Finally got it right 1

[DHurtig]

I bought one of the Buckshot combo molds in #00 buck and #4 buck a while back and the results have been dismal. I had thought about selling the mold but decided to give it one final try today. I plugged in the hot plate and set the mold on it to preheat. Plugged in the Lee pot and waited for the lead to melt. OK lead is liquid and mold should be hot, here we go. Grabbed the ladle and filled both sides. Popped that baby open and lo and behold almost every cavity was filled out. Tried another fill and got about 90% fill out. Didn't know why, but things were clicking. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, just keep pouring. Happened to look at the thermostat setting and Eureka!! Thermostat is set way higher than I normally cast at. Mystery solved, that baby likes to be run hotter than the hubs of h e double hockey sticks. I see a lot more buckshot in my future.

[koehlerrk]

You are correct, I have the same mold and it doesn't fill well at all until you crank up the heat. Congrats!

[FullTang]

The Sharpshooter molds definitely like it hot; I've also used some Liquid Wrench Dry Lube (bought long ago at WalMart for about $2.99 a can) sprayed into the mold. I was hoping it would help with mold release, but it also helped it fill out much better at lower temps.

[tommag]

I found the same thing with my Lee 18 cavity 00 mold. I had to get my mold hot and my pot around 800 in order to get lead to make it down to the lower cavities.

[Cap'n Morgan]

I guess it is one of the buckshot molds I made for a group buy years ago? These molds have rather small inlets and definitely should be kept HOT to keep the inlets from freezing prematurely. Also, adding a little tin to the lead improve filling. The reason for using small inlets were to avoid having to snip the balls from the sprue stem after casting. With the right temperature (and moon and planet constellation) the balls will often snap from the sprue when dropped - especially when casting with WW alloy. The faster you fill the mold, the better. I used a Lee bottom pour with an enlarged nozzle hole for testing the molds and never had any problems except for an occasional poor fill of the topmost cavities.

[bstone5]

I have the combination mold.

To get the mold hot I heat with a small propane torch.

The mold has to be hot to get full fill out.

I use a pair of heavy duty welding gloves while casting. The light duty TIG gloves will not work with this hot mold.

Once the mold is hot and the Lee pot set to max the mold makes very good buck shot.

[johnny_xring]

Missed this original post--YES, I got the buckshot combo mold and also the .680 ball mold. I tried the .680 first--man that is some mass of lead inside there. When it get up to operating temp it really becomes a good welding glove test. When it gets up to temp those .680s come out so nice. I've got to keep the rhythm going and that pot goes down pretty quick.

Spectacular to launch. Only have one load (Unique) worked up because I am still searching for propellant(s) like Longshot, Blue Dot, to try and increase the velocity. Then I'm going to start working on the buckshot loadings.

JX

[bstone5]

I roll the cast buch shot in a smooth rock tumbler for an hour.
The shot is round and very shinny after an hour in the smooth sided rock tumbler.
Was thinking about giving the shot a single coat of the HiTeck bullet coating used on pistol bullets.