I think my lead alloy is crap

O

Old 454

New member
I am.unable to post pics.. missinv some kinda security token and the admins have no idea.

So any way when casting i am.getting little pin points in the bullut surface some a little bigger. It is the best i can discribe it.

I have fluxed and fluxed and fluxdd some more.

I have fluxed with everything i can think of .. wax.. sawdust .. grease .. bullet lube .. and frankford arsenal clean flux and still get these surface pin points or holidays.

My alloy is 30 lbs lead and 10 lbs lino. The lino is still in the type form.

I do have lino from roto metals in bar form.

I am thinking i might have zinc in the mix.. how it got there no idea.

When i pour into molds tge sprue looks to.have debris in it ... kinda small lumps if you know what i mean.

Should i just pitch this alloy and start over... any recomendations.

When i make my alloy i use a stainless steel.pot and ladel. Does this make diffrence ???
Also casting temp is 720 and pouring into molds slowly.. been trying to very the casting speed .. but that didnt help either.
I am at wits end trying to figure it out.
 
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Also the mold is a old iron Ideal 45acp mold 452374 and another number on it 454... might be the cherry number ??
 
Also, are the mold new? I used to clean mine before casting with non chlorinated brake cleaner before each session. You want no oil in the mold. Also I used to heat the molds before starting.
 
I think too you're not hot enough @ 720°. Zinc melts just under 800°. I melt wheel weights all the time, and I get zinc lots of times. I've always used sawdust for flux with nary a problem. When I know I'm not at right temp., when pouring it wants to harden too quickly at the spout (which is the zinc), but the lead will still pour but it's constricted (being dammed up by the cooling zinc). I also use cast-iron pots and ladles. Just try it at 800° and see if that works out better.
 
Casting temp is 720... so i will try 800... but that seems awefull hot... but i will try that.... i can email pics.of these crappy bullets... cant figure out why this security token thing... wont let me post any pics
 
4- cavity takes a bit more cast filling & pouring just to warm the mold up when compared to a two cavity. .After casting 50 or so bullets you should start to see well defined & filled out casts.
Again, If the mold has even a little bit of oil or WD40 present in its cavity's its cast will surely show it. {well beyond those 50 casts. i.e. Continuous Junk cast observed being dropped time after time.}
BTW:
Molds need to be spotlessly clean to drop good shootable casts. Best way I found to clean a mold before casting with. Tooth brush and a drop or two of original Dawn dish soap mixed in a bowl of [hot tap] water.

Disassemble the mold and dip each half of the mold in the soap/water mix remove and scrub the hell out of every surface of the mold. Finish scrubbing __rinse by allowing the mold to heat up submerged in a boiling hot water container for a minute or two. Preforming that wash /rinse in that sequence allows the mold to heat up so to evaporate its surface water once removed from its boiling hot bath. Assemble and get to reheating the mold again by its pouring/dropping. In time expect to see really nicely formed bullets once the mold is heated to the lead temperature used to make cast with.
 
Open the mold and hose with brake clean, allow to air dry. When you first plug your pot in set tge mold on top so it can heat up with oit touching the lead. Let it get HOT. Add tin to your mix, I keep my eyes peeled for old spools of lead/tin solder and cut 1-2' of wire off and chuck it im the pot. Flux once after your ingots/whatever melt. Some people get nutty about skimming off tge top of tge lead to much, dont do this, your antimony and tin will work their way to the top, if you are constantly fluxing and cleaning you are pulling these goodies out of your lead. You need tin for good mold fill out.
 
Actually after all the problems with the mold i polished out the cavities with some flitz and a dremal felt polishing disk after that i used brake cleaner and the scrubed out molds with dawn and a tooth brush
After drying molds i noticed some black crud built up under the lube groove in the mold cavities and sharpened a chop stick and removed it.
Heated up my mold on top on my lyman mag 25
Casting started at 720.
Still getting these small holidays on bullet suface
I backed off heat to 650 and started again.. same problem
I started raising temp 10 degrees at a time 660...670..680 still problem.
Raised the mold platform so the spout was just above the mold. That helped a little...
But still have these damned little pin point holidays.

So next week end i will start again ...ugggg moma mia
 
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Yes McGee.. i cast like i am in fire.. i dont stop to cull bullets un till the mold gets to hot or i get tired.
So usually a couple hundred bullets before i cull
Out of this mold i prolly cull out 50% of my bullets due to these little surface pits.
I just wish i knew what was causing them.
My mold is clean as a whistle cavities are brite and shiny.

Ok so some one said to raise temp to 800... i will start at 750 and go up and see what happens
 
I wish i could post pics. But this forum wont let me. I can take a few pics and email them to someone so you all have a better idea of what i am talking about
 
10-4 at what Chainsaw. said, and even if the spurs run together, that's not bad
either. When I cast using 6 cavity molds...I rise the pour handle just ones and
slide the mold right along my invented slide plate under the pour spout
non-stop.
 
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Do not dump the sprues back in after every melt, you're cooling the mix. What furnace do you have. I started with a Lee 10 lb that the temp would vary by 100 degrees, it was junk.

And how are you measuring the temp? Don't trust markings on the dial of a furnace. Use a good thermometer that you insert into the mix or an infra red purchased from Harbor Freight. Problem with the infra red is it won't read the lead because it is shiny, but it will read the lip of the pot.

If indeed you can verify the lead temp the only thing left is the mold. And that would tell me you're running the mold to cold.

These are all problems that happen when you start out casting. You will over come them in time.
 
Just caught the part that you're using a stainless steel pot and ladle. The ladle needs to be hot too or it's cooling the lead.

I've always used bottom pour pots but the whole thing is about controlling the heat. I believe the problem is something is not up to temp.

Do not pour the lead into the mold slowly, that causes problems.
 
Old 454, I tried to send you a private message but it says you have that turned off. Need to see pictures of what you're getting.
 
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