Well I've done a little shooting with the 400 grainer and it is not quite up to snuff either. Having issues with the meplat interfering with some part of the barrel extension. I got an improved design on the way. This time I ordered in 2 cavity only. Should be a little easier to run. Here is my new design in the Accurate Molds catalog.
Sooo, ran the calculations, and I think if I can get this baby up to 2000 FPS that's 3300 lb ft at the muzzle!
Last edited by rongaudier; 05-02-2017 at 08:01 PM.
I change lead now and then in my pot, I just wear thick gloves and hold the rails to pour into an ingot mold. No matter what I use or how much I flux, there is that black ash looking junk in the bottom, why it does not float is a mystery. It must be uranium!!!
Anyway I was always poking the junk out of the spout. Flow would change after a few casts. Heat rises and there are no elements in the bottom so I assume the spout is cooler. I tried and tried until I made a tapered brass plug to fit and removed the rest of the stuff from the pot so a ladle fit better.
I bought the lee BP because they were out of stock with the production pot. I never got the Lyman or RCBS pots to work either.
I went back to what I know from almost 67 years of fooling with casting something from the prettiest sinkers to fishing jigs. Boolits were SOOO much easier. Better molds.
Back then they did not know mercury was poison, we rubbed it on silver dollars with our fingers to shine them, drop a drop on the floor and it ran little drops in between the floor boards.
Today they would wrap the house in plastic and condemn it.
Years of handling sinkers might have made me the gun nut I am. We survived.
I haven't cleaned out my pot ever. I bet the bottom is pretty cruddy. I've been running a small allen wrench up the hole to clear it out. I think I'll go ahead and do like you say, dump it and make sure there is not crud on the bottom. Yea, I think it's a flow issue.
Well I cleaned out my pot and yes, there was tons of that brown crud in there. The hole was pretty well plugged too. Got that all cleaned out now, I'm expecting good flow.
What got me thinking more along the lines of flow was when I was watching old Fortune Cookie at work and noticed his pot was flowing much better than mine. I guess I got away with it for
a long time casting only little boolits. We'll see how it goes now.
I am stupid and do not know how the junk does not rise to the top. Lead is heavy so it makes no sense. But I am happy you seen it. But it will return.Originally Posted by rongaudier
Well it was like 5-6 years of accumulation. I'll make sure to clean the pot more often. Probably got more than half a cup of that stuff out of there.
Sometimes we chase our tails trying to fix a problem that hasn't been properly identified. "Ask me about hard ingots!" . . .
These 4 on the left have 'gas' problems...from oil or something in the mould that didn't get cleaned out. Those indentations don't have hard edges around the imperfections. They look like the mould is raised in that area because the Pb is seamless all around the divot, (gassing bubble) and in some cases, if it is a long smear of oil (or whatever) it will run up or across in an irregular shape...but the edges look seamless. It will keep showing up in the same area of the same mould cavity from cast to cast. The first, third and fourth from the left I believe came from the same cavity.
Attachment 194628
The casts on the right show 'temperature' problems and hard edges from where the Pb hit that area of the mould and froze and as the cavity filled the Pb came to the edges of the frozen metal and joined up tight showing the hard edges.
I think sometimes when the mould is running 'borderline' hot enough, if we don't get the Pb in the center of the sprue hole it will ricochet off the sprue and loose heat there and when it hits the side of the cavity it freezes. That's why I try hard to hit the center of that sprue with the bottom pour pot and run that stream as fast as the pot will deliver.
I wish I had better examples to show but those end up in the pot again.
a m e r i c a n p r a v d a
Be a Patriot . . . expose their lies!
“In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” G. Orwell
Most of mine came out looking like the ones on the right.
With a new mold you don't know what to expect, then molds of different materials have their own requirements too as far as temp. and casting tempo, but I think? that if we work out the temp. problem first these subtle gassing irregularities will show up second. When the casts look like the ones on the right, it's hard to tell if the mould is gassing too.
I think I learn the most about our hobby when I have to figure a problem out. Especially so when you bring your problems to this forum seeking help in solving the mystery.
a m e r i c a n p r a v d a
Be a Patriot . . . expose their lies!
“In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” G. Orwell
Yea I'm 99% sure it was a flow problem. I'll find out with my next casting session.
I cast a lot of bigger bullets between 400-550 grains. I have a couple of 6 gang 50 cal moulds. The trick we have found is to ladle pour them and run the pot around 850. I use a propane burner (deep fryer) to preheat the mould to get it good and hot. I also have an RCBS bottom pour but getting good bullets is a chore with it.
And the winner is....44man.
Yup it was all the junk that had accumulated in my pot over the years that caused the problem. Now getting great flow and casting beautiful boolits.
Thanks
If using a BP pot, trying pressure casting; holding the spout to the spru plate hole for the entire pour & lifting it up to form the spru at the end. It isn't the 3cav/45. I get good results with 6cav 45/230 in the cheap Lee alum molds.
EVERY GOOD SHOOTER NEEDS TO BE A HANDLOADER.
NRA Cert. Inst. Met. Reloading & Basic Pistol
I have a 5 cav. NOE 180gr. mold for my 357 Max. I have to heat it and pour at 750 and it still takes a long time to get enough temp. in it. Once it gets hot it makes beautiful boolits.
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