odd collored boolits

[Nora]

Yesterday I did a bit of casting with a Lyman mold. Up until then I've only used aluminum Lee's. Some of them came out of the water with an odd color to them. The pic makes them look worse than they are. the darker color is about the same shade as a standard .22 lr. I haven't seen this before. It's not on all of them and was purely random, and only after they had been dropped into water. It's only on the surface, after scraping a couple of them with a screw driver, they appear to be just fine underneath. Has any one got any idea as to what is taking place? Thanks in advance.

Nora.

[Willbird]

I cannot see the color too well in the picture. But my water dropped WW boolits are not bright and shiny, they have a darker color to them.

Bill

[RayinNH]

I wonder if it could be minerals or something in the water reacting with the lead. When I was a kid my grandparents lived in Haverhill MA. The city put chlorine and fluorine in the water. You couldn't even raise a glass to your mouth to take a drink, it smelled so bad...Ray

[jdgabbard]

I wonder if it could be minerals or something in the water reacting with the lead. When I was a kid my grandparents lived in Haverhill MA. The city put chlorine and fluorine in the water. You couldn't even raise a glass to your mouth to take a drink, it smelled so bad...Ray

I think that is what it is. Minerals and impurities. First tried water dropping about a week ago (been just air cooling before) I inspected mine and noticed that there were little black dots out the outside of the boolits. Tried some air cooled, and they were not there. Tried some more water drop to double check I didn't have crud in my alloy and they were still there. So my best guess would be minerals. You could always buy you one of those water filter do dads and filter the stuff out before you put it in a your bucket...

[fourarmed]

Loverin boolits hold a lot of water, and when it evaporates, leaves residue from dissolved minerals. It it is that, it will wipe off with your fingers.

[Nora]

The verdict is in. All those who said it was crap water, you were right. All those who thought it was part of a bigger government conspiracy to hamper my enjoyment of making my own boolits, need to cast more and worry less (J/K). Today before sitting down to a good run of casting I made sure to clean out my drop bucket and filled with water from the kitchen filter. Last time I think I just filled it from the bathtub for convenience. Problem solved they all came out a nice uniform slightly frosty gray just the way I like to see them. Thanks again for the posts.

Nora