Reefinmike
Member
Summary- 158gr 38 mold used to cast at 161-162gr using ww's, went to scrap yard got what I thought was mostly soft lead and bullets come in at 147gr. even maxd out on temp, difficult to cast and dont freely drop.
well, after six months, I finally sent in my lee six cav .358 158gr tlswc mold to be repaired after snapping the sprue plate bolt while trying to tighten it down. compared to my 230gr tlltc 45 mold, this thing was a major PIA but I didnt know pain in the butt until I went back to casting with it again after a six month hiatus. previously, I casted with this mold using approx 80% clip on ww's and 20% ~pure lead stick on ww's. Recently I took my junked brass and primers(wow, I had 8 pounds of spent primers in just a year) along with steel ww's and clips to the scrap yard to trade for lead. I paid out $30 or $40 and walked away with 80 pounds of lead. I grabbed a few "pan ingots" that weighed ~15lb each. these seemed to be pretty hard lead, a good smack with a cheap pocket knife just put a slight indent in the flat surface. Lots of random lead, but I thought I grabbed about 3/5 harder lead, and about a third dead soft lead.
First thing I noticed while melting down all the lead and casting ingots was that even though the temp was just above melting, once hardened, the lead had a very smooth and uniform frost to it... Ive casted hot bullets and have seen the frost with thick "grains" or "crystals"... this was nothing like that, it was like its powdered lead.
Well, I finally got to casting tonight darn was that frustrating. Using a lee 10lb bottom pour pot and my normal ww lead, I kept that buggar at 6.5-7 and strategically cranked it up to 9 seven or eight castings before I was about to add a 2 lb ingot. Things were just funny with this batch. Without going into extreme detail, here is how my evening went. Pot at full blast 10, mold pretty darn hot. pour out six. sprue hardening was about what ive been used to, but once cut, first pour was rock solid and the last was still very very soft. did these bullets drop freely to make my night easier? NO WAY! Every single bullet stuck to the right side of the mold 100% of the time. When I was running really hot, sometimes half the bullets would knock free with a few hard raps on the mold. I had to push out literally every bullet with my fluxing spoon.
I get back inside and do a quick QC check and I only found 5 bullets that were no go's. The other 875 bullets were not my best, but still certainly shootable with good fill out. averaging out 100 bullet lots, they came in at 147.0gr when they usually come in right at 161 or 162gr...
At first I thought since this batch needed extreme heat, it had a high lead content because pure lead has a significantly higher melting temp than your standard wheel weight pan ingots errr... wrong, these bullets were way way light.
From my understanding, experience, and a quick look on the periodic table, dead soft lead has a higher melting temp and will give heavier than advertised bullets. harder lead with tin and antimony has a significantly lower melting temp and will give you lighter bullets. im lost
whats going on?
Im lost?
well, after six months, I finally sent in my lee six cav .358 158gr tlswc mold to be repaired after snapping the sprue plate bolt while trying to tighten it down. compared to my 230gr tlltc 45 mold, this thing was a major PIA but I didnt know pain in the butt until I went back to casting with it again after a six month hiatus. previously, I casted with this mold using approx 80% clip on ww's and 20% ~pure lead stick on ww's. Recently I took my junked brass and primers(wow, I had 8 pounds of spent primers in just a year) along with steel ww's and clips to the scrap yard to trade for lead. I paid out $30 or $40 and walked away with 80 pounds of lead. I grabbed a few "pan ingots" that weighed ~15lb each. these seemed to be pretty hard lead, a good smack with a cheap pocket knife just put a slight indent in the flat surface. Lots of random lead, but I thought I grabbed about 3/5 harder lead, and about a third dead soft lead.
First thing I noticed while melting down all the lead and casting ingots was that even though the temp was just above melting, once hardened, the lead had a very smooth and uniform frost to it... Ive casted hot bullets and have seen the frost with thick "grains" or "crystals"... this was nothing like that, it was like its powdered lead.
Well, I finally got to casting tonight darn was that frustrating. Using a lee 10lb bottom pour pot and my normal ww lead, I kept that buggar at 6.5-7 and strategically cranked it up to 9 seven or eight castings before I was about to add a 2 lb ingot. Things were just funny with this batch. Without going into extreme detail, here is how my evening went. Pot at full blast 10, mold pretty darn hot. pour out six. sprue hardening was about what ive been used to, but once cut, first pour was rock solid and the last was still very very soft. did these bullets drop freely to make my night easier? NO WAY! Every single bullet stuck to the right side of the mold 100% of the time. When I was running really hot, sometimes half the bullets would knock free with a few hard raps on the mold. I had to push out literally every bullet with my fluxing spoon.
I get back inside and do a quick QC check and I only found 5 bullets that were no go's. The other 875 bullets were not my best, but still certainly shootable with good fill out. averaging out 100 bullet lots, they came in at 147.0gr when they usually come in right at 161 or 162gr...
At first I thought since this batch needed extreme heat, it had a high lead content because pure lead has a significantly higher melting temp than your standard wheel weight pan ingots errr... wrong, these bullets were way way light.
From my understanding, experience, and a quick look on the periodic table, dead soft lead has a higher melting temp and will give heavier than advertised bullets. harder lead with tin and antimony has a significantly lower melting temp and will give you lighter bullets. im lost
whats going on?
Im lost?
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as I drove home with these random pan ingots along with three saeco ingots that a knife test that lead me to believe they were dead soft lead. 
