Lite cast boolits.

Post by **62chevy** » 20 May 2014 19:18

The Lee 309-180-R should cast at the weight of 185 I'm using the same wheel weight alloy for my Lee 452-200-RF and they come in at about 206 gr. Weighing quit a few of the show them at an average of 168 or about 17 grains lite. It must be my casting technique or the sprue plate was to cold. didn't heat the the sprue for this mold but when I did it for the 200-RF I got some purday boolits with the base and grooves filled out. So that is one thing needing change but was wondering if the way I pour into the mold makes a difference. Only have a ladle pour and no bottom pour pot.

Took a file and slowly opened one up looking for voids didn't find any until I got to the middle.

Any ideas?

Post by **AlaskanGuy** » 20 May 2014 23:25

Well sir, alloy has everything to do with it.. The amount of tin in the alloy will cause your bullet to be lighter, and the different blends of alloys always weigh different..is your alloy pure wheel weights? Are you adding anything else in to get a better fillout maybe???? Usually technique, in my experience, has little to do with it as long as you are using hot enough lead with a hot enough mold... Try bumping the heat up on your lead, and the mold temp.... That should take care of any voids that you are having in the mold... Remember, the narrower the bullet cavity is, the hotter your alloy should be... Nothing wrong with casting a bit too hot and getting some frosty looking bullets.. Frosty bullets does not effect downrange performance... I would much rather have a frosty bullet then one that was not filled in properly.... They aint as purty, but just as potent in my experience... My ww alloy is almost always over weight, and for what i am hunting, my Alloy usually runs pretty hard, and if it is not hard enough into the 20's for my 44 mag and 375's, i heat treat them... But in the 30 cal stuff, I go softer....

AG

Post by **62chevy** » 21 May 2014 19:46

Thanks AG I hadn't thought about running the alloy hotter but that makes sense. Been running it at 750 but the Lyman thermometer may be off. As far as I know it's 100% COWW that came from Jetsfan on castboolits. It looks clean and only use a small amount of ceder chips to help keep oxidation down. But like I said the same alloy used on my 45 boolits are running 205 to 207 so don't think its the alloy.

Post by **AlaskanGuy** » 21 May 2014 21:04

Yea, its gotta be a fillout cavity thing.... I bet next time you run them they will be sweethearts....

AG

beekeeper · Post by **beekeeper** » 27 May 2014 07:57

How are you heating your mold?
I have found that if I simply place them on a hotplate the mold will heat up correctly but not the sprue plate.
I solved the problem by making an oven out of a 6x6 electrical box and sitting that on the hotplate gives me a lot better control and I get good casts the first time .
Have a friend that made an oven out of a 2 lb coffee can and a circular saw blade.
Works as good as mine does.

beekeeper

Post by **62chevy** » 27 May 2014 08:35

Been using a hot plate but not turning it over to heat the sprue plate. I read else where to stick the sprue plate in the lead pot till the lead doesn't stick and that sure made a difference on the 452-200-RF and the 356-95-RF. They both had complete fill out with square bottoms. Now to get the same results with my rifle boolit, just waiting on my fuel deliver and for the rain to stop. Not having a shed sure does put a crimp in my style, lol.

Post by **62chevy** » 07 Jun 2014 17:21

Today I took AG's advice and cranked the heat up to 775 deg and they are still running 167 -168, a 1 1/2 grain difference. Measured them and the length is .950 - .955 and the diameter is .310 - .311. This time there was fewer rejects and the keepers looked filled out. Bases look good its just the weight that concerns me. My phone went dead so can't take pictures till it charged but will post some as soon as it is.

Post by **62chevy** » 09 Jul 2014 10:24

Totally forgot about the pictures, ops. I loaded up 50 with 10 gr of Unique but still haven't gotten to the range with the rifle. Hoping they shoot good and think they will because I dumped the rest back into the pot, just didn't like the way they looked. They just didn't look as good as my pistol boolits so ya back in the pot. Then added 2% tin to the mix and WoW great looking boolits BUT still 168 grains average. Not sure what I was thinking when I picked a 180 gr boolit as the most I will shoot is 50 yards. At those distances don't think weight matters that much. Anyways the ones with 2% tin measured .950 long and .312 on the bands.

Not going to return the mold to Lee unless someone can give me a good reason why 180 grain boolit is better than a 168 grain one for paper punching and I don't hunt.

Post by **akuser47** » 09 Jul 2014 10:57

I prefer heavy bullets. I call them thumpers. Shot it and enjoy it nothing wrong with thumpers. My in between is 158 bullets as light as I like to go. Target shooting n varmint control though my varmints are groundhogs not ferral pigs. Lol I know not much to do with casting just my choice in bullets.

Post by **Maximumbob54** » 09 Jul 2014 19:09

I agree with entire mold not being hot enough. It's cooling too fast. Heat up the lead more and use a hotplate and maybe copy the oven idea of setting something over the mold block.

Just don't do like I did once and have the very edge of the handles on the hot plate. Fire. Wood burns. Go figure.

Lee Loader

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