dagger dog
07-19-2008, 10:43 AM
Hey,
Finally got some boolits to grow my mould on. :mrgreen:
My 245415 double mould and handles arrived Wed. and Fri. I broke out my new Mini Mag furnace and 10 lbs. of the "almost" Lyman #2 alloy I had previously smelted, the week before.
Now you guys got to remember this is my first try at this casting thing,and I did get a little dicouraged. The first 100 or so boolits came out of the mould lookin' like some one that had a bad reaction to their Botox injections. I mean WRINKLED!
and not filling out the mould , in other words mutant .22 cal. boolits, all these went back into the furnace along with the sprue and all the other spatterings, of an inept rookie.
So I break out the Lyman "BIBLE" and also start probing the nether reigons of this burnt out grey matter thats rattling around in side my skull trying to remember the stickies from Cast Boolits, and the little light bulb started to glow, now I didn't say how bright.
The little glowing light told me that the mould was too cold even though I had placed it as close to the heating element in the furnace, and it was HOT ENOUGH to burn the %#@ out of my finger.
So I fired up the turkey fryer, and warmed that sucker up, and while I was doing this the furnace seemed to kick into high gear( 750 degrees) I know this 'cause it was where Mickies big hand was pointing! The alloy got this real shiny look to it ,and it started flowing through the dipper like water.
So the next hundred filled the mould real well but I had to stop to reheat them every 10 or so pours. I let these drop into the 5 gallon bucket of water and heard them sizzle when they hit. So I hope there was enough arsenic and other trace metals in that "almost" Lyman # 2 alloy ,(9 lbs WW clean smelted with 1 lb. 60-40
solder that was the best I could do in replicating the mix) to get them to harden.
So I wound up with 80 after culling .22 cal bullets. Took these up to my reloading bench and popped them on the scale to see how they weighed. There was a .8 grain difference in just about 1/2 (40) 52.2 gr- 53.0 gr.The Lyman info gives the 225415 a 55gr in their # 2 alloy.
So in planning on running them through the 4500 .225 die and installing the gas checks today, I placed them in the top drawer of the gun locker where it's nice and dark. Now this is the discouraging part I was talkin' about, THERE AIN"T A DANG BIT OF MOULD ON MY BOOLITS, what did I do wrong.:confused:
Finally got some boolits to grow my mould on. :mrgreen:
My 245415 double mould and handles arrived Wed. and Fri. I broke out my new Mini Mag furnace and 10 lbs. of the "almost" Lyman #2 alloy I had previously smelted, the week before.
Now you guys got to remember this is my first try at this casting thing,and I did get a little dicouraged. The first 100 or so boolits came out of the mould lookin' like some one that had a bad reaction to their Botox injections. I mean WRINKLED!
and not filling out the mould , in other words mutant .22 cal. boolits, all these went back into the furnace along with the sprue and all the other spatterings, of an inept rookie.
So I break out the Lyman "BIBLE" and also start probing the nether reigons of this burnt out grey matter thats rattling around in side my skull trying to remember the stickies from Cast Boolits, and the little light bulb started to glow, now I didn't say how bright.
The little glowing light told me that the mould was too cold even though I had placed it as close to the heating element in the furnace, and it was HOT ENOUGH to burn the %#@ out of my finger.
So I fired up the turkey fryer, and warmed that sucker up, and while I was doing this the furnace seemed to kick into high gear( 750 degrees) I know this 'cause it was where Mickies big hand was pointing! The alloy got this real shiny look to it ,and it started flowing through the dipper like water.
So the next hundred filled the mould real well but I had to stop to reheat them every 10 or so pours. I let these drop into the 5 gallon bucket of water and heard them sizzle when they hit. So I hope there was enough arsenic and other trace metals in that "almost" Lyman # 2 alloy ,(9 lbs WW clean smelted with 1 lb. 60-40
solder that was the best I could do in replicating the mix) to get them to harden.
So I wound up with 80 after culling .22 cal bullets. Took these up to my reloading bench and popped them on the scale to see how they weighed. There was a .8 grain difference in just about 1/2 (40) 52.2 gr- 53.0 gr.The Lyman info gives the 225415 a 55gr in their # 2 alloy.
So in planning on running them through the 4500 .225 die and installing the gas checks today, I placed them in the top drawer of the gun locker where it's nice and dark. Now this is the discouraging part I was talkin' about, THERE AIN"T A DANG BIT OF MOULD ON MY BOOLITS, what did I do wrong.:confused: