Proper Heating for SharpShooter Buckshot Mold?

[hcpookie]

Ordered up several of the skiesunlimited molds in 00, 0, and 4 sizes for me and my dad. We had a heck of a time getting them hot enough to fill out both sides. It seems like whatever we do we can't get them hot enough to actually make nice shot on both sides. Seems that once it gets hot enough, you can't drop all 20 before it cools enough to make "drips" instead of round shot!

We have been using dad's old Lee infinite heat setting bottom-pour pot. We have to max it out to keep it pouring well. Given the current temps I'm starting to think that pouring buckshot is going to be a summer-only hobby :(

Our last attempt before we gave up was to set the mold on top of the pot with the pot temp set to near-max. After about 20-30 minutes the mold was hot enough that the wood handles were discoloring. It poured "OK" in that every 2-hole pour got one good pour - the one that was directly under the spigot - and one teardrop pour as the lead was cooling off before it could flow into the 2nd hole. We had the side garage door open and a fan blowing to keep the air circulating to prevent lead fume accumulation.

My question is, how hot should we set the lead pot, and how best to go about pre-heating the mold? Also, how best to keep the mold hot? Do you need to hit the mold with a propane torch in-between pours?

[Spudgunr]

I cast 1000 pieces of buck an hour with my sharpshooter molds. In 1.5 hours in the garage I came out with 1600 pieces of buck (split between #4, which is a PITA, and 00). I run two molds at a time, and if I leave the pot on high can get hot enough that I have to either wait extra time, or put a 3rd mold in to play. I preheat all my scrap so that I do not chill the melt.

Do you have a hot plate? If not, get one. That will help a lot.

You are right, they DO have to be run HOT. VERY hot. As long as you don't stop casting there is no need to heat the mold in between pours.

You do need to lead the lead flow fast. I don't know if you have a 10 pound or 20 pound pot. The 20 has adjustable flow speed and I do turn it up a little bit. But, even so, when everything is perfect you CAN get the little tear drop thing, even when up to temperature (this mostly happens to me on the #4). When you are plenty hot it usually will happen if lead overflows just a LITTLE bit into the next cavity.

Your mold will get so hot that even with thin gloves on the handles will be uncomfortably hot. I pour one side holding the mold with my right hand, one side with the left hand just to give my hands time to cool off.

Read my posts on lead concentration. I know better safe than sorry, but when I'm at 1/4 OSHA guidelines I have no qualms casting indoors. It was probably too cold inside and the air circulation may have killed it. I'm not convinced of that, I mostly think you never actually got up to full temperature.

Here is how I do it:

I preheat the molds on a hot plate. They have to be hot enough spit flicked onto it will sizzle and the drop bounce arround (sizzle only is only around boiling, when it dances it means you are way above that).

Get the lead all the way up to temperature.

Pour both sides as fast as possible. Carry lead over from one sprue to the next making sure to connect them. As soon as you are done with both sides, open the mold, throw the shot back into the pot (because it'll probably suck).

Repeat the previous step a few times.

I have recently changed the way I pour the lead to start being more successful. I overflow one sprue cavity to the next. As it starts to overflow is when I move the mold to the next cavity. This lets me do all 10 cavities (5 sprue cavities) in about 5 seconds. Flip and repeat. Overflowing to the NEXT cavity only works when it takes at least 2 seconds for the lead to solidify. If you aren't to this point, I overflow to the PREVIOUS cavity (overflowing to the empty one will only solidify in the sprue if you aren't hot enough to keep it molten long enough). Overflowing them all connects them and makes sprue trimming easier.

Usually on the 5th to 10th one I'm casting at 95-100% success on #1 buck or larger. #4 buck I maintain about an 80%-90% success rate.

After casting good about 5-10 more then the mold is getting to where it takes 2-6 seconds for the lead to solidify. At this point I take the 2nd mold off the heater and put it in service.

Practice on the 00 mold, NOT the #4. Don't even bother with the #4 until you can successfully cast with the 00 mold. Maybe at some point I'll put a video up with my technique, can't be tonight though.

Edit: If that doesn't work, sell them to me for a good price ;-) I'd buy the #4 and the 00 from you for the right price (it'd have to be cheap though since I've bought 2nds molds for pretty cheap). Worst case, put it up on here and somebody WILL buy it if you give them a discount of at least a few bucks.

[cheese1566]

yep, i would have an interest if the price was right...

[220swiftfn]

I cast ingots with the sides of the sharpshooter molds to get them up to temp. 4 or 5 per side and usually the first shot pour is perfect. BTW, rcbs bottom pour, around 800 lead temp and the first ingot is going in as the next is setting to keep the melt temp up.

Dan

[hcpookie]

I agree that we had too cold a shop to play in... certainly going to make things warmer for our next attempt! I don't know what size dad's pot is, but I'll guess its the 10 pound size as he has some other Lee pots that are larger. It was just a frustrating first-attempt as we had about 20 ingots we planned to melt down that weekend.

I don't have a hot plate, but making ingots from the side is a really good idea! That would make quick work of heating them up! I found that using a size larger leather work glove over my normal sized leather glove insulated the heat enough to make it bearable to hold. My welding gloves aren't that thick but I may try those too :)

Thanks for all the input!

[RP]

I have to run mine so hot wearing gloves is a must shop is warm helping to keep everthing hot. I cast fast and hot opening mould on a angled ramp i made the shot rolls down the ramp because I cast hot enough it breaks off also use my gloved hand to help break off the spruce. I still have to trim some. Even with the welding gloves handleing the mold your hands still are getting some heat transfer.

[jsizemore]

You might try adding about1.5-2% tin to your alloy. If you add about 1-1.5 ounces of tin or pewter to 5 lbs of pure lead or WW should help your fill out. I cast a bunch of 4buck with better then 90% yield per pour.

[Storydude]

I find mine has to be run hot enough that a pair of standard Leather work gloves get unbearble in 3 casts.

There is a LOT of Aluminum with a bunch of surface area cooling it off, fighting against you.

when you think it's hot enough, give it another 20 seconds in the melt.

[Harmon_Greer]

where can you get one of these moulds?

[Spudgunr]

Ebay or gunbroker. Find the user and message him, he doesn't always list everything he has all the time.

[Silicon Wolverine]

i fixed mine by drilling a 3/64 hole in between the two ball cavities it fills perfectly now at a lower temp than before. it is a little extra work to snip the shot off the "tree" but thats no bog deal to me. the shot all comes off as one large package too.

if i get time tonite ill take a pic and post it.

SW

[zardoz]

Silicon Wolverine,

I would be interested in seeing how you did that, and the way the tree looks afterwards. I did not have very good luck my first session with the Sharpshooter. I have some micro drill bits in the sub-mm sizes, and was thinking of going down a bit smaller than 3/64".

I was using wheelweights, with no tin added. Also, my pour spout was a bit clogged at the time. Thought I had it hot enough, but things were just not going my way that day. Figured to let it set awhile, and come back to it later. I have 5# of commercial buckshot to tide me over, but wanted to be able to make my own when that runs out.

Hoping to get a much better experience next time, by applying all the ideas in this post.

[Spudgunr]

If you think you have it hot enough, heat it up for 10 more minutes. Did you pre-heat your mold? I put it on the hot plate for a while. Mine is probably pushing at least 300 when I START casting, then it still takes a few molds full to get it close to temperature.

[hcpookie]

Well I have had much better success now! I modified the handles by cutting the metal part off to the last 1" (removing the wood first). Then I drilled through the metal stub and the wood handles, then used sheet metal screws and washers to fasten the wood back onto the metal. Now the bottom of the handles are wood-only and don't get near as hot.

220swiftfn's post about pouring "ingots" from the sides is absolutely the easiest way to preheat these molds! I of course set the molds on top to preheat, then pour about three of the side ingots per side, and presto things just start to work.

Now with my Lee 20# pot set on 7-8 and kept at least half full, I get good pour. The handles are held toward the back and with welding gloves I could do it all day! It definitely must be hotter than normal casting, but at least it works. Trimming the sprues is an exercise in patience :) Thanks all for your help!

[Nate1778]

I put mine on the side burner of my grill to let it warm up, you know its hot enough when the handles catch on fire........[smilie=1:

[deaddog]

My first attempt today with a #4 buck Sharpshooter. After reading about all the hardships everyone here was having I didn't have very high expectations. I prepped with mold release and cranked up the pot to high. I had a welding glove on my right hand and wool lined leather snomobile mit over a leather glove on the left. I ran the propane torch on the mold to heat it up then did the side ingot thing a few times. I decided to pour a small amount on each side before each pour since they(mini ingots) came off easy and I just threw them back in the pot right away. Like everybody else I can confirm that the mold has to be real hot. I could only stand to do it for about 20 minutes. I'll be working on a solution for coping with the heat before I try it again. My success rate was maybe 50-60%.
I have them in the tumbler now. We'll have to see how they turn out.




DD

[cheese1566]

I was thinking of making new oak handles that extend out a little further.

I love mine and will have it forever.

[skiesunlimited]

Maybe the sprue size on the #3 and #4 could be increased from 3/32 (.0937) to 7/64 (.1093)?
The sprue was made small as possible to try and preserve roundness on a small casting.
Rick

[diehard]

I've never had the kind of problems I've read about here with my sharpshooter "00" buck mold. I may get a couple cavities that don't fill out once in awhile, but that's almost always because I slow down, miss the sprue hole or whatever. I use a ladle and very hot pure lead (Plumber's pipe---I got about 300 lbs of it for free) and I don't worry about overflowing the cavity. The tin in the joints of the plumber's pipe probably helps some with fill out as well. I also smoke the mold from the burn off of the parafin I use for fluxing. Makes a very slick surface inside. I have tried ww/PB at a 50/50 mix and still had few problems. Only problem I do have now is after filling several coffee cans with shot--and having loaded a few hundred rounds of it for CQB drills-- I don't need any more "00" for a little while.

BTW...my mold is a "second" or imperfect mold that I ought through GunBroker at a reduced price.


I do need a #4 mold for coyote medicine though. I hate buying #4 shot, when I know I can make it just as well. These molds are very well made.

[Gee_Wizz01]

I bought a #1 and a 00 buck molds directly from skiesunlimited and I am very pleased with the quality of the molds and the shot they turn out. So far I have only used the #1 but I had no real problems. I ran the mold hot and I turned out about 4lbs of nice looking buck shot in an hour. The shot measured .299 +/- .001 and weighed 40.5 grs +/- .1 gr. Thats "darn good in my book. After I clipped the sprues I threw them into my HF rotary tumbler along with some old pencil lead from a drafting pencil. In about 2 hrs I had some beautiful "black pearls"

G

[diehard]

Just got in my #4 buck mold. As always I am impressed with the worksmanship and ease of use of these molds. I personally havn't found a better way to make buckshot. I highly recommend Skiesunlimited Sharpshooter molds!

My only complaint is that I dont use ebay (not since they responded to me with a "sucks to be you" letter when I complained how their new anti-gun policies put the hurt on the parts and accessories trading I was doing through them at the time). I'd like to see more of these great molds offered here on the swappin' and sellin' venue, or at least more frequently through gunbroker. These molds are good, and are sure to sell.