Casting question

[white eagle]

your mold wasn't hot enough after a few cycles it will pour smooth boolits
you may want to ad a bit of tin to help it along

 

[muzzlestuffer]

I did some casting last weekend i was doing some 540 grain money bullets for paper patching I had to cast at 860 degrees due to the ambient temps and I noticed that when the puddle on top of the cutter would really draw down because the lead was so hot you really couldn't get a big puddle to form it was too liquid in form I would notice a little dimple in the base of the bullet and that's not good for shooting long distances so I would do the first pour and then stop and wait just a second or two then give it a second splash on top then the bases came out perfectly flat

 

[edmehlig]

Why not drop the temperature down to 800 degrees?

 

[michiganmuzzy]

I did some casting last weekend i was doing some 540 grain money bullets for paper patching I had to cast at 860 degrees due to the ambient temps and I noticed that when the puddle on top of the cutter would really draw down because the lead was so hot you really couldn't get a big puddle to form it was too liquid in form I would notice a little dimple in the base of the bullet and that's not good for shooting long distances so I would do the first pour and then stop and wait just a second or two then give it a second splash on top then the bases came out perfectly flat

Did you weigh them after the pause pour? Just wondering if you got much variation that way? I have a bit of trouble with a 535 bullet sometimes, and may try that.

 

[muzzlestuffer]

Why not drop the temperature down to 800 degrees?

That's just where I need to be to cast good bullets and the proper weight 840 is about as low as I'd go

 

[muzzlestuffer]

Did you weigh them after the pause pour? Just wondering if you got much variation that way? I have a bit of trouble with a 535 bullet sometimes, and may try that.

I weigh and sort every one out of about 175 cast I ended up with 160 that were in the 539-540 range

 

[Garbler]

You don’t say if your mold is iron, aluminum or brass ? Is this a mold you’ve used before and had sucess with. Same alloy or changed. Where did you come up with your casting temp. I ask this though I don’t cast as much as I did years ago everytime something changed my casting technique changed. when things get too hot my bullets will drop looking frosted so I back off. I’ve always had to cast and drop ten or so until I got everything dialed in then it was all about rhythm and timing. Alum molds always give me fits as the mold heat up and cools down so fast. I also never throw my duds back into the pot as this reduces temps. Are the mold vents clean as this could cause your problem. Just spitballing here but maybe something will help