Newby here...

[55BoysATR]

Ok been lurking and figured it's time to register.

I just finished pouring my first batch and have a few questions. Bullet is a cast from a single cavity Lee 214gr .429 SWC. Alloy is pretty much straight chilled lead shot. For my first try, I'm pretty satisified with the results.

Bullets are slightly undersized as dropped (.428 -.4285) and the shoulder didn''t fill out real well on one side. Mold isn't clogged...just didn't flow well or my pour method isn't quite right. Other than the front shoulder, the bearing surface looks good. Bullets drop at about 212.5 gr. Poured using a dipper from Lyman pot set at 725 degrees. Should I add some tin to help the mold fill out better? Is it possible I'm squeezing the handles too hard to get the bullets slightly undersize?

I plan on pan lubing them as soon as I get the materials togeather. I'm going to use Darr's but thickened with a bit more paraffin. Bullets are going to be loaded up for a low speed (850 - 950fps) 44 mag.

Any other suggestions? This could get addictive.

[canyon-ghost]

The cause of undersize/voids in cast is usually that the lead and mold are at different temps. Still happens to me sometimes, you'll need to bring the mold up to temp by pre-heating it or pouring quickly through it. And rhythm comes in, keep it closed as much as possible until you drop the bullets, then close it quickly. Don't stare at the purdy bullets with the mold open, that just gives it time to cool. Up the temp on the lead or give it more time to heat. Tin helps fill out some, that's why some casters, myself included, buy some pure tin. Good Luck,

Ron

[Shiloh]

Turn up the heat and try it that way before you add tin. When I get incomplete fill, higher heat is my first remedy, then a bit of 95/5 solder.. May work for you as well.

Welcome. Lots of knowledge on this forum. I'm still amazed by what there is to learn.

Shiloh

[Edubya]

Welcome aboard 55.
What is your alloy mix? Have you slugged your cylinders yet? Some of those boolits might work at those plinking velocities.
As far as squeezing too hard, I don't squeeze so hard as I did at first but I haven't noticed any perceptual change in size, just can cast longer (hands don't tire out).
If you'll warm up that mould, pour it full as fast as you can (ladel in contact with mould) you might be surprised at the fine boolits that you can turn out.
Good Luck,
EW

[44man]

Chilled shot is just not the best and is about 10X too expensive for boolits. I think that is most of your problem.
You would be better off with WW metal or another good boolit alloy. You can add small amounts of the chilled shot to harden other alloys but you would need a little tin too. I don't think shot has any tin in it so it will not flow. It does have a trace of arsenic that will help other alloys harden.
Then don't measure your boolits right out of the mold. I like to water drop my boolits and let them sit a week or so. They will harden and grow in size a little, you might gain .001" by aging your boolits.
You never told us the gun you have either. If it is a Ruger, the closer you get to .432" the better. You might even need a larger mold or lap out the one you have but start with a better alloy first.
It is usually a mistake to buy a .429" mold for a .44 mag.
Some S&W's will be tight enough for them. The first step is to slug a gun to see what throat and groove to groove size you have.

[55BoysATR]

The shot I have is reclaimed from a skeet range.....best of all it's free to me. Just real dirty when making your ingots.

I also picked up the mold in a box of garage sale shooting "junk" so I figure it would be the best to learn on. If I ruin it in the learning process, I'm not out much.

Bullets will be shot through Smiths and a Taurus. I haven't slugged any barrels or measured the throats yet.... Haven't had to because of the good results I've had with my other store-bought bullets. Can keep them in a coffee cup at 70yds benched with irons. Good enough for me.

[243winxb]

Alloy is pretty much straight chilled lead shot. This contains 2% Antimony only. Magnum shot is 6%. You must find a way to make your bullets larger in diameter, at least .430" More antimony the larger & harder the bullet will be. Maximum heat will be needed for fill out.
Bullets are going to be loaded up for a low speed (850 - 950fps) 44 mag. Tin is not needed for this velocity, but can help fill out & harden the alloy some, plus tin keeps leading low. Lube well. Lee's website has a lot of information that can help you. http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/faq/index.cgi
Increasing mold diameter

If you need the mold diameter of your cast bullets to be increased just slightly, there is a way to accomplish this with negligible ballistic results.

With the mold open, be sure you liberally lube the mold blocks in front of and behind the bullet cavity. Place a small section of cigarette paper or writing paper to the lubed block . This prevents it from burning.

When casting the bullet, the diameter of the bullet will be increased by the paper width. You can actually go up to about .010 before you begin to see lead flashing appear. While the bullet will be slightly "out of round", this very minimum amount will not effect accuracy or the manner in which the bullet travels through the forcing cone and barrel of your gun.

[Echo]

A little bit of tin will help immensely, by reducing the surface tension of the melt (for better fillout) and also working with the antimony. An alloy that only has antimony (which is all the chilled shot has), and no tin, solidifies into pure lead with crystals of antimony embedded. Or so I've been told. Adding the tin helps amalgamate - or something -

And I mean a LITTLE tin - 2% is plenty,and anything over 3% is wasteful. One ounce of lead-free solder will fix up 3 pounds of WW's or reclaimed shot.

[montana_charlie]

Can keep them in a coffee cup at 70yds benched with irons. Good enough for me.
I was never able to do it at 70 yards, and maybe that's the difference. But, at fifty yards, my coffee cups always shattered on the second or third shot...
CM

[Phat Man Mike]

:bigsmyl2:[smilie=s: Welcome 55 lot's of info here !:D

[mooman76]

Remeasure your bullets after a week. They may grow about .001 or so.