Cast my first boolits tonight!

[Jim Sheldon]

UPS delivered my Lee Pro 4-20 melting pot this afternoon. I set it up and melted down about 8 pounds of the wheel weight ingots I bought at a gunshow this weekend. The person that cast the ingots did a real nice job of cleaning the lead as I got very little dross even after fluxing.

I adjusted the bottom pour spigot as per the instructions, set my Lee 205 grain .329 (8mm) mold on the molten lead for a couple minutes to get it up to temp and started casting. I just ran off a few to get used to the mold, RCBS mold mallet and the bottom pour melter. I cast 26 bullets and only lost 2 out of the 26 due to shutting off the pour too soon and getting incomplete cavity fill.

I was lucky and none of them exhibited the wrinklies. They all came out nice, smooth and shiny. I did tap them them out into warm water to quench rather than drop them on a soft cloth.

I'm waiting on a custom made .325" sizer die & bottom punch a friend is having made for me. I've shot some of his .325's (he sizes this same .329 down to .325 for his Mausers. Mine likes .323, so once I got the Lee .323 lube/size die set, I ran his .325's through it and they shoot much tighter groups. I tried one of the .329's in the .323 sizer and it was a strain on the Little Lee Challenger press to accomplish it, so I'll just wait for the .325 die and take 'em down to .323 in 2 stages, putting the gas check on in the .325 die.

I've been loading my cast lead (purchased) rifle boolits over IMR's Trail Boss powder. That stuff is producing some amazing accuracy at short distances (50 yards) on an indoor range out of my 1940 vintage 98K Mauser and my 1942 Izhevsk Mosin Nagant 91/30. 10 to 12 grains depending on bullet weight is producing sub MOA accuracy out of the Mauser at 50 yards, both with cast and some military FMJ pulls from old surplus ammo.

It was fun before casting, and now it's MORE fun and cheaper to boot. Gotta love cheaper these days.

[bradh]

Jim you are on your way to fun and games!

[Village Idiot]

Congrats Jim, sounds like you are well on your way to a full fledged addiction!!
V.I.

[Greenhorn44]

Gotta Love It!!

[giz189]

Any more fun and it surely would be illegal to do it!!

[Jim Sheldon]

Here's a picture of 3 of my first cast. The mold is a Lee C329-205-1R for the 8X56 Hungarian in .329 diameter.

The two on the left are right out of the water quench, the one with the copper gas check is one I ran through the .323 size die (squeezing down from .329) which is really too much as I expected. It put a heavy strain on the press handle for sure.

I have a custom .325 sizer coming and I'll use it first and then do a second sizing to get them down to .323 which is where I get my best accuracy out of the 98K.

The last one on the right (with the home made aluminum gas check) is one of a batch cast and sized originally to .325 that I got from a friend in North Carolina.

I shot some of them at .325 and they did okay, but after getting my own casting stuff and the Lee lube/size kit for .323 boolits, I made some .323 diameter boolits out of Roy's .325's. After shooting them in my 98K Mauser, they put 10 in a ragged hole at 50 yards during my initial test, so .323 it is for this rifle anyway.

I have a C324-175-1R mold as well, but my particular 98K Mauser likes it's boolits in the 190-210 grain range for best accuracy, so probably won't make too many of the 175 grain ones for now. I may pour a couple hundred of them and see if I can find a load they like though.

The addiction continues - It's worse than Mosinitis!

Jim

[Shiloh]

Another self sufficient shooter.
Welcome!!

Shiloh