Cracked bullet

M

MikeinMinn

Inactive
I received my casting equipment on Friday and cast some bullets this weekend. I was water quenching, and during my casting I found two bullets that were cracked. Just wondering what caused this. They were the only two out of about 1100 bullets. On a seperate note I really enjoyed myself and it went really well alot do to the info I recieved from reading this forum and the responses from the members. Thank you.
 
In my experiance it was the temperature of the lead. I waited a few seconds longer until I opened the mold and they came out fine. I've been lucky and not had any zinc but I've heard people that have had zinc contamination and it acts like that as well. If the bullets are not wrinkled and have sharp edges, my guess is the temperature is too high.
 
I tested all the ingots with acid. It could have been the temp. There was a couple of times where I let the pot get up to 750 or so while casting. I later realized that putting the spru back in the pot brings the temp down slightly and regulates the temp beter.
 
I've had that problem before and it was because of the heat.
Cool it down a touch and let it set in the mold a couple more seconds.
 
Quenching causes contraction and surface tension, obviously. Bullet metal is pretty malleable, though, so a crack may mean an inclusion weakened it by creating a kind of fault line?
 
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