Dumber than a box of rocks

[JohnH]

Last year I picked up a Lyman Mag 20 at an estate sale that I don't think had ever been used, if it had been they did some remarkable clean up. I've cast with Lee 10 since I started this in the 1980's and with a Lee 20 since they came out. Put new valve seat and stem in the 20 one time. The Lyman runs much smoother even though it does have occasional drips (I prolly don't get my smelt as clean as most folks).

I run several NOE 4 bangers and Lee 6 bangers, the NOE being rather long bullets (a 358429 copy and the 311-202 and the Lee's are 358 158 RFN and 452 230TC. The Lee's have run perfectly, but the NOE's began showing what looked like a cold mold even though I run the thing with the temp set wide open (I run my Lee 20 set at ~7 on the dial) Now mind you I don't run PID's or any of that other fancy stuff, don't see the need for it but I couldn't escape the fact that I was getting wrinkled bullets even after running the two NOE's for well over an hour's time.

Somewhere i ran across a discussion about a fella having trouble with a 30 caliber mold filling out well. Someone replied that the mold was cold, that long bullets need a bit more heat than shorter bullets for good fill out. Interesting I thinks to myself. Now mind you I'd run the NOE's on the Lee and never had an issue. In fact, I thought those two molds were the best I'd ever had. It was only when I began running them on the Lyman Mag 20 that I began to have issues but until that thread I'd never thought about the temp of things and had assumed that I was having an issue as a result of over smoking the molds as I would touch the molds up when I was having too much loss to wrinkling.

I have a single eye electric burner on my casting bench, so this week I cleaned the NOE 358429 up, fired up the Lyman and the electric eye. My normal start up is to set the mold on the pot to warm up as the lead is melting and once melted to stick the front corner of the mold into the melt for a count of ten and cast away. With the Lee I have clean bullets in five casts and throughout the run from that point. With the Lyman I would struggle the whole session to keep 3 of 4 from each cast.

This time when I was still getting wrinkled bullets I laid the mold on the electric eye for a count to ten; low and behold no friggin' wrinkles, in fact I was able to get the mold hot enough that I was getting a nice frosting, something I'd never seen from the Lyman pot. Long story short, the Lyman simply doesn't get as hot as the Lee pot does, and there is not a PID (I actually have an Omega Engineering model 6001-P2-T1, just need the right thermocoupler for it) in the world that would solve this problem, though a simple thermometer would have shown it up the first run.

Now mind you the Lee molds with their short boolits run perfect fine n the Lyman, it fact I get the most consistent runs I've ever had from those molds off that pot with those molds (and several others) and it was that which had me thinking I was having some issue with the molds themselves rather than a temperature issue. Wrinkled bullets should have been a clue, been then I said, someday's I'm dumber than a box of rocks.

[Minerat]

One thing to look at is the size of the spout opening on the Lyman. I have a Seaco that you can adjust the size of the opening by moving the stem set screw up or down. For short boolits like a 44 or 45 pistol then I can run it about 2/3rds open but for long rifle boolits like a 308 or 8mm it has to be wide open or wrinkles happen. I have gone to ladle poring long boolits.

[wv109323]

I have the same Lyman pot. The thermostat, cord plug in, and wire terminals were a constant problem. The steel contact point in thermostat would rust and become inconsistent. Wire terminals would heat and loose consistent electrical contact. I did away with everything and ran power directly from SSR of the PID to the heating element. This made a hugh difference in boolit quality.
The other thing I would suggest is watch the distance from the bottom of the spout to the top of the mold. Too large a distance and the lead will cool before it enters the mold.

[Winger Ed.]

The best thing I've found is to adjust for a high flow rate-- right up until it gets 'messy',
heat the pot way up to start off, until the boolits frost, and maybe have a small shrink hole.

Then back off the heat a little.
I also keep a wooden board near the pot so when I do a pour, I can drop the mold for a little tap on it.
That seems to help the fill out, and reduce the shrink hole.

[jsizemore]

I have a Lyman Mold Master XX that looked little used when I got it. Just like you it didn't seem to get hot enough. When I got into it, I found the connectors were in sad shape especially the heating element connections. Few of the wire stands were still connected. I had some high temp solderless connectors and glass insulated nickel coated copper wire I scavenged from a self cleaning oven. Furnace heats great for the past 10-11 years.