New to Casting: I Need Random Suggestions, Advice, and DO NOT DOs

[oldcorpgunny]

I used to work for Les Schwab in a former life and still have 1000's of pounds of clean/fluxed ww's to prove it, lol. When I was casting, I'd drop the hot boolits into a bucket of water. It changes the outer few thousandths of an inch by hardening it much harder while leaving the rest of the boolit alone. I was using low end jacketed data for 9mm with alox lubed bullets, no poly coating, and no leading of my barrels. All my casting stuff has about an inch of dust on it now from lack of use, I should get around to selling it as it is taking up a huge portion of my shop.

A very real consideration is to not overheat your lead beyond it's melting point. Lead can atomize if really overheated and you don't want to breath the fumes. Wear a respirator style mask when melting it because scrap lead may contain other substances that will impair your breathing.

 

[kmk1012]

A very real consideration is to not overheat your lead beyond it's melting point. Lead can atomize if really overheated and you don't want to breath the fumes. Wear a respirator style mask when melting it because scrap lead may contain other substances that will impair your breathing.

Maybe that's why I've been on chemo since February, lol.

 

[awshoot]

I'

A very real consideration is to not overheat your lead beyond it's melting point. Lead can atomize if really overheated and you don't want to breath the fumes. Wear a respirator style mask when melting it because scrap lead may contain other substances that will impair your breathing.

Posters earlier recommended getting a thermometer to avoid this problem and since posting, I have. It was sort of amusing and sort of NOT amusing, that the thermometer was $45 while the led pot was about $70 --9/14th the price of the pot, but I figure it's still cheaper than a doctor visit. On other suggestions I got a ladle and ingot mold which I didn't have at first. Do have a fan, as well as welding gloves, half-face respirator, and a leather welding apron from pre-existing interests. I'm thinking of giving it a go this afternoon, but I also have 55 shotshells to finish up today and chores my wife thinks are more important than all this for some weird reason, so it might be tomorrow. Pretty excited.

 

[awshoot]

I have some bullets. I made some 9mm and .40 S&W, I weight sorted the 9mm (not .40 yet) and out of 63 of the 9s that I kept (which was probably half total), 53 of them came in within a 0.6 gr spread with 33 of them being in the middle two boxes of my sort bin (so within 0.1 gr of each other).

I had some trouble on my first try -- I looked at the back of the thermometer packaging and it said "540" for #2 and I stopped reading and I tried doing it at that temperature. All were wrinkled. Further reading online and the pot instructions, suggested going 100 degrees over melting point so in the second try I shot for that. I managed to keep the temp between 640 and 670, though it did go over and under a couple times.

Here is a bad bullet -- I think these happen when I kind of miss the sprue hole, some lead goes in, there is a pause, and then I try to top off (same pic -- one has more contrast):




And this I think looks decent -- tell me if I'm wrong:

 

[Certaindeaf]

I have some bullets. I made some 9mm and .40 S&W, I weight sorted the 9mm (not .40 yet) and out of 63 of the 9s that I kept (which was probably half total), 53 of them came in within a 0.6 gr spread with 33 of them being in the middle two boxes of my sort bin (so within 0.1 gr of each other).

I had some trouble on my first try -- I looked at the back of the thermometer packaging and it said "540" for #2 and I stopped reading and I tried doing it at that temperature. All were wrinkled. Further reading online and the pot instructions, suggested going 100 degrees over melting point so in the second try I shot for that. I managed to keep the temp between 640 and 670, though it did go over and under a couple times.

Here is a bad bullet -- I think these happen when I kind of miss the sprue hole, some lead goes in, there is a pause, and then I try to top off (same pic -- one has more contrast):

View attachment 743108
View attachment 743109

And this I think looks decent -- tell me if I'm wrong:
View attachment 743107
View attachment 743106

Is that a crystalline divot on sprue cut? If so you're cutting the sprue too soon. It might need a tiny bit of tin to fill out more/less wrinkles even when hot.
Also, be careful of the base corners. Don't dent them. The base is the most important thing regarding accuracy.

 

[awshoot]

Is that a crystalline divot on sprue cut? If so you're cutting the sprue too soon. It might need a tiny bit of tin to fill out more/less wrinkles even when hot.
Also, be careful of the base corners. Don't dent them. The base is the most important thing regarding accuracy.

Here is a better picture -- ignore the rim dent on the right (I dropped the bullet on concrete while trying to juggle tweezers, a magnifying glass, and my cell phone) -- I would say most of my sprues look like this. I'm pretty sure in the video posted upthread the guy was counting to 15 -- I was counting to 10. I can't explain why I was not following directions, but it seemed to work so I did it. However, what I'm understanding is that this base looks bad and I should wait longer?

 

[Certaindeaf]

I think the spue cut is ok. The base edge seems rounded, which isn't bad if they can all be made the same.
You're doing good!

 

[awshoot]

I think the spue cut is ok. The base edge seems rounded, which isn't bad if they can all be made the same.
You're doing good!

Yeah I noticed the rounding in the picture. I think I'm going to have to keep a magnifying glass with my casting stuff -- I'm getting blinder every day!

 

[Certaindeaf]

Yeah I noticed the rounding in the picture. I think I'm going to have to keep a magnifying glass with my casting stuff -- I'm getting blinder every day!

You can see roundness/ovalized and base fill out/sharpness best when the bullets are still in the mold, especially with cast iron molds.

 

[nammac]

I have some bullets. I made some 9mm and .40 S&W, I weight sorted the 9mm (not .40 yet) and out of 63 of the 9s that I kept (which was probably half total), 53 of them came in within a 0.6 gr spread with 33 of them being in the middle two boxes of my sort bin (so within 0.1 gr of each other).

I had some trouble on my first try -- I looked at the back of the thermometer packaging and it said "540" for #2 and I stopped reading and I tried doing it at that temperature. All were wrinkled. Further reading online and the pot instructions, suggested going 100 degrees over melting point so in the second try I shot for that. I managed to keep the temp between 640 and 670, though it did go over and under a couple times.

Here is a bad bullet -- I think these happen when I kind of miss the sprue hole, some lead goes in, there is a pause, and then I try to top off (same pic -- one has more contrast):

View attachment 743108
View attachment 743109

And this I think looks decent -- tell me if I'm wrong:
View attachment 743107
View attachment 743106

Spot on regard the top two photos, partial then complete pour, that's just simply practice. Agree with @Certaindeaf , give the sprue a few more seconds to cure, if your still getting a divot, give a smidge more tin. Protect the base when you are dropping them from the mold. I use an old pair of cotton khakis, old towel will do too, just be sure to drop the freshly minted bullets into that soft surface and migrate them to a pile as you pour more...

Looking good!

 

[awshoot]

Spot on regard the top two photos, partial then complete pour, that's just simply practice. Agree with @Certaindeaf , give the sprue a few more seconds to cure, if your still getting a divot, give a smidge more tin. Protect the base when you are dropping them from the mold. I use an old pair of cotton khakis, old towel will do too, just be sure to drop the freshly minted bullets into that soft surface and migrate them to a pile as you pour more...

Looking good!

I was definitely dumping bullets into a pile of previously cast bullets. Never again -- I promise. The don'ts list grows.

 

[nammac]

I was definitely dumping bullets into a pile of previously cast bullets. Never again -- I promise. The don'ts list grows.

Trust me you'll get into a grove and a routine that works for you and your physical setup. Just takes time... You are well on your way!

 

[Certaindeaf]

I was definitely dumping bullets into a pile of previously cast bullets. Never again -- I promise. The don'ts list grows.

Years ago, American Rifleman did a test on jacketed flatbase rifle bullets. They filed huge lopsided hunks from the ogive/tip and hardly any lessened accuracy. Filed a tiny nick on the base edge and it was a shotgun.
Most commercial bullets have a round base and are cast hard just to lessen handling damage.

 

[Lesliet]

Like nammac said, it's just practice, from here. Cast lots, and you'll become good at it. Those are already some nice looking bullets, I wouldn't hesitate to shoot them. ( well, I might toss the nicked base one back in the "recast" box.) After a while, you may observe the way the sprue cutter feels when it's "just right" on cutting temperature... not too soft, not too hard. There's always a warming up period where things aren't quite there, yet, and then you hit that groove where everything starts working and great bullets are dropping out of the mold like rain. Great job, you're acquiring a very useful new skill!

 

[Hatman1793]

START following FortuneCookie45LC on Ytube. He is the casting guru par excellance.

Skip the lube process & go straight to powder coating your bullets.

 

[awshoot]

START following FortuneCookie45LC on Ytube. He is the casting guru par excellance.

Skip the lube process & go straight to powder coating your bullets.

I guess a trip to goodwill for a toaster oven is in my future!

 

[HaveGun]

The wrinkling is from too cold of a mold. When you start getting frosting, the mold is too hot.

My dad is a subcontractor for a bullet company and casts about 40,000 a year. I will go help him out when he's too worn out and we run two double-cavity steel molds in different styles of bullets.

You get a rhythm down in keeping the molds at the perfect temp and can crank out a decent amount of boolits.

I own mostly Lee molds, but don't cast two molds at once. Mostly because aluminum molds are bit more finicky to keep at the proper temp.

There is virtually no danger of inhaling lead fumes. Those who warn against it flunked high school science. The temperature at which lead can be vaporized and inhaled is 1750 degrees. The average temp I run my pot to is about 800 degrees. Lead poisoning from casting can only come from handling a ton of boolits, then smoking or eating with filthy hands.

I'm not an expert on casting, but I know enough to produce beautiful boolits...

 

[Knebel]

I'm following this closely, maybe thinking about getting into it too...

 

[awshoot]

I'm following this closely, maybe thinking about getting into it too...

I'd say do it. I went to the range the other day with three 9mm test loads on three different bullets (Xtreme 124 gr CPHP; Federal 105 gr Guard dog, and bullets I molded in a 125 gr Lee mold with Lyman #2 lead).

For the home cast and the Xtremes I did series with five different powder loads, with each series having seven shots. Target was at 15 yds and I shot from a rest. For these test loads, the cast lead bullets were the most consistent and most accurate to my genuine surprise because I'm definitely no expert at casting:

Series​	7 shots​	-1 Shot (6)​
A​	3.0​	2.4​
B​	1.8​	1.6​
C​	1.7​	1.7​
D​	2.4​	2.0​
E​	3.4​	3.1​

I also did 7 shot series for the Xtreme CPHP but the results weren't nearly so good -- I have to drop at least bullet hole for them to compare:

Series​	7 shots​	-1 Shot (6)​
A​	3.0​	2.6​
B​	3.7​	2.4​
C​	2.4​	1.5​
D​	2.5​	1.6​
E​	4.6​	3.3​

As for the Gaurd Dogs -- I'm getting there but these bullets have zero load data and that last range trip was the first time I actually got all my shots on paper with five shot groups (three series) ranging from 5" to 2".

 

[HaveGun]

I'm all for casting for bigger bullets such as .45-70 and .45 Colt. Even have some molds for 10mm/.40 S&W. But never bothered with 9mm.

My .45-70 govt. boolits are for competitions, and my 10mm and .45 Colt boolits are for bears. With decent 9mm target bullets at under $.10 each, and my having to buy lead at $2.50 a pound (that works out to $.05 each for a 115 grain boolit), saving a few cents per round, minus the time, trouble, and lube, just didn't seem worth it to me.

Heck, I'm still getting used to the indignity of reloading 9mm.