i cant do better than this

[Budzilla 19]

I don't think I can do better at casting boolits than this. alloy is basically ww with 3% Sn, and a shot of lead shot for some As for heat treatment for the 30 calibers after coating with HiTek coating. any suggestions? I know you guys wont be shy for sure,lol!

Thanks for all the comments in advance.

[merlin101]

Well I think a blind man could see the problem, yer moulds all worn out and dropping different sizes!

[snuffy]

I don't see a sharply cast boolit among any of those except the fat one at the top. Most corners are rounded out, indicating poor fill-out of the molds. You need hotter blocks or more tin.

[Budzilla 19]

Merlin, Hahaha! I got tired of two at a time with those 30 calibers, so I grabbed the .44 mold and went to town in between filling and dumping the two cavity! (I don't even own a .44 caliber anything, but my friends do! This is crazy, huh? To cast for something you don't own.) it's a disease, lol.
Snuffy, I appreciate the comment and that's why I depend on you guys with your vast years of casting experience! I'm trying to get the rhythm of fill and dump on those 30 calibers, so to have very sharp corners and consistent weights, good flat bases for gas check to seat evenly. Same with those fat .44's, trying for crisp bands and good bases. I'll try hotter blocks for sure! Thanks.
(if I don't ask for advice, how will I ever learn from you guys?)

[Mk42gunner]

(I don't even own a .44 caliber anything, but my friends do! This is crazy, huh? To cast for something you don't own.)Yet.

Not crazy if you look at the three letter word I added to your statement.

If you are adding 3% Tin, you should have enough. Now it is just a matter of adjustment of your technique. Personally, I am more comfortable (and more to the point, I get better boolits) by only using one mold at a time.

My first suggestion will be to add about 25 degrees to your alloy temp, and see what that does for your fillout.

Robert

[runfiverun]

see that top grey colored one?
that's what I strive for, your too much tin alloy and not enough heat is causing you issues.
the boolits look pretty good but you just don't have the consistency, or coloring I strive for.
many here will say they are fine just shoot them and ignore the nit-pickers.

I say if your gonna learn/do something, learn to do it as good as you possibly can and strive for as close to perfection [consistent-quality] as you can reasonably achieve with your equipment and knowledge base.

learn how to improve your tools to make them better, and so they provide you with a better end product.
learn how to manipulate the alloy.
learn what combinations of alloy will do when cast or how they will react under stress/pressure.
learn how the constituents of the alloy interact with each other and how different outside forces [heat/quenching/pressure etc] will influence the final outcome.

alloy and it's combinations is just one small part of this hobby but it's a very handy one that's very much worth learning.
once you start putting the pieces [deeper than the basic pouring some alloy into a mold] together you start to recognize why you want to do things a certain way and how it will influence the outcome on target [whether that's on paper or in the field]

[Budzilla 19]

Run, that's why I'm here.i want to refine this process because of the satisfaction I derive from the whole process! I know I'm probably preaching to the choir, but I get immense satisfaction from my casting, loading ,and shooting cast boolits. Mk42, I agree with the three letters! Thank you guys for the help! Good shooting to all.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Most of my general shooting boolits are cast out of straight clip on weights in Lee molds. Good fill out doesn't even start until the are good and frosty. If they come out shiny, the go right back in the pot.

[fredj338]

Agree, more heat. My exp with Hi-Tek & rifle vel was pretty poor accuracy. I do better with powder coating as vel get over 1500fps.

[TXGunNut]

Never settle for what seems to be the best you can do. Boolits don't have to be perfect but they can always be a little better. Yes, you can (and will) do better than this.

[John Guedry]

I guess I'm not as particular as most. They look pretty good to me.:roll:

[TXGunNut]

I guess I'm not as particular as most. They look pretty good to me.:roll:


They ARE good but I'm thinking he can do even better.

[popper]

Actually I see a couple 30s that look pretty good. Reduce the tin, break the top edge of the mould, a little more heat in the mould. Try different pour rates to insure good base fillout and time the sprue cut a little better, no pucker, just a good clean cut. The top right 30 has some flashing on the base. I also have not had luck with the HiTek over 1500 fps, even heat treated. PC works much better.

[Hickok]

All the above is great advice in casting boolits.

It reminds me of something an old fella once told me, "There's just some things that ain't wrote in no book!"

Seriously, very good boolits you have cast!!!:-D

[leadman]

I agree with the statements so far except for the Hi-Tek not working at high velocity. As with any cast boolits at high velocity everything has to be perfect and you need a great barrel to shoot them thru.

I have some 223 Rem loads that are over 3,000 fps with very good accuracy. I have hit over 3,600 fps with the 223 Rem but group sizes were over 2" at 100 yards.
I do have some 30-06 loads with a 176gr boolit that are over 2,400 fps that match the jacketed bullet loads out of the same gun.

[williamwaco]

Too much tin.

Anything over 1% is probably wasted.

Mold too cold.

Cast fast with a very large sprue puddle until the mold is so hot the sprue will pour off the top of the sprue plate like water two seconds after you finish the fill. The sprue puddle should take three or four seconds to harden. When you reach this mold heat level, slow down to an appropriate temp to maintain that three to four second hardening.

[CHeatermk3]

I tried, yesterday, to break-in my new brass 2-cav 45-ruger mold, heating it up 2x then alternated it with my well-used 314299 NOE.

Big boolits need different technique; melt temp needed to be higher mold temp too.

I think I'd have been better off sticking with one or the other...I've had good luck running 2 30-cal molds in the same session.

OP's boolits look very shootable to me.

[Blackwater]

Good, shootable bullets, and much like 90% of what I shot through the years. Still shoot them that way sometimes. But the more you cast, and especially if you experiment from time to time, the better you'll get. It seems the better your bullets get, the more you notice, and the more you simply notice and pay attention, the higher your standards will become, and when your standards go up, so does the quality of your casting. You start paying closer attention to things like rhythm, timing, heat level, alloy, etc., and when you do that, your casting can't help but get better. Perfect bullets are rare, but it's amazing how much difference it makes as we approach those that are "perfect." Very satisfying.

Initially, it's just plain wise to keep a lot of our focus on safety. Once we get that down, and feel comfortable with the task, this allows us to focus on the elements that produce the very best bullets, and thus, we just naturally tend to get better at it over time, as long as we're paying attention to what we're doing. The amazing thing is that the more we pay attention, the more interesting it becomes, and the less of a "job" it seems to be. It's pretty much a win/win situation. And it sure keeps us casting, doesnt' it?

[Love Life]

I use a mould oven and stick the mould in it while the pot comes to temp.

Then I use a timer. 9mm and 38 special bullets tend to like 18 seconds between pours and my 45 bullets tend to prefer 35 seconds between pours.

Using a trick post by I believe was CBRick, I prime the spout first by letting a 1 secondish flow though into my ingot mould. Then I stick the mould under the spout and pour leaving a generous sprue puddle. From there I set the mould on my hot plate with reduced heat, hit the countdown button, and wait. Once the watch beeps I break the sprue and check bases. If bases are fully filled and sharp then they go in my keeper section. If the bases are not sharp then they go in the reject bin.

Using this method I have very few rejects. I use 4-6 cavity moulds so even though I may not get 1,000 bullets per hour, the bullets I do get are very high quality with a very small cull rate. I then lube them on my star (keeps all the edges sharp) and into storage they go.

Consistency is they key to many things in our hobby.

[Budzilla 19]

William Waco, that's exactly what I did yesterday! Hot mold, turned up the temp on pot a little,( grandkids have run away with my thermometer, so just shooting in the dark,basically) got that spruce puddle to enormous size! Cast it fast, water dropped,and now bullets are a frosty silver color, and sharp defined corners. To all the posters I greatly appreciate the advice, you simply cannot buy this type of experience! As for the alloy, I have posted it before on here, and it's got a whole lot of stuff besides SN and Sb, got some Cu and some Zn it is what I have to cast with so adjust to the alloy as far as tempo of casting, and temps in the pot,I normally ladle cast outside but last night was just one of those times when you just hit your stride! One of my fellow casters and I tag teamed that 30 caliber mold and cast about 264 150 grain! Again, thank you all for all the advice!!!!!!! I'll post some pics when I can.

[runfiverun]

ahhh your learning the ART of boolit casting.
there is a feel to it and you will just start doing things without thinking about it.
I quite often will have a wet rag handy to pull heat from the bottom of my molds [it will leave rust spots if you don't put a little oil on the steel parts after a session]
but it will allow me to maintain a pace I'm comfortable with, or manipulate heat to different parts of the mold as necessary.