500 sw bullet casting saga

[KY DAN]

So I will be the first to tell you I have never cast a bullet greater than 250 grains. Until tonight I would have said that's easy work just get alloy to temp, mold to temp and go to town..... right

Well so far tonight after struggling to cast 300 500 grain bullets I have learned a few life lessons.

1. A custom mold that says ready to go out the box with no need for lubrication, degreaser, or cavity smoking is just that a fantasy. I had the top of the mold gall and scar the mold top, luckily with a mold maker's load stone I lightly resurfaced the mold and lubricated alignment pins , mold top, and spru pivot with anti seize Cosmetic ugly but works.


2. Top plate tension should be tight but not too tight. I have bullet bases which have to fill hole of spru plate elevating above the center. I have no smears or hollow bases just tits in centers.

3. The most aggravating of all is if I had done this in the day or placed a lamp in my dim casting are at 9pm at night I would have seen all of the above and changed my methods.

4. When water cooling bullets of this size you need a 5 gallon bucket with a towel in the bottom and the water level at top.

I used a office trash can around 12 inches in height and have nothing but deformed bullets from the weight of the projectiles landing on one another.

I am left to just melt everything down and start again. Wasted time but I learned something.



Live and learn and be sure to share those hard learned lessons with some one.

 

[dcarr]

life is too short, i am not even tempted to cast bullets.

 

[KY DAN]

life is too short, i am not even tempted to cast bullets.

After 3 hours those speer bullets look real good in my midwayusa order cart lol.

 

[Mk-211]

While I would like to try it sometime, it's posts like yours and dcarr's that tell me to let someone else do it.

 

[Barbaroja]

You know it’s worth it!
I love casting. As time consuming as it can be it makes shooting cost effective for me, as well as giving me just that much more control over my supply of bullets and how they behave on target ( hard or soft alloys)
The biggest thing I cast is a 1oz lee slug but it’s a different animal than what your doing on account of the hollow base. Biggest solid for me is a 240gn 41 mag swc. Good luck,keep at it. Where’s the mold from and how do you plan to lube them?

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Yea, you have to let them solidify in the mold before you drop them out. 500 gr bullets have a lot of mass and hold the heat a lot longer than 250 gr bullets do.
Even with my 32 cal bullets, I cut the spru while it's easy to cut and wait before I smack the mold handle bolt to open the mold.
When I cast 500 gr "REAL" bullets for my 50 caliber muzzle loader I have to wait quite a while before dropping them.
Obviously I don't drop them in water, I don't want them hard.
I put ice in my water to make it colder. It will freeze them up faster. I also use a galvanized steel bucket from the hardware store so the hot bullets can't melt through.

Don't get discouraged, just walk away from it for a while and try it again later, after you digest everything you did wrong and get over the bad experience.

 

[Cannibul]

I'm guessing it was a Lee mold?

I've been upgrading to 6-8 cavity molds for solid bullets and 4 cavity molds for hollow points.

Those 8 cavity aluminum MP molds just rain bullets. The 6 cavity brass molds are no slouch either.

 

[lightman]

I enjoy casting but it has a learning curve. Sorry to hear that you had this much trouble. But one of the good things about casting is that you can put your mistakes back in the pot and "presto" your mistakes are gone!

 

[KY DAN]

I'm guessing it was a Lee mold?

I've been upgrading to 6-8 cavity molds for solid bullets and 4 cavity molds for hollow points.

No it was a mountain mold brand, believe it or not I have had nothing but wonderful success with lee. However I have never cast 50 cal heavy bullets so it's hard to lay the blame on me or the mold.

Those 8 cavity aluminum MP molds just rain bullets. The 6 cavity brass molds are no slouch either.