Today I cast some bullets for my 338 Federal. The bullet mould was the Lee 220 gr, The alloy was WW. I cast a total of 163 bullets in a relatively short time. Why 163? Because I had to stop and pick up my wife from work.
It seems that the moon was in the seventh house and Jupiter aligned with Mars to quote the song from the musical Hair. Everything went flawlessly. That was due largely because I "read and followed directions."
I pre-heated the mould, fluxed the pot of alloy twice and kept up a steady pace. The bullets needed at most a light tap or two to fall from the mould. Whenever I added more alloy to the pot I fluxed again. They were lovely.
Of the 163 bullets cast:
74 weighed 217 1/2 grains +/- 1/2 grain
53 weighed 218 1/2 grains +/- 1/2 grain
24 weighed 216 1/2 grains +/- 1/2 grain
2 weighed 215-216 and went back into the pot.
4 weighted 219+ and went back into the pot.
6 only had flaws significant enough to go back in the pot.
The 217 and 218 grain bullets have been lubed with BLL and are drying in my shop. I set the 216 grain bullets aside and will add to that lot until I have enough to lube and attach gas checks.
Tomorrow, God willing, I will attach gas checks to the 217 and 218 lots and lube again with BLL.
It was very enjoyable and satisfying to have a casting session go so well. To top it off, both bullets shoot extremely well in their respective rifles. Fun from beginning to end. :D
MichiganMike