High temp cast

[nueces5]

I started making some 9mm boolits, and I had the PID configured with 750F
I dipped one corner of the mold (aluminum) into the alloy
The mold heated up faster, actually cutting the sprue plate was very easy all the time, the boolits fell on their own with a slight tap.
A little frosties, but nothing that can't be solved with PC (it's an NLG mold)
I was making flux every 20 minutes or so and added a little tin to the mixture.
Is there a problem that you are not seeing with increasing the temperature?

[fredj338]

I do my casting between 730-750. I have no issues. Just stir the pot more. No need to flux, I only use clean alloy & just stir with a wooden stick each time & add alloy. All my fluxing is done turning scrap into ingots.

[Walter Laich]

If you're not smearing lead across the top of the mold or under the sprue plate you're good to go

I cast a bit cooler so I don't have to wait as long for the lead to harden but that's my choice

sounds like you have a good technique going--have fun

[charlie b]

My pot is around the same temp. Molds are preheated on a hotplate to around 350F.

[nueces5]

Thanks for the comments, I'm sure I'm slowly lowering the temperature
Just as they say, it hardens faster that way

[Oldfeller]

I keep reading about people laboring at fluxing their pot continuously as they empty the pot.

Here is some knowledge from past iterations of this list that has apparently been lost due to time.

First, you use vegetable oil based flux when you melt your wheel weights. Crisco is what I used by the table spoon full when I was melting / separated the WW steel from the lead in an old roaster pan heated up in a unused gas grill. There was a small pool of smoking oil and road dirt on top of the melt and very little oxidized crap. I skimmed with a big slotted spoon to get all the crap out of the lead.

Then I took skimmed lead directly into the ingot mold by dipping it out with an old stainless punch ladle into the muffin tin ingot mold. The cooled ingots were slightly greasy feeling and they dropped free when the lead cooled with no issues.

Then into the Lee Production Pot which got a quarter inch of standard commercial "steam expanded" clay based kitty litter on top of the melted lead. This stuff gets dirty over time but once your pot cools you can just pour off the ugly stuff and replace it with fresh litter. I do this every few months as I can catch the pot cold and the litter dirty.

Did you know Bentonite organic clay is an organic flux for lead? A quarter inch of kitty litter will flux replacement ingots and sprues as you rest them on top of the litter. The lead melts and trickles past the kitty litter getting cleaned and fluxed as it goes. The litter layer floats impurities (like the occasional zinc WW or steel clip) up on top where you can see it.

I never mess with fluxing my pot as I do it automatically as I add lead to the pot. Because I melt continuously, I never wait for the pot nor do I ever have dirty metal.

My pot stays clean, never building up the crap that others have to deal with.

[charlie b]

Just wondering. Why are you adding tin and how much? I've never felt the need to do that.

[45DUDE]

I heat my molds over the pot about 850 degrees, then turn down to 700-750 -800 <depends on outside temperature> and cast. I don't dip my aluminum molds in hot lead for fear of warpage. If frosty boolits let the mold cool 30 seconds or so. I like mine to look like Long Ranger boolits.

[country gent]

If its working for you and your happy with the results thats all that matters. I ladle cast with a bigger pot (100 lbs) and run in the 730-750 range normally. But my bullets are BPCR from 20-1 and bigger 365 grns up to 550 grns.

With the PID temp should be maintain as the level in the pot drops. Otherwise the temp will rise as the level drops more heat in a smaller mass.

[Txcowboy52]

I keep reading about people laboring at fluxing their pot continuously as they empty the pot.

Here is some knowledge from past iterations of this list that has apparently been lost due to time.

First, you use vegetable oil based flux when you melt your wheel weights. Crisco is what I used by the table spoon full when I was melting / separated the WW steel from the lead in an old roaster pan heated up in a unused gas grill. There was a small pool of smoking oil and road dirt on top of the melt and very little oxidized crap. I skimmed with a big slotted spoon to get all the crap out of the lead.

Then I took skimmed lead directly into the ingot mold by dipping it out with an old stainless punch ladle into the muffin tin ingot mold. The cooled ingots were slightly greasy feeling and they dropped free when the lead cooled with no issues.

Then into the Lee Production Pot which got a quarter inch of standard commercial "steam expanded" clay based kitty litter on top of the melted lead. This stuff gets dirty over time but once your pot cools you can just pour off the ugly stuff and replace it with fresh litter. I do this every few months as I can catch the pot cold and the litter dirty.

Did you know organic clay is an organic flux for lead? A quarter inch of kitty litter will flux replacement ingots and sprues as you rest them on top of the litter. The lead melts and trickles past the kitty litter getting cleaned and fluxed as it goes. The litter layer floats impurities (like the occasional zinc WW or steel clip) up on top where you can see it.

I never mess with fluxing my pot as I do it automatically as I add lead to the pot. Because I melt continuously, I never wait for the pot nor do I ever have dirty metal.

My pot stays clean, never building up the crap that others have to deal with.

Very interesting! Thanks for the info!

[kevin c]

I’ve never understood why some are obsessed with having shiny bullets. My aluminum molds cast best when the boolits have a slight matte frosting on them; I see that (running the PID at 730°, even more if it’s a cool or breezy day) I know I’ll have virtually no culls.

True that I HiTek coat everything, but I think I’d still be happier with flawless matte boolits than with shiny defective ones if I kept them in the raw.

[waksupi]

If my boolits aren't frosty, I figure something is wrong.

[gwpercle]

If my boolits aren't frosty, I figure something is wrong.

:goodpost:
I don't have no PID or thermometer ... But
Get best boolits just at "frosty" ... I hear the frosty surface helps hold coatings !
Gary

[porthos]

i have a box enclosed with a computer fan on top. hold the mold under the fan for 3 or 4 seconds and the sprue hardens faster

[Dusty Bannister]

Porthos, while that will speed up the hardening of the sprue and cools the sprue plate, that does not allow the fluid melt to be drawn into the mold cavity as the casting cools and shrinks. With larger castings, that is not a good thing. That "starves" the casting and can create cavities and potentially a balance issue with the cast bullet.

[More_Slugs]

I have read the comments about fluxing, including a few that say they don't or there's no need. This is such a misinformed subject.

Fluxing is ABSOLUTELY necessary because it is the only way to return the separated metal oxides back into the melted alloy. And sawdust is the best material to flux with.

Read the attached article in the link, which was written by an avid caster with a degree in Chemistry. It's so important, flux is mentioned almost a dozen times.

http://www.lasc.us/castbulletalloy.htm#UNS

[243winxb]

Increasing the temperature , frosted = smaller diameter.


Don't dip aluminum molds in hot lead =warpage.

[Larry Gibson]

I add tin to COWWs to balance the amount of tin to that of the antimony. At a percentage of each not exceeding 5% each together they form a submetal of SbSn.

That submetal, SbSn, will then stay in solution in the lead, particularly as the alloy begins to harden. Excess antimony not in balance with the tin will simply be mixed in with the liquid lead and not in solution. Thus, since the antimony will harden before the lead it usually will appear as "frost" on the outside of the bullet. Antimony also shrinks more than lead and the frost can result in shallow depressions on the bullet. Sometimes easy to see and other times not easy. This all results in imbalances in the bullet and can cause antimonal smearing in the bore oft times confused with leading.

I cast at an alloy temp of 715 - 725 as measured with two thermometers; one measuring the temp of the top half of the alloy in the Mag 20 pot and the other measuring the temp of the bottom half of the alloy. As I cast while waiting for the sprue to harden I put the previously cut sprue into the pot. I only flux the alloy at the beginning of the casting session when the pot is filled, melted and brought to casting temp. The dross that forms on top of the alloy is not separated elements of the alloy but simply oxidized alloy. The tin and antimony ARE NOT separating out of the alloy. I also adjjust the alloy flow during casting , as the pot empties, to maintain an even flow pressure of alloy into the cavities [easily done with the Mag 20, not sure about the Lee production pot)?(]. When the pot gets low, if I'm going to continue casting, I'll add more ingots to refill the pot. When the alloy is to temp I will then flux that pot and continue casting. Thus I only flux the one time when using clean ingots to begin with. BTW; I flux with beeswax and a couple three wooden matches thrown in to ignite the fumes. Beeswax is also referred to as an excellent flux in the lasc.us writings.

Thus, if I have frosted bullets I consider something is wrong and I correct it. I haven't shot any frosted bullets of my own for 45 - 50 years.

[gwpercle]

Porthos, while that will speed up the hardening of the sprue and cools the sprue plate, that does not allow the fluid melt to be drawn into the mold cavity as the casting cools and shrinks. With larger castings, that is not a good thing. That "starves" the casting and can create cavities and potentially a balance issue with the cast bullet.

:goodpost:
The Man is as Right as Rain !
Gary

[jdgabbard]

If my boolits aren't frosty, I figure something is wrong.

Diddo... If they're shinny, they're probably undersized... But I have a .356 mold that routinely drops close to .361 with the way I cast. So I guess that says something...


I have read the comments about fluxing, including a few that say they don't or there's no need. This is such a misinformed subject.

Fluxing is ABSOLUTELY necessary because it is the only way to return the separated metal oxides back into the melted alloy. And sawdust is the best material to flux with.

Read the attached article in the link, which was written by an avid caster with a degree in Chemistry. It's so important, flux is mentioned almost a dozen times.

http://www.lasc.us/castbulletalloy.htm#UNS

Nonsense. Many of us over the years have discovered that fluxing for that reason isn't necessary. Kitty litter over the melt helps to keep the O2 from the melt, reducing Oxides. Or just leaving the oxides on top keeps a barrier that does the same thing. It doesn't separate the alloy, it oxidizes it uniformly. I get no more oxide on my melt when using tin rich alloys than I do using Pb only. Believe what you want, but many of us stopped this practice many years ago - I haven't fluxed a pot of melt since probably 2009. And I have zero problems, and get groups that most people would be proud of.


Increasing the temperature , frosted = smaller diameter.

I and others have found the opposite to be true. If my bullets aren't frosty, the mold or the melt isn't hot enough. My bullets don't come out to the right size unless they're frosty.

[nueces5]

The mold I use gives me boolits of .360 at this temperature (740F)
Does the PC have greater adhesion? I doubt it.
I will soon make another post with deficiencies in PC adhesion in these boolits.
Without a doubt, the high temperature accelerates the production of boolits, and I begin to have fewer wrinkles faster.

[kevin c]

I think member BNE, who has ready access to lab grade XRF equipment, ran an experiment with a very hot pot of alloy where he continually skimmed off the surface as crud formed, but never returned it to the melt or reduced it back in. Analyzing what was left in the pot, serially over many hours, he found the alloy content never varied significantly: the proportions of Pb to Sb to Sn stayed the same.

So I tend to wait to the end of a casting session to reduce oxides back into castable metal, and am confident that any bad bullets cast are my own doggone fault, not the alloy’s.

[reddog81]

I love these threads where people argue over the right way to cast.

Person 1 - I do XYZ process and it works so it's the only way to do it.
Person 2 - No way! I do ABC process and it works, so it's the only way to do it!
Person 3 - You're both idiots. I do QWERTY and it works so obviously you're both doing it wrong and are clueless.

[More_Slugs]

I love these threads where people argue over the right way to cast.

Person 1 - I do XYZ process and it works so it's the only way to do it.
Person 2 - No way! I do ABC process and it works, so it's the only way to do it!
Person 3 - You're both idiots. I do QWERTY and it works so obviously you're both doing it wrong and are clueless.

LOL....I totally agree.

That's why I made the link post to lasc.us

The author, Glenn E. Fryxell, has a Ph.D. in ORGANIC Chemistry with 21 patents and NUMEROUS articles and publications.

No one posting here has his expertise yet claim to know more about lead and casting, DESPITE what he wrote on lead and casting, including fluxing!!!!

I just sit back and read the obstinate posts and laugh.

[nueces5]

I love these threads where people argue over the right way to cast.

Person 1 - I do XYZ process and it works so it's the only way to do it.
Person 2 - No way! I do ABC process and it works, so it's the only way to do it!
Person 3 - You're both idiots. I do QWERTY and it works so obviously you're both doing it wrong and are clueless.

The difficult thing is to argue with technical/bibliographical knowledge the reason for each thing. Then each one adjusts to what they have.
For example, do frosty bullets have a smaller diameter? my MP mold drop to 359, so that doesn't influence me.
I don't have a lab for metals, so I can only weigh and measure. The weight has not changed with the two temperatures, the way I make PCs has not changed, the only thing left to do is try it in the range.
The posts that I pay the most attention to are those that justify what they do with a textbook behind them.

[nueces5]

LOL....I totally agree.

That's why I made the link post to lasc.us

The author, Glenn E. Fryxell, has a Ph.D. in ORGANIC Chemistry with 21 patents and NUMEROUS articles and publications.

No one posting here has his expertise yet claim to know more about lead and casting, DESPITE what he wrote on lead and casting, including fluxing!!!!

I just sit back and read the obstinate posts and laugh.

This was what i meant.
It's like when someone gives an opinion about surgery in my case.
6 years of medicine, 5 years of first specialty, two of second specialty, and after that 14 years of experience. And someone asks me something that I read on Google...[smilie=b:

[More_Slugs]

This was what i meant.
It's like when someone gives an opinion about surgery in my case.
6 years of medicine, 5 years of first specialty, two of second specialty, and after that 14 years of experience. And someone asks me something that I read on Google...[smilie=b:

Like I said, LMBO

[reddog81]

The difficult thing is to argue with technical/bibliographical knowledge the reason for each thing. Then each one adjusts to what they have.
For example, do frosty bullets have a smaller diameter? my MP mold drop to 359, so that doesn't influence me.
I don't have a lab for metals, so I can only weigh and measure. The weight has not changed with the two temperatures, the way I make PCs has not changed, the only thing left to do is try it in the range.
The posts that I pay the most attention to are those that justify what they do with a textbook behind them.

I don't use a thermometer and all my metals were bought second or third hand and are a hodgepodge of alloys. I use a cheap Lee casting pot. I shoot small groups with handguns at 50 yards and metal targets at 100Y and it works out for me. As long as I'm getting good fill out on the bullets they shoot well. I occasionally stir my pot with a wooden stick but don't really get too worked up about fluxing. It would seem to me that there can be wide variations in the process with little change in the end results. Having correctly sized bullets makes 100% more difference in my experiences than any tweaks I could do to the casting process.

[Larry Gibson]

LOL....I totally agree.

That's why I made the link post to lasc.us

The author, Glenn E. Fryxell, has a Ph.D. in ORGANIC Chemistry with 21 patents and NUMEROUS articles and publications.

No one posting here has his expertise yet claim to know more about lead and casting, DESPITE what he wrote on lead and casting, including fluxing!!!!

I just sit back and read the obstinate posts and laugh.

The problem is, in his LASC section on fluxing Fryzell seemingly contradicts himself.

As mentioned, if one has a method that works for them and meets their needs then all is well. Many things in this game of casting bullets can be done using various methods and/or different techniques. Those methods/techniques can change, morph or be entirely new dependent on new developments in the industry. Fryxell's work, like many others is certainly an important work. However, it is not the gospel of bullet casting.

[More_Slugs]

The problem is, in his LASC section on fluxing Fryzell seemingly contradicts himself.

As mentioned, if one has a method that works for them and meets their needs then all is well. Many things in this game of casting bullets can be done using various methods and/or different techniques. Those methods/techniques can change, morph or be entirely new dependent on new developments in the industry. Fryxell's work, like many others is certainly an important work. However, it is not the gospel of bullet casting.

You can't make a statement that he contradicts himself, without pointing out said contradiction. Then revert back to if a method works, then all is well, while also making a blanket statement about methods and techniques changing. What techniques developed that changes the chemical reaction to lead and lead alloys to which his publication is no longer sound or valid? What are his "seemingly" contradictions?

[Larry Gibson]

More Slugs

First of all, it's not for you to say what I can't make a statement on.

I'm not going to research all of Fryxell's writing for you. In one of his writings he says beeswax is not a reductant and the a couple paragraphs later says it is as flux. You can find it for yourself if you want to. I posted the quotations once and was threatened with a ban if I continued. As I said in the above post. Fryxells writings are important works. However, they are not gospel. Many things have evolved, morphed and/or changed since his writings. I never said his writings were wrong.

[More_Slugs]

More Slugs

First of all, it's not for you to say what I can't make a statement on.

I'm not going to research all of Fryxell's writing for you. In one of his writings he says beeswax is not a reductant and the a couple paragraphs later says it is as flux. You can find it for yourself if you want to. I posted the quotations once and was threatened with a ban if I continued. As I said in the above post. Fryxells writings are important works. However, they are not gospel. Many things have evolved, morphed and/or changed since his writings. I never said his writings were wrong.


"First of all, it's not for you to say what I can't make a statement on."
Of course we can make any statement that we want, yet it doesn't eradicate any truths.
I meant it in regards to your own words, by simply meaning if you're going to say someone did something, in this case being contradictory, then back it up with proof.
That's like me calling someone a liar, and leaving the statement at that, but not backing it up with proof about what they lied about.
Otherwise it's just an ambiguous statement.

I didn't ask you to research his writings for me.
You are obviously quick to anger and have some emotional immaturity to say something out of context like that.
We're having, what I thought was, a mature conversation and I simply asked for you to expand upon your own statement.


I did find and read what you were trying to say he contradicted himself about, but you clearly did not read or comprehend it correctly, so allow me to clarify.
He made a clear point that a TRUE bullet metal flux must have ALL 3 abilities, which are to:
1. Remove
2. Reduce
3. Protect

He called beeswax a "flux" with quotation marks and explained the quotation marks by also adding:
(the quotation marks are being used here because these materials don’t form a fusible mass and hence don’t fully satisfy the formal definition of “flux”).
That formal definition would again be to 'remove', 'reduce' and 'protect'.


He then expands on it by saying beeswax only does 2 of the 3 abilities:
1. It can reduce "any oxidized tin present"
2. It protects "to form an excellent barrier layer"
Yet it does not "remove" impurities.

Therefore, there was no contradiction because he clearly pointed out that it's not a "flux", but since SO MANY people use the term "flux" incorrectly, he went with it in a general sense.

I also didn't say that you said his writings were wrong.
How did that get into your head?

I also didn't mention his works are gospel, as you stated on your own. Twice.
I merely pointed out the fact that he has a doctorate in organic chemistry, which unlike most people commenting, makes HIS writings VERY sound and truthful based on years of actual experiments with natural elements. Not because he's been casting bullets for a few decades or less.
You mentioned methods and techniques changing, which I didn't contest. I only, and still ask:
What techniques developed that changes the chemical reaction to lead and lead alloys to which his publication is no longer sound or valid?

You're only response was he contradicted himself, which I showed he did not, while providing zero facts in response to my question.
No doubt people have responded with "methods that work for them and meets their needs...".
But based on an experts publication about casting, they are wrong with their assumption that they are getting the best out of their castings just because their bullets look good or fly with accuracy.

So you, and anyone else, can argue that the way you cast is correct by not fluxing, or using something besides sawdust that doesn't truthfully flux (by definition).
But it doesn't change the facts and truths that he wrote about.
Perhaps this is why they say the truth hurts.
You don't like it hurting, then stop making it true!

So anyone can feel free to reply with a rebuttal.
But don't argue with me, because it takes 2 and I won't be responding.
Go argue with the Ph.D. that knows what he's talking about.

[nueces5]

I don't think so much detail is necessary, we can listen to everyone's opinions, and surely, we will learn something from all of them.
Maybe Larry wrote quickly, or he didn't mean exactly that, it doesn't really matter, let's try to make tolerance the best distributed good, not reason.

[More_Slugs]

I don't think so much detail is necessary, we can listen to everyone's opinions, and surely, we will learn something from all of them.
Maybe Larry wrote quickly, or he didn't mean exactly that, it doesn't really matter, let's try to make tolerance the best distributed good, not reason.

I agree and would like to, and can, do that.
Yet I just read the 'Fluxing Technique" sticky for the first time, and it appears this is who Larry has been, and is, as a person.
So the detail was ironically necessary.

[Larry Gibson]

I keep reading about people laboring at fluxing their pot continuously as they empty the pot.

Here is some knowledge from past iterations of this list that has apparently been lost due to time.

First, you use vegetable oil based flux when you melt your wheel weights. Crisco is what I used by the table spoon full when I was melting / separated the WW steel from the lead in an old roaster pan heated up in a unused gas grill. There was a small pool of smoking oil and road dirt on top of the melt and very little oxidized crap. I skimmed with a big slotted spoon to get all the crap out of the lead.

Then I took skimmed lead directly into the ingot mold by dipping it out with an old stainless punch ladle into the muffin tin ingot mold. The cooled ingots were slightly greasy feeling and they dropped free when the lead cooled with no issues.

Then into the Lee Production Pot which got a quarter inch of standard commercial "steam expanded" clay based kitty litter on top of the melted lead. This stuff gets dirty over time but once your pot cools you can just pour off the ugly stuff and replace it with fresh litter. I do this every few months as I can catch the pot cold and the litter dirty.

Did you know Bentonite organic clay is an organic flux for lead? A quarter inch of kitty litter will flux replacement ingots and sprues as you rest them on top of the litter. The lead melts and trickles past the kitty litter getting cleaned and fluxed as it goes. The litter layer floats impurities (like the occasional zinc WW or steel clip) up on top where you can see it.

I never mess with fluxing my pot as I do it automatically as I add lead to the pot. Because I melt continuously, I never wait for the pot nor do I ever have dirty metal.

My pot stays clean, never building up the crap that others have to deal with.

It was old feller's post I made my original post in reference to in this thread, particularly the first red highlighted statement. When the alloy is already in the pot and those who are dealing with the oxidized alloy that forms on the top of the alloy flux they are not trying to remove through "removing" any other metal impurities as that has probably already been done in the initial smelt. The fluxing when the alloy is already in the pot and in use is simply to "reduce" the oxidized portion of the alloy back into the melt. I did not say what I did was best, just mentioned what I did.

More Slugs

You don't know me and you have no idea how I am as a person. You speak of having a "mature conversation", yet you make personal attacks. I've made no such statements about you nor do I intend to. I am not "angry" about anything regarding this thread and that includes your personal comments. I did not call you a liar nor did I imply it. Conversely, you did imply that to me.

The part of Fryxell's writings you quote and refer to is not what I am referring to. There is another of his writings, which I quoted in another thread on the topic on this forum. I will attempt to locate that for you.

nueses5

No, I did not write to quickly and I did mean exactly what I said. Your comments are appreciated. and as you say it doesn't matter as beeswax, as are many other things, a good flux for the alloy that is already in use in the pot. However, the real crux of my post is seemingly missing from this further discussion. The crux, and point, of my post was that since the oxidized "slag" on top of the alloy is not separated antimony and/or tin from the alloy there is no need to laboriously flux the alloy in the pot. As I mentioned I only flux once at the beginning of casting with a pot full and add the sprues back in as I cast. It's just the technique I've found that works very well for me. That was posted strictly in reference to oldfeller's red highlighted first statement, as mentioned.

[Oldfeller]

Concerning the benefits of of a layer of kitty litter on top of your bottom pour pot I see several benefits:

*A layer of kitty litter keeps air away from the top surface of the melt, thus cutting down on oxidation.
*Kitty litter insulates the top surface of the pot, making it maintain its temperature better.
*Added freshly trimmed sprue material or new ingots to the pot gets a softer landing with less chance of splashing any material out of the pot.
*The delay when settling down past the litter gives any trapped condensation or moisture a chance to be driven off by pot heat before being submerged and causing a boiling action.
*Placing cold ingots on the lip of the pot and letting them warm up complements the use of kitty litter as wasted heat from "up top" is used to preheat your ingots.
*Your kitty litter gets dirty looking with protracted use, prompting you to periodically dump it out of a cooled pot taking any nasty residues out of the pot.
*If you powder coat and do put some powder coated bullets back into your pot, you will find the mostly intact poly skin wadded up in your kitty litter when you dump it.
*Ditto for gas checks or jackets or misc. other material that occasionally make their way into your bottom pour pot.

Kitty litter simply makes bottom pour casting easier, cleaner and more user friendly. A quarter inch to half inch of kitty litter does good things to make casting relatively more error proof.

[Larry Gibson]

Oldfeller's above post is excellent advise........

[Oldfeller]

Another possibly lost technique is using 2-3 layers of cheap cotton gloves. You buy these cheap cotton gloves by the dozen at Harbor Freight and you wear 2-3 layers of them when casting bullets and when handling a hot mold.

No joke, I don't hit my sprue plate with a stick, I run the mold hot and quick and I operate the sprue plate itself with my gloved fingers. And yes, I am talking about 2 cavity Lee molds with the stubby steel sprue plates.

Run your mold quick enough that finger pressure is enough to push the plate through the soft, just hardened sprue cut off.

Yep, you can feel a sensation of heat, but simply don't stay there long enough to get burned.

Using triple gloved fingers, I can run the mold very very quickly, to the point I also keep a water soaked rag nearby to touch the bottom of the mold to in case I speed myself up to the point of smearing lead across the top of the mold. Fast enough and too fast are pretty close to each other, and the water soaked rag helps keep the two apart during a long hot fast run.

I catch the cut sprue in my gloved hand and put it back into the pot gently. I catch the bullets in my hand and roll them into the towel to cool. I also use my fingers to gently tip the preheated ingots onto the kitty litter on top of the melt.

Visual inspection of freshly cast bullets is done while handling them between mold and towel. I put questionable ones in a separate area to detail inspect after they have cooled as you do not have time to oggle at them.

Yep, them frosty hot freshly cast bullets are my favorite ones .......

Amazingly, I haven't burned myself doing these tricks except once when I tore the outermost two layers of my stacked gloves accidentally on a sharp edged ingot flashing and then I grabbed on to a hot mold with only a single cotton glove layer between me and the hot aluminum.

Ouch !!!

[Shanghai Jack]

I like mine to look like Long Ranger boolits.

Saw the Long Ranger once in a XXX movie - but I know what your point was.

[Willie T]

If the your cast results are satisfactory for your purpose and they shoot well, you should be good to go. The argument could be made that sometimes too much is made of what the thermometer says. Like most of the old guys, I learned to cast without a thermometer. These days I have a thermometer in the pot every time I cast. The bullets I cast with a thermometer are no more accurate than what I used to cast pre thermometer. I get shiny bullets when I balance antimony and tin in my wheel weights and cast at a lower temperature. I get frosted bullets with wheel weights when I do not add the tin and need to cast hotter. Both shoot well.
Good luck with your cast.
Willie

[fredj338]

I have read the comments about fluxing, including a few that say they don't or there's no need. This is such a misinformed subject.

Fluxing is ABSOLUTELY necessary because it is the only way to return the separated metal oxides back into the melted alloy. And sawdust is the best material to flux with.

Read the attached article in the link, which was written by an avid caster with a degree in Chemistry. It's so important, flux is mentioned almost a dozen times.

http://www.lasc.us/castbulletalloy.htm#UNS

I flux when melting scrap into ingots, almost always sawdust. When I cast I just tir with a wooden paint stick everytime I add clean alloy. Its the only add'l fluxing I do, works fine.

[David2011]

I have read the comments about fluxing, including a few that say they don't or there's no need. This is such a misinformed subject.

Fluxing is ABSOLUTELY necessary because it is the only way to return the separated metal oxides back into the melted alloy. And sawdust is the best material to flux with.

Read the attached article in the link, which was written by an avid caster with a degree in Chemistry. It's so important, flux is mentioned almost a dozen times.

http://www.lasc.us/castbulletalloy.htm#UNS



100% I agree completely.

A few years ago a friend gave me some ingots that he had made from COWW. The metal didn't cast well and had inclusions. After I fluxed the mix with sawdust the boolits came out very nearly perfect.

If your boolits are coming out as your idea of perfect then you may not need additional fluxing. If you aren't getting sharp corners, see black specks in the boolits or the entire boolit just looks "off," a sawdust fluxing may help. There are certainly other factors including the melt temperature and the mold temperature as well as the alloy itself that can cause poor results but fluxing with sawdust just might be "the cure." Only sawdust from solid softwoods or hardwoods should be used. Sawdust from treated lumber, OSB or plywood contains chemicals or glue that should not be heated to the temperatures of molten lead.

[More_Slugs]

Very well put.

[gwpercle]

Not only do I flux while casting but use a two step flux ...
Flux #1 with wood shavings (pencil sharpener shavings) and a little beeswax .
Flux #2 with Marvelux .
Why ... because it works best and fluxing often lets me cast the best boolits I can possibly cast .
If I'm going to cast them I want perfect boolits with sharp edges and no wrinkles or defects
Gary

[blackthorn]

Gary: --- Could you post in detail your process for using both shavings and Marvelux? My purpose in fluxing is to both clean the metal and return any useable components to the melt so that I skim only true trash. With Marvelux I found it sticks to my ladle, and further that anything (good or bad) was removed from the surface of the melt and was/is (becomes) trash. I also found Marvelux to be extremely hydroscopic so that I had to be very careful not to send an unintended invite to the tinsel fairy. I am wondering if I have missed something?