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.