First try at casting

Helka

Helka

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Guelph,ON
Did my first ever mini session casting HP with my MP 359-125 mold.

Not too bad. Lots of rejects as expected. But I only had the temp set at 720 so the HP didn’t fill in quite well enough. Going to set it to 750-760

Are those that didn’t fill in quite well still good to shoot? Or should I throw them back in the melting pot?


The one on the right is good the left is not. Is the left ok to shoot?
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Always preheat your mold and when you finish fill the cavities and cut your sprue off. The mold will now heat up faster and with sprue removed mold opens easier.
 
Helka said:
Thanks! They dropped nicely from the mold! I will try hotter temp of lead and see if it fills out better.
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I'd say that just about anything that has enough of a round base to fill the bore, would be safe to shoot, but I'd really try to jack the heat up to see if I could get a better fill out. At typical short range handgun ranges, I doubt you would notice a difference. But the better looking the bullet, usually, the better the shooter thinks they will shoot, so it helps the mind game too!

Another thing to watch, as far as mold temp goes, is the pace you are casting bullets at. If you are slow, you will need a slightly hotter pot than if you are fast, as the mold will have less time to cool off.

I have cast a few thousand .22 cal bullets in single cavity molds. I needed to both keep my rate right up there, have my bottom pour pot quite hot, plus pour a really large button over the sprue plate, to keep the mold hot enough. I was using a gloved hand to cut the sprue, and returning the sprue to the pot each time to prevent as rapid depletion of the pot, as the sprue and button weighed far more than the bullet.
 
trevj said:
I'd say that just about anything that has enough of a round base to fill the bore, would be safe to shoot, but I'd really try to jack the heat up to see if I could get a better fill out. At typical short range handgun ranges, I doubt you would notice a difference. But the better looking the bullet, usually, the better the shooter thinks they will shoot, so it helps the mind game too!

Another thing to watch, as far as mold temp goes, is the pace you are casting bullets at. If you are slow, you will need a slightly hotter pot than if you are fast, as the mold will have less time to cool off.

I have cast a few thousand .22 cal bullets in single cavity molds. I needed to both keep my rate right up there, have my bottom pour pot quite hot, plus pour a really large button over the sprue plate, to keep the mold hot enough. I was using a gloved hand to cut the sprue, and returning the sprue to the pot each time to prevent as rapid depletion of the pot, as the sprue and button weighed far more than the bullet.
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Yes going to try hotter temp and see how the bullets drop. I think my speed was spot on as all the bullets are nice and shiny. I know that some frosting is ok but being able to control the temp with my PID kept them nice and shiny
 
You are close, judging from your bullets. HP molds add a bit to the difficulty equation, but once you find a recipe, they're OK. I have a NOE 360-148-WC with HB (Hollow Base) pins installed, and my first batch weren't as nice as yours. I have an alloy of mostly clip on wheel weights with a bit added lino and tin and I find it cast's best, from a bottom pour, between 750 and 780.

Nice and shiny bullets indicate that you are casting a bit on the cool side. Better bullets seem to come when the lead looses a bit of the shine, but before they get dull or frosty. Frosty bullets indicate that the mold is too hot. Bullets with finning indicate that the alloy is too hot and/or that the tin content is sufficient or perhaps more than you need.

As far as good to shoot, I weigh my bullets to detect defects, I discard any that are too light, generally 2 to 3 grains lighter than the normal max get recast.

You're well on the way, your bullets look good enough to shoot, and way nicer than some of my first attempts.
 
nitro-express said:
You are close, judging from your bullets. HP molds add a bit to the difficulty equation, but once you find a recipe, they're OK. I have a NOE 360-148-WC with HB (Hollow Base) pins installed, and my first batch weren't as nice as yours. I have an alloy of mostly clip on wheel weights with a bit added lino and tin and I find it cast's best, from a bottom pour, between 750 and 780.

Nice and shiny bullets indicate that you are casting a bit on the cool side. Better bullets seem to come when the lead looses a bit of the shine, but before they get dull or frosty. Frosty bullets indicate that the mold is too hot. Bullets with finning indicate that the alloy is too hot and/or that the tin content is sufficient or perhaps more than you need.

As far as good to shoot, I weigh my bullets to detect defects, I discard any that are too light, generally 2 to 3 grains lighter than the normal max get recast.

You're well on the way, your bullets look good enough to shoot, and way nicer than some of my first attempts.
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Thanks for that info. I will definitely take all that into consideration. I'm just using 50/50 wheel weight and stick on mix. Trying to get access to some more soft lead (Roofing flashing). only have 50lbs of "pure" so far and 370 of wheel weights
 
So did another casting tonight. All the Bullets came out wrinkled. I had the pot at 750 then upped it to 800. I had preheated my brass mold on hot plate but I think the temp outside was a bit chilly as I was just outside of my garage. I was casting about 4 per minute. But still couldn’t get the brass mold hot enough. I will try again at 750 but if it’s cool outside I will move inside the garage.
 
Ok. Just did my 3rd ever casting session and had the pot at 750. I had heated the mold on a hot plate and I made sure to flip it over to heat the sprue plate as well. I then poured some lead into a ladle and held it on the bottom poor spot to heat it up. Started casting and WOW that bullets came out perfect. Almost every single one!! I couldn’t believe it. Even the HP filled out nicely. I was casting about 3-4 per minute. Casted just over 200 in less than an hour. Really happy with my progress.
 
Sounds like you're getting the hang of it! I use the same mold. A couple of tips - I have had excellent results, the key being heat. Crank the melting pot up to 850+ .I use straight WW alloy, a hot plate, but here's my trick- use a propane plumbing torch to preheat the mold, but much caution to spread the heat all the way around the mold must be used. Don't linger in one spot, it is possible to warp a mold if you heat one spot in excess. Don't forget the rear between handles and to open and preheat the cavities and mating surfaces, and hollow point pins, as well as sprue plate. The torch also can be used to speed up production by melting ingots into pot and heating the melt, and is a vital tool for quickly opening the bottom pour spout between reloading the pot with alloy. Your production will go up considerably and reject rate will drastically reduce.



I also use the hot plate to preheat ingots to reload the pot. I think you will be quite surprised at your hourly production of high quality castings with a high temp, a torch handy, a supply of preheated alloy ready to reload the pot, and a well preheated mold. Most of my boolits drop frosty, with good fillout from the first pour, an indication of high temp casting. If you are able to find Bruce B's speed casting method on Castboolits, it helps too. Involves a pan and rolled up towel with water in pan bottom, keeping the towel soaked to speed cool the sprue. Those work great powder coated too. YMMV, but it works well for me.
 
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Too hot and it can take a long time for the bullet to solidify. It can get too thin and start seeping into the vent grooves or mating surfaces causing finning. Some people worry about lead vapours and increased off gassing of things in the alloy. Many people prefer not to have the frosted look and the hotter you cast the more shrinkage there may be also.

850 might not be too bad but it's hotter than most people need to run unless there's minor zinc contamination or a difficult mold issue. I'm usually 700-750.
 
Shua said:
Sounds like you're getting the hang of it! I use the same mold. A couple of tips - I have had excellent results, the key being heat. Crank the melting pot up to 850+ .I use straight WW alloy, a hot plate, but here's my trick- use a propane plumbing torch to preheat the mold, but much caution to spread the heat all the way around the mold must be used. Don't linger in one spot, it is possible to warp a mold if you heat one spot in excess. Don't forget the rear between handles and to open and preheat the cavities and mating surfaces, and hollow point pins, as well as sprue plate. The torch also can be used to speed up production by melting ingots into pot and heating the melt, and is a vital tool for quickly opening the bottom pour spout between reloading the pot with alloy. Your production will go up considerably and reject rate will drastically reduce.



I also use the hot plate to preheat ingots to reload the pot. I think you will be quite surprised at your hourly production of high quality castings with a high temp, a torch handy, a supply of preheated alloy ready to reload the pot, and a well preheated mold. Most of my boolits drop frosty, with good fillout from the first pour, an indication of high temp casting. If you are able to find Bruce B's speed casting method on Castboolits, it helps too. Involves a pan and rolled up towel with water in pan bottom, keeping the towel soaked to speed cool the sprue. Those work great powder coated too. YMMV, but it works well for me.
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another major benefit of preheating ingots is evaporating any moisture that may have seeped inside through a flaw, especially if the ingots are outside in the weather.
 
Absolutely, keeping that tinsel fairy away is an important safety measure. I also store my ingots in a dry area, but better safe than sorry. Haven't had a steam explosion yet. I run a thermometer, and though the pot is set to 850, it rarely gets above 800 actual temp, and fluctuates depending , as sprues and fresh ingots are added on the fly, and the pot runs down fairly quickly. I'm not trying to mix an alloy, just straight clip ons from big, consistent batches. The Bruce B speed cooling method works well to reduce cooling time, and I've not had undersize issues. I figure the frosty finish can't hurt the powder coat sticking either, and is unnoticed under the coating. It's works well for me, but YMMV.
 
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vagrantviking said:
Too hot and it can take a long time for the bullet to solidify. It can get too thin and start seeping into the vent grooves or mating surfaces causing finning. Some people worry about lead vapours and increased off gassing of things in the alloy. Many people prefer not to have the frosted look and the hotter you cast the more shrinkage there may be also.

850 might not be too bad but it's hotter than most people need to run unless there's minor zinc contamination or a difficult mold issue. I'm usually 700-750.
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Yah, 850 sounds real hot. I'm usually around 690. Even then I have to cool off the mold occasionally.
 
I have cast now thousands of 9mm and have it down to a science!. I just received my 223 mold and 308 HP mold from MP on Monday. Did a session yesterday and it's definitely a learning curve with the bigger 308 mold, couldn't seem to get the mold hot enough (was on the hot plate for 40 min on and off as I was seasoning it. I finally just dipped it into the lead for 2 min and the session improved 10 fold. Here are the results of the two molds.

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if you put just a little bit of synthetic 2 cycle engine oil or copper coat on the block pins, washers, and pivot points it will extend the life of the mold, especially if they are aluminum. apply with a Q tip, a little bit goes a long way and wipe the excess off so it doesn't get inside the cavity/s. it will smoke when hot, so have good ventilation for sure. bonus is the smoke tells you the mold is at casting temp.
 
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