another first boolit thread!

[troy_mclure]

here are my Lyman 311466, 30-06 154gr.

i cast 50 (till the skeeters came out), and got 6 acceptable(maybe). these are the worst looking side of the 6.

would you toss any of these?

http://173.74.246.25/ktmtalk/photogallery/galleries/members/ACF2DB1.jpg

they are water dropped, and cast from 150lbs of shot.

they weigh from 158.9gr-159.6gr and measure .310-.311.



and here are some "failures" lol.

http://173.74.246.25/ktmtalk/photogallery/galleries/members/ACF2DB7.jpg

i like this mould, i can open the sprue plate by hand, no whacking needed. but i borrowed it from a friend.

it has made me decided to get a bottom pour pot tho, its a pita crouching over my big ladle with 20lbs of lead, and scooping with my little ladle with 1lb of lead.


any advise/comments are appreciated.

[Echo]

Well, Criminy, I would load those 6 'bad' ones (they are sort of ugly) and shoot 'em! They will make a group, maybe not the tightest group your gun and load will make, but What The Heck? Shoot 'em... Let's don't be too anal...

And the failures are definitely failures, but so were some of my own first ones, and I'll bet some of the first ones from blamed near every poster on this forum.

[badgeredd]

To me it appears that your mold isn't warm enough. I haven't been brave enough yet to try ladle pouring mainly because I figure the timing is a bit beyond my limited skills.:bigsmyl2: Someday I'll try it for sure. I do believe that I am more knowledgable of what it takes to get good boolits so that'll help when I grow some.;)

Edd

[Ajax]

my first try at cast looked like they were chipped out of marble. swirlc divots knotches and the like .

andy

[stubshaft]

I would save number 2 and 3 and remelt the rest.

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Not bad. You will get the hang of it. You may want to add a llittle tin to the mix (1% or so). The tin lowers the melting point of the alloy, thus allowing the alloy to flow into the mold and fill it out better before hardening. Notice the rounded bands? That is poor fillout. I would try getting the mold hotter first before addidng any tin. My first ones looked like that too! :drinks:

[troy_mclure]

my thermometer showed the lead at 750-800, and the mold at 400.

[docone31]

Mold is cold.

[MT Gianni]

my thermometer showed the lead at 750-800, and the mold at 400.

If you consider your thermometer to be accurate reclean the mold. Something is preventing fillout and it should not be at those temps. Check and clean vent lines also. I would shoot those 6 for fun, not in a match load.

[troy_mclure]

its a brand new lyman thermometer, first time used.

ill go get some solder tomorrow, see if that helps.

[runfiverun]

toss them back, clean the oil from the mold and heat it up till you get bored waiting for the sprue to cool and pour the lead out of the mold.
by sitting it in the melt.
then wipe the whole mold down with a rag,getting any flecks of lead off everything.
then start casting.
watch as the boolits come from the mold, and adjust your cadence for grey looking boolits.

[lwknight]

I had to study it a bit and it seems like you might be using almost pure lead.
I never had anything cast like that before so it inteigued me as well.

[troy_mclure]

since its shot should have some tin & antimony.

bought some pewter to add to it. gonna give it another go tonite.

[lwknight]

Troy, you said that the spru plate cut easily so it must have been almost pure lead.
Range lead from jacteted bullats is about pure lead with only trace tin in it. Adding 2- 3% tin will make the fill and will toughen the lead some. I had a hard time cutting the spru till I got 5- 6% antimony mix then the spru shears off instead of being like cutting super tough tar.
The pewter might have trace copper in it but should not hurt anything.

[troy_mclure]

got it, added 2% pewter to my 20lb ladle and was casting great boolits! i was pouring the whole dipping ladle over the mold, got it hot enough that i had to wait to open it cause i ruined a couple of bases.

i was making great boolits, a whole pile of them, with 70% or so keepers, then disaster!

my big ladle spilled! 20lbs of lead all over the place! i was casting on my trailer, so i didnt loose anything, except the boolits, they got hit by the puddle! lol

i jumped fast! lol

[John Boy]

Troy, follow the words in this link and you will have pretty bullets ...
http://www.longrangebpcr.com/8Phases.htm