My first 6 self-cast bullets, ever

[wurgerburger]

Okey, That's 6 rejects.
But these were the first.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5461508/tuomioja-sy%C3%B6-kakkaa.jpg

I intend to coat and shoot them too.
I learned the trade for 2 years, got almost all the gear (wearing a leather apron as I'm typing this) and now had several separate sources of lead. Then I built a site for making ingots at the countryside, and during the last few days made a system of sucking out fumes from Chamber of Hobbies(tm) to the outside world. A portal of sorts. Within the city limits.

It seems that only the fluxing makes very tiny amounts of smoke and otherwise this hobby is wholly sustainable within city limits.

Wearing a gas mask while typing this.

[rancher1913]

yah, my first few were like that, now I let the mold heat up a lot more. are you going to try powder coating on them?

[wurgerburger]

Yes powder coating.
5 minutes ago the Lee 6cavity mold broke. The topmost lever just broke at the joint.
It's visible on my instagram at the moment.
https://instagram.com/p/4amelViyyf/?taken-by=tuskanparahdus

[wurgerburger]

Wonder if Lee has any kind of warranty...?

[wurgerburger]

The later batch ended up looking BEAUTIFUL, I just randomly added new year's "tin" any time I saw a dimple. https://instagram.com/p/4am0I7iyzF/?taken-by=tuskanparahdus

[wurgerburger]

Well that's it for bullet casting for the moment, buying new molds would negate my purchase of a P.38 this summer. Budget is tight. The alloy was pure .22lr range lead so I might even just try loading these without coating and calibrating.

[wurgerburger]

The weight says I managed to cast about 540 bullets before the Lee mold cracked.

It was unused before so I'm safe to say it was faulty and should be ... wait. I'm in Finland. I have no rights.

Please invade soon.
Yours truly

a pissed of disappointed customer

[wurgerburger]

Because this site contains _everything_ about casting boolits I assume there is a thread somewhere about replacing a cracked Lee 6cavity lever somehow ... wink wink. Please help a foreign newbie.

[mac1911]

Lee molds have a 2 year guaranty. not sure if shipping it back from finland is cost effective ? you can order a new pivot. of course you need to way out the cost of shipping ? Maybe a email off to lee with pictures and they might send you a new part?
Welcome to casting.

http://leeprecision.com/sprue-lever.html

[725]

wurgerburger - Welcome to the world of boolit casting. Not to worry about the wrinkles on the first castings. Kind of looks like the mold hadn't come up to temperature before casting. Good luck with your mold repair / replacement. Always seems like there is something to address or fix.
Best regards, 725

[knfmn]

Lee molds have a 2 year guaranty. not sure if shipping it back from finland is cost effective ? you can order a new pivot. of course you need to way out the cost of shipping ? Maybe a email off to lee with pictures and they might send you a new part?
Welcome to casting.

http://leeprecision.com/sprue-lever.html
Sorry about your mold breaking already. :/

Lee has great customer service. I was a bone head and managed to break the depriming pin in my universal deprimer earlier this year. I emailed them a picture of the broken pin and they had a new one in my mailbox the next week. It might take a touch longer to Finland. :) Definitely worth asking them about.

[flyingmonkey35]

That happened to me the first time I cast with a Lee 6 cav mold. It was a cold sprue plate.

Lee will warranty it or its just 6 bucks for a replacement.

Keep casting

[wurgerburger]

Lee molds have a 2 year guaranty.

I bought it "used" (but unused), it's well over 2 years old.
Oh well I will try to weld it together first :-) plan two is to weld a length of bar iron to work as a lever. The mold itself is fine.

[Boolit_Head]

The later batch ended up looking BEAUTIFUL, I just randomly added new year's "tin" any time I saw a dimple. https://instagram.com/p/4am0I7iyzF/?taken-by=tuskanparahdus

When you get going again cast a bit faster with a bit more heat and it will fill out the last few wrinkles. Also check the mold for some lead spatters holding it open. I saw a few fins on there indicating the mold was not completely closed. I am still trying to come to terms with my first Lee 6 banger. The technique is a bit different from smaller molds.

[wurgerburger]

Today - much better results. I made a new lever, seems to work fine and fit the wood handle ok.
A bit more heat, very much less flux wax, always flux after adding material. Tuned the feed so if feeds a bit slower. As I said - much better quality bullets already. My brother actually fired some (non-calibrated, non-waxed, non-coated) through a CZ and they made round holes and seemed to work.

[Ola]

Hei Wurgeri,

If you need some additional advise, shoot me a PM. Käy ihan tällä kotimaisellakin.

ps. et taida olla demari? :)

[MT Chambers]

The problems with Lee molds will continue, but can be fixed at home mostly, if you get frustrated, put it aside and save for a better quality mold such as NOE, Accurate,LBT, Mountain Molds, Mihec, Saeco, RCBS, Lyman. Good luck and enjoy the hobby!

[skeettx]

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5461508/tuomioja-sy%C3%B6-kakkaa.jpg

[Ola]

The later batch ended up looking BEAUTIFUL, I just randomly added new year's "tin" any time I saw a dimple.

"New years tin" is NOT tin. If you take a look at the product info, it usually says: "linotype". But it is not real linotype. It is just random mixture of lead and tin. Something like >90 % lead.

[wurgerburger]

The sticker said 96% lead, 4% tin.

[Springfield]

The handle broke because the lead was too cold when you cut the sprue. Either pre-heat the mould, or just do the 2 cavities in front for a few bullets and then the front 4 for a few bullets and then maybe you can do all 6. I have said it before, I have at least 30 LEE 6 cavs and cast at least 2000 bullets a week for the last 7 years and have never broken an handle. The mould MUST be hot before cutting sprues.

[gatorshooter]

Run my leemoulds hot.. frosted bullets take powder coating just fine....shake and bake method. Use my vibration tumbler to coat. Then tweezers to grab bullets by nose to put on my baking trays..
Obtw if the sprue dosnt cut fairly easy just reheat your mould dont force it or you will break at handle attachment. and yes I learned this the hard way!

[Ola]

The sticker said 96% lead, 4% tin.

So, mix 50 % pure lead (.22LR bullets) and 50 % "new years tin" and you are good to go.

[mongoose33]

The handle broke because the lead was too cold when you cut the sprue. Either pre-heat the mould, or just do the 2 cavities in front for a few bullets and then the front 4 for a few bullets and then maybe you can do all 6. I have said it before, I have at least 30 LEE 6 cavs and cast at least 2000 bullets a week for the last 7 years and have never broken an handle. The mould MUST be hot before cutting sprues.

I had the same thing happen to me--called LEE, they said there was a batch of sprue plates with too much copper in them which made them brittle. They sent me a new one, gratis.

[Echo]

Wonder if Lee has any kind of warranty...?

Email them with a picture of the broken part and they will probably send one in return gratis - my experience with a universal decapping pin that broke suggests this...

[Blanco]

Lee has sent me new levers on more than one occasion. They have a page on their website for submitting along with photo and explanation.
I have the Rn 9mm mold for the bullet you showed in the picture. I broke the lever so many times that I just welded a small square aluminum tab on the end of the sprue plate and tilted it up at a bit of an angle. Just have to tap it with my leather hammer. No more worry about breaking the lever.
143395

[DrCaveman]

Great documentation thus far, sir

Please keep it coming! It is excellent fodder for other newcomers learning the skill

And, pretty good looking boolits (last pic in particular). Shoot some! That is where the real reward lies... Feeling and seeing your creations punch holes (or explode bottles or game animals) exactly where you intend... Enjoy

[Blanco]

You know what it is about Casting that captures so many...... Think about this.
You create something, as close as you can to perfection. Something of beauty in your eye.
Then you give it life in grand fashion. A huge explosion and you send it speeding away.
In the end it destroys everything in it's path including itself.
God should be so proud of us.

[wurgerburger]

I made a new lever that fits the original wooden handle. Problem solved :-)

[Tristan]

Better than the first six I made...

You're off to a good start!

Like Rancher suggested, you might want to pre-warm the mold up a good bit before beginning to cast.

[dubber123]

The handle broke because the lead was too cold when you cut the sprue. Either pre-heat the mould, or just do the 2 cavities in front for a few bullets and then the front 4 for a few bullets and then maybe you can do all 6. I have said it before, I have at least 30 LEE 6 cavs and cast at least 2000 bullets a week for the last 7 years and have never broken an handle. The mould MUST be hot before cutting sprues.

Exactly. I don't THINK I have 30, 6 cavity LEE's, but I haven't counted either. Never broken a single one. If it feels like you are pulling too hard on the lever, you are.. :) Get it hot however you can, and cast away. Good luck to you.

[MT Chambers]

Like the Lee handles, those parts are made of pot metal, and can't take much stress.....someone on here makes steel sprue plates for them, prolly a world of difference!