messed up bullets with pic now

infideleggwelder

infideleggwelder

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so i`m fairly new to this, have a NOE mould, and the first 100 or so bullets cast with no problem. now, the lead seems to be freezing before the mould is full, leaving some interesting lines and designs. the mould is hot, lead is hot(maybe not hot enough?) could there be zinc in the mix? i am an experienced home sand caster, mostly aluminium, but some pot metal and bronze as well. this is starting to irritate me. any suggestions? sorry for crappy cell phone pic but you can see what you need to see
 
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You probably don't have a zinc problem or the first 100 bullets would have been bad too. I'd guess temperature or over lubing is your problem.

Do you have thermometer in your pot? If not you need one. Then you won't have to guess if your lead temperature is right.

Apply lube on the bottom of the sprue cutter and top of the mold; only on a hot mold after you cut the sprue and before you open the mold to drop bullets. Apply using a qtip with 1 or 2 drops of lube on it. Then wipe the surfaces with a cloth. Most new casters over lube. Apply fresh lube about every 50 pours.
 
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Don't get discouraged.We all get bad batches of boolits once in a while no matter how long we cast.

I never used thermometer and my rule is simple-if boolit doesn't look perfect chances are if won't shoot perfect.In the pot it goes.

I'd rather blame myself for bad groups than blame my ammo.


If I really want to go anal on bullets I weight them after sorting.I still find plenty of boolits that are lighter than all others.
 
Synthetic 2 stroke oil.

Getting a thermometer will help things alot. Installing a pid temp controller will help things immensely. Set it to the temp you want and once it's learnt your pots heating characteristics it will keep it within a few degrees.
 
Nothing wrong with that. If it works for you and meets your needs then there is no reason to change. You'll find you can monitor temperature fairly well without a thermometer just by paying attention - how long does the spru take to harden, are the bullets filled out, do the bullets drop nicely or are they sticky, etc. Once you get into the right temperature zone it only takes small adjustments to stay there.
 
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Your description sounds like a lube problem. Too much and some gets down into the mold and causes worm holes in the bullets. To stop that get a can of liquid graphite and spray the hinge points and mold down with it and end of problem. Bullets fall right out after the shot of liquid graphite. Canadian tire carried it.
 
as long as they are not undersized they shouldn't lead the barrel, i would likely load and shoot them if you have only have a couple. but then again with the lack of powder i would just melt and recast.
 
infideleggwelder said:
so i`m fairly new to this, have a NOE mould, and the first 100 or so bullets cast with no problem. now, the lead seems to be freezing before the mould is full, leaving some interesting lines and designs. the mould is hot, lead is hot(maybe not hot enough?) could there be zinc in the mix? i am an experienced home sand caster, mostly aluminium, but some pot metal and bronze as well. this is starting to irritate me. any suggestions? sorry for crappy cell phone pic but you can see what you need to see
Click to expand...

either mold or alloy is too cold.
do you have a thermometer to check the alloy temp'?

i like to run my pot of lead around 650 to 700 and get get results with those temps, once i go lower i tend to get improper fill like your pictures.
 
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