First Cast Disaster

[vrod1023]

Here are my pics guys! Spoke to HermanS and he had a chuckle

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[Thumbcocker]

Be sure to give us a range report. Maybe in a new thread.

[vrod1023]

Yes sir will do.

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[Willie T]

I dropped in here just to see those pictures! Great to see you are up and running.
Enjoy the hobby!
Willie T

[vrod1023]

Thanks Willie T! Now to be able to replicate the process.

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[Barry54]

Congratulations!
As my old boss used to say:
I’m glad you didn’t “throw your skirt over your head” and give up.

[vrod1023]

Appreciate it Barry54!

Was your old boss Scottish?

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[vrod1023]

Update: I've cast for the second time this week and my bullets averaged close to .356 (attached). Today I tried powder coating for 1st time and it was a partial success. Was able to coat them twice; passed the acetone transfer test but not entirely the smash test. The supplier and I have been in touch and he says it's because my mix was 30% acetone 70% denatured alcohol. That's what was in the video. However the instructions on his website calls for 50/50 ratio. He thinks they will shoot. So I'm going to call that a day and another learning curve. Here's some photos.




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[Barry54]

Congratulations!
Glad you didn’t give up prematurely!!!

Now post some targets showing how they shoot.

[vrod1023]

Thanks Barry! It's been slow up to this point but I aim to get to the range some time next week.

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[Duckiller]

Somewhere it was mentioned that you had a problem with your sprue plate. I use a replacement hammer handle. Just the handle no hammer. Some times I can open the sprue with a gloved hand. Not sure what it takes to do that. The butt of my 20 year old hammer handle is getting chewed up but it still works. As soon as the sprue looks solid I whack it. All the books say dump you boolits on a fluffy towel. I just dump mine in a pizza or shoe box. Your powder coated boolits looked good enough to kill lots of paper targets or tin cans. Enjoy the hobby and stay with the forum.

[vrod1023]

Much appreciated duckiller! I picked up a hammer handle online and it works well. I'm going to the range on Monday. I will report back

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[6.5X284ever]

I am a few weeks out from my first casting attempt. Lots of great information in this thread. I must say I am impressed by the lengths more experienced members will go to, to help us new guys. OP, I was rooting for you, glad you found success !

[vrod1023]

I am a few weeks out from my first casting attempt. Lots of great information in this thread. I must say I am impressed by the lengths more experienced members will go to, to help us new guys. OP, I was rooting for you, glad you found success !

Thank you sir! Much appreciated. I went to the range today and the following 3 targets are the result.Guns used were CZP07 and Astra A75. The one not marked was with both the CZ P07 and Astra A75 - just random shooting. The bullet was the cast TL 356-124-2R. I cannot judge how good or bad it is because I know I don't shoot as much as I should. But I see on the one target some keyholing? Is that the term? Unfortunately...and this is the first time it happened...I had more squibs than I'd like and so it turned out a bit of a heebiejeebie moment. Granted I had not been checking my powder drops...apparently it's common with the Lee Powder Disk measure when the powder gets low it undercharges. Think I literally dodged a few bullets there.

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[Barry54]

I’m not seeing which ones you think are keyholing? Looks like torn paper from lack of a target backer to me.

I actually trust the Lee auto disc measure. Which orifice were you using?
Small charge drops of flake powder can be erratic with almost any measure. What is the grain structure of your powder?

To me a squib is when a projectile doesn’t have enough energy to leave the barrel. If you are having malfunctions you may not be using enough powder. Or some firearms are sensitive to “limp wristing” by the operator. I assume you didn’t have malfunctioning with factory ammunition and rule out operator error.

Lee is known to drop powder charges lighter than they say, to error on the side of caution. So if you selected the disc orifice From the chart it’s probably dropping less than advertised.

If you have a Lee scale, please check and re-zero it if needed. (Set everything to zero. Adjust the brass weight to where it balances) I’ve seen one scale two grains off, which is quite dangerous when dealing with 4-7 grain charge weights. But my free diagnosis from this continent is you might just need to move up one orifice larger on your measure.