Two questions from a new guy

[chs67dusty]

Lurked and learned from here for a long time and finally decided to signup and not lurk anymore. I cast with a Lyman bottom drain pot, I think a 10 pounder, doesn't matter, and it works fine. Bought it the 1990's or so and cast 44mag and 38's.

I just bought a used Lyman 38 single cavity SWC mold and the cast boolits look fine once you get them out of the mold. I usually have to hit the boolit itself with the dowell rod to free it. My 44 SWC's fall out easily. It is a pain in the butt getting them out. Any ideas?

Second question. I came upon an ingot of I believe is Zinc, looks like lead, melts like lead but is lighter. What can it be used for?

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Welcome to the forum, chs67dusty. I have several molds that require giving a slight smack to the hinge nut to make the boolits fall free.I believe it has to do with the level of polishing when the mold is manufactured. I don't have any that require hitting the actual base of the boolit, and I would suspect that might deform the base of the still-soft lead and harm accuracy. I suspect that some folks will recommend that you spray the mold cavity with this or that substance, but not having had the problem I have no recommendation.

As for the zinc-like ingot, assuming that it is zinc, it doesn't have much, if any application in boolit casting. Don't mix it into your lead pot.Lots of casters have experienced problems with zinc wheel weights that got mixed into their alloy.

DG

[Pipefitter]

A drop or two of muratic acid on the ingot will tell if it is zinc or not, just look for the bubbles.

[jim147]

Needing to tap the hinge to drop out bullets is not uncommon if you need to hit the bullet that mold might need lapping or other little tweaks.

As for the zinc, save it. Add to it because it might be all we have to load with in a few years. They make gut be lighter and harder but we can find a way to make them go bang.

[Conditor22]

Welcome to Cast Boolits
With any mold problem the first thing I do is scrub the mold well with solvent then dawn dish soap using a nylon brush (toothbrush/denture brush/parts brush

Next I would rub a piece of wood around the cavity edges to remove any possible burs

or you might have to do this
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...ing-of-boolits

*IF you don't have fine rubbing/polishing compound you can use toothpaste

[243winxb]

Hotter alloy. This causes more shrinkage as the bullet cools.

Ingot- bismuth?

[Winger Ed.]

Tapping the mold handles hinge point with a wooden stick, or the plastic handle of a big screwdriver for a boolit to drop is pretty normal.

If it only sticks on one side, it might be a burr.
I wouldn't get violent with it, but I've found rubbing the open face of that block on my blue jeans leg several times helps.

[MT Gianni]

Get the oldest pencil you can find with wooden exterior. Many of the newer ones aren't wood or graphite. Sharpen it and go over every milli-meter of the mold and sprue plate with the point. Then break the point off and smooth it all out with the wood. There is probably a burr hanging the bullet up. That will fix it and give you a light lube.

[gwpercle]

Welcome from Baton Rouge , Louisiana .
The sticking might be caused by a burr or rough edge , use a clean cotten Q-Tip to find it , rub the tip around all the cavity edges ... the cotton fibers will snag on any burrs . Find them and carefully remove them .
Also you can use spray-on dry lube with Teflon as mould prep ... spay athin coating of dry lube , the alcohol carrier will evaporate and leave a thin dry Teflon film in the cavity ... it doesn't contaminate and boolits jump out the mould when opened . After the mould gets broken in and well seasoned , like a cast iron cooking pan , you won't need to do this any longer ... some moulds are balkier than others , keep casting it will come around .
Gary

[dahermit]

I came upon an ingot of I believe is Zinc, looks like lead, melts like lead but is lighter. What can it be used for?

Not enough information. I could be one of several things. Cerrosafe (a chamber casting alloy), Lead with a high Tin content, one of the several Lead-based type metals, Car body alloy, etc. If it melts at below pure Lead temperature (621 F), it is not likely to be Zinc.