what's your guess ?

[338 Imperial]

So I did some casting this afternoon . All was great , nice shinny boolits ,after a hundred or so I started getting some Gray Crystaly looking ones ,some only one side . Even the sprue seemed odd ! Do you think I missed a Zinc wheel weight in my sorting ? any sugestions ? are these still fit to load ?
thanks guys.Ed

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[Yukon1911]

Grey with sparkles usually means that the mold and lead are too hot! I have casted thousands of bullets this way and shot them all the same. Maybe try to lower your temperature and give it another go!

 

[graydog]

I would think that maybe the mould got to hot, but it won't hurt anything the bullets will work just fine that way.

Graydog

 

[Metman2]

My best cast bullets always seem to fit this description (crystaline finish). So my pot and mould are 'too hot', but I'm OK with that. Apparently if you're really pushing the limits of distance and/or accuracy it can become an issue, e.g. obduration of these crystaline boulets can be inconsistent. Fryxell discusses it a bit in his casting treatise. What I like about this hobby is that you can enjoy it and do reasonably well at a very basic (and safe) level, or if you want, you can get as sophisticated as you please.

 

[Spawn-Inc]

as stated, your molds/lead is to hot and you are getting "frosting" just take a break or switch molds every 100 rds or so.

if you haven't set up a PID temp controller yet, it made a HUGE difference for me and the consistency i can get now.

i used an old PC power supply and gutted it (warning:be careful when doing so...blah blah) and bought a cheap kit of ebay. my only regret is it only reads in celsius and not both like most good ones.

here are some pictures

this is where i had the sensor, but i have replaced it with a longer probe directly inside the pot.


and links to "how to's"
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?115724-Project-PID-on-Lee-Pro-4-20-furnace

 

[338 Imperial]

Thanks Guys
I wondered about the temp too , had a good rithym going too. I'll try again .
Love shootin' my handguns ! Ed

 

[Canadian_Zuk]

I use tumble lube so I actually like to cast hot so my bullets come out frosty. The lube sticks better and more evenly, less goes further.

Edit: I find casting around 3 pours per minute maintains my mold temperature to allow me non stop casting.