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josephtasse
So, I bought this last year when I was new at casting..Did what I seemed was good bullets…Let it set for several months and got back into the game..I driving bands are coming out a bit rounded over.
After a little reading here and pulling my hair out I figured I’d ask WHAT AM I DOING WRONG!! I think I may know the answer but am gonna ask anyway. I have a temp probe in mine and set it on a hot plate and try casting at 425 mold temp. Please oh please tell me thats the problem! My bullets are by no means totally frosted but they aint shine either. More a dull gray fish color. At the the edges of the driving bands I’m getting what looks like a white area or line. I assume thats the frosting starting?
Any temp ranges I should try it it? I’ve been at it for 3 days and no go. Never once did I consider getting the mold below 400 deg.
BTW, it’s the Now H&G 68 clone… 453 200 gr swc
Thanks fellas
josephtasse
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Couldn’t resist, had to go out in the shop and try again…20 lbs later still the same thing. I empty the pot and put in some lead I know is good…pull out my thermometer and load up the pot again with known lead….crank up the heat to around 7 and let her melt…Started casting again and BAM! Sharp driving bands..Keep going until the bullets start to frost all sharp driving bands, let the mold cool a little and finish off the pot..All perfect. Then I realize I cranked up the heat on the pot and forgot to put the thermometer back in…Stick the therm in and it says 950 deg..Oh crap, start dipping what I figured was now the bad lead and let it melt…Start casting and Sharp bands again..and this is with the lead I assumed was bad??? Hmmmm…My thought, my RCBS thermometer is way off. I went thru 20 more pounds of the bad lead and ran the pot at the RCBS temp of 850 and got great looking bullets!!! They were not shiny like jewelry but had a very nice dullness to them.
Thats got to be it, the thermometer has to be bad or I just need to run my lead at 850. Odd, as soon as I took the thermometers out of the pot and the mold I start getting great looking bullets…
I think I’d like to have some of the 2 batches tested to see just whats in that lead. For some reason I fear zinc like a red headed step child..If you had zinc in the melt would you get great looking bullets? And if so, what will the zinc do to damage the barrel?? I say it’s the thermometer.
Funny too, before I realized it my new pot would run several streams pretty good then start to slow down a lot. this time with eh pot at a supposed 850 the stream was steady the whole time.
Thoughts..??
Who has a Lyman 4-20 pro and what number do you set it at? I know they can all be different but to get 650-700 on mine I had to set it at like 4..Yup, I say the thermometer is bad
Yup, no sleep tonight but at least I can go to work tomorrow and think happy bullets and not..What the hell is wrong…
Best part, I know I didn’t ruin my mold.
. Wooohooooocharlesgilbert
SwedeNelson
lablover
Send it back – will check it out – no problem!
Fix, replace or get you a refund.Bullet maker, maker
Al NelsonWOW, well I don’t need a refund..I love the mold. I will however send it off to you to take a peek. Just remember it was a rookie using it and I may have abused it..Maybe not?
Gotta say, thats awesome customer service for sure!!
Joe Tasse
Hugh Kuhns
I have had problems every once in a while when I get a new mould that are similar to this. It seems to happen with a new mould even after cleaning and heating the mold on a hotplate 3 or 4 times and smoking the cavities. On some of these new moulds it takes until the second or third casting session before I can make a high percentage of good bullets. I just thought it was part of the break in process of a new mould. Some I can make good ones right off the bat. Maybe I just find the sweet spot right away. I have always felt moulds are like women and may look similar but they are individuals, and have to be treated as such. I am sure when Al inspects your mould he will be able to find any problem and have workable solution for you.
762sultan
AlvinYork
Seems like your problem is in the works towards getting resolved.
Just a quick safety tip, lead at 900+ degrees will generate toxic fumes. The keyword there being toxic meaning it can kill you. So if your thermometer isn’t right get a working one so you’ll know when to lower the temperature. I cast with a full face respirator in my garage underneath an exhaust fan just to be on the safe side. I know some guys like boiling a pot of lead on their mom’s/wife’s stove in the kitchen which can be ok but it is a bit risky.
One thing you might want to look into is getting a PID from Ebay. You can pick up a Chinese one (from China) for about $12 (I recently got one for $11.42). You’ll also need an SSR with a heat sink and a thermometer to hook up to the PID which are also cheap. Once you get that going it’s like having R2D2 watching the pot for you and virtually eliminates the risk of generating lead fumes. Plus it automatically adjusts the temperature fluctuations to bring to the set temperature target
charlesgilbert
SwedeNelson
Hugh Kuhns
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