New mould casting blues

[Tatume]

Hello Folks,

Yesterday I thoroughly washed a new Lyman steel mould and tried to use it. The mould casts pure lead 450 gr bullets for the .451" Enfield Volunteer rifle. It never stopped dropping wrinkled bullets, and I finally gave up. This is the first time I've ever tried casting pure lead bullets. Is the problem because I'm using lead (no tin), or could it be that the mould is still contaminated with rust preservative?

Take care, Tom

[Heavy lead]

I don't cast many pure lead boolits anymore, I have though. I had the best luck running the pot as hot as it would get, with a hot iron mould (in this case RCBS) and pressure casting from a bottom pour pot, it worked for me.

[Bret4207]

You need more heat. Lead melts at a higher temp than lead alloys like WW. The pot temp and mould temp need to go up.

[Calamity Jake]

Add some tin, 2% max, and turn the heat up.

[littlejack]

+1, high heat* and tin if you have some. If not get some pewter at your local Goodwill store.
Jack

[captaint]

Tat - I had the devil getting the wrinkles to go away until I got a hot plate to head the mold up with. Prior to that, wrinkles. You need to get the mold hot (and the melt) and just keep pouring even though you see wrinkles. Keep going... Soon the mold will get hot enough to make them go away. If you use pewter for the tin, make sure you get real pewter. It'll be stamped on the bottom. enjoy Mike

[chuebner]

Smoke the mold as though it were a Lee. I do this with my 457125, 457124 and 457132 and get perfect bullets. Pure lead with a smidge of tin and run the pot about 750 degrees. Works for me.

Charlie

[Larry Gibson]

+2 on a little tin and turn up the heat.

Larry Gibson

[jsizemore]

Stick the corner of the mold in your melt to preheat. When the lead no longer sticks, it's up to temp.

[runfiverun]

mold temp.

[R.C. Hatter]

:coffee: Raise the heat to about 750 degrees and add 1% tin. I'll bet they come out fine then.

[94Doug]

...it may also take a couple of casting sessions to "break in" the mould. Just give it some time.

Doug

[Southron Sanders]

Lyman moulds ARE NOT made out of Steel, but are made from a VERY SOFT Iron. Keep that in mind when you are handling those moulds.

Actually, your "wrinkled" bullets are an indication that there is still some preservative OIL, applied at the factory, in the bullet cavity of your mould.

When I "break in" a new Lyman mould I start by washing the blocks in gasoline. Then I set them aside to dry. Then I use a propane torch to "burn off" what oil is still left on the blocks.

Even then, the first 50 or 100 bullets cast in the mould will still exhibit some "wrinkles," before the mould starts throwing good bullets.

If you live in a humid climate, it is best to put some oil on your Lyman blocks before putting them away for storage. I have actually had Lyman blocks rust that were stored for three months because I neglected to oil them.

Have fun with that Volunteer Rifle! Have you glass bedded the barrel? Hint: Be sure that your tang screw is TIGHT as that produces best accuracy.

I shoot a P-H .577 Enfield Naval Rifle and weigh all of my cast bullets and seperate them into lots of "plus or minus 1 grain" of weight. Remelt all the light bullets as they have air pockets in them.

I also size all of my cast bullets.

GOOD LUCK!

[mooman76]

I'd crank the heat up all the way and if it starts to show signs of being too hot, turn it down some, although with pure lead will usually not show signs of being too hot.

[mustanggt]

I use break cleaner to remove all that oil from the moulds. It works well and is convenient. Sometimes I might have to do it again if the bullets still come out wrinkled. I just bought a new Lyman 311299 mould and I had a heck of a time getting the boolets to drop. I smoked them like I usually do and still had problems. Sometimes the boolets would stick on the same side, other times on the opposite side. Every once in a while they would drop with just a couple of light taps. Most of the time I had to wrap pretty hard to get them to drop. What the heck???

[462]

Clean the mould again using Dawn dishsoap, an old toothbrush and hot water.

Pre-heat the mould by placing it on top of the pot, as it's heating up, or use a hot plate.

[BFR454]

Tat - I had the devil getting the wrinkles to go away until I got a hot plate to head the mold up with. Prior to that, wrinkles. You need to get the mold hot (and the melt) and just keep pouring even though you see wrinkles. Keep going... Soon the mold will get hot enough to make them go away. If you use pewter for the tin, make sure you get real pewter. It'll be stamped on the bottom. enjoy Mike
My recent bullets are also comming out wrinkled of my lyman mould, I keep heating the lead/mould hotter and hotter, the wrinkels only come out when the bullets are way too hot. They're so frosty they look like they've been tossed in icing sugar. Bad Alloy perhaps? What do yous reckon?

[Southron Sanders]

"Frosty" bullets indicate that your lead is TOO HOT!
I would switch to another lead alloy. Sometimes the tiniest amount of zinc in the alloy will cause all sorts of problem when it comes to casting that alloy into bullets.

[waksupi]

"Frosty" bullets indicate that your lead is TOO HOT!
I would switch to another lead alloy. Sometimes the tiniest amount of zinc in the alloy will cause all sorts of problem when it comes to casting that alloy into bullets.


Not necessarily. I, and many others, prefer to cast so we get frosted boolits. More consistent cast weights.

[dromia]

Ditto on even frosting equals good consistent boolits.

[phaessler]

Careful with the Brake Clean, seem to remember reading the warning label on the can, the word Fosgene sticks in my memory.
+1 on the frosted bullets= consistent weight

Pete

[mroliver77]

Some alloy is tricky and some contaminated. I can usually find some combination of heat, speed, pressure etc to get useable boolits though. I like to heat mould on hotplate for a while to burn off any residual oils or whatever.
J