Round Ball Pour

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George C

40 Cal.
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Poured my first .440 round balls today was using pure lead made from sheet lead. They look pretty good, it was slow using single ball mold. But it got her done.
 
While many get good results with multi-cavity molds I have found, I get more acceptable balls with a single cavity mold, or only using one of a double cavity mold.A little slower but almost no rejects which in the end is faster. :idunno:
 
This was my first time. Using a single mold is ok with me I had fun and enjoyed it. Only had to put a few back to be melted for another pour. It was an amazing experience I will pour more in the near future.
 
Wat 10gun said. With a little practice you will get a rhythm going making the process a bit faster. I prefer a single mould because of consistency in size. Some doubles will give slightly different ball sizes. And, with doubles sometimes the mold will cool before you complete pouring the second ball. My advice is to stay with the single mould.
 
Stlnifr said:
But it got her done.

While it's still fresh in your brain, sit down and make a few notes- temp, etc,- and put it in a safe place. Who knows when you'll get back to casting, and the better your notes, the less fiddling around getting back into production.

If you get real hooked on it, you'll end up casting lots of other stuff as your gun rack grows. Each new mold or piece of equipment will have its own personality, and the notes just get more and more important and useful.
 
I never had a double mold, and I run from a cast iron pot. 1) dip,2) pour3) Knock open spur cutter, 4) drop ball. Start over. One,two,there,four. And I can do a hundred in in hour, run another forty, turn off the fire and let cool. I reject twenty to thirty ball.
 
I've used both steel and a number of different Lee double cavity aluminum molds. I've never really had a problem with the Lee double cavity molds once I've run a few balls or bullets through them to get them up to temperature. I've cast from lead melted both in a Lyman electric pot and a sauce pan on a Coleman stove. Either works, but I have to watch the temps on both. I don't have a thermometer, but go by how the lead casts.
 
I've never really had a problem with the Lee double cavity molds

For clarification, I have never had a problem with double cavity molds of any make either. But, back in the days when I was an obsessive 'X' hunter the old timer mentors I had drummed into me that double cavity molds gave different size balls and to avoid them for the sake of accuracy. If there is a difference I have never proven it. Still, pouring at a rate that prevents cooling and produces wrinkle and hole free balls is a bit trickier with the doubles. And, single cav molds do very well for most of us in this game. Whatever floats yer stick, do yer own thang.
 
I use one cavity of a two cavity mold...toss any flawed ones back into the pot...Also weigh each ball to eliminate any internal cavities unseen by the naked eye...These go back into the pot as well!
 
I cast bullets that are over 500 grains. I put my bad bullets and the scrap from each pour back into the pot as I am casting. IMO my pot keeps the lead at a very consistent temp and I dont lose that much to temp changes.

My pot is a Waage, and I love it as much as one can a lead pot.

Fleener
 
I cast bullets that are over 500 grains. I put my bad bullets and the scrap from each pour back into the pot as I am casting. IMO my pot keeps the lead at a very consistent temp and I dont lose that much to temp changes.

My pot is a Waage, and I love it as much as one can a lead pot.

Yep I do the same. Been casting 550's the last couple weekends for an upcoming shoot in Nevada. Don't see any ill effects of doing this at all. I like to run my temp around 720 unfortunately my 20+ year old Waage thermostat is dying and can only get it to about 780 now. Time to order a PID controller for it.
 
is tossing a few back into an active pot compromising the temp of the molten lead to the point you make more bad balls?

In practice, not really. I watch those remelts until they are gone. Stopping work to take a breather for a minute or so is a good practice also. Once you develop a routine for casting you will know what to do.
 
Ames said:
tenngun said:
I reject twenty to thirty ball.

When you put them back in the pot, do you do it one at a time as the bad ones happen, or set them aside to bulk melt them? I guess what I'm asking is tossing a few back into an active pot compromising the temp of the molten lead to the point you make more bad balls? :confused:


I set out to run about a hundred and fifty ball at a time. I do a dip and pour. Sometimes you see a bad ball when you open the mold, it just gets returned to the pot. So I end up with about a hundred and twenty or thirty in my pile. When cool I go through them discarding wrinkles or frost, end up with a hundred + ball. I don’t have a thermometer and just melt in a minie Dutch oven. I judge the temp by how it pours and how it cools on the spur cutter.
 
The main reason for rejecting cast round balls would not be appearance so much a weight differential.

We want to shoot solid lead balls that all weigh within a grain of the heaviest ball, which is the most solid lacking in air bubbles or light weight inclusions.

When the ball is olid it will be in balance as it flies down range/A lighter weight ball has something missing or light weight included that when spinning from the rifling will be thrown off course.


I also eeliminated frosty looking balls regardless of weight, for no particular reason and felt only with the shiny ones I was producing/

Balls that are properly weighed out WIL NOT END UP AS FLYERS.



Dutch Schoultz
 
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