With All The Casting Talk Lately

[jfaldo]

Decided to show some results from a casting session I had today. I had gotten a new .495 Lee roundball mold a week or so ago and had some time today to try it out. First off let me just state it straight up, I'm not a fan of aluminum molds as a rule. That being said these Lee molds do really well with roundballs. These were cast with 99% pure lead from Rotometals and were tumbled for 30 minutes after casting. I culled probably the first 25 immediately till the mold was casting to my satisfaction. I no longer believe in casting at overly extreme temps as this only tends to cover up bad casting habits. I use 740 degrees for all my casting from 550 grains down to 172 grains.

This was not intended to be a casting marathon or anything so that's the reason for a small sampling and the odd number. Just wanted to test the mold out.

As you can see they are all within .6 grains. Fifty two are within .2 grains. Fifty nine are within .4 grains. Overall I think pretty good results and I would guess that the 14 lightest were the 14 that came out of the mold first in the batch of 66.

 

[nhmoose]

All are match capable to me Good job

 

[necchi]

Nice, looks like an average of 183.6.
My acceptable tolerance is +/- .5grns of average so all are good to go.
A tip about those Lee molds is to use an anti-seize lube on those side pins and sprue cutter. I've been using the same tube of automotive Permatex Anti Seize for about a decade and have used less then half the tube.
The stuff is rated to 1,400° F
Just a touch with a toothpick on those pins goes a long ways.

 

[M. De Land]

That's pretty good. Some folks use the .5 grain standard for bullets well over 500grains.
I use .75 grain for all my big bullets and can tell no difference in accuracy.
More important by a large margin is full base fill out.
A non issue with round balls.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Looks good to me. If you have doubts, keep the .2 and .4 balls separate and use only for 25 yards and/or practice. I don't completely agree with your approach, but if it works for you that is all that matters. :thumbsup:

 

[MSW]

good casting ... for an eye opener, get a box of the swaged lead balls and weigh them ... you'll be at your casting pot in a heartbeat!

 

[jfaldo]

I don't completely agree with your approach

Care to elaborate on that would like to hear about it. Not for an argument but always open to civil discussion. Been casting for many years now and have tried a lot of different things but always willing to listen to other opinions.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I don't completely agree with your approach

Care to elaborate on that would like to hear about it. Not for an argument but always open to civil discussion. Been casting for many years now and have tried a lot of different things but always willing to listen to other opinions.

You said:

culled probably the first 25 immediately till the mold was casting to my satisfaction

I consider that to be a waste of time. :nono: Heating the mould in the lead first will give you top results from git-go. No need to screw around. Heat the mould and cast. Of course, lube on the hinge pin and line-up pins is a good idea. Smoking value is a myth :bull: in my opinion. :2 With the aluminum moulds just get with it and enjoy.

 

[jfaldo]

I agree with everything you said there. I usually will preheat my molds so they start casting in the first few. I just didn't take the time this go around. I lubed the alignment pins and the spruce plate pivot with some beeswax per Lees recommendation also. So I guess I just needed to put more info in there.

 

[MSW]

fwiw, I've smoked all my aluminum molds. This probably doesn't provide any benefit, but I don't think I've done any harm, either. A bit of high temp lube is a good idea, too.

as regards throwing out the first 25 balls, I haven't had that problem - my molds come up to temp in the first three or four, and after that, I can get a pretty reliable fill and a good release.

I drop my cast onto a folded up towel (which is used for nothing else) and I do all the normal safety stuff: ling pants, sleeves rolled up, bandana or hat (to keep sweat from falling into a bad place), good leather gloves and closed toes shoes. I wear glasses, but if I didn't, I'd use some sort of safety eyewear. a special lucky spoon to get crud out of the molten lead ... I cast out doors, with the wind blowing any fumes away from me.

haven't had any problems in many years, but I don't want to get into trouble at this late date.

so, if you want to spend the time throwing the first twenty five or so balls back into the re- melt pile, that's your option. I would suspect that you're throwing a good number of otherwise useful balls into the scrap pile, but it's your time, and if this gives you the additional confidence in the consistency of the work, then by all means go for it.

just out of curiosity, you might want to number and weigh them and see how many it takes for the rhythm, to settle in.

 

[jfaldo]

I think my sorta point of the post was even with my lackadaisical approach to this casting session good results can be obtained with adherence to a few basic rules even when using a twenty dollar mold.

Normally I would fill my pot to the top with lead when starting and I didn't this time. This would somewhat explain why my mold started out less than up to temp. My mold usually rests just a fraction of an inch off the molten lead for some time before I start.

I had excellent results using very good lead and a very consistent casting procedure that was the result of years of doing this even though I did bend the rules somewhat.

 

[wulf]

Thanks. I will do as you say. makes good sense.
Wulf