Ever had one of those days?

[ryanmattes]

So I went this evening to do some casting. Set everything up, filled the pot with lead and turned it up to melt.

I got s new RCBS mold, so I thought I'd try it out. Wiped it down, cleaned it thoroughly, and put it on the edge of the pot to warm up.

When it got hot, I set it aside to cool so I could heat cycle it again, and I got out my bull plate lube. When it's hot, I fill it a couple times, lube the bolt and plate, and start casting.

I just can't get good bullets. I cast a couple hunred or so, hoping it would even out, I'd find the right temp and cadence, but no. Just nothing good happening. On top of that, I'm having stupid problems. The mold didn't come with a wave washer, so the sprue plate keeps coming loose. I don't really like to overtighten the sprue plate, so I snug it up and 3-4 fills later I have to snug it up again.

So I switch to a known mold, an MP .45 HP mold. I've cast with this mold before, with great results. Get it up to temp and start casting. I'm getting crap. Somehow I got lead on the face, so I start getting finning. I stop to clean the faces with a dowel, get it back up to temp, and now I'm getting finning around the pins. And now I'm noticing a bump on one side, like it's getting bent coming out if the mold. I cast about a couple hundred of those before I got frustrated and stopped.

Went back through everything I didn't throw back in the pot, and they were terrible. Far worst than my very first attempt at casting. I threw all the ugly ones back into my lead bucket, and this is what I'm left with, after 4 hours of struggle...

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210417/0cc83ad87dbb87547b3ccd121face180.jpg

I put it all up and had a scotch on the couch instead.

[FLINTNFIRE]

When it just does not go right , stop check everything try again if it still is not working a good scotch is a great idea .

[Winger Ed.]

I've had the same issue when I left out the wavy washer after taking a mold apart to clean it real well.

With the fining, and bent boolit-- I think the pot is too hot.
That, and letting the boolit drop out when its still hot & soft would let it bend.
That shrink hole on the base also tells ya its too hot when you made the pour.

[ryanmattes]

I don't know if RCBS just doesn't ship with a washer, or if I just didn't get one, but it's annoying. I need to just buy a bag of them to have around.

On the bent bullet, I was having fill out problems with the 4th cavity, so I turned up the heat a bit until they were coming out frosty, and then backed it off. I still only got good fill out on that cavity every 3rd or 4th fill. I don't know why, I even started trying to pour back to front, thinking that the lead stayed in the first cavity you pour longer and kept that part of the mold hotter, but that's like brushing your teeth with the wrong hand. It just wasn't working.

I'll try again another day.

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[fastdadio]

Clean the molds real good and check them out, then add more tin to your alloy and try it again.

[MrWolf]

That was the time to walk away. Start fresh another day. Sometimes things just don't want to work.

[Dusty Bannister]

I am surprised that the sprue plate bolt set screw allowed the sprue plate to loosen in such a short time of use. Ambient temperature also affects the rate of cooling so maybe you were cutting the sprue at the right time but needed to wait several additional seconds before opening the mold and laying the bullets on the padded surface. Perhaps limiting the free fall from the mold might reduce some of the damaged bullets?

Yep, there are times that the end of a casting session is time for a cold one, good session or bad.

[Handloader109]

I cast on a formica table that i cover with a clean rag, old dish towel is good. softens the drop. And I've had to walk away occasionally. a beer or two for me though..

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[lightman]

I guess we all have days where nothing goes our way. Be it work, casting, ect. Sometimes you just have to put it down and walk away. It just be that way sometimes! :cry:

[alfadan]

On all my rcbs molds I get the sprue plate tension where I like it when at temp, and mark the screw head for position. When cool, I file a flat on the screw shank to give the setscrew a, well, place to set.

[Minerat]

I have a 312 lee that gave me fits too. Many hours fighting that mould usingd a bottom pour pot. Wide open or slow trickle, pre heat or cold calling it every colorful name in the book and threatening to use a band saw to cut it in quarters nothing worked. I got a RCBS easy melt and a ladle and started pressure pouring problem solved. The long 180 gr bullet fills out perfect now. You might try ladle pouring this mould too if you are not doing it now. Good luck.

[405grain]

Yes! I've got a Lyman 375449 sitting on my desk in front of me from a batch of pure fail. The lube grooves weren't filling out fully, there's small inclusions in the boolit, and the sprue plate is bent just enough to put a fin on the bottom of the gas check shank. That whole batch is going back in the pot.
I got a new replacement sprue plate for the mold. I cleaned all the crud out the pot so there's no junk in there to cause any more inclusions. I'll add a little more tin when I re-melt that batch of boolits, and I'll give the melt some more than normal, extra fluxing with beeswax. Sometimes casting runs textbook perfect, but once in a while, if it's a mold not working good or an alloy misbehaving, it tried to fight you. Best thing is to take a break, figure out what's going wrong & fix it, then go back later and turn those reject boolits into winners.

[gwpercle]

Oh Yeah ... Plenty of those days !
When nothing wants to cast right ... and I've made sure I'm " Holding my Mouth Right " and have my good luck shirt and shoes on ... Then I know it's not "the right Phase of the Moon" ...
Put everything away and come back another day ... It's the "Moon" ...Trust Me !!!

Either that or ... the mould has become possessed by an "Evil Casting Spirit" :evil: ... in that case you have to bring the mould , a bottle of Vodka and a ten dollar bill , on a dark moonless night , to the old cabin way down in the Atchafalaya Basin ... leave them on the front porch , an old creole woman lives there ( Voodoo Woman ) and pick up the mould the very next night at Midnight ! The evil mould spirit will be exorcised ! :holysheep
Gary

[Mitch]

Yep you are not alone.On a day when i am casting a mold that have have cast many good bullets the off switch is your friend.

[Hanzy4200]

Turned my Lee bottom pour on a few days ago and left it to warm up. Came back to a 5 lb tumor of lead molded top to bottom and enveloping the mold resting plate. 20 min with the blow torch. Keep swearing I'll buy a Lyman pot.

[gwpercle]

Turned my Lee bottom pour on a few days ago and left it to warm up. Came back to a 5 lb tumor of lead molded top to bottom and enveloping the mold resting plate. 20 min with the blow torch. Keep swearing I'll buy a Lyman pot.

Keep an aluminum pie plate under the pot ...at least the "casting sculpture" wont mould itself around the base ... learned that the hard way !
Gary

[Scrounge]

Keep an aluminum pie plate under the pot ...at least the "casting sculpture" wont mould itself around the base ... learned that the hard way !
Gary

Stealing that idea!

[Conditor22]

We all have had "Murphy" visit us ie: try to sight in a scope that's not tight on the gun --- ran out of ammo to sight in with
try to sight in a scoop with a boolit the gun just doesn't like --- finally grabbed a different boolit and had it dialed in with 1 adjustment (held the gun steady and adjusted the scope past then back to the hole both vertically and horizontally)

A real "DUH" moment when you finally figure it out. :groner:[smilie=b:

[ryanmattes]

We all have had "Murphy" visit us ie: try to sight in a scope that's not tight on the gun --- ran out of ammo to sight in with
try to sight in a scoop with a boolit the gun just doesn't like --- finally grabbed a different boolit and had it dialed in with 1 adjustment (held the gun steady and adjusted the scope past then back to the hole both vertically and horizontally)

A real "DUH" moment when you finally figure it out. :groner:[smilie=b:A couple months ago I was shooting my Savage .308, which had been previously sighted in. It was good, and then all of a sudden it wasn't. Everything looks good, but now it's all over the place. As I probe further, checking if any screws were loose, I put an allen wrench in one of the leupold sight mounts, and it spins right out. Damn bolt sheared off, I guess it was touching part of the rail slot and the recoil was banging it against the edge of the slot every time I fired. Still haven't been able to get anyone at Leupold by phone or email to ask for a replacement, so my .308 is down until further notice. I gave up and had a scotch that day too.

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[alfadan]

A lot of people will have bad days shooting and want to fiddle with scope or sight settings, then on a better day have to adjust again! I just figure its me and resist the urge to blame my equipment.

[jimb16]

When I have a day like that I used Bourbon when I clean the molds......Not for cleaning the molds though. I used 93% isopropol for that. *snicker*

[FLINTNFIRE]

Ah yes unlike some I have a few cool ones while casting , worked in a aluminum smelter and truth be told there was a fair amount of imbibing before during and after work done in that hot hell hole , I remember a thread where a guy posted he had a 6 pack while casting and the uproar that brought oh well different strokes for different folks .

My old friend been gone many a year now talked about the pure grain alcohol from the ships dr for the ordnance which never did it make it to

[robg]

its funny how you cant do something right if you stop then come back to it the job goes easy.but its still hard to take that break when its just some fiddly screw that wont do up /undo.