Have a look at my .44 boolits...

[lead-1]

I started casting some boolits a couple of weeks ago and finally got back to try some more in the .44 size. I cast a little over 100 boolits and even thought I thought I might be having a problem I went ahead a cast them so I could post the results here for your opinions and suggestions. For starters the mold has only been used once before and made good boolits, the cavities are nice and smooth and look good, no mold release on it though. Some of the the boolits came out good but some are a little rough looking, the rough spots are not always on the same mold half and are sometimes on the seam of the two halves. I rule out the mold being the problem because of the rough spot moves around, so here are a couple of questions. I believe the WW lead in this batch to have some zink but not at all sure, just a guess. I tried to keep the temp. between 7-800 range.

Why are these boolits so shiny like chrome, the first ones I cast in this mold were also?
Why did some of the boolits end up having this rough splotching?

Something just don't seem right to me so here I am.

[lead-1]

OOPS, forgot the pic. Silly things almost look like the chrome is flaking off or something.

[Marlin Hunter]

the one on the far left looks good. I wish mine would look like that one

[Bass Ackward]

Look at your bullets. They are talking to ya and you are just not listening.

Start at the nose. How does that look? Then come up. Heat rises don't it?

Good looking noses, but crappy tops. Hmmmmm. You have a choice. Mold slower or cool your mix. often why guys use two molds at a time.

Success generally comes fastest to those people that can visualize and see themselves as the bullet. That is from the time you start to create that bullet, to while it is being dressed for the party and loaded, and then as it is fired. Then imagine what is or is not happening to that bullet as a hint for what to do next. Cast Boolits is the study of correcting what "YOU" are doing wrong to the slug to allow that slug to launch .... well.

Sometimes you will guess wrong, but eventually your ability to imagine and execute properly will improve.

[Bret4207]

Couple possibilities- First, it could be something in your mix, but fluxing and observing the melt should tell you if it's zinc, and I don;t think it is. 2nd- clean your mould really, really well. Try boiling in soapy water and then get it good and hot. I'm thinking you have some oils of some sort bubbling out as the mould heats causing this, but the pic is a bit hard for me to say for sure. It doesn't look like frosting to me. Are you using a BP furnace? Is this a 6 cav?

[243winxb]

Are you using any kind of lube on your mould?

[Lloyd Smale]

Clean your mold good and get it a bit hotter. those chrome looking bullets are a sign of running your mold or alloy a bit to cold.

[ddeaton]

Clean your mold good and get it a bit hotter. those chrome looking bullets are a sign of running your mold or alloy a bit to cold.

+5 on this

[rockrat]

Ones on left look like you mould is too cold and the ones on right look like you might have some oils in the mould and they are vaporizing as its getting hotter. I clean my moulds with carb cleaner first. Takes all the oil off. I run my pot at about 700 degrees using #2 alloy.

[Dframe]

Looks to me like you MAY have some crap in your melt. I agree with the others about cleaning and heating your mould, but I think you should also flux your mix thoroughly to remove as many impurities as possible.

[JIMinPHX]

Also check that your vents are clean.

[lurch]

Two on the right definitely look like there is some junk in the melt. Flux & scape the sides/bottom of the pot liberally to try and get rid of this. If that doesn't get it, drain the pot and clean it. Put known clean alloy back in and try again.

[lead-1]

I am using a LEE two cavity mold #C429-240-SWC, it was a new mold and I cleaned it with a tooth brush, boiling water and dawn dish soap. I rinsed it good then when it was dry I sprayed it with brake cleaner. When I was casting I would touch the mold to a damp towel every 3-4 casts so maybe I was getting the mold too cool. No lube or mold release used on the mold.

On this particular batch of lead I thought there might be some zink so I remelted it and skimmed off the cottage cheese which may have been still cold lead, I'm new at this, and I skimmed it off again when I melted it in the pot. I tried to keep the lead between 700 and 800 degrees.

I am using a LEE 10 pound bottom pour pot that I bought new and now I am wondering if I got all the factory coating of oil out of it, I just used a shop rag and some brake clean. I will drain it and clean it again, better this time.

On a side note I watched a video of a guy here casting boolits and it seemed that his boolits were setting up and being dropped out of the mold way faster than mine. I kept cooling my mold because I thought it was too hot and my boolits weren't setting up. Thanks for the input everyone, it's helping.

[243winxb]

I sprayed it with brake cleaner.I am wondering if I got all the factory coating of oil out of it, I just used a shop rag and some brake clean. I will drain it and clean it again, better this time.I kept cooling my mold because I thought it was too hot Stop all of this. Put pot on maximum temperature till you get frosted bullets, then reduce pot temperature a little

[peter nap]

On this particular batch of lead I thought there might be some zink so I remelted it and skimmed off the cottage cheese which may have been still cold lead, I'm new at this, and I skimmed it off again when I melted it in the pot. I tried to keep the lead between 700 and 800 degrees.



The cottage cheese is most likely antimony and tin. Flux and stir and assuming you are at 600F or lower, skim the top stuff then. Actually, you have a fairly large temperature window before the zinc melts.

[Wayne Smith]

Brake cleaner apparently leaves a residue. I clean with denatured alcohol after and don't have that problem. Before I cleaned with denatured alcohol I had similar problems. I also think you have some junk in your melt. Remember how thick lead is. Stuff doesn't easily float to the top like it does in water.

[GLynn41]

looks like something is in the alloy --when you flux did you scape up and down and skim ?

[lead-1]

Yes I scraped around the side and bottom of the pot then skimmed, I used a little candle wax as flux. I have drained the pot and cleaned the lead a crud out of it and when it cools I am going to clean it a couple of times with the alcohol. I may not get to melt any new lead tonight but as soon as I do I'll repost the results. It sure is nice to have a helpful forum, I remember one time I bought a new rifle and ask a question on a forum for that rifle and the smart allicks acted like I should have been born with one in my butt.

[Nora]

Looks to me like you MAY have some crap in your melt. I agree with the others about cleaning and heating your mould, but I think you should also flux your mix thoroughly to remove as many impurities as possible.

These are also my thoughts. I also get that from time to time, today being no exception. Most often when the pot is getting down to the half way mark. If I'm looking to continue before refilling, another fluxing is all that it takes to get things back on track.

[Down South]

The one on the far left looks pretty good. The second from the left has some rounded edges on the drive bands which indicate not enough heat or perhaps need a little tin added. The two on the right appear to have contamination either from the mould or alloy or both.
I would clean the mould again, flux the alloy more and try again. I’d also try casting at a higher temperature.

[PatMarlin]

Looks like there's crapola "dirt" in your lead mix causing the problem more than anything.

Are you melting your wheel weights directly in your bottom pour pot? Don't do that if you are and smelt and refine your lead inot ingots first with a pot and Colman camp stove or similar. Some member here sells some pretty good flux, I heard ..:mrgreen:

Wear safety goggles, gloves and long sleeves and make sure everything is bone dry and there is NO moisture (water condensation) ANYWHERE.

[docone31]

I use only Lee Molds. I am pretty used to them. I have one on the Big Brown Truck headed this way as I type.
When I get that mold, I will soak it in mineral spirits for a couple of days. Just let it sit. When I remove it from the mineral spirits, there will be small flakes of aluminum on the bottom of the cup I soak it in. Even when I went back and did this to the molds I already had been casting in, I get those small flakes.
I use the top setting on my pot. I have the 20lb Lee Bottom Pour which even after several years of use, does not make spout art. When I go to casting, I set the mold in the melt for several moments. I look for how long it takes for the sprue to "freeze". The sprue will retract in the center, then go flash grey.
I usually like the six second rule. I pour my castings, then count to six, cut the sprues, drop them in water.
IF the mold holds the castings back, I pour with the sprue plate off to the side, useing a 1/4-20 nut as a guide. I let that "freeze", give it more time, then remove the nut and casting. This I then lightly smear valve lapping compound on, and rotate it in the mold cavity. I close the mold slowly, so I do not feel resistance. I do not want to modify the design, just smooth any chatter marks, and "feathers".
When I first started, I looked for how long the sprue took to "freeze". I had some that remained liquid. I poured those out, cooled the mold, and kept casting.
I also stir the melt. I do not believe the alloy mixes itself. I have an old long handle screwdriver that I use to stir with. I let it get hot enough so the alloy "pops" off the blade when I am done.
Once you get the feel for these molds, I think you will really like them. Inexpensive, reliable, and good performing down range.
When I paper patch with these molds, I size the lube lands almost off and wrap with paper.
Easy shooting, good downrange performance, hard hitting.
You will get the knack of it.
Keep casting.

[DLCTEX]

I do not think zinc is your problem because: 1. Zinc would cause the boolits to have a "whiteish" appearence: 2. The zinc would float on top (except for 2%, which would alloy with the lead and not be easily removable and inconsequential) and would not show in the boolits until most of the alloy has left the pot. At this point you would experience spout freeze up unless casting at very high temps. If you have a zinc weight or two escape notice and get mixed in when smelting the zinc will float on top and melt last. It will then float on top of the melt in rivlets of raised melt until stirred in or the temp climbs much higher as zinc is lighter than lead. If you have a large number of zinc weights melt, then it will cover the entire top of the melt and be less obvious to the eye. If you will closely watch the smelting process it is easy to catch any zinc and remove it before it melts.

[montana_charlie]

When I was casting I would touch the mold to a damp towel every 3-4 casts so maybe I was getting the mold too cool.

On a side note I watched a video of a guy here casting boolits and it seemed that his boolits were setting up and being dropped out of the mold way faster than mine.

I kept cooling my mold because I thought it was too hot and my boolits weren't setting up.
Your left hand bullet almost looks right. The next one is obviously from a cooler mould...too cool.

You are not yet at the stage where damp towels for controlling mould temperature, or damp rags for 'quenching' sprues, are helpful to you. Increasing throughput is their only value, and you need to be pretty accomplished to make use of them.

Regulate your mould temperature by the speed of your casting sequence. Try to find a balance of alloy temperature and mould temperature where the sprue takes five seconds, or more, to solidify.

And, you don't need to be in a raging hurry to cut it and dump the bullets.
Casting 550-grn. bullets from a single cavity iron mould with an alloy temp of 700 degrees, my sequence takes 40+ seconds to produce one bullet. And, it spends almost thirty seconds in the mould after the sprue hardens.

The point is, forget the damp towels until you need them...and know why you need them.

CM

[mdi]

Stop all of this. Put pot on maximum temperature till you get frosted bullets, then reduce pot temperature a little

+1. When casting with a normal bullet casting outfit, up to 700 - 800 degrees, the only prob. from casting too hot is frosted bullets, with my experience. Frosted bullets shoot fine, and many casters prefer light frosting as an indication of hot enough melt. IMO, the only reason for cooling a mold is to get shiny boolits and cast faster, and I've tried the wet rag method but didn't seem worth the bother. With more casting experience you'll get to know the temp. your mold works best (I've got 3 alum. .44 cal. double cavity molds and they each like a different temp! on my Lee pot I set it between 6 1/2 to 8 max.)

[lead-1]

As this goes on I see a few more things pop up that I was doing to compound my problems. In this particular casting session I made up a little over 100 boolits and as I thought the boolits were cooling too slow in the mold I would turn the heat down, I had the spout freeze up three times. I just hit it with a propane torch for a couple of seconds and it freed up. The first boolits that were the better looking of the batch was from when I had the pot turned up and when I checked it and it was over 900 degrees I turned it down, obviously I turned it down too much. Hopfully I can try some more later tonight.

[243winxb]

lead-1, your in the learning process, just like we all were at one time. Check the bullets diameter as they drop from the mould. You don't want undersize bullets. My Lee pot is set at 8 1/2 after i get started casting, i have no idea what the real temerature is, if bullets fill out fully, all is well.

[UT Phoneguy]

I just to reply to this thread- I am an admitted newbie to casting and I am glad that someone else is having the same problem... I am using the same pot and using wheel weights, but different mold, RCBS 45-270-SAA. Mine have the same "pock marks", but seem to fill out just fine- I added some tin solder. I had a feeling that I wasn't fluxing enough... Thanks Lead-1 for posting the pics- it was like deja-vu...

[gon2shoot]

Well, you ask didn't ya, :roll:.

Mostly good answers here, heat and flux would be the easiest things to check, and thats where I'd start.

[UT Phoneguy]

Thanks, gon2shoot, I thought it might be the mold at first- read some of the postings on this site ; cleaned, de-greased and blued. You wouldn't believe the looks my wife gave me and the "this is saving you money how?" comments coming my direction! Hey, at least I got the bucket of WW free- right?

[lurch]

"this is saving you money how?"


Seems I might have heard that once or twice... :roll:

[geargnasher]

Two things I can add, if your spout is freezing up, either your pot is way too cold, or you're holding a cold sprue plate against it and it's wicking the heat out. Other thing is that carburetor cleaners all contain a trace amount of thin oil which leaves a lubricating film on carb parts. As such, it is best used for its intended purpose, NOT to degrease moulds or brake linings. Use brake cleaner if you want an aerosol, most brands use a blend of VOCs that leave no oily trace behind.

Gear

I personally use rubbing alcohol, non-chlorinated brake cleaner, or cheap vodka to degrease my moulds when bringing them out of storage to use.

[Rick N Bama]

Yeah what the others said about turning the heat up, crank it on up & see what happens. Also I don't judge how a new Lee mold is doing until I've had 3 or 4 sessions with it. The sessions don't have to be long, just a hundred or maybe even less. 'Bout the 4th session, you should be more familar with the mold & I betcha the boolits will get a lot better.

Rick

[XWrench3]

i just figured out how to make my set up work for me. it is all lee equipment. first, forget about "smoking" the mold, that i found to be useless. why lee tells you to do this i don't know. anyway, the "key" for me was to get the lead HOT. around 800 degrees. then, start casting. you know the first few sets will be junk until the mold comes up to temp. i leave the first three or four casts sit in the mold for around 30-40 seconds each. my goal is to transfer as much heat as possible into the mold and sprue plate. after between 4-8 casts, you will notice the mold has come up to temp, and you will be casting good boolits. TURN THE HEAT OFF on the pot, until it cools down to around 700 derees. then turn it back up (for me, 4 is about right). keep casting, but soon, you will notice the boolits will come out frosty. now is the time to cool the mold down with a damp rag. until the pot gets back to normal temps, you will need to cool off the mold fairly often. just watch for frosty boolits. when you get them, cool her down. once everything gets to normal operating temp, you will only have to cool the mold off every 6-10 casts. you can continue like that until the lead is almost gone. also, when i smelt wheel weights, i sit right there, and keep pushing in lead (ww) as the pot allows. that way i can be reasonably certain that the melt never gets above zinc melting temps. i usually get one to three zinc floaters out of every pot, so i feel confident that i am keeping it low enough. i hope some of this helps you. good luck!

[Nora]

"this is saving you money how?"
I was told in the beginning not to fall for this notion. It was said to me by my mentor many years ago, that this is going to cost you more in the long run than if you just buy your ammo at the store. However you will be shooting a helluva lot more and a helluva lot better quality ammo for your money. Then at the end of the day you'll still have more than just the spent brass to show where your money's gone.

Nora

[leadman]

Acetone works real well as a degreaser, just make sure you have good ventilation. I use this with an old toothbrush to scrub new moulds with. Leaves no residue.
I warm all moulds by dipping the end in the melted lead to preheat. This is recommended by Lee.
If you still have contamination showing on your bullets you can dip the end of the mould in the pot and if there is oil still on the mould it will start to smoke when hot enough. It will be too hot to cast good bullets but go ahead and cast a dozen, then let it cool. I have a couple 6 cavity Lees I had to do this with. It cured them.

[Gohon]

i usually get one to three zinc floaters out of every pot
I've never had zinc in my casting pot. Where are you getting the zinc? I catch all that stuff in the smelting pot.

[lead-1]

Ok I'm back and for a little while tonight I thought about buying a for sale sign. I cleaned out the pot real good, cleaned the mold and thought I will leave the temp high like a couple folks said and tried the same batch of lead but different ingots incase oil from the new pot got into that problem mix. Temperature up to around 1000 degrees on the Lyman thermometer, fluxed with oak saw dust, stirred real good and skimmed. Started casting boolits and it was as bad if not worse than the previous cast, played with the temperature a little between 900-1000 and never could get the boolits to frost and still looked like crap for the biggest part. I emptied that lead, cleaned the pot and put in some lead that I recently turned into ingots and know for a fact it was wheel weights only, fluxed stirred and skimmed just as before. This lead frosted up in about half the time as the previous stuff and after about 10 boolits I was able to keep the biggest part of them and was a little more happy about this process.
Here is a pic of the unknown alloy as it is now known to me, boolits pretty much the same as the last time.
The second pic is the known wheel weights only mix and as you can see they had a little non-fill but that disappeared after 10 or so boolits and they frosted
a bit. The sprues frosted over in just a couple of seconds whereas the unknown alloy took 30 seconds or more just for the sprue to set up.

[Lloyd Smale]

it could very well be the first batch was contaminated by zinc.

[lead-1]

DANG, DANG, DANG, I got like 70-80 pounds of this unknown and I hate to toss it out. The guy who owns the local tire shop also scuba dives, maybe he will trade me for wheel weights and I'll turn this stuff back into weight belts.

[happy7]

On the picture to the right, all are too cold except the second from left. It sounds like you are on the right track. I will be following this thread to hear if anyone can help you identify your alloy. Pure lead does have a higher melt temperature than WW and does require a higher temp, but 1000 is too hot even for pure lead by a good bit.

[armyrat1970]

Don't despair. No matter what alloy you are smelting, keep your temps around 700. You can go a little higher but better if you keep it the same as much as possible. Zinc doesn't melt till around 785. If you don't raise your smelting temps over 700 you can skim off the zinc. With wheel weights and other un-known alloys there is more than zinc that can contaminate the mix. Some float and some do not. Some may settle to the bottom of the pot. Keep fluxing and keep your alloy stirred. Smelt in something other than your casting pot though. A cast iron dutch oven is great for smelting. Pour your ingots and just use ingots in your casting pot. You will find you will still need to flux and stir as you will still have impurities in the melt. I don't think you ever get it all out but then you can raise your temps for casting.
Don't know if you placed the boolits in your pics as they were cast. The first on the left looks good. the second not so. The third and fourth seems to have some kind of dross problem that wasn't fluxed and removed. Not frosting.
I'm a flux fanatic and still get some dross in my boolits at times. Little spots. It doesn't all float to the top.

[Recluse]

it could very well be the first batch was contaminated by zinc.

Agree, contaminated by something.

His first pictures showed just too much inconsistency of "crud" and bad fill-out. Second pictures of same alloy were similar. Then comes the known WW alloy and things look much different--and quite a bit better.

Any residue left in the mould will result in bad fillout and "wrinkles" / ugly spots. After I've exhausted the denatured alcohol and/or acetone route and still get the uglies, I'll stick about half the mould in the melted alloy for fifteen to twenty seconds.

THAT takes care of any lingering residue. But talk about your frosted boolits--not to mention you can grow a beard waiting on the sprue to cool. :)

:coffee:

[lead-1]

In the first picture the boolits are somewhat as cast but are a random pick of what was turning out thru the process, more of the booger boolits than good ones.

In the second picture the boolits are also random picked thru the process but the bad ones are possibly more my fault as I dropped the sprues and bad boolits back into the pot and maybe didn't let the mix get back up to heat.

As soon as I get a chance to cast again I am going to clean the molds over and try again.

[XWrench3]

I've never had zinc in my casting pot. Where are you getting the zinc? I catch all that stuff in the smelting pot.

for me, it is one in the same. i really couldn't afford the stuff i bought (put it on a credit card) but it was getting to a point where i could not afford not to!

[XWrench3]

lead-1.....i did not catch this info, do you use a bottom pour pot, or do you fill the mold via a ladel?

[lead-1]

I am casting from a LEE 10 pound bottom pour and as far as where did the zinc come from, I'm not sure but I have an idea. Many years ago I was a scuba diver on the fire dept. and made my own weight belts. I got a lot of wheel weights given to me by a local factory that markets tire and wheel goods for tire shops, patches, plugs, weights, valve stems, glue, cleaners and ect. I smelted the wheel weights, clip on and stick on in a large ladle, skimmed and poured them into a weight shaped mold, these were new wheel weights. Those weights were supplied from a different supplier to them and very well could have been partly zink weights and I would have never otherwise known or cared, they were for diving not shooting. Twenty years ago I had no idea I would be casting boolits and had no idea I needed to weed out the zink.

Dang, I wish I would have known to keep out the stick ons, lol.

[XWrench3]

i dont think the stick ons would be your problem. most of them are just plain soft lead (although, i have had one set that was zinc). but most of them just melt into the mix like the rest of the ww's (which melt way before the zinc ones do, IF you watch the pot). i have been doing a little reading, i am going to try adding some tin to my mix to see if it will fill out the molds a little better. how old is your thermometer? is there a way you can check it for accuracy? of course, with my lee 20 pound pot, the lead alloy will not flow out of it unless the lead is close to 700 degrees (at least according to my thermometer). before i gave up on what you have, i would go out and buy a pound of 50-50 lead-tin solder, and add some of thet to the mix (i do not know how much it will take to make a difference) and see if the extra tin makes a difference. if it does, you can salvage the rest of the lead you have. also, i have noticed that i (at least i think i have to) need to stir the mix in my pot every 5 minutes or so. i read somewhere that if the top of the lead turns a goldish color, that the tin is seperating, so i stir mine up to make sure this does not happen. my molds and castings are turning out about 95% of what i think they should look like. some of them are perfect, some have minor imperfections. i am not worrying to much about the minor stuff for now ( i am casting pistol boolits right now). the boolits will probably be more accurate than i am. if not, i can always melt them back down and try again. but yours are not good. keep tying new things, it takes a while to figure stuff out. part of my learning curve was during smelting down the ww's in the first place. i tried different things while doing that. i have not been doing this long, so i am in the steep uphill climb on the learning curve.

[lead-1]

Well guys I tossed some more WW lead into the pot tonight cleaned the mold real good with a tooth brush and denatured alcohol. I got the lead up to around 900 degrees, fluxed it good, dropped it to the 800 range and heated the mold. I dumped about six boolits aside and then preceeded to run off a little over 100 good boolits saved and maybe ten total tossed back to the mix. Sorry I don't have pics of this batch but believe me, I am quite happy with the results. Thanks to all that have helped, I just may be getting the hang of this.

[243winxb]

Twenty years ago I had no idea I would be casting boolits and had no idea I needed to weed out the zink. When did zinc wheel weights come into use? Anyone know?

[armyrat1970]

When did zinc wheel weights come into use? Anyone know?

Not sure but I can tell you this fact. About 6 months or so ago I was smelting WWS in my casting pot (never will do it again) and got zinc contamination. These were WWS I picked up about 5 or 6 years ago. My Lee bottom pour clogged in the spout and it took me quite some time with many questions before I was given a cure for cleaning the pot. I still to this day believe I have a little zinc in the spout as it does not pour the same way everytime and even after cleaning it with a dental pick and anything else I can fit in it, it's still the same but does at least pour. I am sure over a period of time, and running my temps really high, all of the contamination will be removed. The spout cannot be removed or replaced or I would have done it.

[lead-1]

The best I could come up with is that zinc wheel weights started being used about 6-7 years ago. I wonder what this lead could have in it if not zinc, I am sure this lead is mostly if not all WW, stick on and clip on. I'm scratching my head over this stuff so maybe I'll try it again one of these days.

[PAT303]

Just the throw a spanner in the works I have the exact problem with my furnace,the boolits all come out looking like they have crap on them,I melted the alloy into a pot and put it on a burner and the problem disappeared,the boolits were fine.It can't be contamination as the only difference was the way it was melted.I think it is heat related,in the pot it is colder than in the furnace. Pat

[lead-1]

UPDATE...Sorry to keep bringing this thread up but hey, :shock:

I have a new problem/question, I bought a new digital scale to check and sort my cast boolits and have a new variable to these boolits. These unknown alloy boolits are from a 240 grain LEE mold and they weigh in at 194-195 grains and the same mold drops known WW boolits at 243-244 grains, both with lube weights. That is an aprox. 49-50 grain difference.

I did the same with the rifle boolits that I have cast so far, 160 grain .30 cal LEE mold. The unknown alloy tumble lubed with a gas check weighs in the 128-129 grain range and the known WW boolits from the same mold drops in the 159-160 range, a difference of aprox. 31-32 grains.

What could the difference be in the alloys between the 20 year old unknown and the recent melt of known WW that there is such a difference between the boolits?

[Bret4207]

The lighter ones may contain a babbit of some sort which would explain the other issues you had. It's possible the WW you made into scuba weights and then melted were made up of scrap. There were dozens of types of babbit back in the day that contained all sorts of copper, zinc, nickle, even aluminum from what I've read. Whatever it is it's lighter than your WW. That doesn't mean it's not usable, you just have to figure it out and what it'll take to get it casting usable boolits. We're all used to boolits made up of Lead, Tin and Antimony, but there's no reason we can't work with other materials as long as they aren't going to damage anything.

On your other issues- stop worrying about pot temp. Get it up to 750ish and forget it. As long as the alloy is pouring nicely that's the biggest thing you need to be concerned with. Your MOULD TEMP is what you need to think about. I went through this, in fact I still forget and go through it. The more often the mould is filled with hot lead and the less it remains empty the better the fillout you will have, within reason anyway. Every time I get sidetracked and start looking at boolits or playing with something else instead of casting my mould cools and I get lousy boolits. A mould, especially an aluminum mould, can lose heat very quickly. Keep the mould temp up and a lot of problems go away. If the sprue is taking too long to harden then use the BruceB method and cool the sprue on a damp rag. It works, and it gives you nice clean bases. From what I've seen too many guys are running their moulds cooler than they maybe should for best results. You can crank the pot up as high as it goes but if the mould is too cool you'll get poor fillout and the garbage in the mould won't "cook out". It's a simple thing but being as I'm kinda dumb it took me a long time to learn it.

I'd also tell you to toss that Lee BP and get a ladle, but I'd be burned at the stake, so I won't.

[lead-1]

When I went to the shop I was at yesterday I was actually looking for an RCBS ladle and he still has one but I went for the scale. I am starting to have real good luck with this rifle boolit in my .30-06 load that I have been playing with so even though it is dropping way light I think I will use the unknown stuff for those boolits, as is. It seem to fill out and produce boolits ten times better in the rifle mold than it does in the 240 grain .44 mold.

[243winxb]

UPDATE...Sorry to keep bringing this thread up but hey, :shock:

I have a new problem/question, I bought a new digital scale to check and sort my cast boolits and have a new variable to these boolits. These unknown alloy boolits are from a 240 grain LEE mold and they weigh in at 194-195 grains and the same mold drops known WW boolits at 243-244 grains, both with lube weights. That is an aprox. 49-50 grain difference.

I did the same with the rifle boolits that I have cast so far, 160 grain .30 cal LEE mold. The unknown alloy tumble lubed with a gas check weighs in the 128-129 grain range and the known WW boolits from the same mold drops in the 159-160 range, a difference of aprox. 31-32 grains.

What could the difference be in the alloys between the 20 year old unknown and the recent melt of known WW that there is such a difference between the boolits?

This variation
can be as much as 8% on
the weight among the most commonly used casting
alloys. But Yours is 20%. Aluminum, arsenic, sulfur,iron slag, others can made the bullets lighter. Check the Specific Gravity of different substances here>http://www.reade.com/Particle_Briefings/spec_gra.html My guess is you have some Aluminum in the alloy, with a low % of lead and a high % of Tin & Antimony? :confused: Just some of the metals you will find in an alloy>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Copper 0.038
Arsenic 0.16
Antimony
3.0
Tin 0.25
Zinc 0.0001
Cadmium 0.0001
Nickel <.0001
Bismuth 0.018
Silver 0.0038
Tellurium
0.0015
Sulfur 0.0005
Iron <.0001
Lead Balance

[lead-1]

I finally talked with a friend from back in the day and he may have jarred my memory a bit but I'm not sure.
Do you guys know of a lead or so called lead ring shaped gasket for plumbing of some sort? He seems to think we also had lead rings aprox. 1" in thick and were maybe gaskets for cast iron ductile pipe, I vaguely remember them but don't ever remember using them but that don't mean his weights and mine weren't mixed together as we shared a gear box to save room in the rescue truck.