Photos. Tonight's casting results. Solder helped much. Still learning. Thanks all.

[Tallbald]

Thanks for advise and help folks. I posted earlier that I found some unidentified content wire solder from long ago in my shop today and sacrificed it to making bullets tonight. It was the only source of tin I had. Period. Guessing it was 50/50, I used basic math to make an educated guess at the 2-3 percent proportion needed by weight. I calculated that I had enough to cast 7 alloyed pounds of 125 grain, .358 Lee RNFP. I just today learned that a kind gentleman here is going to help me by providing some alloy metals since I have yet to find any locally. Wonderful man, and I have agreed to pass on the kind gesture to another casting enthusiast in need when an opportunity arises.
My gear is the simplest and most affordable to me. The pictures below show my setup. The sheet of chipboard on the patio table prevents drips from falling through to the concrete where any of our four indoor/outdoor dogs could eat it. The ingot molds are made up or bought as I learned from reading old threads here. I tried my first casting last night and had wrinkles which the solder fixed (thanks again for the help). A stainless container filled with water and an old cloth caught the hot bullets right from the mold. My mallet is scrap oak sanded to remove splinters. The container and mallet were ideas gleaned from old threads here too.
The last light was fading as I completed re-melting down all of last nights slugs, of which 20 percent or so had wrinkles. I want to do it as right as I can until I have more choice in lead alloys, and the solder today made a world of difference. It was expensive and now is gone but I did the right thing and am glad of it.
I move on now to another new process to me. Sizing and lubing. I bought a Lee .358 sizing die I will use in my new Classic Cast turret press, right here at the kitchen table. I'll do my research here tonight via old threads and maybe posting a question to address anything I'm unclear on. One concern I have right now is damaging the fresh, un-aged 98% lead/2% tin slugs when tumble lubing them with the only lube I have, Lee Liquid Alox that came with the sizing die. I may find I need to roll the slugs on a saturated pad. Tomorrow, after a cardiac physician appointment for my loving spouse Penny I'll begin the new processes. That is, unless I find I need to age the fresh bullets a period of time before sizing them.
I really welcome critiques here. It is a little daunting to learn casting from reading books and archived threads. I can't imagine how Daddy and I could have done it back in the 1960's when I was a child and we had plans to cast for his .32 ACP Walther. He had no friends or any interactive methods to learn the art. Just books. Don.

[slim1836]

I like it when new casters do a little research before casting, it keeps from repeating the answers over and over. Welcome to the best site of it's kind.
Keep in mind when tumble lubing, less is better, if you can see it it's too much.
Size your boolits before aging them, it's easier.
Like you, we do have a lot to learn, however, this site makes it easier.

Slim

[Yodogsandman]

Fine looking boolits! To tumble lube, I normally do it as soon as they're cool or when I have a chance. I put them in a clean plastic ice cream container with a squirt or two of Lee liquid alox lube and swish them around with my hand. I don't shake them or agitate them aggressively. Just swirl them around and round till they're all covered. I add a little more LLA if I need to. A little goes a long way. I then dump them out on some wax paper, butchers paper or even aluminum foil at times. I separate them apart from each other to dry and turn (roll) them over the next day for a bit, till dry. And there...ready to load or size, re-lube and load. Good luck with them and enjoy yourself.

[rsrocket1]

It's a good thing you are showing your pictures although only one is showing up to the rest of us. Those bullets are very shiny. That indicates low temperature. Typically a newbie will show shiny/wrinkled boolits or well-filled/frosty boolits. There is usually a thin margin between shiny/good fillout and frosty (high temperature side) and shiny/good fillout and wrinkles (too low temperature). Fortunately, frosty boolits don't affect performance so there is more margin on the high temperature side than there is on the low temperature side.

I'm glad things are working out for you. Congratulations.

[alfloyd]

With just Tin and Lead, the slugs will not harden with age. They are as hard as they are going to be after they cool. Some Antimony is needed to harden a lead alloy.

Slugs in the one photo I can see looks great. Keep up the good work.

Lafaun

[RED333]

Just to get the feel of tumble lube, put just 50 in the tub and 3 drops of lube, spread them on a baking sheet covered in wax paper.
Let the dry for a few hours, you should not be able to see the lube, but you can feel it.
Get the lube warm, I let mine sit in hot water for a bit, warm lube goes a very long way.

[Tallbald]

Sorry about the photos. I can see all three pictures. The tray of slugs, and two of my casting setup (Coleman stove, gloves, mold, pot, etc.). I'm a little confused as to why the missing pictures. I won't bother anyone here with reposting the two missing photos. They're really nothing special that everyone hasn't seen many times before I'm sure.
As to the temperature... I have no thermometer, and from reading here( I looked into buying one and read several threads on the subject here) it sort of seems quality varies a lot. Price does seem to make a difference and I'm on a rather tight budget. Is the shiny look indicative of a bad cast? On examination the slugs all look well filled, have no wrinkles and only a very thin cast line. Should I have run my lead hotter?
Yodogsandman.,you mentioned a sequence that confuses me. You mentioned lubing, then sizing, the re-lubing before loading. I guess I was under the wrong impression. Do I not size the raw slugs THEN lube them before loading? I'm happy you happened to mention this. I thought the soft lead would size nicely without lube, just as when pure lead round balls loaded in my black powder Ruger Old Army shave off a ring as they are rammed home into the cylinder at loading.
I'll be interested to see too, if the liquid ALOX dries hard like a laquer coating or if it will be greasy to the touch and at risk for wiping off during handling. SO many new experiences to investigate and learn!
My best to all. Don

[pworley1]

Nice job.

[RickinTN]

Many folks using Lee liquid alox or a modified version 45-45-10 for tumble lubing often lube once before sizing and once after but as others have mentioned two very thin coats. If it starts giving the bullets a brown/bronze tone you're using too much. If you find you are using too much go ahead and load and shoot the bullets as a little added smoke is probably the only difference you will notice.
Good Luck,
Rick

[Cowboy_Dan]

Those bullets are very shiny. That indicates low temperature. Typically a newbie will show shiny/wrinkled boolits or well-filled/frosty boolits. There is usually a thin margin between shiny/good fillout and frosty (high temperature side) and shiny/good fillout and wrinkles (too low temperature).

I'm still a noob myself, but I was under the impression that frosting is Sb crystals. If the OP's alloy is Pb+Sn, it will never frost. Good luck Tallbard, I hope to join you in having my first keepers soon.

[oldfart1956]

Tallbald when I'm using Lee Alox or the Recluse version of such here's my sequence. I'm not saying it's right or wrong...it's just the way I do it. I have an empty 1lb. margarine tub with 50 to 100 boolits in it. (depends on the size of the boolits) I snatch up a hairdryer (funny when I think of your handle) and I heat up the boolits in the tub. While doing this the Alox or Recluse is sitting in an old coffee mug filled with hot water. Once the boolits are uncomfortably warm to the touch I add a few drops of lube and just swirl it around. Now mind ye we ain't shakin' this thing like a maraca...just swirl it. Then I set them aside to dry while I'm doing the next batch. I let them set overnight (probably not needed) then a trip thru the Lee sizer die and another heat&coat&dry. I think the heating makes for a more uniform distribution of the lube. Or I could just be anal. I won't say the first coat is mandatory before sizing. If I'm going to run them thru the Lyman 450 lubesizer I push them thru the Lee sizer die naked. I've never leaded up or damaged a Lee sizer die doing this. All this is with boolits having standard lube grooves. When using a tumble-lube design I seldom size them unless I see a problem. So far I've been fortunate in this regard. Carry on Sir! Audie...the longwinded Oldfart.

[44man]

Shiny is the norm with lead/tin and as long as wrinkles are gone they are fine. You can't frost that alloy and they will not get harder.
You might get more leading then you can handle with a TL.

[Tallbald]

TL? I'm sorry I can't find the abbreviation at the key below. Don

FWIW, I won't be casting QD or even QOD but instead just PRN, maybe Q Mo. My chest CXR (AP/LAT) and spinal XRAY shows OA bilat and the POC I must maintain dictates activity. Fortunately RA hasn't shown up.The 2006 tib/fib frac and resultant RLE tot knee gives way at times and I fall during ambulation. Frequent rest in semi-recumbent position, perhaps Q6 or TID and at HS is a must.
Just picking folks. I need time to learn casting abbreviations. The above is "nurse speak", a career with its own accepted abbreviations and jargon. Some abbreviations aren't listed at the table shown at the bottom of the page. I'm trying.....grin. Don

[dondiego]

TL= Tumble Lube

[Tallbald]

Thanks! Please bear with me as I become assimilated (to steal a quote from the Borg). Don.

[dondiego]

I have had to ask what abbreviations mean on several occasions.

[twc1964]

Fyi, lube and size a couple boolits then measure the driving bands near the lower half of the boolit. It should measure .358 on this area after sizing. I got a lee sizer die that i used and did not measure the first 300 boolits and found it was sizing them at .356.7. I had to enlarge my sizer as many here have had too.

[Mk42gunner]

... Is the shiny look indicative of a bad cast? On examination the slugs all look well filled, have no wrinkles and only a very thin cast line. Should I have run my lead hotter?
... Don

What you are after is consistency, not looks. I would measure the diameter, then weigh a few on my scale. Don't be surprised when they weigh more than the stated 125 grains, but they should all be within a grain or two.

I usually weigh a few bullets from a new mold, just to get an idea of what they weigh; and I have never had one weigh exactly what they are speced at. No real surprise, I am normally using wheel weights, not linotype or Lyman No 2 alloy.

If your lead is flowing freely, the temp should be okay.

Robert

[JeffG]

Tallbald,

I don't think I saw anybody comment on a good thermometer. Tel-Tru is the one I have and have been using for 20+ years. It goes up to 1000 degrees.

[Tallbald]

As to thermometers I do wish for one. But a number of older threads here I've studied seem to draw the conclusion that price does indeed matter. A good one appears to be kind of expensive. I'll have to forgo a thermometer for a while I believe, but at some point I hope to have one. Don