Day Three

[101VooDoo]

Tried a different tact today, stuck with just one mould, for lots of casts. (first attempt with hollow point pins ). Heated pot to about 760 (Pro-Melt bounced between 740-770).

Slowed down a bit, ended up doing about a 5-count between the sprue frosting and cutting it off; if I went any faster it seemed to stretch the HP. Yesterday it was about a 2-count. Also closed the mould a little slower, yesterday it was drop-click-pour.

Good news is I only had about 12 with wrinkles at the start (heated the mould longer on the hotplate). Bad news is I now realize just how lousy yesterdays boolits are - they're headed back to the pot.

One thing I noticed though, while the base and middle bands were well filled out, the top band would occasionally be filled out on one side, but rounded on the other.

I'm thinking a bit more heat, say 775-800 might cure this?

Jim

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Looking good!

Sam

[405]

Sounds like progress.

I haven't followed your ?s/threads completely but QC seems to be very subjective within the casting community. Some just don't worry too much about perfect castings, some cast for volume only measured by bullets cast per hour of labor, some cull by weight, some cull by appearance, some cull to within 1/10 gr, some just shoot whatever drops and so on. So you might get all kinds of answers. A PERFECT cast bullet is sometimes very difficult if not impossible to obtain.

If you are shooting 100s or 1000s of cast handgun bullets for minute-of-steel plate at 15 yards perfect bullets may not matter too much as long as they go out the muzzle and don't lead the bore too badly. If you are casting bullets for 1000 yd target shooting then the opposite may be true where 20 perfect bullets is a goal for one shooting session. If you are bottom pouring and getting the rounded edge or partial rounded edge on the base it may help to increase the temp a little and/or increase the dwell time contact between the bottom of the spout and the sprue hole to "pressurize" the mold cavity a little. Not the easiest technique to master but it can be done. I do that with a ladle when casting long, heavy bullets in the larger calibers. Seems it's the only way I get full fill-out with sharp base edges with the big bullets. By waiting a few seconds before knocking the sprue plate over, as you described, you are allowing the alloy to harden before cutting- attempting to cut the sprue too soon the biggest problem you'll likely notice is that the sprue plate will "pull" a chunk of the bullet base out if it hasn't hardened enough to be cut.

In the end, it's all a matter of practice and experimentation on the part of the one doing the casting and the level of perfection desired.

[sundog]

Sooo, is there a problem with them or sumthin'?

Range report. Were you a Weasel?

[qajaq59]

The Devil is in the details, and obviously you are paying attention to them. You'll end up with some nice bullets.

[MiHec]

Heat is the issue here...

Preheat mold well. I cast around 820F (lyman thermometer).

Once you find your tempo you should be good..

[462]

I think 405's last sentence sums it all up.

[101VooDoo]

Sooo, is there a problem with them or sumthin'?

Range report. Were you a Weasel?

Not a big problem,about half the top band on one side is sharp and well defined, while the other side is just a bit rounded. I'm guessing the side towards the center of the mould are filling out better and the outsides are not because the mould isn't quite as hot there.

No, ours was a reconnaissance unit. We did have an F4G Weasel on the ramp for a short time, we were in the process of converting from the RF4C and were going to be the only Weasel unit when big AF canceled the program.

Jim

[101VooDoo]

Heat is the issue here...

Preheat mold well. I cast around 820F (lyman thermometer).

Once you find your tempo you should be good..

Thanks Miha, I'll try it with more heat - excellent mould by the way.

Jim

[1Shirt]

Yep, what 405 says! I cast all hollow points as hot and as fast as possible, with as much of a timed sequence as possible. Don't get a lot of culls.
1Shirt!

[montana_charlie]

I'm guessing the side towards the center of the mould are filling out better and the outsides are not because the mould isn't quite as hot there.

The sprue mark on the bullet shows which way the sprue plate was moving when it cut the sprue. Using that, you can determine which way the bullet was facing when it was in the cavity. That should tell you which 'zone' in the cavity is not giving you good fillout. It might even be a cleanliness issue...

Now that your 'fillout' has improved enough for you to re-evaluate 'Day Two', you are ready to get critical about how complete your fillout actually is.

Corners on driving bands and the base should BE sharp...not just LOOK sharp.

If it doesn't scrape your skin when you drag a finger over the edge it is a rounded corner. That means you have not yet achieved full fillout.

But, it sounds like you have a better notion of what your goal looks like...

CM

[Blammer]

if you have rounded corners on the same spot on the same cavity all the time, I'd suggest you clean that cavity better, should solve the problem.