First boolit casting - need advice

[Farmall-130]

It's been a long time getting everything together to load 45-70 BP cartridges. I've read Spencer & Pat Wolf's book several times. Bought a Lee boolit mold, 405 grain, hollow base. Tonight I melted down some scrap lead sheet; unknown alloy but my hunch is it's pure lead. Rear lots of info from this forum and it really helped. My casting setup is primitive: propane burner (turkey fryer) and a small cast iron lead pot (old plumbers pot). I cut out a "donut" steel plate & it fits over the burner, holds the lead pot & gives a place to warm the bullet mold. Casting went well. All test bullets released easily from the Lee mold. My casting temperature (lead and/or mold or both) may be slightly low, as there are some small wrinkles in the boolits.

I've attached a photo of the base of a cast boolit. The hollow base is definitely not centered with the boolits axis. Is this common? Is it a Lee mold problem? I'm not happy about trying to shoot boolits with a off-center base.

Thanks in advance for any assistance. Great forum! Lots of info to absorb.

[Dusty Bannister]

Perhaps you did not use anything to lubricate the mold blocks so they and the HB plug will slip easily into correct position. I suspect this is the new style mold with the alignment pins. Look things over closely and be sure that the blocks can easily come fully together and there are no lead spots or flakes that might hold the plug out of correct position when fully and firmly closed. You do not need to force it but be sure there are no obstructions to correct closing.

Welcome to the forum, good first post.

[Farmall-130]

Dusty Bannister thank you for the reply. Mold was lubed with beeswaxed Q-tip. Mold is clean no lead flakes.The Lee mold hollow bottom form of the mold is held with a Phillips screw. The hollow bottom form piece can be easily rotated. I didn’t tighten the screw; I figured the mold halves would center it. There is no mold seam flash on the boolits; halves close up tight easily.

[Farmall-130]

I spoke with Lee Precision today and all is well with regards to the boolit mold. The core pin that forms the hollow base is loose (radially) by design. I was told that although the core pin may not be on perfect center, as the boolit obturates during firing the base will be “blown out” and the small radial off center will not affect accuracy. The best measurement I can get is about 0.010” off center. So now I’m going to concentrate on casting techniques.

[GregLaROCHE]

Make sure the mold is impeccably clean and free of all oils including bee’s wax. If not, that’s usually one cause for wrinkled boolits. As you have said, if the lead is not hot enough and you don’t have a fast enough flow rate that can cause wrinkles too.

[Land Owner]

Just Do It as a means of gaining experience. All "mistakes", irregularities, dings, wrinkles, deformities, aborations, etc., can be put back in the pot and poured again! Welcome to the forums...and "obturation" is the name of the game in lead boolit fit to the barrel upon spanking it with high pressure.

If you have not already, read Glen Fryxell's - From Ingot to Target. This link is from the Sticky at the top of this forum - also available as a download in PDF format..

Chapter 2 - Casting 101, is an EXCELLENT guide to the basics.

I am hyper-critical about bottom pour pots and wrinkled boolits (rotational instability), and reject and recast mine thinking the spru plate, as a heat sink, is cooling the melt prior to mold line fill out. This is not the heat of the melt, which might need to be a little hotter too. I found this in the Fryxell book, Chapter 8 - Idle Musings of a Greybeard Bullet Caster under the heading "Heating the Sprue Plate".

[Hanzy4200]

Keep all wax and oil away from that mold. After years of misinformation by well meaning people, I've learned the hard way. NO BEESWAX! Get full synthetic 2 stroke oil, and use it very sparingly. One little $3 bottle will last you 200 years. Spray your mold with brake cleaner to rid it of oils, heat it up really hot to burn any missed oils off, then get to casting.

[Farmall-130]

Thanks to everyone for the replies. Maybe one good thing during the dearth of obtaining BP reloading components was that I had time to read. Lots of articles on this forum helped greatly, before I lit the burner. I think I’m a fanatic about mold cleanliness, smoking & lube. To lube the mold I melted beeswax & dipped a Q-tip into the wax. I think this method allows pin point control & the amount applied. I’m casting without a thermometer, can’t justify the cost just now. I made a 1/4” steel “donut” plate that goes over the burner, holds my lead pot & gives a place to heat the mold. I laid a oven thermometer on its back on the steel plate. While heating the lead I noted the oven thermometer temperature of 450F when the lead first began to melt. I think there’s got to be some relationship between the steel donut plate & lead temperature. 450F on plate & lead melts at 600F. Can anyone confirm a old wives tale that a strip of news paper dipped into the lead quickly will not burn at 700F? It’ll only char brown color. Is there a way to determine lead temp without a thermometer? I haven’t had frosted boolits yet, so I know I haven’t been too hot.
Thanks to all for the advice - this is a fun journey trying to cast boolits same as was done 100 years ago.

[GregLaROCHE]

You say you lube the mold with beeswax. The only place that is sometimes lubed is the sprue plate near the screw. You are not lubing anything else are you ?

[Mitch]

i agree with the above.No beesxax on any mold it will sooner or later migrate into the cavitys and cause problems.good old 2 cycle oil is the ony thing i would use.Wax is hard to get out of the mold once it gets in there.you bullet in the pic looks pretty good.i have the feeling they will come aput better without any beeswax.

[Farmall-130]

Gentlemen, thanks again for the comments. Seems like many don’t like beeswax to lube molds. I can assure you that beeswax migration is not a issue in my case. Lee mold was lubed per their instructions. I used a Q-tip sparingly dipped in melted beeswax. Just a touch is needed to lube. Yes it migrates but that’s the purpose as I see it. Too much of any lube could get onto surfaces that should be lube free. I’ve been doing more experimental casting using pure lead. I’ve increased the lead temperature and the mold temperature. Built a little “dog house” to keep the mold in & it really helped with bullet fill, wrinkles are gone. I’ve discovered I need a better ladle; I’m using the smallest open dipper Lee makes. The journey continues….

[Wayne Smith]

Oh, yes, you definitely need an better ladle - RCBS and Lyman both make what you need.

[Tar Heel]

As Land Owner has stated, "Just Do It" and begin your learning process. Molds must be absolutely clean and free of any residual oil or other lubricants. I roll a ball of bullet lube between my fingers to make a string of it and that string gets touched quickly to the sprue plate screw periodically to keep the sprue plate swinging easily. As indicated above, that slight hollow base offset will quickly resolve itself when slammed in the **** with 25,000 pounds of force.

Welcome to the casting clan!