Bullet casting

I cast a lot of different sizes from .54 cal Maxi to .22 cal. for rifle, handgun and muzzleloader. Some have suggested adding tin which for most bullets would help fill the mould, but it also hardens the bullet and for muzzle loaders you want to stick to pure lead so the bullet can obturate to fill the bore.
I clean my moulds just before casting with soap and hot water. I preheat the mould by sticking a corner of the mould into the molten lead and still usually have to cast a bunch before it gets to the right temperature. After casting I drench my mould in CLP when they are still warm-hot to the touch and store them in plastic bags.
Don't forget to be generous with the lead on the sprue plate for the large bullets (+400 gr) as you can watch the lead being sucked into the molten core, down from the sprue plate, as the bullet cools and hardens in the mould. It has happened a few times that as it cools air is sucked into the bullet base/nose as the case may be.
I use a bottom pour Lee pot and for my hollow point moulds I have had to turn the support base plate around and clamp it onto the edge of my bench to get the clearance for the hollow point plug under the pot. Smoking a mould is an old trick for when a mould starts to stick but usually it is not needed for good quality steel moulds.

270 totheend
 
I use a ladle to cast all but buckshot. Single burner hotplate and a garage sale cast iron 2 quart pot a doller store ladle and you are away. I even use this method for 6 cav gang moulds. I used the lee pot to melt cold lead to put in the cast iron pot.
the sticky moulds can be a mystery sometimes. Smoking with matches generally works for me. Good casting welcome to the addiction
 
Your trouble is with a ladel and a bottom pour pot. The lead is cooling to much in the transfer. Ladels are great to dip from a cast Iron melting pot where you can heat the ladel to the lead temp. Either change pots, or pour direct from the Lee into your mold.
 
For sticky mold cavities, clean very well with boiling water and dish detergent scrubbing with a toothbrush, and rinse with clean boiling water. If bullets are still sticking, try very lightly polishing the grooves and edges with extra fine steel wool.

The pictures of your bullets show that your mold temperature is low. That is what is causing the wrinkling and poor fill-out. It is likely contributing to your bullets sticking as well.

Previous poster is correct - ladle from the top OR fill mold directly from the bottom - you can't ladle from the bottom spout.
 
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jethunter said:
For sticky mold cavities, clean very well with boiling water and dish detergent scrubbing with a toothbrush, and rinse with clean boiling water. If bullets are still sticking, try very lightly polishing the grooves and edges with extra fine steel wool.

The pictures of your bullets show that your mold temperature is low. That is what is causing the wrinkling and poor fill-out. It is likely contributing to your bullets sticking as well.

Previous poster is correct - ladle from the top OR fill mold directly from the bottom - you can't ladle from the bottom spout.
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Yes, I am in the process of adding some height to the pot- the big mold won't fit easily under the spout, the dipper ladle I was using won't easily fit in the pot from the top due to the valve mechanism. May try about an inch riser to jack up the pot so I can use the bottom pour.
 
Added a spacer block to the pot, and gearing up for another attempt to cast some more, with everybody's tips and advice. Made a few stops at some local tire shops, and gathered up a coupe buckets of wheel weights. Harvested just over 18 pounds of the stick on weights , so should be good for a while. Stinky stuff to melt down, I may try to pre-heat with a heat gun to peel off the double-backed tape before melting.
 
vinver said:
Added a spacer block to the pot, and gearing up for another attempt to cast some more, with everybody's tips and advice. Made a few stops at some local tire shops, and gathered up a coupe buckets of wheel weights. Harvested just over 18 pounds of the stick on weights , so should be good for a while. Stinky stuff to melt down, I may try to pre-heat with a heat gun to peel off the double-backed tape before melting.
Click to expand...

Boil them in hot water to peel the tape.
 
Thanks, heat gun was less than expeditious so just put them in the pot and walked away until they melted down. Added about a pound to my lead balls to melt down, but after another 80 casts only got 10 usable good ones. Rh extension to my pot seemed to decrease it's ability to get fully hot, the spacer is open at either end and I think the heat adjustment dial is getting too much air from below. The flow from the bottom-pour pot is also pretty slow it seems, and I still can't get enough heat into the mold. Some more work to do before my next casting session.
 
one thing no one has mentioned is fluxing the lead. add a peice of parafin wax (candles) once your metal comes to temp stir vigorously until the dross (black powdery stuff) stops forming on the top. the carbon from the burning wax draws out the impurities that may be in your metal. it will be smokey and may flare up so wear long gloves. also if there is wind blowing on your pot it will not reach proper temurature and a thermometer is a must.
happy casting leroy
 
Another pot, a dipping ladle, and much better results. This Lee pot and RCBS dipper and mold came in the mail today and had to give it a quick try, Also preheated the mold with a propane torch before pouring the first one, and right out of the gate got some good ones. Guess I know what I need to do, next run will be on a nicer day and with more lead in the pot. Thanks for the tips.

 
I wouldn't put any tin in. You don't get enough velocity to require tin and it makes the skirt too hard. For best accuracy you need the skirt to expand properly for best accuracy. Pure lead is best.
 
Too lazy to preheat mold, just toss the first bunch back into the pot till they come up nice.

Frosty is good, fills out better. Cast at 775°F (Btw 750-790).

Tin up to 2% fills out the mold better but yeah, will harden the bullet.
 
burnaby said:
Too lazy to preheat mold, just toss the first bunch back into the pot till they come up nice.

Frosty is good, fills out better. Cast at 775°F (Btw 750-790).

Tin up to 2% fills out the mold better but yeah, will harden the bullet.
Click to expand...

I plan to stick with the stick-on weights, old surplus lead balls and rejects and no added tin or solder. I had the pot set at 10, they melted down pretty quick and heated the ladle in the melt, but I only had the pot 1/3 full and tried a dozen pours. If I fill the pot, I should be able to get about 25-30 pours before it's too shallow to ladle. I'll try it at 8 or 9 once I have it all melted and start to pour. This is a BIG steel mold I am using, and it takes a lot of heat to get it up to temp, but once hot it stays hot a while. I may try heating over a small propane burner to get it up to temp. Now to lube them up and try to get some range time in...
 
Much more successful last couple of casting sessions. Tonight I poured over 50 and got 30 near perfect, I have gotten much pickier as to what I keep vs what gets re-melted. In fact, a quick look at my first attempts and they all went back in the pot. Pre-heating, fluxing and using the dipper right out of the top works best for me. I can get into a good rhythm pretty quickly, and I now have 110 good ones for use. Next time I get a nice day and some time to myself, i plan to have a casting marathon and melt down a bunch of that lead. Thanks for the tips and tricks.
 
You lucky guys with all your wheel-weights!

Yoorup has been lead-free wheel-weight land for almost ten years now - the present stuff is useless for making anything except sinkers and paperweights.

Luckily guy at the club, whose business premises had a new shop-front makeover in 1897 needed to move on his half ton of pre-atomic lead of the best quality I've seen in my life. Sixty pounds of the stuff produced lea than a pound of dross....

..and there's loads to come yet.

tac

PS - @OP - you might find that your Musketoon doesn't like flat [internal] based Minié bullets. Mine never did, but shoots the deep base version by Lyman WAAAAAY better.
 
Vinver, I've found that the lead is warmer when the pot is full. Likely something to do with where the thermostat pickup is inside the pot. Or since the heating elements of this sort are wound into a coil that the tub sits down in much of the heat is from the side. So again this means that the lead is hotter when the pot is more full. Since I found that I try to keep the pot at least half full. Try it and I think you'll find it helps.

I made my own ladle from a 1 inch size copper end cap for plumbing. About 1/4 inch down from the edge I drilled a 1/8 or 5/32 hole for the lead. Then I put a screwdriver through this and bent it upwards to push the upper lip back and pull the lower lip out to form a spout. The handle is some 1/8x1/2 flat bar bent and riveted to the copper cap with a couple of small nails peened over. I find that this is quite handy for dipping and pouring easily because it's a more suitable size for that melting pot. That one you've got seems quite clunky. It also heats up quickly due to a nice low mass and being made from copper so it doesn't chill the melt as much. And cleans off easily with no rust issues such as that cast iron dipper you got would develop over time. If you're a big handy you might consider making up something like this and try it.

Someone mentioned about NOT using brake cleaner a few posts back. It's worth noting that in the welding world brake cleaner is outlawed for cleaning parts because of that phosgene gas issue. Welders have gotten very sick from it being used to clean parts before tig welding. Stick to acetone or alcohol. Or at least be sure it is TOTALLY dry before you heat it up. Safer to use something that is known to be safer so get some acetone.
 
You're right the dipper is big and clunky, but it won't rust- it's aluminum :) . I like the idea of a smaller copper dipper, and probably will try to make one too. I have a small Lee dipper but it's only about a tablespoon size and I doubt it's enough to fill my mold. I also plan to make a rest to lean the dipper on as I knock off the sprue and drop the bullets. The dipper wants to flop out of the pot every time, and I was only blessed with two hands and don't have the dexterity or skill to use any other appendages....
 
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