zinc in my lead

[lightman]

I applaud you for hanging in there and trying! Most of us would be very frustrated by now.

You may have several things working against you. Those last pictures look like something is still too cold. Your mold guide looks nice but it may be acting as a heat sink. Most factory guides are made from aluminum. Your flow rate may also be a little slow. Something I might try would be to use a carbide scribe and carefully run it through the vent lines on your mold. Don't try to recut them, just clean them up a little.

Here are a few of my thoughts. Hopefully you can start getting good bullets!

I don't think you have a Zink problem. I hand sort all of my weights, not trusting the pot temps to weed out the Zinc. But it seems like you did a good job with yours.

I don't have any Lee molds but I disagree with their instructions to smoke the mold. I don't want anything in the mold cavities except lead. I also disagree with their suggestion to lube with Beeswax. The melting temp is too low. Use 2 cycle oil.

I use straight clip-on weights for nearly all of my casting needs. I run the pot temp at 725º. I preheat the mold on an open coil hot plate but I don't know what the mold temp is, or really care. I also preheat my ingots and I don't add the sprues back into the pot while I'm casting.

Good Luck and hang in there!

[dearslayer]

I applaud you for hanging in there and trying! Most of us would be very frustrated by now.

You may have several things working against you. Those last pictures look like something is still too cold. Your mold guide looks nice but it may be acting as a heat sink. Most factory guides are made from aluminum. Your flow rate may also be a little slow. Something I might try would be to use a carbide scribe and carefully run it through the vent lines on your mold. Don't try to recut them, just clean them up a little.

Here are a few of my thoughts. Hopefully you can start getting good bullets!

I don't think you have a Zink problem. I hand sort all of my weights, not trusting the pot temps to weed out the Zinc. But it seems like you did a good job with yours.

I don't have any Lee molds but I disagree with their instructions to smoke the mold. I don't want anything in the mold cavities except lead. I also disagree with their suggestion to lube with Beeswax. The melting temp is too low. Use 2 cycle oil.

I use straight clip-on weights for nearly all of my casting needs. I run the pot temp at 725º. I preheat the mold on an open coil hot plate but I don't know what the mold temp is, or really care. I also preheat my ingots and I don't add the sprues back into the pot while I'm casting.

Good Luck and hang in there!

Thanks for the advise. I'll follow all the advise and recommendations from all members on here until I get this nailed down. I'm not a quitter by nature but there are times when I feel like giving up so I walk away and come back another day but the same goes for most things in life that are a challenge right. I'll get it right if it kills me. Onward into the fog.

[toallmy]

When you cast again try to pay attention to the time you spend through out the whole adventure from the beginning , like .
Turning on the pot at 615 pm
Putting the mold on the hot plate at 625 pm
When the pot is up to a constant casting temperature 645 pm
This will give you a idea of a good precasting set up time ..
Then try to keep a mental note of the time you do the steps involved in casting like
Filling the mold from beginning to end count it off in your mind 1 2 3 4 ......
Watching the sprue closely while poring is a wonder in its self much to be learned during the process .
Count off how long it takes for the sprue to go solid
After cutting the sprue how long did you take dropping the boollits
On and on
You will learn much from this process , you are well on your way to becoming a boolit artist

[Ohio Rusty]

Use it for fishing lures and sinkers if all else fails.
Ohio Rusty ><>

[GregLaROCHE]

Is there anyway you could borrow a one or two cavity mold from someone, even if it’s not your caliber, just to see how the boolits turn out? That may help to rule out if something is wrong with the mold and could be easier to cast with. Most casters don’t start with six cavity molds.

[dearslayer]

Is there anyway you could borrow a one or two cavity mold from someone, even if it’s not your caliber, just to see how the boolits turn out? That may help to rule out if something is wrong with the mold and could be easier to cast with. Most casters don’t start with six cavity molds.

This would be a great option but I don't know anyone with a 2 cavity. I'm gonna try the mold again in a couple of days when I get time now that I'm armed with a ton of new information thanks to you all. If things don't improve I'll try my 9mm 6 cavity to see if the same issues occur. I had beginners luck with it a few weeks back when I cast for the very first time. I'll keep everyone posted once I get there.

[GregLaROCHE]

I don’t know what your budget is, nor am I certain this is the right diameter for you. I don’t shoot handguns. Here’s something to think about.
https://www.ebay.com/p/2254341688
This may come up with charges to France, where I am now, but you won’t have to pay that much.

[toallmy]

When you get ready to give it another go here are a couple things that might help besides what has already been mentioned
As I understand it you are attempting to cast with a 10 pound pot & a 6 cavity 40 caliber mold . If your pot is like everyone else's a 10 pound pot it really holds less than 10 lb plus you must maintain a few pounds in your pot so your operating in a very small window of several pounds of alloy trying to gain experience casting , you are probably battling wild temperature swings from beginning to end . Hardly getting a few pores in the middle before the pot gets low , then to complicate matters your mold temperature is constantly changing as well . As your sorta new to casting I'm sure your boollits are not just jumping out of the mold , so it takes a few seconds to cut the sprue remove the cast bullets then prepare to refill the mold .
Even with all this going on your actually producing cast boollits , so your getting there ......
If you have the time on your next attempt possibly just cast not trying to produce boollits , but practice casting .
Having preheated ingots or even molten alloy ready to add to the pot will give you more time going through the motions of casting rather than watching your pot temperature swing up and down trying to maintain a workable level , and allowing the mold temperature to change drastically as well .
I'd fill up both pots get them and the mold up to a good casting temperature then cast with one of them until it got down on alloy then dump everything back in to melt again , while casting out of the other pot just for the experience or practice . But I enjoy casting
Good luck

[greenjoytj]

You don’t have to fill all 6 cavities. Just fill the first 2 or 3. The mold will be easier to open and faster to refill.

[dearslayer]

Well giving this another go. A couple differences than the last session. This time the boolits look a little frosted and also when I break the sprue it also is frosty and seems to break apart. The temperature of the lead when I started was originally 723° and as I was casting the temperature climb to over 850. Should I assume that 850 is too hot that's the reason why the bullets are frosty?
I can't seem to attach photos from my phone

[Helka]

That’s correct. 750 is what I set my PID too


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[dearslayer]

Having a bit of a hard time keeping the temperature around 7:50 if I leave it it climbs too high if I turn it down it goes too low. Definitely think I need a PID.

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[dearslayer]

Not sure if these photos will attach or not.

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[Helka]

Those look great!


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[dearslayer]

Thanks. It's definitely a huge improvement over the last time that's for sure. They are all fully formed with no smiles. My only concern is the sprue breaking apart like that almost to the point of being crumbly if that's the right word. It gives me some hope at the very least. I think the biggest thing this time was having the mold sitting on the hot plate to heat it up from the get-go.

[jimb16]

You probably aren't letting the sprue cool enough. Give it a few more seconds to cool before you cut.

[dearslayer]

Ok I'll give it a try.

[AlHunt]

Not sure if these photos will attach or not.

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Congratulations, you've done it. As said, let the sprue cool a second or two more if you're not happy with it. As long as it's not smearing on the mold top, it's really ok.

Maybe a 10 pound pot and 6 cavity mold won't let you add the sprues back as you go and keep your pot temp up. My 20 pound pot eats them fine.

You're down to tweaks and details now. Feels good knowing you'll never lack for bullets, doesn't it?

[dearslayer]

Congratulations, you've done it. As said, let the sprue cool a second or two more if you're not happy with it. As long as it's not smearing on the mold top, it's really ok.

Maybe a 10 pound pot and 6 cavity mold won't let you add the sprues back as you go and keep your pot temp up. My 20 pound pot eats them fine.

You're down to tweaks and details now. Feels good knowing you'll never lack for bullets, doesn't it?

Man oh man I thought I'd never see a decent bullet!! Thanks to all the advise and encouragement from everybody here it certainly made things go a lot easier and kept me a little bit optimistic. Now that I know I can actually do it getting the 20 lb pot is certainly an option. In fact I found that the valve rod on this 10 lb pot really gets in the way of trying to spoon the crud off the top of the molten lead making fluxing a little bit difficult. I have to admit I'm feeling much better about the whole ordeal now and I think a PID and a new pot is in order! I'll try to attach a photo shortly showing the difference between the frosted bullets and the not so frosted bullets. I tried to keep the temperature down a little bit and the frosting seem to go away for the most part. My next question is are my frosted bullets okay to use or do they need to go back in the pot for a remelt?

[dearslayer]

Frosted on the right and not so frosted on the left . It's a really rainy damp evening here so I had to quit for the night. Arthritis in my thumbs is killing me

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