Casting Question

[R-Tex12]

Hi, everyone -

I'm brand new to casting. I have a pair of Lee SWC aluminum dies in .44 Mag and .45 ACP. I'm ordering Lee's Bullet Casting Manual, but do not have it yet.

I have cast 100 or 150 "test" bullets, but get little "wrinkles" in the cone portion of the bullets. The moulds get warmed before casting & have been lubricated and the cavities "smoked" in a candle flame. It seems that the wrinkles are least likley to occur when the alloy is poured into the moulds quickly rather than more slowly. The alloy is fluxed whenever the gray film appears on the surface.

Any ideas and/or suggestions?

TIA,

R-Tex12

 

[HSMITH]

Your molds and melt are too cold.

Heat it up a little more and they will go away, heat the mold by casting faster and heat the melt with more heat on the metal.

When the wrinkles go away and you get some rounded corners on the bullets add some tin.

 

[dickwholliday]

if those molds are new you may want to boil them in water and dawn dishwashing detergent to totally clean the oil off them.....i also like midway's mold prep on mine....the bullets seem to drop out better.....DICK

 

[R-Tex12]

Thanks, HSMITH & dickwholliday -

I'll make use of both suggestions in the next casting session.

Rick

 

[Poodleshooter]

To tell if your molds are at suitable casting temperature, dip a corner in the lead pot. When the lead doesn't stick anymore, the mold is up to temperature. Check this frequently with Lee molds, as they lose temperature quickly (and heat up quickly).

 

[444]

I am a novice bullet caster myself. I have been doing it for about a year but am really slow to learn. There seems to be so many ins-and-outs of bullet casting. Alloys, fluxes, temperatures, sizing, lubes, hardness...................
I broke in a new mold yesterday. RCBS 300 grain, gas checked, SWC for the .45 Colt. I spent about 1/2 hour getting ready to cast. Got two pots of wheelweights going (was casting with a friend and got his pot going also), water for quenching, mould blocks on the handles, moulds heating on hot plate, melt fluxed............................ I started casting and realized that I had forgotten to clean my new mould blocks. I usually spray off a new mould with carb cleaner, then wipe it with a clean rag, then coat the inside with mould release. So desite the fact that my melt was at 760 degrees and the mould was hot, I got wrinkled bullets for quite awhile presumably because there was oil or a foriegn substance in the blocks. I just kept casting until the wrinkles went away returning all the wrinkled bullets to the pot until I got good ones.
So, in my case I think the problem was oil in the mould blocks.

I have so much to learn about bullet casting. But it is fun.

 

[dickwholliday]

you can't beat dawn and boiling water to clean a new mold.....DICK

 

[Grump]

I recall the dip the corner of the mold technique is only for the aluminum mould blocks. Steel (it's really cast iron, insn't it?) can warp because of the heat transfer and expansion ratio factors. You're okay on the Lee moulds, but be careful otherwise.

 

[Fatelvis]

444, if you dont want to try the boiling technique previously described, try spraying the inside of the blocks with brake cleaner, not carb cleaner. Brake cleaner is a degreaser, and leaves NO residue, where as the carb cleaner does.

 

[R-Tex12]

Thanks for the additional info, gang. And thank you, Grump - sure as shootin', I would have dipped a corner of the Lyman mould (that I just bought on e-bay) into the alloy if you hadn't mentioned that it's a no-no!

Rick