Out of Round balls.

[nick_1]

My aluminum Lee .490 mold is casting out of round. I cleaned it as best that i could with wire brush. still when you hold it up to the light while holding it shut I can see light through the seam. the balls have a noticable seam around them. I promptly oredered a new mold but rather than toss the balls i had just cast back in the pot i decided to shoot them. I did not punch any paper but did hit my 5" steel plate 4 out of 5 times off hand at 30yrds. then I took a single shot at my 50 yrd 6" plate and hit it. dosent mean all that much with a pistol that is capable of sub 2" groups @ 50 yrds benched but still interesting. I think you would have to sandbag it to get accurate information on the difference between swaged, cast and poorly cast balls. it dosent seem to be a wild obvious these dont shoot well situation.

 

[64Springer]

I put my misshapen balls in a box and roll the box around in my hands.

Allowing the balls to bump into each other.

This smooths everything out and makes them look like golf balls.

 

[waksupi]

I think there is a topic on tuning Lee molds on the Cast Boolits site.

 

[Maven]

Here's one of the Stickies: Sure-Fire Lee-Menting Technique (Aimoo Post Revisited). There are 2 others in the Molds subform. Happy reading!

 

[nick_1]

I found that if I close the mold carefully and hold it in front of the work light to be sure that I have a good seal that it does just fine.