Runnin' ball - light pitting

[bwhoffman]

what are you using for your "lead"?
I found that using wheel weights( a mix of old ones and modern) gave me similar results due to the newer "lead free" type in use these days as they have a lot of zinc and tin and other stuff you dont even want to know about!
I shoot these ONLY in my smooth bore, which really doesn't care what I feed it, that and the fact it is one gun I just cant shoot!

everything else I spit out is pure, soft lead with nothing else in it. those come out perfect 99% of the time.

 

[paulvallandigham]

If you don't really stir that lead from the bottom up, using a good spoon, so that you lift the crud off the bottom and sides of the pot so it will float on the surface, you will never get the lead really clean. Flux can only do so much. Wax is so less dense than lead, its impossible to drive the wax down into the molten lead to combine with and dross held in suspension in the molten lead. With dirty lead, ( free lead scrounged from backstops, indoor ranges, etc.) you almost have to put bits of beeswax in the bottom of the pot before you put the scraps in and turn on the heat!

If you have a bottom pour pot, I see absolutely NOTHING to be gained by plugging up the spout, and then reverting to use the dipper approach. Take the plunger out of the spout, and examine the spout for burrs, and rough tooling marks. Remove them! Then do the same with the tapered section of the plunger.

You may want to drill out the spout in the bottom pour a bit to improve the speed of flow of lead into your mold. The taper on the plunger will allow a bit of opening of the spout without making the existing plunger useless.

Hold the mold very close, or in contact with the spout when you open the plunger. The less air the molten lead travels through before entering your mold, the hotter the lead will be, and the better the balls will look when you take them from the mold. As the mold fills, then slowly pull it down and away from the spout so that you leave a puddle of lead on top of the sprue cutter, as you close the plunger. The extra lead fills in the voids created as the lead cools.

Try it my way. I think you will find that a bottom pour mold is a very efficient tool, when you use it properly. :thumbsup:

 

[jtmattison]

I cleaned the mold up with brake cleaner, let it dry, and smoked it with a wooden match.

I think the brake cleaner is part of the problem.

Scrub the mould with hot water and dish soap using a tooth brush. Dry thoroughly. I set my moulds on an electric hot plate to dry. I also use the hot plate to pre-heat my moulds for casting. Then smoke the mould cavities and sprue plate thoroughly with wooden match smoke.

Follow the other tips given for preparing the lead and lead pot. I think you'll be good to go.

Roundballs are the easiest projectiles to cast.

Take a look at these sites...

http://www.lasc.us/Brennan_3-4_HowToCastBullets.htm
http://goatlipstips.cas-town.com/index.html
http://www.n-ssa.org/NORTHWEST/Casting Bullets.htm

Tons of information.

HD

 

[R.M.]

Brake cleaner is all I use now days, and all I use for the most part are Lee aluminum molds.
I did learn one time, not to boil a Lee mold with dish-washer soap added. I thought because that soap wouldn't foam up, it'd be good. WRONG, it corroded that mold something awful. Won't be trying that again.

 

[bingo1952]

Most soaps/detergents use alkali in there manufacture. Aluminum really hates any sort of an alkaline material.

 

[jtmattison]

I did learn one time, not to boil a Lee mold with dish-washer soap added.

Why would you boil a mould?

I use several Lee moulds also, have for years. When I get a new one I scrub it with a toothbrush w/dish soap under hot tap water. Dry it, smoke it with wooden matches, and start casting. All I've ever done for maintenance after that is re-smoke the mould from time to time as needed.

HD

 

[R.M.]

I was having trouble getting good bullets, even after several scrubbings with break-cleaner, so another recommended cure is to boil the mould in soapy water to get rid of any machine oils contaminating the molding surface.

 

[bingo1952]

A quick dip and a few swishes in acetone is all the cleaning I have ever given any of my moulds. It evaporates quickly and does not leave residue behind. Denatured alcohol will also work but doesn't dry as quick and is not quite as effective at cutting oil/grease without wiping as is the acetone.

 

[fyrfyter43]

I got it!

This morning I took out the bottom-pour rod and cleaned up the spout. Even though I had tried cleaning the spout with a paperclip when I first started having trouble, there was still some crud in there. I pushed a 1/16" drill bit through and got out a good-size chunk of yellow powdery junk.

I also polished the rounded end of the rod and lapped it into the seat.

Then I started heating it back up. I added about 3# of lead at a time, fluxing and skimming after each addition. Now it works as it should.

I cast probably 100-125 balls, with about 20 going back into the pot (a few from before the mold was heated up, and the rest were a bit on the light side...my mistake).

Thanks for the help everybody! :hatsoff:

 

[longcruise]

Most soaps/detergents use alkali in there manufacture. Aluminum really hates any sort of an alkaline material

It sure does. In fact it's a good etching treatment for aluminum prior to painitng it.