casting temps.

O

Old 454

New member
what are you all casting at with lee molds ?

I found that with Lyman #2 casting at 650 +/- 10 deg. I get real good bullets for 9MM, 357 Mag and 380 acp.

45 ACP and molds that I use for the 454 300 gr. GC Lee mold, meh so so. I have tryed verious temps from 600-nearly 800 and I still get bullets that are shiny on one side and crappy on the other with what looks like inclusions, I will have to post a pic some time soon.

The 45 ACP mold 452228 I have scrubed and cleaned numerous times and still not looking good on one side.

Can I use a little bit of Flitz on the mold to polish it ?

Also after sizing I get a little lead that is like a ring around the base of the bullet. Is this caused by lead that is to hard or a sizer that is to small, Lee sizer .452.

Just trying to pick your alls brain here a bit.

thanks
 
For the bigger bullets especially the Lee 452300RF in my 6 cavity, I find that pouring between 675 and 690 gives the best results and overall consistency with weight. This however is with straight COWW + a smidge of 95-5 solder. In my case I find that about 6-8" thrown in the full pot gives me just enough for perfect fill out in this mold. If I change to a different blend I usually have to bump the heat up to keep the fill out good.

Usually the smaller the cavity the higher the temp, or the faster your pour rate needs to be simply to keep the mold hot.

Those big holed 44 and up calibers usually heat up and are easier to keep that way simply due to the amount of hot lead you dump each pour. Of course the mold material and number of cavities also plays a role in that as well.

With the HP molds I have, most are MP, I find that somewhere in the 720 - 750 range works really well depending on just which one it is and what alloy I am using.
 
Old 454

Which side is giving trouble ?? I bet it`s the side with the sprue plate ???

The plate acts as a heat sink, i feel this problem is lessened by loosening the plate to where it barely swings so it`ll lay flatter.

It also could be machining fluids purging from the 1 side still , for this I lightly smoke the cavities with a butane liter until the cavities season good then clean it all off .

Speaking of purging lubes from molds ,I have run molds from 1 cavity to 8 cavities & the more cavities the more heat cycles it takes .

I`ve thought of putting em on my hot plate or even in the oven , but have`nt from fear of warpage, but after smokin em a time or 2-3 & cycling em thye come `round.

This is my latest a NOE 358429 5 cavity 4 cycles cleared it up.

 
I try to cast at about 750F. This works well for most of my molds. For the larger molds like 45 caliber or above, like Mike I run the temp a little lower. Bigger bullets heat the molds up faster.

I also use a hot plate to get things up to running temp.
 
Lead temp (with a lead-tin-antimony alloy), should never have to be more than 750 degrees to get good boolits. I seldom go above 710 degrees myself.

Mold temp is what gives you good boolits, with less rejects and close weights. It's hard to gauge mold temps with any degree of certainty unless you have a thermocouple and digital thermometer to read it. Some have just such a rig for their molds over on castboolits.com. Getting a mold up to temp is simple, any hot plate, or even an old electric skillet are used.

As for cleaning any mold, I use a good squirt of dawn dish soap, submerge the mold in the water, then bring it to a boil. This will get rid of the water based coolants use to cut the mold. THEN, after it has cooled, I use brake cleaner to make sure any coolant that won't dissolve in soapy water is gone.

HP molds are an entire different subject. The cramer types that Miha makes work the best,(I only have his), the pins stay in the mold and stay hot better than the Lyman pins that come completely off the mold. I DO have a Lyman 452-250 grain SWC mold with a separate pin. The hassle of keeping that pin hot and where to sit it while dropping boolits means that it's collecting dust on my mold rack!

IF you're casting HP boolits that you expect to expand nicely, you're going to be using pretty near pure lead. IT MUST be very hot, AND it must have at least some tin in it. I usually have to go to a minimum of 750 degrees, and for smaller boolits, (like my new 358156 HP from Miha), even to 775 degrees.

When I'm talking temps, I'm talking about the digital read-out from my PID controller. I know it's able to control the temp + or- 2 degrees,(once it's up to temp). I also have a wally world hot plate to pre-heat the molds. The brass Miha molds need a lot of heat. Even the 45-200-SWC # 68 copy that is NOT a HP mold, needs extra heat.
 
I have had good luck "smoking" the molds the first time out. On one mold I didn't, and had similar problems for a while.

Bic lighter flame to blacken the cavities after proper cleaning. This was recommended with the instructions I got with the mold.

Beyond that, my experience has been use the mold until it makes good boolits, and after that it seems to work fine. Some kind of patina must build up. Aluminum oxidizes within seconds of exposure to air, so it must be more than just oxides. Depending on the alloy using the mold will probably age harden (precipitation harden) the alloy. Not sure if this plays into dropping a good boolit or not, but I can pick up my old molds and start dropping good boolits way easier than any new mold I have started with.

So far I have never had a mold that didn't eventually start dropping good ones.
 
guys I am going to have to post some pics of the boolits I am droping. I will post exsamples of the good, the bad and the damn fugly.

I have not used any HP molds, as they are a little out of my price range at this time with two kids in collage. So I have to go with Lee at this time in my casting adventures.

As far as whats ugly on one side of the bullet ? ... its not on the base, but on one side of the bullet that looks kinda frosty/cloudy dirty and looks like it might be from the mold, thats why I ask about Flitz to polish the actuall mold where the lead drops into. I don't want to damage the mold and I think flitz is not really that agressive to damage the aluminum, but I want to be sure.

Thank you all again. when I get home tonight I will take a few pics and post them.

Oh and all my Lee molds I smoke with kitchen matches.
 
I run about 675 F for .30/.32 caliber bullets. Pretty much everything else runs at 700-740 F (.41 caliber, and a lot of .44 caliber heavies).

....Waiting to see some pictures.
 
Oh and all my Lee molds I smoke with kitchen matches.
Click to expand...

That in of its self could be the whole problem. With wooden matches your also possibly getting some rosin from the wood itself along with the smoke which isn't want your looking for.

Before you go polishing things, take the mold apart, do a good scrubbing of the mold halves using some Comet or Dawn, or Bon Ami and an old or new stiff bristle tooth brush. Get all of the "smoked" gunk out of it. If you feel you MUST smoke it, use a Bic lighter or propane torch turned down low and held up real close to get the soot. Your only looking for a discoloration, not really a dark black coating.

That said in most cases the soot isn't really necessary, I have done it and I have Lee molds I scrubbed out a couple of times and not done it on. In the end I usually scrub out what ever I put in and start over with nothing.

I have had just hat your referring to in two of my molds and cleaning and scrubbing them ridded me of that issue. Both of those were smoked using a wooden dowel. That was about the same time I decided to not use the smoke method anymore.

Give it a try and see who it goes. If you feel the smoke HAS to be done, you might try simply coloring in the cavities with a soft lead pencil instead and see how that works for you. I can almost guarantee that either the graphite from the pencil or nothing at all will cure your issue.
 
I don't normally smoke my molds. I have found it to be un-necessary.

OCYMMV

LEE molds:
I don't believe it hurts to smoke them, it just seems like a waste of time to me. I am of the belief that mold and lead temperature is the largest contributor to bullet quality. I use a hot plate to preheat the molds ... always. I normally get keeper bullets pretty quick, usually with in the first two or three fills. If I don't use the hot plate it will take a dozen or more.

I have also found that developing the proper cadence helps a great deal. Sometimes I'm rocking along and start to see frosting, this tells me I need to slow down a bit. Another time I might see poor filling, this tells me to pick up the pace a bit.

I can pour 9mm bullets faster than a cat can lick his *##. 38's go pretty quick too. 40 and 45 take a bit more time and effort, it's easy to get them those molds too hot.

I have two or three hollow point molds from Hollow Point Mold.com Eric and they all perform very well. Eric ships pretty quick and stands behind his work. He my only source, I understand there are several vendors around and most of them do great work.
 
Ok so befor any polishing I will take apart my molds and give them a good scrubbing. I have scrubbed them befor but I didnt take them apart.

The Pictures will come this week end. I am just to busy at work to get them posted today.
I will also try to post befor and after pics of scrubbed molds.
 
here are some pics of my bullets. Some good some bad. I am not much of a photographer. lol.....you can see the 45acp leave a lot to be desired.


hmmm can't get the pictures to attach to this post
 
I agree with Mike.

Kitchen matches have a wax based excellerant & causes havoc !!

Photo bucket is your friend !!

If I can do it anyone can.

GP
 
I used to smoke moulds, but don't anymore. `Don't have to w/ everything up to temp.

After forty years I now cast everything -- all alloys (pure lead, WW, #2, 20:1, 30:1)
and all moulds (steel/aluminum) -- at 700-710°. I've found this gives me the most
repeatable weights & dimemsions and allows relatively fast casting without overheating
the mould to cause excessive "finning" and/or lead smears on the sprue plate.

An added secret I wish I'd know years ago is the addition of a cheap hotplate (dial temp 1-10),
a cheap 6" griddle and an equally cheap 2-cup pot -- all from Target/WalMart. The hot plate
is set on "4", the griddle is placed on top,the mould is placed on the griddle, and the pot is set
upside down over the mould acting as a "dutch oven"
Total Cost: ~$25

While the lead's heating, the mould's heating.
When the lead's ready, the mould's ready.
First bullet/ball is near always perfect.

'Wish I'd known this 40 years ago....; :rolleyes:





~~~~~~~~~~~~~
postscript: Anyone got a 0.400 roundball mould they want
to part with "for good and valuable consideration" ?
(as the lawyers say) ;)
 
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I have an Oyster hot plate I bought at wal mart. low med high on the dials. I will be using that to heat the molds. I originally bought it to heat bullet lube that I was trying to make, and use for pan lubing. Lets just say that was a real circus, and didn't work out for me.

The Pics I will get to trying again this week end. Work is just to busy to try fiddling with during the week.

So this is so far what you all have given me to do and I will do it befor I start casting again.

Take apart molds and clean with comet etc. with a good tooth brush.
pre heat molds on hot plate.
DON'T use wooden matches to smoke molds.

I may have made an error in my effort to try diffrent alloys. I have some General purpose babbit that I alloyed up with some lead and tin. I am getting "Fins" on the bottom of the bullets after sizing even though the bullets them selfes are nice and shiny with the eception of the 45acp. I think there my be some zinc in this babbit. It was made by a company in Chicago that has long gone out of buisness "Garnier". this my attribute to the sizing problems. and when I get the pics worked out you will see bettor of the things in witch I speak.

But in all I can't thank you all enough for all your time and information that you all are willing to impart on me. Thanks so much. I think when I get this all worked out, things will be much bettor.

My birthday is coming up and I have been hinting about some new molds :D hopefully some NOE, Lyman, RCBS etc will be in my future.
 
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