Tips with first casting?

[alexzxz]

I just finished casting some round balls for the first time. Took a while to get started because I forgot I needed to heat the mold first. Also the Lee ladle is trickier than it looks.

Stopped casting when I realized I kept getting a layer of yellow, and eventually blue mixed in.

After sorting, left with only 7 good balls, a mess of wrinkled but potentially usable ones, and a pile of rejects. One was interesting, had a rough look rather than the shiny surface of smooth lead.

Any tips to be more successful?

[waarp8nt]

Get a Lyman Ladle, clean pot by fluxing, cast enough to get the mold hot.

[Bardo]

Mold needs to be hotter. With pure lead i keep the lead real hot to help keep the mold hot, especially on small round balls. I think pure lead is the hardest to get good fill out because there is no tin. If the mold is the right temp you should have keeper from the start. I run my lead 800 degrees plus with pure lead. I also partially stick my mold in the lead to pre heat the mold.

Bardo

[idahoron]

Add about 1000 grains of chilled lead shot in 10 pounds of pure lead if you have some around. Your lead is pure and get the mould hotter.

[Bardo]

And ditch that lee ladel they dont hold much lead. I have a new in the box lyman ladel you can have if you pay the $6 to ship it to you. Just send me a PM if you want it.

Bardo

[DerekP Houston]

all the wrinkly ones are from the lead cooling too fast in the mold. Bigger ladel, pressure cast?, and hotter mold from the looks of it. You'll get better with practice. The color change is probably normal for pure lead, I've seen yellows and purples before. Even got a nice red color once...then I realized it was the poor melter over heating .

[alexzxz]

Yeah, I checked around, the bluing may be due to overheating and forming lead oxides. I never did stop the heat.
I fluxed at the start with a chunk of wax and that worked but near the end, I kept skimming and a yellow layer kept forming.
Mother nature may have been against me though. I was casting near some tall trees and little bits of organic material may have floated in with the wind.

As for the ladle, I'm really tempted Bardo, thanks for the offer , but I'm not sure ladling is the way to go. I'll just use this ladle as a skimmer for now, stock pile some ingots and wait for an excuse to get a bottom pour pot. (Labor day's coming up, but that's my excuse for a mill)

[waarp8nt]

I have a new in the box lyman ladel you can have if you pay the $6 to ship it to you. Just send me a PM if you want it.

Bardo

alexzxz that is a mighty fine price, if you ever plan to ladle cast even one more boolit, you should take Bardo up on his kind offer.

[country gent]

Add a lead thermometer, a good ladle Lyman or rcbs are good, Pure lead runs a little hotter to cast and the mould needs a fast fill, get the lead in while its still all molten. You didnt state what mould you were using here but most can be pre heated on the top of the pot or along side a burner fired pot, best is a hot plate set up. Run you pure lead around 700*-750*, pre heat the mould and heat the ladle in the lead getting it up to temp of the lead. When casting cast at a brisk pace to start keeping the ladle in the pot as much as posible to keep it hot. When casting cast dont stop to sort or admire bullets cast and watch bullets as they fall from mould but keep casting if bullets get "frosty looking slow the pace a little if they start getting wrinkles then speed up some. A small amount of tin may help with fill out. A couple ounces of lead free tin solder to 10lbs of lead wont affect hardness much but will help fillout. Flux reduce lead with wax or paraffin when casting, sawdust also works well in a dipper pot. You got your start now keep going. Keep notes on what works and didnt work.

[triggerhappy243]

I cast with a ladle as well. But my ladle is bigger than the lyman or RCBS. holds 3 ounces of lead and I deluge the lead into and over the mold. it keeps the mold real hot.

[OBIII]

Don't try to skim with the Lee ladle. Instead, get a slotted spoon or two from Dollar General. Been using my plastic handled one for more than a few years now. Candle wax or sawdust for fluxing, wooden dowel to stir the material throughout the lead.
OB

[alexzxz]

Yeah, I guess I'll give ladling another try. I'll probably get a proper pot sometime, but not in the near future. Got a move coming up. (Only 20 miles but still hectic). I have a feeling I'll invest way too much time and money into this hobby.

[Omnivore]

Your lead looks a bit hot, and your mold is too cold. Get your temps right and everything will fall into place. I second the suggestion to get a thermometer. 700 to 750 is plenty hot. Also smoke your mold, which helps fillout a great deal. Using a ladle, understand that the ladle can cool the lead if it's not up to temp.

The mold must not have any trace of oil or grease in it.

Depending on the ambient temp, and the number of pours per minute, you may need to heat the mold by dipping it into the pot once in a while. Some people use an electric hot plate to heat the mold.

A small mold block with relatively large cavities will heat up quickly. A large mold block with relatively small cavities will heat up slowly, and may never get not enough by pouring only. I have one of the latter, and wave it over a propane torch every couple of pours.

Round ball is the easiest bullet to cast, due to its lack of corners. If you get a few wrinkled ones at first, just keep pouring, or take a few seconds to heat up the mold by dipping it. Once you get the hang of it, you got it. Pour, wait for the freeze, cut sprue, drop the balls and pour again right away.

When you have the mold and the pot at the correct temps, the puddle atop the sprue plate will take at least six seconds to fully freeze. That's one of your better metrics right there.

[OnHoPr]

You are having to go pretty deep in the pot for a Lee ladle to get lead. Get a LADLE, Bardo's is cool. Use the Lee ladle for stirring and skimming since you just started to keep the cost down of this and that and everything else. The Lee ladle hardly holds any lead and that is giving you problems.

1st pic - shoot em
2nd pic - those were caused by probably a few issues, cold mold and a shaky hand irregular pour into the cavity.
3rd pic - frosty ball lower left probably happened when you just heated the mold. The other balls are extreme 2nd pic conditions.
Get a ladle and pour the stream quickly and smoothly until you get a decent sprue.

Basically, to deep to dip for the Lee, irregular temps, small ladle, and noob being careful with hot lead in a small ladle moving from pot to mold, then just don't got the rhythm yet for a good deliberate smooth pour.

[bedbugbilly]

Flux your lead - I've always used a small piece of beeswax - others use pine sawdust, etc.

Get yourself a Lyman bottom pour hand ladle.

Get you mold hot and keep it hot. You will learn to cast with a "cadence" . . . interrupt that cadence and you mold can cool where you might need to make a couple of pours to get it hot again - all depends on the mold and if it's aluminum, steel, etc. Keep you pot hot with pure lead. "Layers" such as your balls show is an indication that the mold is too cool - as the lead goes in it is cooling in "layers" so to speak.

Above all . . don't get discouraged. It will all work out for you - it just takes time to learn it all. I have used a propane hotplate, lyman 10# pot and a Lyman bottom pour ladle for over 50 years and have cast both round ball, minie ball and cartridge boolits with it just fine. Don't be afraid to ask questions - we all had to learn at some point and that's what this form is all about!

Good luck to you and enjoy and have fun!

[rfd]

spritz the mould with lots of spray brake cleaner - it must be fully clean of any oils or residue. some folks lube the sprue cutter bolt. i don't lube anything because that stuff has a way of drifting into the wrong places of a mould. you'll know that when you see tiny bubble marks on the just cast bullet or ball.

i no longer bother with a thermometer, just get the furnace and pure lead (or lead alloy) HOT as it can go. put a double wrap of a #64 rubber band around the ends of the closed mould, balance the mould on the edge of the furnance while it's getting up to its maximum heat. give it all a good 15 to 30 minutes or longer to get HOT. you'll see slag and dross and discoloration to the lead, so skim that all off with a spoon and you'll be left with a silvery shining pool of good bullet/ball making stuff. use a GOOD ladle like a lyman or rcbs and stick it in and allow it to heat up. if pure lead, just swirl the ladle around and remove any dross. if lead alloy, flux with just a pea of beeswax or a bit of sawdust, it'll flame up, swirl the ladle, remove any dross.

casting --- tip the mould 45* to one side, stick the full ladle's spout into the mould's sprue mouth and in 2-3 seconds turn the mould -with ladle still attached- upright. slowly remove the ladle and keep pouring into the sprue hole, allow the excess lead to dribble off the mould/sprue top and fall into the pot. allow the mould to cool a bit. push or tap the sprue cutter and open the mould - if the bullet/ball won't fall out, rap the mould's hinge pin only. you'll know if the results are good or not ... if not, the mould ain't hot enuf and this first try, and perhaps at least a few more tries, are all about getting the mould up to operating temperature.

when done, allow the mould to cool, spritz completely with wd40 and store away. refill the furnance and shut it down.

[Wayne Smith]

Take Bardo's offer. Even if you get a bottom pour you will use it, and since you are moving you probably can't afford a bottom pour this year anyway!

[rfd]

i would argue against a bottom pour furnace - stick with a good ladle.

[country gent]

Im currently experimenting with a rowel #1 ladle ( holds almost a 1lb of alloy). I dont pour for a sprue but pour the full ladle till empty into the sprue hole letting the excess run off and back into the pot. This keeps the bullet molten longer and gives more time for air and gasses to escape. It also keeps the sprue plate hotter. I was using the rcbs ladle with the spout opened to .210 dia for a better flow. I have a luyman ladle also and the spout is openedup on it to. Getting the lead into the moukld fast is important as is keepingmolten a short while. I cast 2 mouklds alternating so one is cooling and filling the other. A good ladle with a solid stream the right temps and practice and youll be running ball to rival the factories. I have ground a trough in my sprue plates to guide the run off and this also maintains a very consistant size sprue once the mould is hot. It can be done with a simple die grinder or dremil tool. the groove only needs to be .040-.060 deep. Lee sprue plates are on the thin side to do this but others it works good.

[mooman76]

I agree with most said here. The colors in the lead you get when using pure or near pure. Like stated your lead is a little on the hot side but you still need a hotter mould to start out. I tend to start out with my lead hot to help heat the mould and then turn down the heat on the lead a little at a time until I get it to the right temp to include the mould. I still pre heat the mould also. If you run your lead too hot your lead will oxidize faster and you will get allot of oxidized lead forming on top.

I'm the odd one out. I been using the Lee dipper for years with no problems and like it fine but I also made a few adjustments to it. First I bent it so the dipper part would be level coming out of the pot, that way it can hold more. I also took a file to the spouts so the would pour a more direct stream. It hold close to 1k or grain weight. A better pot will also help you. You need to dip down so far I can see where the dipper won't hold much. Just keep practicing and things will get better fast. That's on of the good things about lead, it doesn't go to waist. Bad bullets can go back in the pot and remelted indefinitely.