what I have is about 400 pounds of ingots that were smelted from 100 % COWW,( not properly cleaned) that I was casting into 45 acp bullets and just started casting keith style 44 mag bullets. some i see inclusions in the drive bands. it is the visual dirt i see in the ingots that I see that has me bugged. also when I dump the melt into the ingot moulds, their is either black "SOOT" looking powder or a light olive drab powdery dust that pours out when i dump the pot. I know the melt is not as clean as i would like or as clean as it should be.
My goal was to have all the ingots have the same content of tin and antimony. Now I am not so sure. this is one of the reasons I thought to remelt and blend all of it so it would be closer in content across the board.......... if that makes any sense.
Turn out? well.... the 45's are ok. I use a lee 2 cavity mould. 200 swc. and they shoot and feed good enough for me. the 44's well that is where i need help. they do not fill out as well as i would like. rounded edges of the drive bands mainly. it is a lyman 4 hole 429421. both ends do not fill out good and most always are rejects. this thing frustrates me. Not to mention how the bullet Dia. changes over time. I still am lapping out the cavities to cast a little larger dia. shooting for .432 after about 2 weeks sitting.
someone said on one of the threads that I might not have enough tin percentage in the melt. now I know what all that shiny stuff was that went into the trash. Now I think I need to replace it.... the other reason to remelt all the ingots all over again. maybe build a bigger melting pot. I can only do about 50-60 pounds at a throw.