Blue balls

[leadhoarder]

I cast some balls today. I have been shooting my stash of purchased balls up until this point. Because of the high cost of balls I decided to begin casting some.

Now, I have experience with casting modern bullets using harder lead alloys. I have used 2 cavity RCBS/Lyman/Saeco molds before as well as Lee six cavity molds. Today I was using a Lee two cavity for the first time and my only other experience with pure lead was with a conical in a Lyman steel mold.

I was surprised how slow of a pace I had to use to keep the mold from overheating. Several times after I cast a small pile of balls I noticed they started to drop with a blue hue. I would then let the mold cool, clean up the work area, place the sprues back in the melter and flux. When I began pouring again they dropped nice and shiny.

Is it the heat of the mold or the heat of the lead that causes this or did fluxing clean things up? The lead ignots I am using have a blue hue to them. I believe when I bought this batch that was disclosed at time of purchase.

 

[User_Dan]

When you wrap them in some blue pillow ticking patches they will be color matched and more accurate

 

[jdw276]

When i cast I use two molds in the winter and 3 or 4 in the summer to let nature cool down the molds. Can go through a lot of lead that way quick. Like 200 plus round ball an hour with 2 cavity molds. Many more when I use my 480 and 390 six cavity molds! After say 3 loadngs for each mold I stop and throw the excess sprue lead back in the pot. That also helps keep the lead from getting way to hot and molds to cool another few degrees. 2-3 hour session and I am tired with a pile of roundball to cull the bad ones out of and back to the pot. Multiple obvious size differences in the roundball make sorting easy.

 

[Frontier's]

Oxidation forming on top. You can Flux all you want, turn the temp down, itll still be there.

19lbs of pure lead between Saturday and Sunday.

 

[stikshooter]

I cast some balls today. I have been shooting my stash of purchased balls up until this point. Because of the high cost of balls I decided to begin casting some.

Now, I have experience with casting modern bullets using harder lead alloys. I have used 2 cavity RCBS/Lyman/Saeco molds before as well as Lee six cavity molds. Today I was using a Lee two cavity for the first time and my only other experience with pure lead was with a conical in a Lyman steel mold.

I was surprised how slow of a pace I had to use to keep the mold from overheating. Several times after I cast a small pile of balls I noticed they started to drop with a blue hue. I would then let the mold cool, clean up the work area, place the sprues back in the melter and flux. When I began pouring again they dropped nice and shiny.

Is it the heat of the mold or the heat of the lead that causes this or did fluxing clean things up? The lead ignots I am using have a blue hue to them. I believe when I bought this batch that was disclosed at time of purchase.

Color indicates pure lead ,nothing more!/Ed

 

[CaptainVane]

When you blow the brains out of that poor sweet little deer, drinking from a cold brook, do you really think he’s gonna care what color your balls are…

 

[Urban Coyote]

There's a fellow here somewhere, I won't mention who due to his apparent sensitive nature, that suggests putting your cast balls in a tumbler with some graphite. I'm not sure it would help any imperfections but it should make them all the same color.

I sure hope you have a better sense of humor than that other guy.

 

[Don Steele]

Blue lead roundballs are simply an indication that your metal is hotter than necessary. No harm no foul.
When I started casting bullets, helping my Father, Eisenhower was President. I wouldn’t cast anything without a thermometer monitoring the temperature of the metal in my pot. Compared to what we spend on all the gear to enjoy this sport, it’s an inexpensive addition that will remove guesswork from the process.

 

[hanshi]

I rather like my lead about as hot as I can get it. The color is just the natural color of unalloyed lead. If frosty then that points to especially hot lead. When I cast I glance at the ball to make sure it's filled out; otherwise I don't worry.

 

[dennyntx]

I cast some balls today. I have been shooting my stash of purchased balls up until this point. Because of the high cost of balls I decided to begin casting some.

Now, I have experience with casting modern bullets using harder lead alloys. I have used 2 cavity RCBS/Lyman/Saeco molds before as well as Lee six cavity molds. Today I was using a Lee two cavity for the first time and my only other experience with pure lead was with a conical in a Lyman steel mold.

I was surprised how slow of a pace I had to use to keep the mold from overheating. Several times after I cast a small pile of balls I noticed they started to drop with a blue hue. I would then let the mold cool, clean up the work area, place the sprues back in the melter and flux. When I began pouring again they dropped nice and shiny.

Is it the heat of the mold or the heat of the lead that causes this or did fluxing clean things up? The lead ignots I am using have a blue hue to them. I believe when I bought this batch that was disclosed at time of purchase.

Try turning your heat down on your melting pot mine will get a blue tint if I turn the pot all the way up. Also your mold will take longer to overheat