FrankenMauser
New member
Last night (okay, really early this morning), I just couldn't take it any more. I relocated all of the engine components stacked on my casting bench, until I had just enough room to cast.
I dug out my rifle alloy (WW +2% tin +arsenic), set up my .432" 425 gr bore-rider mold, loaded up the pot, and went to town.
Since that bore-rider mold has only one cavity in brass 2-cavity blocks and is mounted in RCBS handles, it's a little tiring to run. But, I managed to get through a little over 15 lbs of alloy, in about 3 hours. (setup time, 35 seconds per pour, plus re-heat time after adding alloy - not counting time to clear off the bench.) The bullets were dropping out of that mold with some hesitation, but looked better than ever before. I was happy... I estimated 240-280 bullets should have dropped; and they should last me at least a year.
Once everything was cool, I went to the reloading room to weight-sort.
First bullet on the scale registered 400.1 grains. Hmm.... must be a calibration problem.... these should weigh 424 grains in this alloy...
Nope... not a calibration problem. Balance beam scale confirmed the digital scale's reading, exactly.
I continued to weigh the next 264 bullets, while contemplating what could have happened...
I didn't grab the wrong alloy.... all of my other alloys are softer, and would weight more than 424 gr.
I didn't mix alloys... everything was from the same box.
The pot didn't have enough residue to contaminate 15 lbs of alloy with too much tin.
Then, it got worse....
My micrometer showed a body diameter of .434". In my rifle alloy, this should have dropped at .432". And, the nose measured .4295". I can't even chamber anything over .428"....
Then it hit me... I HAD grabbed the wrong alloy. I forgot that I had smelted more Linotype. And... I keep my Linotype ingots in a box that was formerly marked the same as my rifle alloy: "WW+2". But, the mark has been crossed out. The problem was that I had really poor lighting in that part of the garage, and couldn't see the pencil marks scratching out the "WW+2", or the new "Lino" label beside it.
So... I have 241 beautiful bullets, cast in pure Linotype. And, I couldn't shoot them, even if I wanted to. They're too big to slide into the bore, and there's no reasonable way to size just the nose (the nose was designed to have a 0.003" interference fit with the lands in a .428" bore with the intended alloy).
It's just so frustrating to spend all that time with a heavy, brass, 1-cavity mold, only to find out they have to be melted down and cast into ingots again.
But, they look great, and I'll be re-labeling all of the boxes I keep alloy ingots in...
I dug out my rifle alloy (WW +2% tin +arsenic), set up my .432" 425 gr bore-rider mold, loaded up the pot, and went to town.
Since that bore-rider mold has only one cavity in brass 2-cavity blocks and is mounted in RCBS handles, it's a little tiring to run. But, I managed to get through a little over 15 lbs of alloy, in about 3 hours. (setup time, 35 seconds per pour, plus re-heat time after adding alloy - not counting time to clear off the bench.) The bullets were dropping out of that mold with some hesitation, but looked better than ever before. I was happy... I estimated 240-280 bullets should have dropped; and they should last me at least a year.
Once everything was cool, I went to the reloading room to weight-sort.
First bullet on the scale registered 400.1 grains. Hmm.... must be a calibration problem.... these should weigh 424 grains in this alloy...
Nope... not a calibration problem. Balance beam scale confirmed the digital scale's reading, exactly.
I continued to weigh the next 264 bullets, while contemplating what could have happened...
I didn't grab the wrong alloy.... all of my other alloys are softer, and would weight more than 424 gr.
I didn't mix alloys... everything was from the same box.
The pot didn't have enough residue to contaminate 15 lbs of alloy with too much tin.
Then, it got worse....
My micrometer showed a body diameter of .434". In my rifle alloy, this should have dropped at .432". And, the nose measured .4295". I can't even chamber anything over .428"....
Then it hit me... I HAD grabbed the wrong alloy. I forgot that I had smelted more Linotype. And... I keep my Linotype ingots in a box that was formerly marked the same as my rifle alloy: "WW+2". But, the mark has been crossed out. The problem was that I had really poor lighting in that part of the garage, and couldn't see the pencil marks scratching out the "WW+2", or the new "Lino" label beside it.
So... I have 241 beautiful bullets, cast in pure Linotype. And, I couldn't shoot them, even if I wanted to. They're too big to slide into the bore, and there's no reasonable way to size just the nose (the nose was designed to have a 0.003" interference fit with the lands in a .428" bore with the intended alloy).
It's just so frustrating to spend all that time with a heavy, brass, 1-cavity mold, only to find out they have to be melted down and cast into ingots again.
But, they look great, and I'll be re-labeling all of the boxes I keep alloy ingots in...