1st time casting - looking for advice

[dpage]

Hey guys!

Like the posting title says I am a first time caster and I’m looking for advice on a slight bit of frosting on the tail of my bullets.

Here is my casting info so everybody can add their two cents -

Mold - MP mold .357-147 gr Flat round nose, flat base, 6 cavity mold - no lube groove
Lead used - 12 lbs. WW + 2.5 lbs. rotometals Super hard Alloy
Lead Pot - Lee 4-20
Lead temp - 720°-760° (setting was on mid 7 - no PID)
No water quench
Tested with Lee Hardness tester as BHN 15.2-15.4
I intend to coat with Hi-tek

As a first time caster these are my questions -

Is a bit of frosting on the tail of my bullets normal?
If it’s not normal what can I do next time to prevent it from happening?
Would you go ahead and use these bullets to coat, size and shoot?

These are my only concerns right now. Otherwise I’m pretty happy with my first time attempt in casting. I’m confident that with some friendly advice from of you long time casters out there (with a few more gray hairs in your beard than me lol!) that I will be putting home cast lead downrange in no time!

Thanks in advance for any helpful advice!

[dpage]

One other piece of information I forgot to add - I weighed my boolits and they are wing around 146.2 gr - 145.9 gr

[robg]

as long as the bases are good shoot them

[lightman]

Those look good, especially for a first attempt. A little frosting doesn't hurt anything. You may not be able to control the pot temp any better but you can try turning it down just a little. Or you can slow down your casting speed little. I run my PID at 735º using steel molds.

[44magLeo]

Those look fine to me. Shoot 'em.
A bit of frosting means your casting a bit hot. Try turning the temp down a bit, slow your speed a bit. Either will cool things down a bit.
Leo

[Winger Ed.]

I'd shoot 'em.

I don't use a thermometer, but when they have a little frost, I just back off the heat a little until it doesn't form.
I don't think the frost hurts anything, I just don't want to look at it.

[Targa]

When I am casting with my aluminum molds I have a wet sponge sitting next to me. When they start frosting I press the bottom of the mold on to the sponge, it is good for about 3 or 4 four more pours before it starts frosting and then I put it on the sponge again. Works great and keeps the mold in the sweet spot.

[onelight]

That would not bother me at all.
Make as many as you can :)

[Hogdaddy]

Looks good. Id shoot em ; )
H/D

[Jal5]

Nice job send them down range!


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[Bazoo]

They look good. Frosting like that is called spot frosting. Your variety is from having the sprue plate too warm. By too warm I don't mean it indicates an issue. You're mould temperature is right on the edge of frosting. A little hotter and the whole bullet would be frosted, a little cooler and none of it would be. Sometimes spot frosting will show up on the bullet side where one bullet is next to an adjacent cavity. Turn the heat down to 7 and it'll stop frosting bases.

[dpage]

Thanks everyone for your input!

Next casting session I will -

1-Turn down my temperature to find that sweet spot
2-Get a wet sponge/towel and cool down the mold each cast
3-Slow my casting speed down to keep the mold cooler

Thanks again!

[charlie b]

Bullets look good.

Do not assume you are casting at 750F just because the knob is set between 7 and 8. At that same setting the lead in my Lee pot is around 600F. Somewhere from 7 to 8 is where I do most of my casting. Where depends on the mold I am using. Some like hotter, some a little colder.

[Bazoo]

I'd only do one of those things at a time. I'd drop temp first personally.

[reddog81]

I'd only do one of those things at a time. I'd drop temp first personally.

Yep, just turn down the temp a bit and you should be good.

[AndyC]

Looking really good for a first time - and frosting wouldn't be visible under HiTek anyway (and even without, that spot would be inside the case anyway).

Frosting doesn't make a bad bullet, either - it's more of a "But I want it shiny and beautiful and pure!" kind of thing. You can cool the mold briefly by touching it to a damp cloth (damp, not wet - don't want water near your pot of hot lead) on your bench - you'll eventually find exactly what your mold prefers in terms of temperature.

Yep, I'd happily coat, size, load and shoot those if they were mine.

[WHITETAIL]

Welcome to the forum!
They look great for the first time.
You did not say if you are going to PC them.
I am asking because there are no lube groves in them?:veryconfu

[Rcmaveric]

Welcome. We need to stop being so friendly and welcoming. If you think about its more competition for lead. Lol

Frosting is just cosmetic. Send em. Key is good fill out, sharp lines and good bases.

If you weight sort. Most go by a 1% standard deviation. I dont feel its that important unless shooting for competition or groups to brag about

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[Land Owner]

Take care in spotting and culling rounded edges in boolit bases. You want boolit bases to be straight and true - even to a tiny bit of trailing edge finning from the spru plate cutting it off. Pour more spru above the plate to assure complete fill out. I am, only for example, being extremely picky here. Your boolits look good.

[LenH]

Welcome aboard, those look good to me. Size coat and shoot. A little bit of frosting never hurt a thing.

[Phat Man Mike]

Like a lot of folks pointed out, I keep a damp rag with in reach. When frosted boolits are seen a wipe or two on the bottom of the mold.

[Burnt Fingers]

You're wasting that super hard alloy. Pure WW is plenty hard enough for 9mm. I use 50/50 WW/pure for almost all my pistol needs.

I cast and loaded over 30K of 9mm last year. All those boolits were cast of the above alloy and coated with Hi-Tek. They were shot through over a dozen different firearms.

No problems at all.