First attempt at pouring round balls.

Hello all.
I received my Lee .530 RB mold after waiting for a few weeks. This is my first try at making round balls. It was late when I started but I wanted to try anyway. A few were wavy but not terrible. I’ll try again when I get time to make sure everything is perfect.

Wavy is an indication that the mold or the lead is not hot enough. You'll do better the next time.

They look pretty good to me.

You're always going to have a few culls no matter how good you get at it.

Wavy is a sign of too cool a mold so laying it on top of the furnace to preheat it and making sure your lead is up to temp are a couple of things to think about. A thermometer is a good investment if you are going to cast a lot.

All good advice, I lay my molds on top of the pot too. One thing I also do is when I pour my first couple balls I'll keep them in the mold for about a minute to help get some more heat in it. It seems to help. Have fun!

Don't you just love turning crappy looking old lead in nice shiny new bullets and balls

Those are looking Ok for a first try,,honest. There are ton's of tip's and tricks about casting to be found here on the forum.
Keep looking and reading,, be open to learning and experimenting with the different techniques

Agree your on the right track, looks like a good start.

I used to cast until the mold got hot enough to produce smooth balls, then throw the wrinklies back in the pot, but now I just make sure the melting pot is full almost to the top each time I start, and I rest the mold on top of the pot so the bottom of the mold rests in the molten lead within. The lead on top of the pot will cool and harden onto the mold when you first do this, and when the mold gets hot enough for the lead to melt back off of it, then it will be hot enough for good casting.

Thanks for all the good advice everyone. I don’t yet have a great setup. I couldn’t help just trying a few until I get better tools.
I used my propane fish cooker fir heat. My father in law used to make bucktail jigs so I gathered things from his tool shed. An old cast iron frying pan and a cast iron ladle that’s way too big. He already had some lead ingots/muffins laying around. They all worked good enough for me to try my hand. I figured if balls could be made beside a camp fire with a hand mold I have enough tools to get started. As Whitworth said it was fun to turn some chunks of nasty lead into something shiny and useful.

The mold loos so clean - are you smoking the cavity? That helps get the cast balls out.

Two cautions:
1 Do as the instructions that came with the mold say: Once in a while use a little bit of beeswax on the hot sprue cutter plate screw to lubricate it and let the plate move.
2. That screw is left hand thread, so don't over-tighten it and break it if you are trying to loosen it.

Justin.44 said:

One thing I also do is when I pour my first couple balls I'll keep them in the mold for about a minute to help get some more heat in it.

Click to expand...

Me too. Works great at evenly heating the mold.

I always pour the first five balls, leaving them in the mold about a minute, then trow them back in the pot. This heats the mold up so that the rest pour nicely.Also I "over fill" the mold to allow for shrinkage at the sprue to prevent "hollow" spots from shrinkage.

TarponStalker said:

Hello all.
I received my Lee .530 RB mold after waiting for a few weeks. This is my first try at making round balls. It was late when I started but I wanted to try anyway. A few were wavy but not terrible. I’ll try again when I get time to make sure everything is perfect.View attachment 78036

Click to expand...

just takes little bit of time to learn a routine. you will be casting good ones in no time, and a awarding feeling shooting something you made.

My first attempt 40 years ago we spent 6 hours and got about 200 we considered "good enough", the following night we spent 4 hours and ended up with 1500 and tossed the orginal 200 back into the pot. (Heat makes a very big difference)

I've cast many thousands of ball/bullets and a few always came out with just a bit of wrinkling. If they were basically "okay" I fired them anyway and accuracy was about the same as the perfect ones. So, slight flaws either make little difference or (more likely) I'm simply just that bad of a shot.

Looks good for your first try.
Give it some time and you will get the hang of it and get that mould loosened up.
Like said above smoke your cavities and sprue plate holes it helps to release the lead.
No need for fancy tools, I use an old tuna can for my melting pot.

I have always taken a candle and "sooted' the mold. Makes for a better ball.

BS said:

I have always taken a candle and "sooted' the mold. Makes for a better ball.

Click to expand...

Ditto !

What is the ideal mold, 1 cavity, 2, 4, 6, 20? (I am only interested in making enough for an occasional shoot)

One cavity is enough. The balls will be the same size. Multiple cavities may have slightly different sizes. Two cavities will speed up the production a little bit. It may take longer to cast up enough ball for the occasional shoot, but that is the trade off for consistency.

When you get into the high production molds such as the 6 cavity or the 20 cavity, the home production will have a hard time keeping mold temperatures consistent and there may be quite a few rejects.