kentuckycajun
03-11-2010, 02:28 AM
Had some fun the other day - my thermometer & probe finally came in so I couldn't wait to cast my first boolits. Only started with about 10 ingots (12 lbs), but ended up adding more and doing about 20 lbs straight clip-on WW. Cleaned, smoked & lubed the moulds and proceeded with the RNFP first. Bullets dropped very easily, and after half dozen casts, were throwing near perfect boolits @ 680-700 deg!! Air cooled about 200 and water dropped about the same amount, with only about 10% being returned to the melt (NOT from the water bucket!!!).
Threw (well, warmed them & placed them gently) in the other 6 ingots and proceeded to try the TL SWC. Even after getting the mould up to temp and even re-smoking it, the reject rate was high. But they still dropped OK, just weren't filling out as easily as the RNFP. I could actually see the air trying to bubble out of the sprue plate hole. Tried a hotter casting temp (around 725) and they got better, but still no cigar. Still ended up with 100+ acceptable boolits - about 50%. Granted, both moulds were straight out of the box with no special prep done to them.
All in all, it was a much anticipated and enjoyable learning experience. Thanks to everyone here for all of the useful posts - I've already started working on my moulds (de-burring edges and micro-grooves with toothpicks and "Lee-menting" with Comet) - let y'all know how that worked in a couple days.
Now to try a couple different lubes & size'm :drinks:
Threw (well, warmed them & placed them gently) in the other 6 ingots and proceeded to try the TL SWC. Even after getting the mould up to temp and even re-smoking it, the reject rate was high. But they still dropped OK, just weren't filling out as easily as the RNFP. I could actually see the air trying to bubble out of the sprue plate hole. Tried a hotter casting temp (around 725) and they got better, but still no cigar. Still ended up with 100+ acceptable boolits - about 50%. Granted, both moulds were straight out of the box with no special prep done to them.
All in all, it was a much anticipated and enjoyable learning experience. Thanks to everyone here for all of the useful posts - I've already started working on my moulds (de-burring edges and micro-grooves with toothpicks and "Lee-menting" with Comet) - let y'all know how that worked in a couple days.
Now to try a couple different lubes & size'm :drinks: