A Milestone for me in casting

[JoeJames]

Tried casting from the 32 cal - 98 grain swc double cavity mold -accurate 313-100 r rg mold - I bought from a member before hot weather hit. Had two, two pound ingots, and assorted sprue casts, etc. Trying for a 20 part lead to 1 part tin alloy. Heated it up in my Lee 10# pot, fluxed, had a run of about 70 bullets, there were striations and bad wrinkles. Tried again that afternoon; same result, then just cast into the SEACO ingot pan. Looked like lava again. Finally figured out the spout was half stopped up so the trickle was so slow as to cause the lava flow aspect. Sunday I took the Lee production pot apart. Managed to free up the flow plug after I unscrewed the connectors on the top. Then cleared up the upper part of the spout. Then turned it upside down and kept tapping with a small allen wrench until it was clear. Note: before that I tried using the propane torch to melt what was stuck in the spout but it must have been slag with a higher melting point than lead, as it would not melt. So tapping it out was only option. Finally ran a good run on Monday, and began to get better less wrinkled bullets. Tried a second run, after dumping all prior castings, along with one lead ingot, after fluxing it all. And, at a higher temperature to where the lead on top of the sprue was frosting a bit. At that point the bullets began to be normal in appearance.
Learned 1. Need a good flow from the spot; a trickle will not do it, otherwise bullets look like stalagmites all layered over, and 2. Get the temp hot enough to frost the sprue puddle, but not enough to really frost the bullets.
Then learned to lube them with Lee Liquid Alox. Tumbled them with a 50% Lee Liquid Alox 50% mineral spirit mixture suggested by a member. It worked out. Then last weekend I loaded about 30 of the best ones in 32 S&W Long cases on top of 2 grains of Bullseye, and then shot a few out of my S&W Model 631 4". So this is a milestone for me. First cast boolit reloads that are good enough to shoot in my 32's. And a picture of the boolit and one of my new cast boolit loads. I am quite proud of myself. It took a spell.

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[fcvan]

Awesome!

[Txcowboy52]

Looks like you did a fine job ! Congratulations !!

[Land Owner]

Looks great. Hope it shoots as well. You hit the sweet spot. Save it for future reference.

Now, before the glow of success subsides, WRITE IT ALL DOWN in detail in your personal Reloading Log, so you will have it on hand for all future casting sessions - particularly of that caliber and that mold. Print, Cut & Paste what you wrote above.

Finding this thread in the future is time consuming and iffy. Written in your log, it is assured to be found, and can be marked for reference.

I assure you, in 5 years, 10 years, and 20 years from now, you will reread your log of this day and remember the sweet success of where it all started.

[ABJ]

Here is a little trick to keeping the spout flowing. I use a pure beeswax candle, just press against the spout when hot. Also a dental pick dipped in ATF or some other soft lube. I use animal fat. The wax and grease will migrate up on the sides of the spout and help loosen the oxides.
Tony

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Good you kept at it! At some point you will have mostly successes and a fine tuned intuition into the process.

[JoeJames]

Looks great. Hope it shoots as well. You hit the sweet spot. Save it for future reference.

Now, before the glow of success subsides, WRITE IT ALL DOWN in detail in your personal Reloading Log, so you will have it on hand for all future casting sessions - particularly of that caliber and that mold. Print, Cut & Paste what you wrote above.

Finding this thread in the future is time consuming and iffy. Written in your log, it is assured to be found, and can be marked for reference.

I assure you, in 5 years, 10 years, and 20 years from now, you will reread your log of this day and remember the sweet success of where it all started.I agree. I keep a detailed notebook. Actually I cut and pasted from my notebook for my post. Learned by bitter experience that if I have not written it down, it didn't happen.

[Thumbcocker]

Good job. Just be warned that .32's can be gluttonous little beasties and you will probably wind up with mold with more cavities.

[bedbugbilly]

Great looking boolits and they share make a nice looking cartridge!

[jimb16]

So now you have discovered that casting is as much an art as a science! Keep up the good work!

[JoeJames]

So now you have discovered that casting is as much an art as a science! Keep up the good work!I understand the "art" concept a whole lot better now. I would not have understood what you meant a few weeks ago. My hat is off to y'all! I would not have done nearly as well if it had not been for my reviewing relevant posts on Castboolits. There is a wealth of information on here.

[Conditor22]

perseverance and good trouble shooting skills -- you figured it out and got a nice end result.

as you found out, a good flow is critical to nice boolits. to maintain this ONLY put clean ingots in your pot. I won't put ingots in my pot that I haven't smelted myself.

You will soon find that more tin/ harder alloy will flow better at a lower temperature and give you a good boolit fill out. I'll cast between 680-720° for everything but pure 750°

IF you aren't getting good fillout (and the mold is clean) you can either increase that alloy temperature or add a little more tin (I keep a jar or 1/2 ounce pewter (tin) boolits I cast handy to "sweeten the pot"

I threw this together to clean the spout when needed
https://i.imgur.com/dwEOWn5.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/x1e6BFy.jpg

[gwpercle]

There's only one way to learn how to cast boolits ... That's by Casting Boolits !
Good Job... Keep On Keeping On !
Gary
I wish this site had been around in 1967...

[Hanzy4200]

Good job! Wrinkles are the nightmare of new casters......and sometimes seasoned casters. Being sure to get 100% of the machining/storage oil out of your cavities is paramount. Playing with the temp of your mold can help also. My biggest breakthrough for nice mold fill out was brake cleaner. Spray that mold down all over. Then do it again. Washes all traces of oil out. I have a similar gizmo as Conditor. I just have a old pair or needle nose pliers with a thick bent paper clip pointing up. It's just become "welded" together by accumulative lead spatter. Work great.

[lightman]

Good Job! Glad it all came together for you.

[JoeJames]

perseverance and good trouble shooting skills -- you figured it out and got a nice end result.

as you found out, a good flow is critical to nice boolits. to maintain this ONLY put clean ingots in your pot. I won't put ingots in my pot that I haven't smelted myself.

You will soon find that more tin/ harder alloy will flow better at a lower temperature and give you a good boolit fill out. I'll cast between 680-720° for everything but pure 750°

IF you aren't getting good fillout (and the mold is clean) you can either increase that alloy temperature or add a little more tin (I keep a jar or 1/2 ounce pewter (tin) boolits I cast handy to "sweeten the pot"

I threw this together to clean the spout when needed
https://i.imgur.com/dwEOWn5.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/x1e6BFy.jpgGood point on extra tin. My cousin gave me a big spool of lead free solder which appears to be 95% tin. I have made some 1 ounce rings of it for adding to get the alloy to what I think is right. May add some tin to the pot if it appears that I have the temp high enough but am still not filling out the mold.

I jumped off into casting 44's (Lee 240 grain .430 double cavity SWC) last weekend, assisted by my notes in the 32's, but the results were not even good enough for me. I think I was getting close, but then started running real low on alloy in the pot by that time. By my figuring, and if the world was perfect, you could only get @29 240 grain boollits out of a pound of alloy. The pot seems to run low a whole lot faster with 240 grain than with 98 grain 32's.

I will also make a fixed spout cleaner; - been using a pair of pliers and and a bent paper clip.

[JoeJames]

"I jumped off into casting 44's (Lee 240 grain .430 double cavity SWC) last weekend, assisted by my notes in the 32's, but the results were not even good enough for me. I think I was getting close, but then started running real low on alloy in the pot by that time. By my figuring, and if the world was perfect, you could only get @29 240 grain boollits out of a pound of alloy. The pot seems to run low a whole lot faster with 240 grain than with 98 grain 32's.

I will also make a fixed spout cleaner; - been using a pair of pliers and and a bent paper clip."

Reporting in; melted down about 3pounds of my ingots, and the 44 bullets I tried to cast last weekend. I must be getting better. Off today; so cleaned the valve rod, and got the temperature up there to where the melt on the sprue was frosty, took my time after each pour, and the boolits started looking like they were supposed to. Also added about an ounce of tin to the alloy before casting. Cast about 70 of which 60 or so were perfect, no wrinkles, and completely filled in and crisp. (I assume most of the bad ones were before the mold got hot enough) Measured them, and before they were about .428, now appears right at .430 which my Ruger BH likes best. I took a chance on getting this 44 mold, but because I finally did ok with the 32's but it paid off. The hook is getting well set now!

[fcvan]

My reply has nothing to do with this post. I love your signature line 'Certified Cajun.' My Uncle was a certified cajun, I learned a lot of that old man, some good, some not so good, but hey, don't we all have family like that? Ragin' Cajun, Rage on! Frank

[lolbell]

Good job. Just be warned that .32's can be gluttonous little beasties and you will probably wind up with mold with more cavities.

I am at this point. 2 cavities just ain’t enough

[JoeJames]

Report after shooting them on Sunday: On Saturday, October 3, 2020, fairly cool, so put 3 or 4 WW ingots in the Lee 10# pot. Got it up to temp, added an ounce of Tin, fluxed well, then started casting with the Lee 240 gr .430" SWC mold. First few were a bit wrinkled, but attributed that to mold not being hot enough; I cast about 70 total .430" 240 gr SWC’s. They came out much better than I figured was possible. Spout stopped up, but used the small allen wrench with needle nosed vice grips and also bent paperclip. Cleared it up.That afternoon, lubed them with mix of 50% mineral spirits/50% Lee Liquid Alox - then tumbled in a small container. Later on spread on waxed paper overnight. Loaded 15 rounds w/ 6.8 grains of Unique, CCI LP primers. Shot six rounds at my cousin’s Sunday afternoon. More than a little pleased. Note* I have not chronographed them yet, but they felt a tad stouter than my 240 gr. Speer swaged .430" loads with 6.8 grains of Unique which run about 890 fps. And perhaps not as stout as the same Unique load with .431 Oregon Trail 240 grain laser cast. But so far they do seem as accurate or more accurate than the Speer swaged.
Next: 1. Chronograph them
2. Load enough to adjust sights accordingly depending on whether chronograph results; *may need to reduce powder charge first.

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[Conditor22]

Love it when things come together.

Like many, I preheat my molds on a hotplate to 400° ($5 at thrift store)

you can also "pressure pour" (hold the mold snug to the spout on the pot, fill the cavity then lower the mold before stopping the flow of lead)

Just wondering, you may be over crimping a tad, the heavier the crimp, the shorter the life of the case.

a heavy crimp can also cause a load to build up more pressure before leaving the case.

before you know it you will be buying bigger molds, a bigger pot and putting a PID on it because you will be casting and loading for family and friends :)

[JoeJames]

Love it when things come together.

Like many, I preheat my molds on a hotplate to 400° ($5 at thrift store)

you can also "pressure pour" (hold the mold snug to the spout on the pot, fill the cavity then lower the mold before stopping the flow of lead)

Just wondering, you may be over crimping a tad, the heavier the crimp, the shorter the life of the case.

a heavy crimp can also cause a load to build up more pressure before leaving the case.

before you know it you will be buying bigger molds, a bigger pot and putting a PID on it because you will be casting and loading for family and friends :)I am hooked for sure now. They do appear to be quite accurate. "Just wondering, you may be over crimping a tad, the heavier the crimp, the shorter the life of the case".

a heavy crimp can also cause a load to build up more pressure before leaving the case." That is a fine line there on crimping. Awhile back I did not use enough crimp, and with those big old 240 grain boolits, I had one crawl out enough to lock the cylinder on the same Ruger New Model BH I shot the new loads in yesterday. So you may be right, and with the next group, I may back the seating die out a hair or two.

[JoeJames]

Chronographed Lee .430" 240 gr. cast 44 Special w/ 6.8 gr. Unique. Control was pet load - Speer swaged .430 240 gr. w/ 6.8 gr. Unique.

Results, Speer load averaged 852 fps, and Lee cast averaged 955 fps.
What I surmised ... shooting a bit low, and more of a thump when shooting them.

Lee cast bullets were very hard - water quenched; so got same results as when using hard cast store bought .431" 240 gr Oregon Trail laser cast bullets. With the Oregon Trail, I backed charge off to 6.5 grs. of Unique. I wii try that amount - 6.5 grs. and see if it is still accurate, and where it groups.

[JoeJames]

I reckon I have possibly made it into the 3rd grade in elementary casting. Good casting weather on Saturday; so I figured on trying to cast some better 32 caliber 98 grain SWC's with the Accurate triple cavity mold I had gotten from one of the members (one in the center is for gc bullets). Previously I had done tolerable with it, but averaged about 50% culls or more. By serendipity my Lee 10 pound pot had been stopped up completely when I was casting 44's and so I used a ladle that time, after removing the valve assembly. It worked that time pretty well; so after reading comments on pressure pouring, I thought I'd try out the 32 caliber mold again. It is a . I had pre-heated the mold by putting it upside down over the top of the pot, and had melted down about 5 pounds of ingots, and started pouring using the pressure method as suggested by Conditor22. I would hold the mold facing horizontally then place the ladle spout against the sprue opening, then turn to vertical with the ladle still down on the sprue plate, then ease it up so I would get a puddle above the opening, which frosted over just fine. Almost immediately I started producing good bullets. Out of about 120 cast, I had about 13 culls, and even most of the culls were good enough to shoot. Other than the culls, the rest had all spaces filled in, and were perfectly square on the lube grooves. They were in my opinion perfect bullets. All I measured were spot on at .312" at the base band.

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[Wheelguns 1961]

I am glad to here that the mold is working out for you. Keep up the good work!

[NoZombies]

If casting with smaller bottom pour pots (20# or less) I use 1# ingots, and try to replenish regularly. Unless I'm emptying the pot to clean it or change alloys, I try to keep the alloy level above 80%. The volume helps prevent wider temperature variations and keeps head pressure more consistent, making more consistent bullets. Keeping the pot mostly full also helps keep any impurities away from the spout, as they tend to stay toward the top of the melt.

When using a larger pot (I skip straight from 20# to 40# in my shop) A little more wiggle room is available, but I still follow the general rule of 80%.

Ladle casting obviously doesn't have the same issues with head pressure and clogging spouts, but temperature variations can still be an issue unless using a PID.

[JoeJames]

"Ladle casting obviously doesn't have the same issues with head pressure and clogging spouts, but temperature variations can still be an issue unless using a PID".

That is maybe 5th grade stuff, but I can see a PID on the horizon.

[JoeJames]

Loaded up my first box of 50 32 S&W Longs, my own Cast - 100 grain .312" swc's, 2 gr. Bullseye, Win sp primers. Had plenty of bullets; so I culled a couple. One of them red letter days. Nice to know I have about 70 more bullets I cast on Saturday, and I have been tumble lubing them, and will finish drying them at the office. I still have about 50 left from my first pour. Feel a great deal of satisfaction in being a bit more self reliant.