Discipulus Plumbum
12-11-2016, 02:39 AM
Hi all -
Having lurked on this forum for years, I have read (and reread) the many posts from guys about their first experience casting boolits. So today was the day - a complete newbie here fired up the pot for the first time to try it out. I have wanted to "pour my own" for several years, hence my avid reading here and other sources with like topics. Two things finally happened to push me over the edge and get me going - I retired a few months ago and got addicted to BPCR Silhouette shooting about a year ago.
I just bought a new BPCR Money Boolit mould (410 grain/40 cal) and thought I would try it out. I set the temp on the Master Pot to 650 and dropped in about 15 pounds of 20:1 alloy. While that was getting hot, I scrubbed the mould with a toothbrush and a hot soapy solution then dried with compressed air. Used some sawdust to flux and was ready to go. For grins, I tried the bottom pour feature for several pours - that is going to take some time to figure out - results were not good (read many "Tastes Great/Less Filling" threads arguing bottom pour vs. ladle for big boolits).
So I got the Lyman ladle, and started pouring. The first few dropped out and "resembled" boolits - very bad wrinkling and very poor base fill out. Hmm ... have heard all this before ... "The guy on the forum said keep pouring and don't look at the boolits" - (I gotta look at the boolits :-D). Several more pours, and I noticed less wrinkling and better fill out. Then, after about 20 pours, no wrinkling and great fill out on the driving bands and base. I figured the mould got to the right temp and it worked as advertised. After about 200 keepers, I was tired and out of alloy. Here is a small sample of my success today:
182468
I want to thank all the people who have contributed to the vast amount of knowledge contained in this forum - because of what I have read here, I was fairly confident that I was going to end up with some decent projectiles today. This from a guy who last melted lead at the kitchen stove with Dad so we could pour it into the holes he drilled in the bottom of my Cub Scout Pinewood Derby car.
Now to get the measurements to Lathesmith so he can make my lubesizer die ..!
Cheers -
DP
Having lurked on this forum for years, I have read (and reread) the many posts from guys about their first experience casting boolits. So today was the day - a complete newbie here fired up the pot for the first time to try it out. I have wanted to "pour my own" for several years, hence my avid reading here and other sources with like topics. Two things finally happened to push me over the edge and get me going - I retired a few months ago and got addicted to BPCR Silhouette shooting about a year ago.
I just bought a new BPCR Money Boolit mould (410 grain/40 cal) and thought I would try it out. I set the temp on the Master Pot to 650 and dropped in about 15 pounds of 20:1 alloy. While that was getting hot, I scrubbed the mould with a toothbrush and a hot soapy solution then dried with compressed air. Used some sawdust to flux and was ready to go. For grins, I tried the bottom pour feature for several pours - that is going to take some time to figure out - results were not good (read many "Tastes Great/Less Filling" threads arguing bottom pour vs. ladle for big boolits).
So I got the Lyman ladle, and started pouring. The first few dropped out and "resembled" boolits - very bad wrinkling and very poor base fill out. Hmm ... have heard all this before ... "The guy on the forum said keep pouring and don't look at the boolits" - (I gotta look at the boolits :-D). Several more pours, and I noticed less wrinkling and better fill out. Then, after about 20 pours, no wrinkling and great fill out on the driving bands and base. I figured the mould got to the right temp and it worked as advertised. After about 200 keepers, I was tired and out of alloy. Here is a small sample of my success today:
182468
I want to thank all the people who have contributed to the vast amount of knowledge contained in this forum - because of what I have read here, I was fairly confident that I was going to end up with some decent projectiles today. This from a guy who last melted lead at the kitchen stove with Dad so we could pour it into the holes he drilled in the bottom of my Cub Scout Pinewood Derby car.
Now to get the measurements to Lathesmith so he can make my lubesizer die ..!
Cheers -
DP