Lee buckshot mold, Experiences ect.

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mckutzy

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I just got the Lee buckshot mold. I have the slug molds and now this one, kinda completes the shotgun collection.
h t tp://leeprecision.com/xcart/00-Buckshot-Mold.html
I did some casting with it and having no experiences with a larger capacity mold, I have some questions about this for the shotgun casters crowd...

My setup
- lyman electric melter
- hand cast ladle
- lead- almost pure and cleaned ( unfortunately I have no thermometer to tell temp. I guess and it seems to work for other casting.)
- buckshot mold- cleaned with alcohol and smoked with a Bic

I am getting 1 or sometimes 2 cavities filled(of a string of 3), rarely 3 full cavities filled(I got 6pcs of 3 strings total out of about ~250pcs aprox.) After the first, the next cavity at the gate the lead looks to freeze off and it stops with just a little tail.

I reckon the mold is hot but I never done casting with a big mold like this before. Is it hot enough? Do you have to have this like smoking hot to use properly? (I had placed the mold on the melter for quite a bit before I started and I had a cadence of production to keep it hot.)

I had not see any mold vents to clean like some other molds, so I dont know if venting is a problem.

I have some buck to try to shoot but it was quit the effort to get this far. Some advice from users and experts would be great.
 
What lead are you using to cast? Wheel weights? It almost sounds like your mold is not hot enough. I am in Ontario so cant' really give you hands-on help. Try using some pure lead if you have any. Sometimes the wheel weight alloys can be difficult to cast. There are guys on here with way more experience than myself casting lead. Perhaps one of them will chime in.

George
 
If you're casting with pure lead you have to get the mold and the melt REALLY hot, much hotter than wheelweights. If possible add a bit of tin to lower the melt/fillout temp and allow the mold to fill out more easily. I don't remember the exact temp but I think lead needs to be about 150-200 degrees hotter than ww metal for good casting. Also if you're using a ladle you may have to only fill 1-2 holes then redip the ladle for fresh HOTTTT metal otherwise the metal in the ladle will have cooled off for the next holes. Keep trying, I'm sure you'll get results but keep it hot/hot/hot.
 
Iam using pure as I can get it, roofing lead cleaned really well.
I guess there is a bit of tin in it already from the soldering of the tube, but how much more?
 
I bought this mold when it was first released and found you have to really warm it up before it will fill out. Once it is hot it will cast well and fill out.

I have been using harder (Wheel weight) alloy for my buckshot as I believe most commercial shot is made. I save the pure lead for blackpowder casting.
 
I don't put too much magic into my casting. If you leave the mold on top of the pot when it's warming up it helps. The lead has to flow freely and you can try it from the spout into a muffin cup to see then that can go back into the pot. Hotter is better. It's just pure lead not some mix so you can't have too many problems. It goes out of a shotgun just as easily as anything else. Work fast and the mold stays hotter.
 
Put the mold in with the lead, heat the lead to as high a temp. as possible, you'll know it is hot enough when the handles start to smoke and burn, throw mold out and start to cast if you have a good mold to use.
 
I didn't even know that mold existed until now. Thanks..I'll be ordering one.

As far as your problem goes...Just looking at the mold,you're going to have to do 2 things. One, keep it damned hot. The second is, you're going to have to dump the lead in pretty fast. No slow pouring with that configuation.
 
Alright, smoking it is. I dont have any harder aloy to mix with. All I got is roofing lead and a ton of it. I guess I could go out and get some lead free solder to mix in but I rather stick to the straight lead for now.

blacksmithden- I got mine from Henry at budget shooter supply, http://www.budgetshootersupply.ca/

dont forget, you have to buy the handles aswell.
 
ben hunchak said:
Put the mold in with the lead, heat the lead to as high a temp. as possible, you'll know it is hot enough when the handles start to smoke and burn, throw mold out and start to cast if you have a good mold to use.
Click to expand...

wow that helps!!!!

mckutzy, I just got this mold, let me know if you figure out what was going wrong
 
mckutzy said:
dont forget, you have to buy the handles aswell.
Click to expand...

One of the funniest all time posts on Cast Boolits, is the guy who didn't know molds had handles. He was wearing three gloves and still burning his hands. He thought all the other guys who casted were supermen or something. Finally he goes over to buddies house to watch him cast and asks "What are those?"
"The handles, duh"
 
I didn't buy the handles. Hoping the handles from my lee slug mold will fit... Or did I make a mistake not getting them?
 
Well actually my post may help you more then you think, from someone who has spent the better part of 40 years with bullet molds in both hands.
 
luke s- Im sorry you might have, No the slug mold and most lee molds have there own handles attached to them, this mold is like Lyman molds that use separate handles from the blocks.

curtmg- That's exactly what I thought and why I stated that..... When I went over to see Henry, I told him of that story of buddy casting all that wile with out handles, we were totally busting a gut on that one, I was saying that some people just don't know and made due to the best of there abilities, African ingenuity comes to mind. I defiantly wasn't going to giver a try that way, Ill forge something out before Ill go 'hand bombing' it.
 
The Sharpshooter buckshot moulds are very good as well. come with handles attached.Run them damned hot.I've had good luck using a 20 lb. bottom pour melter. I don't know how much fun it would be trying to fill an 18-20 cav. mould with a dipper (and keep it hot enough for good fillout) .Plus, I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but using the softest lead for buck may be the wrong alloy for the job. Softer shot deforms easily.Plus the fact that pure pb does not fill out as nice without alloying with expensive tin or better yet WW alloy.Using either 100% wheelweight alloy, or 50/50 WW/ pure pb and water dropping gives good hard shot.
 
All I have is lead thats why I used it. I guess Ill have to scrounge for some ww. I could also get some solder and use that?
 
Yes but the antimony and the little bit of arsenic in wheelweights allows for harder shot when water dropping. A bit of tin never hurts, but I have heard and read that any more than 2% tin is a waste, as it does not make the mix any harder or better in the mould fillout dept as you add more than 2% .I also read on CastBoolits that guys were tumbling their shot with graphite to smooth the sprues out a bit. I tried it, seems to work alright. Makes a mess of the tumbler bowl and your fingas as you stack the shot in the cup.

I`ve tried both straight WW alloy, and WW +2% pewter in making buckshot. Both seem to work for me anyway.That super soft pure lead is recommended for use in making slugs by both Lyman and Lee with their molds.Good stuff for that and muzzleloader boolits.
 
To tumble bullets or buckshot in graphite or dry moly, put it all in a nalgene bottle, and put the whole works in your tumbler, 2 bottles of equal size is the best fit, keeps you tumbler clean. Enjoy!
 
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