My first try at casting, 4th July 20015

[cowboys1062]

 The rainy weather finally broke on the 4th of July and I had a crack at my first casting session. I have to say that it was hardly a success but what can expect on the first try? Even though my casting session went pretty pour, I did learn alot of much needed hands on experience and determined some of the causes of my pour preformance. I had about a 75% lull rate and the 25 balls I kept were way under weight. I'm casting .490 balls with the idea weight of being 177grain. The balls I kept were 171 to 172 grain. They were also wrinkled. They too will be put back in the pot for the next casting session. From what I can gather, my mold was not hot enough and possibly the lead was not hot enough either. That would explain the wrinkles and light ball weights. When pouring, the lead almost immediately solidified after a second or two after hitting the sprue plate. I had lead sticking on the ladle making it impossible to achieve a steady stream of lead pouring into the sprueplate holes. The result was lead all over the top of the spruelpate. I put my Lee dipper on top of my melter to heat up better and then I started smelling wood burning! It was the wooden handle of the dipper. Also the metal collar on the handle came loose. I came to not like the Lee dipper very well. The stem is to short for my liking and it doesn't hold very much lead. I had to dip twice to fill the double cavity mold which in turn threw off my rythem completely. I sure made a mess of things. After all of the mentioned above, I plan on making the following changes to my next casting session. First of all Im going to ensure that my mold, Ladle, and lead are hot enough which should eliminate most of my wrinkle ball problems and will bring my weight up in my balls. I ordered a Lyman Ladle with a pour bottom spout. That should give me an accurate pour stream of lead that I can more control into the sprueplate holes thus createing a small puddle of lead above each sprue hole. No more getting lead all over the sprue plate. I have a hot plate that I will use to warm up my mold and ladle while my lead in my pot is heating up to temp. I will check the ladle and mold temp. by making sure the lead just simply slides off them before use. After pouring into the cavities of the mold I will look for the lead to solidify 4 to 5 seconds after pouring. The Lyman ladel has a capacity to hold 1 1/2 ounce of lead so I will be able to fill both cavities in one pour thus not breaking my rythem. If my balls come out with wrinkles either the mold and or lead is not hot enough and will also create low ball weights. If to hot, the balls will come out looking frosty with the possibility of having over weight balls. During the casting session if Im not using the ladle or mold at the time, I will keep them sitting on the hotplate to maintain appropiate temp. During sometime in my casting if I notice Im starting to get frosty balls, I will let the mold cool using my Fan that I have set up near by, and I will slow down my casting rythem. If I start to see wrinkles I will hold the corner of my mold in the lead pot for around 30 seconds until the lead just slips off the mold and that should be heated up enough to continue. I will keep my setting on my Lee Magnum Melter Pot to be set at around 7 1/2 and see if that keeps the lead at the right temp. but will adjust up or down accordingly. Well this is what happened in my first casting session and from what I've learned  the things I plan to do to correct my mistakes. Any additional comments, information, or advice would be most welcomed. Respectfully, cowboys1062.

[hammer]

Wow, you have a lot of analysis here for a first time.   A few tips.   Aluminium moulds heat up quite quickly and can stay at a working temperature for a good while.  Brass gets hotter quicker and can quickly get too hot.  Steel takes a good while to reach working temperature and is harder to regulate.   Do smoke the interior of the mould, a candle flame is a good way to get a light film of carbon over the surface.  Try to keep your lead at a mid temperature, can easily cool down or get overheated - experience will tell.    Do heat up the sprue plate as well as the mould body, you want that good and hot or the lead will cool as it is poured into the mould.
A lot of the rest is gained by experience and practice.
Good luck.

[Pete G.]

You have made a good first step by canning that Lee dipper. Might as well use a kitchen spoon. The wrinkled bullets indicate a temp too low. A frosted bullet indicates that your temps are getting too high, but they are still a good bullet if you allow sufficient time for cooling, otherwise you will start to get lead smear on the underside of the sprue plate, which causes additional problems. If your bullets look well formed but are uniformly light, it is probable that your alloy is not pure lead, most available casting alloys are not, but some are close enough.

[Hungry Horse]

You are correct, wrinkled balls indicate the lead is not hot enough. Frosted balls means the lead is too hot and vaporizing, which means you are probably breathing it. I never worry about what the experts say the ball should weigh, because pure lead isn't as easy to get as you think. If they all weigh about the same it's probably the metal. Forget the hot plate. The last thing you need is another hot thing in your work space. Just prop the bowl of your dipper on the top edge of the melting pot when you first fire it up, and by the time the lead is melted the dipper will be hot. Do the same thing on the other side of the pot with the mold.
 It real easy to let this casting process become a giant fun suck. Over thinking this menial task can easily suck all the fun out of shooting. You will get reluctant to shoot a lot of shots, because you have so much time invested in each round. And, believe me, your shooting buddies don't want to hear how every ball is lovingly cast, and weighed, and trimmed, and rolled. Shoot more, and Worry less.
          Hungry Horse

[Daryl]

If I might make a clarification, a  frosted bullet means you are casting hot with an antimony alloy other than pure or dead soft lead.  Of course, too hot, is too hot and caused further problems.  Too hot with pure lead, makes for blue balls. To hot with alloys makes for overly frosted bullets with broken edges as they come from the mould. Also, when lead or blocks are too hot, it takes too much time for them to harden completely. This, through experience, is evident by the amount of time it takes for the sprue to harden.

I cast ALL of the bullets for my ctg. rifles with a frosted appearance, while the lead balls all shine like jewels. Keep at it, you're doing great, understanding what the end result will be and how to accomplish it.

Frosted antimony/lead alloyed bullets for the Sharps. All perfect.



Jewels for the ML rifle.

[Daryl]

By all means, get a good ladle. It is paramount to casting well.  The lades with the casting flashes, RCBS comes to mind and perhaps the new Lyman ladles are the same, get a grind treatment from me. I grind that flat-blade-like projection off with the back of the ladle. Sometimes, sharpening up the ladle's pour spout can help, some do not needed it. I've gone through a few ladles over the years, but still my my petite Lyman ladle from 1972 when AI started. Every now and then, I misplace it, buy one of the new ones, re-shape them, work for a while and find the old favourite- then give away the new one. lol

[jamesthomas]

 Give that melter another 1/2 turn up to 8 and see if that works. If your ladle is sticking to the mold they are not hot enough. You really need to get the mold and ladle hot (so that the lead does not stick to them) before starting casting. Also for the folks replying, I gave Cowboy his lead and it is as pure as you can get (roof flashing). Btw, I use that Lee ladle and have no problems whatsoever in getting my .490's within 1 grain. I use a dip for each cavity so that the lead doesn't cool down when filling the second cavity. Its all in the rythum and having your mold, ladle and lead the right temp.

[Maven]

cowboys1062, A couple of suggestions to make your casting better.  (1) While not essential, a good casting thermometer, e.g., Tel-True brand, helps because you are controlling for temperature fluctuations.  With pure Pb, I find most of my RB moulds cast best @ 800 deg. F, at least initially.  After a dozen or so perfect casts, you can back down to 750 - 775 deg.  (2) A mould contaminated with oils, preservatives, etc. will also -> wrinkled castings.  You may need to scrub the cavities with dish soap and an old, soft toothbrush.  Dry it thoroughly before you try casting with it, as any water left behind can produce steam and a great deal of lead spatter. (Don't ask!)  (3) After cleaning, drying, and casting with the mould, i.e., when it is hot, use wooden matches or a butane [cigarette] lighter to "smoke" the cavities:  A light layer of soot/carbon can help get near perfect results with many, but not all moulds:  It takes only a few seconds and costs next to nothing.  (4) Molten Pb will oxidize (as do most metals).  Those oxides and other impurities are best removed by fluxing.  Bees wax, candle wax, sawdust work well, especially if you can cast out of doors.  If you cast  indoors, look into Marvelux, available from Brownells.  Hope this helps!

[smylee grouch]

I have had some trouble with that lee dipper but fixed it by filing the V with a three corner file, it seemed to allow the lead to pour better in to the mold. I like to get a little puddle on top of the mold, enough so that I need to wait about 2-3 seconds before it solidifies, this will vary somewhat with the size of the ball. I would rather cast a little on the hot side than a little on the cool side. If you do get one of the dippers with the little spouts, you might want to drill out the hole a little so the lead floes better.

[smokinbuck]

Did some casting today, .395 and .400 ball. Used a bottom pour Lee pot and two molds. From turning on the pot to shut down about 1 hour and 150 plus later, all's well. It is not a black art, you have to get prepared and create a rithym..
Mark

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Nice pichers, Daryl.

[Daryl]

TKS Taylor.

[Daryl]

Cowboys- keep at it, and they'll look like these from a Lyman 570 mould that casts .574" - and perfectly, like gems.
suggestion, I spray my mould blocks - all of them brass, aluminum and cast steel or iron, with moly bullet coating. This is better than smoking the mould with a match or lighter as it lasts longer and does not rub off.  It prevents lead from sticking to the sprue plate as well.