No one loves me cause I'm wrinkled...

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kmw1954 said:
Starting with wheel weights or range scrap is VooDoo Magic at it's best! You can obtain a best questimate with the pencils and the drop weight from a known mold.
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That method works and isn’t all that horrible. You can also assay using hard acids and reagents but I recommend against it. Strong acids hard enough to dissolve tin and zinc are extremely dangerous to store. Far more dangerous than smokeless powders.
 
Even when I preheat the mold I know the first 5 to 10 fill ups are going back into the pot. Just heating up the mold to operating temperature! Then it is all about adjusting the pot temperature and setting up the right pace to keep the mold at the right temp. . If I am casting some 547 gr stuff I have to set a slower pace than if I was casting some 350 gr bullets
 
Well, I'm a member of that "other" forum. You started out casting a few of the harder to cast bullets. And its not a bad first effort. I think you need a little more heat and maybe cast a little faster, but not so fast that your sprue smears when you cut it. Either your lead is too cold, your mold is too cold or you have a mold with leftover oil in it. Give your mold a couple of squirts of brake cleaner and scrub it really well with an old toothbrush. Then preheat your mold. Don't be discouraged, its a learning process.
 
Obturation said:
I'm not familiar with those abbreviations.
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RS = range scrap
Sn = tin

New caster myself, so not much more to add but it looks like some of the pros got you taken care of as far as using a bit more heat.

I've only cast 158g bullets so far, but when I first got things fired up I was antsy to start pouring lead and I got wrinkled bullets until the mold came up to temp. It makes sense to me that a big mold cavity like you've got needs some more heat to help the lead flow and fill out.
 
Obturation said:
I had the pour spout set to basically as fast as I could pour them
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Fast fill is good for 500 gr bullets.

Try Pressure casting, its when the bottom pour spout is in full contact with the mold. Caution- Hot Lead may spray in your direction.

Use Maximum heat till bullets get frosted. Frosted bullets dont hurt a thing, except a little loss of bullet diameter.
 
WestKentucky said:
That format is very frustrating. And it’s hard to post pics.
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I post my pictures to Postimage....(postimg.cc) first. Then just type start brackets in your post, then the url from Postimage the end brackets. Big nice pictures. The "other way" is to use c.b. as a host and that's a pain in the....

Just right click on a picture in Postimg, (gives you a list of urls) pick the direct link one....then type control v to retrieve that url in your post.

Example: {img}https://i.postimg.cc/4dPp36Fg/IMG_3897.jpg{/img} only you use plain brackets instead of {}. Plain brackets here get turned into a picture host link, as you can see below...from the attachment they stole from me when I attempted just brackets here in this post...in the example.;)

Imagiine my surprise when the full blown picture showed up instead of the code. Try typing the url code above replacing the { with plain brackets. and you will see what I mean!
 

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Obturation said:
Hey all,
Hope everyone's doing well.

Alright, so I began my casting quest. Started accumulating pieces a few years ago and finally got my pot set up and all the needed tools.

I made a few hundred .454 round balls with pure lead scrap a week or so ago and that went pretty well. Today I started in on regular bullets. Neither of my .45 rifle molds are ideal but they're what I bought before I knew better- a 405 grain hollow base .457 mold and a 500 grain gas checked .459 mold, both lee.

The hollow base bullets came out reasonably well, most were remelted but I got about 20 fair ones for testing. The 500 grain mold turned out some wrinkley pretty poor bullets. I used range scrap lead hardened up a little with some type metal (cast printing press letters) I was told would harden up the alloy some which I figured would be desirable for rifle bullets. Didn't put a ton in, maybe 8 oz with about 5# of range scrap bullets that were already melted into ingots for me (thanks @kmw1954 ).

Here's a picture of the few I kept for sizing and checking for chamber fit ect.
View attachment 1005402

These were the best of them, the 500 grain mold seemed challenging to fill and I had the pour spout set to basically as fast as I could pour them. I know, they aren't pretty.

Is this an alloy issue or a technique problem?

Before you recommend going to the forum that says boolit a lot and all that I will mention that I did join over there but find the format difficult to use and search . I much prefer it here. If I need to take this over there I will.

Here's the 405 grain bullets that look decent enough to shoot in my opinion
View attachment 1005403
I know they aren't perfect but to test I think they'll be reasonable.


I will be using hi-tek coating (black) and gas checking the 500 grain bullets (probably) but that a discussion for when I screw that up too.:rofl:



Any tips tricks or insults you can hurl my way that may help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
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Its a heat problem for sure. They probably shoot fine. Check you pot temp.
 
25-20 WCF said:
If the OP is looking at accuracy testing, then I’d not be so concerned with wrinkles. However, the 405s with the uneven, part-square part-rounded bases will effect accuracy. Perhaps a lot, perhaps a little depending on velocity and range. They will go bang though….





.
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When I was doing some casting work as a subcontractor, the bullet seller absolutely HATED any rounded off bases. I would cast my boolits with no frosting, no wrinkles, and perfect edges. They are used in matches around the world.

DG-sCtETRzaIkT0Gmw7JOg.jpg

_NWDYyMOQaGOr2gnkM1-Cw.jpg
 
kcofohio said:
I'm also not figuring out how to upload pictures on that site.
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I downloaded a picture resizing tool. 600x800 is max pixel size for images so I just resize to that and then I can post pics. It’s not too bad now that I have it figured out but it’s still a bit more effort than I want to put in just to post a pic.
 
WestKentucky said:
I downloaded a picture resizing tool. 600x800 is max pixel size for images so I just resize to that and then I can post pics. It’s not too bad now that I have it figured out but it’s still a bit more effort than I want to put in just to post a pic.
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Thanks for the tip! :thumbup:
 
Hotter lead. Learned that lesson when I started casting 12ga slugs

As for your alloy I would dial back the amount of antimony your adding (printer letters) and try just using the range scrap and see what happens. I cast and load a lot of powder coated range scrap for magnum revolvers and full power 30-30. Properly sized it should work well.
If you want to try harder Bullets try water quenching When you remove the Bullets from the oven after coating, that will cause them to harden up.

edit: I love seeing so many people getting into casting, keep at it. You just opened up one hell of a fun can of worms!
 
Here are some slugs i shot out of a 44 special the other day 200gn rnfp going about 1000fps. I dug these out of the backstop, theywent into the dirt and stopped on a rock (except the one still intact)that was underground. These were cast with range scrap, unquenched, and powder coated. Still plenty hard to keep their shape but didn’t shatter when they hit the rock. When you have too much antimony it can make the alloy more brittle. Which can cause problems should it strike a hard bone for instance. Highly doubt that will be much issue if your shooting rounds that heavy they would sail clean through most things but when you start going smaller it’s more important I think.
09BCCEB9-DE0E-4C1F-BD05-3DAA5BD4B138.jpeg 28D22031-82EF-4686-BDB4-F3938A2E4CA8.jpeg
For any of you guys from Washington, you may notice the mural on my shop wall is a sight that no longer exists in the world. Mt. Saint Helens from across spirit lake before the whole top blew off!
 
When I first clicked on this thread I thought you were going to show us a picture of your Shar Pei. LOL Getting the hang of casting definately has its learning curve. More so with a large cavity mold. You will get there. I did some head scratching with my first .50 cal 585 grain mold but got it after a couple sessions.
 
Matches work in smoking molds, but smoking a 500 gr mold will take a lot of them. I use a candle and although a bees wax candle has always been recommended, these days use what you got. I do, and a paraffin candle will work too. Smoke just enough to turn the bullet portion of the mold black. For lubing mold hinges and sprue plate Alox works the best. Get the Alox and bees wax stick and run it over the joints when the mold is hot and that will last a long time.
 
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