wrinkles, not filled out, etc you name it bad bad bad.... Couldn't see em as I was casting. they looked good from afar...

SO, I analized my method tossed all the rejects back in, all but 9, let em melt and would try again.

Tried two other techniques, still no good boolits.

I suspected I wasn't getting the mould hot enough. Fired it up, left mould on top of pot of lead to get HOT...

After two fills the sprues' were tearing. So I got a wet towel. After I filled the sprue and it just hardened I tipped it upside down touched on the towel to quick set the sprue, then knocked open and dropped. Bullets were really frosty but filled out well! and again, shellin corn!

Proceeded to cast 75 perfect bullets in a row! Never done that before! All weighed the same! 181gr's. Got to love it when a plan comes together!

this was my 4 cav ALUM NEI 358-180-FP from the GB I ran. First time I got to use it! YEA!

[lovedogs]

Didn't yo mama tell ya there'd be days like that?

[waksupi]

At least, it was more than

6

[montana_charlie]

this was my 4 cav ALUM NEI 358-180-FP from the GB I ran. First time I got to use it! YEA!
Uhh...75 (perfect bullets) is not divisible by 4 (cavities)...musta been 76.
And, did all 9 (nine) of the first good ones come from only one cavity in that mould?

It's little things like these that assure I will always use single cavity moulds. Otherwise, there are just too many important things to keep track of...
CM

[Blammer]

75, I dropped one on the floor, woulda been good but got a big ding in the nose.

[beagle]

When that happens. I flux the pot, place the mould on to, light my pipe and let things simmer a bit. Usually, when I go back to it, I figure out what's happening. Sometimes, it pays to walk away for a while./beagle

[Buckshot]

At least, it was more than

6

...............I thought that was what this was all about and that Blammer didn't know about the "6" deal, or worse yet had it upside down :-)

To bad this website hardware doesn't have those flying deals as I was going to send off a big floater.

Glad to see it was something else altogether!

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

[Buckshot]

...............Dang dude! Bad news, eh? Cast these up this afternoon:

http://www.fototime.com/D6A6B7A4B80A24E/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/BEDF2141E93BBD6/standard.jpg

About 14 lbs of Lee 375-250F's. Not gloating or anything :-)

Do this. The blocks are clean and ready to go, right? If you didn't smudge the cavities yet, don't. May try that if this doesn't work. With the alloy up to temp, hold the base of the blocks 'just' in the alloy. Give it a good ten count then lift it out. If there isn't a big clump of lead stuck to it you're ready to go. Commence casting.

Your first boolits should be frosty all over. Continue casting and the frost should begin to disappear as the temps of the blocks and alloy equalize to each other. If you're getting good boolits, and then they begin to lose definition, either 1) Raise the alloy temp or 2) Increase your casting tempo, or 3) Smudge the cavities lightly with a butane lighter.

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

[BABore]

Am I missing something here. Internal inclusions aside, I inspect every base when the sprue is cut. The rest of the bullets are given a quick visual after they are dumped on a towel. I do a serious inspection just after the mold's casting good, then every 50-100 bullets. If I'm water dropping them, every tenth or so dump goes onto a towel for inspection, then returned to the pot.

Is the need for speed that important that we can't take the time to look once in awhile. I'm not coming down on you, Blammer, we all make mistakes. The only way to reduce them is to learn from them and improve your methods. I got busted once blindly water dropping bullets. Once.

[Blammer]

the lighting was just wrong and I could not see the bullets dumped on the towel. All I saw was a glare from the shiney boolits. Bases looked good but sides were wrinkly or not filled out totally.

unfortunately I don't have a temp control on my pot, it's off or it's on. So for me speed is important if I need to cast em hot. I found that with this mould if I paused, it cooled sufficiently that bad boolits were the norm.

On this mould when the boolits started getting shiney they started getting wrinkly. I added some solder to try to help but it didn't appear to help much.

That's ok, frosty boolits shoot well too!

[Blammer]

montana charlie, the 9 good ones came from who knows what cavity. I sorted through the pile of them after I finished.

[Forester]

Piles of perfect shiney boolits like Buckshot's always make me green with envy. Every mold I have, I can almost always make cast good boolits, but they are also always frosty. Its not that these boolits shoot any worse I don't think, but its a pride of craftmanship thing.