Bullet casting

vinver

vinver

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Enfield, NS
After sitting on the needed equipment for several months, had a chance to make my first attempt at casting some Minies for my Parker Hale Musketoon. The mold is an old OHaus 58-500 , which apparently is now sold by RCBS. Bottom plug is from the P-H 58560 mold which gives a flat bottomed Minie. Lee melting pot had to be set on 10 to keep the lead molten long enough to pour the 560 grain Minies. Took a long time to get it hot enough to get some good castings- of the 21 that I ended with, probably 10 I would call good, 4 are OK and the rest have some flaws and will be re-melted and recast. Ones that had base skirt flaws went back in the bot right away. I was using some leftover lead balls but need to find some more pure lead. It's a start- the wooden bat and ladles came from local thrift shop. Next time I will try the Parker Hale mold as it has a bigger block and longer handles so I can get more heat into it and get better casts. Any tips or hints are welcomed from anybody with more experience at this! Fun Fun!



 
Looks lije a great start. I add tin to the pot. This helps the lead pour a lit better. I add 120 inches of lead free solder as it is for the mist part tin.

Cheers. SJ
 
Welcome to the world of casting.

Get yourself a bench or table to cast on, makes it a lot easier on the body and you will be able to cast better, smoother pace and for a longer period

You also need to preheat your mold. If you don't it will take a quite a few cast to get it up to temp. It saves having to throw bullets back in the pot.I use a soldering torch and others use a hotplate to preheat.

Acquire Lyman's Cast Bullet Handbook.

Have fun....
 
I wuld definitely use a little tin, and preheat the mold. I preheat mine on a hotplate whil the pot heats up, which was one of the best things I've done for my casting. I cast my bpcr bullets at 800 degrees and this usually puts me at between 5 and 6 on my Lee Magnum Melter's dial.

Your results look good for your first try.

The only other thing I'd advise is to use a thermometer and watch how your mold behaves as it comes up to temperature. You'll learn a lot about the ideal casting tempo by just watching how your mold behaves. One thing many people do is try to go too fast and they get bullets that don't drop easily from their molds. I was guilty of that for quite a while :)

Chris.
 
I keep my lead pot almost full of heated lead. Then when all things are hot enough I can cast for while. Adding lead while casting often quenches the lead and it makes funky bullets that go back in the pot. Nice mold!!
 
If you have not done so already, I would suggest sooting the mold. I use a coal oil lamp with no chimney and hold the open mold in the smoky flame. The soot seems to allow the lead to fill the mold more smoothly. While on the subject, if you get dimples in the bullets, I think it is caused by oil vapours in the metal. I pour a small amount of acetone over the hot mold to eliminate the problem

cheers mooncoon
 
Thanks for the tips, I've already planned out my changes for the next casting session. I could tell the mold and lead weren't hot enough, as the lead would solidify quickly around the top plate. Some of the Minies were only half formed before the hole would "freeze" over. And , the molten lead would sometimes clump up in my ladle. I may make a taller stand for the pot, and try to pour directly into the mold. Next go, I will have the pot a lot fuller. This attempt was more of a trial and error and I was pleased to get a few acceptable results.
Next batch will be better I'm sure.
Mooncoon, you mention oil gassing off of the mold- since this is an iron mold, I sprayed it down when done with some G96 to prevent rust- maybe was a bad idea? I'll probably give it a shot of Brakeleen before next casting and hold it over a sooty candle to soot it up, since I can't seem to find my Coal Oil lamp...lol. Funny thing, my brother just bought an old Railway oil lamp at a yard sale for $5 , then sold it on e-Bay for $244. Little bugger always gets the good deals .
 
I pre-heat moulds by floating them on top of the molten lead . A blob of lead will attach to the bottom of the mold, keep beating til it drops away clean then a bit more.

I smoke mooulds sometimes, but one thing I've learned is that a candle has an oily flame and it can cause the same wrinkles as having oil in the mould. I've had to stop and degrease the candle soot out to get rid of it. A match or bic lighter works better. A barbeque lighter for gang moulds, or it can get real warm on the thumb.
 
I have 33 bullet molds and I burn off the oils from the new mold and buy liquid graphite and spray the mold and sprule, and hinges. Never an issue with sticky bullets after that. I pry my bullet out with welding gloves. Every 1000 bullets and I re-coat the mold with spray graphite. I buy said graphite at Canadian tire or peavey mart.
 
vinver said:
Mooncoon, you mention oil gassing off of the mold- since this is an iron mold, I sprayed it down when done with some G96 to prevent rust- maybe was a bad idea? I'll probably give it a shot of Brakeleen before next casting and hold it over a sooty candle to soot it up, since I can't seem to find my Coal Oil lamp..
Click to expand...

I leave a bullet in the mold to minimize the amount of air and moisture which can get inside the mold. I use aluminum, brass and steel molds and have not had any problems with rust while storing the molds that way. I would be hesitant to use G96 and brakeleen for rust prevention. I vaguely think that I may have tried using cleaning solvent to degrease molds in the distant past and it was not particularly effective. With acetone, I just splash a bit into the cavity of the hot mold and it vapourizes almost immediately and no more dimples

cheers mooncoon
 
You may want to buy a single burner hot plate. I use one to preheat and reheat my moulds as needed. The dipping method works but you can get some lead stuck in places you don't want it.

Nice casts for your first effort.

A little late to tell you this but for large bullets I use a dipper and large 20 lb pot. I am one of those who has had no luck with bottom pour melting pots.
 
I used to bottom pour. I know it works for some, but switching to a ladle was the single best thing in improving the quality of my bullets. Once you get the hang of it, it is easy to cast lots of match quality bullets. I know of some who think exactly the opposite, but the majority of the BPCR guys I know are ladle users.

I usually leave a bullet in the mold, but also spray it with WD 40 afterwards. You can use brakeclean but beware there are two types. One has chlorine compounds in it and one does not. I believe the chlorinated one gives off toxic fumes when heated past a certain temperature. Regardless of what you do, the mold needs to be absolutely clean.

Chris.
 
I'm thinking that speed is going to be a big thing for keeping your mold warm enough. I don't do Minie bullet casting. Just round ball so far. But even with a double cavity round ball mold I found that I need to keep moving fast to keep the mold from cooling too much and getting the wavy lines of chilled metal.

Now being an iron mold it SHOULD hold the heat longer. So that'll help. But there's the need to remove and reset the bottom plug for this style of mold. That means time where the mold is cooling. So do what you can with tricks or some sort of tools to shorten that time between pours so the mold doesn't lose as much heat. And certainly waiting for calm wind conditions is going to help assuming you're doing your casting outside.
 
vinver said:
Mooncoon, you mention oil gassing off of the mold- since this is an iron mold, I sprayed it down when done with some G96 to prevent rust- maybe was a bad idea? I'll probably give it a shot of Brakeleen before next casting and hold it over a sooty candle to soot it up, since I can't seem to find my Coal Oil lamp...lol. Funny thing, my brother just bought an old Railway oil lamp at a yard sale for $5 , then sold it on e-Bay for $244. Little bugger always gets the good deals .
Click to expand...

Careful using Brakeleen. If heated past a certain point it will combust into phosgene gas. There have been numerous incidents over the years of people doing that welding, phosgene will kill you, or permanently damage your lungs if inhaled. Be careful! For high heat, acetone or isopropyl alcohol are the solvents of choice for cleaning and preparing metal for tig welding.
 
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