Finally got back out to the shed....

B

Beagle333

New member
I hobbled out to the shed today and fought off the red wasps and fired up the ol' pot. I had to build a new seat for my casting chair, as the danged squirrels had eaten my padded one! This'll do for now. At least I got to cast today. I made a nice pie pan full of .41 Keith bullets. The plan is to get out here earlier tomorrow and make some for the .44 and .45 before the sun heats up the shed again. :)

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Nice, great fillout - what alloy, if you don't mind?
Your casting chair is more high speed than mine - I have a home made stool with no back. :)
 
Nice, great fillout
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I was going to say the same thing.
I always have issues with sharp-cornered designs filling out properly unless I run really hot and drop super-frosty bullets.

But those SWCs look fantastic (w/ just a nice 'matte' frosting to make them more tactical ;)).

One of these days, I'll figure it out. I just bought a PID to help control temp better, so maybe that'll help.
 
The PID is really nice. I'd have to say the mold oven to preheat the mold makes lots of difference as well. At least for the first 15-20 pours. I started off with the mold at 405° and the pot PID was at 730°.
 
After I culled about a dozen, the first pan only made a little over 300, so I went back to the pot today and made another pan full. Now I feel happy about it. :) I probably won't need to make any more of these this year.

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Those look really nice. Throw some Carnuba Red or Blue in them and your ready to go. Those are way too nice to powder coat.

I went out Sunday a week ago and broke in my new MP 8 cavity 359135 with a 20# batch, then yesterday poured another 10# worth.

If everything goes right the three grandsons will be here for the summer next Saturday and I figured I'd get a head start on them.
 
I'm going with the Carnauba blue for these. Haven't tried any of it yet, but I got a dozen sticks. These are the first bullets I have cast since he came out with it.:rolleyes:
 
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Oh no, I didn't quit it. I just haven't cast in a year. (I got a bum leg that acts up now and again) Now that I'm back, you'll see some colored ones again. I haven't abandoned lube either. Usually the weather determines which I use. If it's too hot or raining, I can use the lubesizers indoors. I do the powdercoating all outside in the yard. 'Matter of fact, in the first pic, my compressor is sorta hidden behind the Pro-Melt (you can see the blue air hose) and you can see my powdercoating oven on the lower left.
 
IF it doesn't rain tomorrow, I'm going to try to get out there and sweat a bit in the casting shed. I got two new molds this week and I am baking them to get their cycling in. One is the MiHec .44 Terminator mold and the other is the NOE .45 Colt Keith SWC mold.
I usually just start casting with them, but I had some time tonight, so I thought I would cycle them a couple of times in the oven just to limber up the pins.
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When I got this one out to install the pins today, I noticed that Miha includes 5 different pins now. Solid (flat point), cup, small HP, large HP and penta.
Sweet!!! That'll make a bunch of different bullets.
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Also, the NOE mold comes with HP pins, as well as cup point and flat point (solid).
I love HP's. Options galore!! These will be for me. I gave away all of the .41's at the top of the thread, because.... well, I don't have a .41 caliber yet. I just have a .41 mold. :rolleyes:


Oh.... and I am still using photobucket. So if these pics disappear, that's why. But it's working for now, so I'm still using it.
 
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Wow, what a selection! How fast and easy are they to use when doing HP? Never cast HP, wondered it is was worth trying to do so for hunting bullets.
 
They are as fast, if not faster than solids, because you have to cast at a steady rate to keep the pins hot. If you fool around very much with the blocks open after dumping, the pins get cool and you'll get incomplete fillout on the noses. So you have to keep casting at a regular fast cadence and you'll get a pile of them soon. I do think that most folks believe that a wide meplat is preferable to a HP for a hunting bullet, because you can get good expansion and weight retention without having to have the perfect alloy, but of course that is always just an opinion of whoever is shooting them.
But to answer your question, if you learn a rhythm that will keep the pins hot, and cast with a good hot melt (I usually have the PID set 725°-740°), you can dump them just as fast as any other.
 
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