Tips for casting please

[Heinrich]

Guys, I'm pretty new to casting conicals, and therefore I'm asking all advice that I can get as to improving quality of the conicals.

The conical that is confusing my limited skills is the Lyman Volunteer in .451. All the lines are pretty crisp, and well defined, but I have problems in getting the driving bands to being as sharp as the meplat and the shoulders.

Any advice?? I know that my mold is warm enough, I have the blisters to proof that, and I've cast pure lead, and even alloy.

Please help stupid.

 

[d.thomson]

Are you using a candel to smudge your molds, because a candle will leave a greese residue. Try using a butane lighter to blacken the inside of your mold. My 2 cents F.K.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

Are you using a flux in your melt? It is essential for good casting, cleans the dross so it floats to the top so it can be skimmed off. Also makes the molten metal more 'pourable' Paraffin does OK but beeswax is best.

 

[d.thomson]

I thought if you are using pure lead there is no need to flux as there are no aloys to flux back into the mix. F.K.

 

[Bob Riegl]

:hmm: Flux will remove the outer coats of lead oxides that do form, not the alloys present--hence lead has that grayish outer coat of oxides. :v :thumbsup:

 

[arquebus]

Are you using a bottom pour pot or a ladle? If you're using a ladel you may want to open up the hole a little to let the lead flow a bit faster, which should help fill out the mould due to the extra pressure of the faster moving lead..

 

[yooper]

Put a bit of tin in your lead. Its a heavey bullet and will bump up to fill the grooves even at bp pressures.The tin will help the lead flow more smoothly into the mould.But thats just my .03 cents.BY the way..I cast the same bullet for my .451 Rigby...

 

[Heinrich]

Thanks everybody :bow:

 

[paulvallandigham]

There is dirt inside the casting pot, and on the lead ingots that float to the top of the molten lead if you use beeswax to flux the lead. Always assume that there is some debris in your molten lead, even if its suppose to be " pure " . As you add more lead to a pot, stir the lead again, add more flux, and skim the surface after everything comes back up to temperature. With pure lead you will get very little dross, impurities, debris, etc. the more you flux, but its still good to remove the oxides that can build.

Always make sure the bottom hole pots are clear and clean. If you use a ladle, you have to make sure the ladle heats up to molten lead temperature- lead won't stick to the outer surface of a properly heated ladle- to pour right. And, you should change your technique a little if using a ladle. I found that putting the mold over the molten lead so that the heat from the lead helped to heat up the mold made better bullets And, you don't want to move that molten lead very far in the air in that dipper before you pour it into the mold.

Often opening that hole in the dipper will make the difference between good castings and poor ones. Just open it up one drill size, and sand off any burrs. Don't use a rat tail file on that hole, as you leave gouges and grooves that will hold lead, and help clog it up. It needs to be as smooth as a baby's bottom.

 

[Jac Spring]

Well, I'm no expert, but I'm pretty well read on the subject and manage to cast some pretty good bullets so I'll chime in.

I would suggest using a 30-1 (lead to tin) alloy. This will help your bullets fill-out the mould, but they'll still be very soft. This is what Winchester used with their black powder cartridges in the late 1800's.

I cast that alloy at around 650 degrees ferenheight - not too hot. This makes shiney, well formed bullets. Hotter will produce frosted bullets - which are fine, but I like em shiney.

I thoroughly degrease and dry the moulds before casting and pre-heat them by dipping a corner into the lead pot. First bullets dropped are usually good.

I like to use a bottom-pour dipper for casting as it has a reputation for casting better bullets than the bottom pour type furnace - you can use a dipper with your bottom-pour furnace no problem if you want.

I do flux, using plain old canning wax (parafin), but not very much - maybe three times during a long session or only once on a shorter session - I just skim the top from time to time and drop the dross into a coffee can or other metal container for disposal.

I don't candle the aluminum moulds but I do with the steel ones.

I like to cast with two moulds at once - this gives a very good "cadence" or timing to the whole process and the moulds stay warm but the bullets drop free when open and are well formed.

Hope that helps!
Here's my simple set-up:

There are more pics on my "casting session complete..." thread.

 

[Slamfire]

Tin is quite expensive, and while 30 to 1 is the favorite mix of BOCR shooters, they don't have to push their projectiles down the bore. I'd think 50 to 1 would be sufficient to fill out the mold, save a bit of money, and keep the conical just a bit softer. :v

 

[Jac Spring]

Very well could be - and you can buy the tin in scored strips from Midway, so that'd allow you to mix up any ratio you want easily.

I was using Midway's pre-mixed 30-1.