Sprue issues

[HC]

Looks to be a result of the alloy separating. Search “ Fluxing”here on this site.

 

[Rob Lynch]

Will do HC.

 

[white eagle]

that is junk just toss it

 

[Rob Lynch]

I have never fluxed my alloy ever. I do stir it frequently but that is it. Could be some of the reason I am having some issues with certain things? Casting is a discipline for sure just like things in Center Fire. Either way I am having a good time with it.

 

[white eagle]

that is one of the benefits another is you make your own bullets and if lucky harvest with same

 

[Freedom]

You're alloy/mould is too hot. A Spur puddle that dances for 45 seconds could compromise your mold, as well as "your" health!!!
The crystalline structure you show forming on the base of your bullets is generally formed by antimony... but I've seen it from too much heat. Spurs should not crumble, but slice like lead.
Your Money bullet profile will not perform as advertised at a 20:1 alloy.. it requires 16:1 minimum. Snow bank recovery reveals a 20:1 Money bullet will obturate beyond the front driving band and can cause nose slumping...leaving you with a malformed Postel, at best.
Use 2cycle motor oil on the alignment pins, plate pivot, and handle hinge ....VERY little oil!.... so no oil will wick into the cavity.
2-stroke motor oil also works fine for fluxing. Just pour some in, stir it down with your spoon or a wooden stir stick. and then ignite it to do away with the smoke. After which crud should form on the top, just spoon off and discard.

But with all that being said your bullets going to shoot just fine with that little void in the base. I've shot lots of them to a thousand yards on paper, and gongs, in competition. Was even blessed by winning the Quigley match one year with the 525M3 Money from Buffalo arms... I have very few posts on this forum, but I'm not just an internet-parrot. I actually have put some lead down range, so I hope this helps.

 

[Rob Lynch]

You're alloy/mould is too hot. A Spur puddle that dances for 45 seconds could compromise your mold, as well as "your" health!!!
The crystalline structure you show forming on the base of your bullets is generally formed by antimony... but I've seen it from too much heat. Spurs should not crumble, but slice like lead.
Your Money bullet profile will not perform as advertised at a 20:1 alloy.. it requires 16:1 minimum. Snow bank recovery reveals a 20:1 Money bullet will obturate beyond the front driving band and can cause nose slumping...leaving you with a malformed Postel, at best.
Use 2cycle motor oil on the alignment pins, plate pivot, and handle hinge ....VERY little oil!.... so no oil will wick into the cavity.
2-stroke motor oil also works fine for fluxing. Just pour some in, stir it down with your spoon or a wooden stir stick. and then ignite it to do away with the smoke. After which crud should form on the top, just spoon off and discard.

But with all that being said your bullets going to shoot just fine with that little void in the base. I've shot lots of them to a thousand yards on paper, and gongs, in competition. Was even blessed by winning the Quigley match one year with the M3 money from Buffalo arms... I have very few posts on this forum, but I'm not just an internet-parrot. I actually have put some lead down range, so I hope this helps.

Thank you for all the insight Freedom, I really do appreciate the feedback. My mold temp runs around 380 to 390ish during my casting. At the beginning of my session I would see the sprue puddle stay soft for about 45 seconds. Once the mold settles and I start keeping bullets they will dance for a few seconds and solidify. I did change that now and and no longer see the sprue puddle dance for that long at the beginning. I am running the Alloy at 790 to 800. I had to go look up the bullet names you mentioned as I had no idea what you meant. I honestly went to Accurates website and found a bullet I liked the looked of and rolled with it. I know that probably doesn't make sense, but never the less its what I did. I have another furnace as well and can try the 16-1 as well to see the difference. This is my first at big bullets, my others are small 275s for my 50 caliber.

Congrats on your Win, i did watch some of the videos from that match that are floating around at there. One day I would love to get my hands on a Sharps of some sort.

Rob

 

[eekjellander]

Now this maybe a dumb question but since I am still newish at it here we go. I decided to clean my pot out today. When I started filling my molds out I noticed that I was getting some chunky looking material in it. I spooned it out and put it in this pan. Is this just garbage or is this part of the alloy?

Thanks
Rob View attachment 31442

I ladle pour out of a Lee pot, and I know you are running way to hot , I compression cast 20-1 ! Nipple mates up with nipple hole in sprue plate /hold for 10 seconds then release 20-1 /16-1 work both in my 1-17twist rice barrel /and my 34 in Badger 1-18 photos are of an Accurate mold 44-345p/ Baco443530 gr Elliptical/another accurate 44-405p I could go on but you get the point ,None of my bases look like that nor do the sprue plates . Displaced lead is not consistent with accuracy I would throw those back and run cooler and not for nothing that pot looks like some ones driveway is missing gravel/Ed

 

[Rob Lynch]

I ladle pour out of a Lee pot, and I know you are running way to hot , I compression cast 20-1 ! Nipple mates up with nipple hole in sprue plate /hold for 10 seconds then release 20-1 /16-1 work both in my 1-17twist rice barrel /and my 34 in Badger 1-18 photos are of an Accurate mold 44-345p/ Baco443530 gr Elliptical/another accurate 44-405p I could go on but you get the point ,None of my bases look like that nor do the sprue plates . Displaced lead is not consistent with accuracy I would throw those back and run cooler and not for nothing that pot looks like some ones driveway is missing gravel/Ed

Copy that, I have never had an issue with my other mold with sprue cuts, just this one. I will back off the temps tonight and try again tonight when I get home from work. I just got my Rice 18 twist and love it. I have been shooting BACO 450g paper patch bullets in it while I have been working on perfecting my casting.

Once again, glad the community is here. You all have been awesome.

 

[white eagle]

You're alloy/mould is too hot. A Spur puddle that dances for 45 seconds could compromise your mold, as well as "your" health!!!
The crystalline structure you show forming on the base of your bullets is generally formed by antimony... but I've seen it from too much heat. Spurs should not crumble, but slice like lead.
Your Money bullet profile will not perform as advertised at a 20:1 alloy.. it requires 16:1 minimum. Snow bank recovery reveals a 20:1 Money bullet will obturate beyond the front driving band and can cause nose slumping...leaving you with a malformed Postel, at best.
Use 2cycle motor oil on the alignment pins, plate pivot, and handle hinge ....VERY little oil!.... so no oil will wick into the cavity.
2-stroke motor oil also works fine for fluxing. Just pour some in, stir it down with your spoon or a wooden stir stick. and then ignite it to do away with the smoke. After which crud should form on the top, just spoon off and discard.

But with all that being said your bullets going to shoot just fine with that little void in the base. I've shot lots of them to a thousand yards on paper, and gongs, in competition. Was even blessed by winning the Quigley match one year with the 525M3 Money from Buffalo arms... I have very few posts on this forum, but I'm not just an internet-parrot. I actually have put some lead down range, so I hope this helps.

glad to see you around still Wes
How's 7x

 

[Rob Lynch]

I can't thank you guys enough for the help. Things went excellent tonight and headed down the right path now.

 

[michiganmuzzy]

I can't thank you guys enough for the help. Things went excellent tonight and headed down the right path now.View attachment 31554

Those look great

 

[edmehlig]

So tell us what you did this time.

 

[Rob Lynch]

So tell us what you did this time.

So, I had a few things going on. The first was not leaving my thermometer in my pot. I would pull it once my pot got to temp, I hit it a couple of times and knocked it out. I made a small bracket to hold it in place out of the way. I am running my temps as I mentioned before right about 800 or just below, but found out that my pot slowly creeps on temp and not having the temp gauge in the pot I would have never seen it. If I didn't turn my the dial down after it hit the temp I was looking for it would creep to 900 or higher. The other was turning of my phone and paying attention to what I was doing. I also fluxed my alloy for the first time ever. I did go to full pressure casting using Eekjellander's method and counting. Starting at 3 seconds and counting I found that I got my best results at 7 seconds.

 

[white eagle]

if this a brand new mold it needs to be used a few times(seasoned) before it starts to throw good boolits
that has been my take on it in the past
your initial problem wasn't really a problem just unsightly they would not have effected the accuracy at all, just shoot, cast, repeat.
I have shot thousands of boolits like the ones you had but it is nice to have them as advertised especially when putting on gas checks

 

[Rob Lynch]

Its is a new mold, I haven't casted many from it. My guess would be maybe around 50 at best. I really wasn't sure if it would hurt anything or not? I always read and was told that the bases are the most sensitive areas, so was trying to make them the best I could. When I go to the range and I shoot like crap, I like to know its me and not my components. Since I have been shooting the Paper patch bullets from BACO I have a base line to go by. I know the Barrel will shoot for sure. I also ordered the parts to build a PID controller for the temp.

Rob

 

[bronko220002]

that's junk. its called dross or slag depending on who you talk to. What it is is the impurities (dirt or whatever) that floats to the surface when the lead or alloy melts. Sometimes it sticks to the sides of the pot also and can be scrapped off once the pot is empty and cools.
As far as WhiteEagle's post above, I've never had that issue with my 2 Lee bottom pour pots or way back in the day when I used a cast iron pot over a Coleman camp stove. I never heard of "seasoning" a pot. Lead or a lead alloy won't stick to a steel or cast iron pot. All that does stick to it is the junk you just cleaned out from yours.

 

[Rob Lynch]

I cleaned it out and fluxed my alloy. Things are going way better now for sure.

 

[edmehlig]

That Dross also sticks to my ladel and I’m always tapping the crap off it and scraping it off the top of my lead. When I used the Lee bottom pour spout pot I use to wait when I finished casting and then scrape the dross out then. The only issue I had with the bottom spouts was they would get clogged every now and then. But a large paper clip would resolve that issue.

 

[bronko220002]

That Dross also sticks to my ladel and I’m always tapping the crap off it and scraping it off the top of my lead. When I used the Lee bottom pour spout pot I use to wait when I finished casting and then scrape the dross out then. The only issue I had with the bottom spouts was they would get clogged every now and then. But a large paper clip would resolve that issue.

Ed I use an old tablespoon to scrape off the dross