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Judging by the wrinkles in your finished boolits, you may not have alloy and/or mold hot enough. And the flashing on the bottom of the boolit could be from a sprue plate that isn't tight enough. 16:1 ratio is more than plenty of tin - it will give it lots of "flow" properties because the tin reduces the molecular cohesion and surface tension of the alloy. Looks like a good start. You may not need to size them at all - how big are they as cast - and what size does your bore slug out at?
Selmer "Daddy, can you sometime maybe please go shoot a water buffalo so we can have that for supper? Please? And can I come along? Does it taste like deer?" - my 3-year old daughter
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the bullets measure .451". I haven't slugged the bore so I don't have that measurement.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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A few things: 1) You did not show a picture of you quickly dropping one of the pretty bullets that you picked up immediately after casting it. This will cause suspicion on the part of "experienced" casters. 2) The caption below the second picture - why are you chopping down a conifer? 3) On a serious note - when you size the bullets tomorrow, be prepared for the growing column of bullets leaving the sizer to lift the top off of the reservoir.
Welcome to the club and enjoy a great hobby.
Not a real member - just an ordinary guy who appreciates being able to hang around and say something once in awhile.
Happily Trapped In the Past (Thanks, Joe)
Not only a less than minimally educated person, but stupid and out of touch as well.
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2? When typing I really need to proof read before I hit the submit button
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Loose sprue plate was my first thought.
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The screw is tight. Should I try to bend it a little?
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Are the blocks closing correctly/completely? Did you lube the locating pins, ribs, and sprue plate screw? Those things can cause the fins on the base as well.
Not a real member - just an ordinary guy who appreciates being able to hang around and say something once in awhile.
Happily Trapped In the Past (Thanks, Joe)
Not only a less than minimally educated person, but stupid and out of touch as well.
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The blocks are closing all the way. I didn't lube anything. I degreased and smoked the mold but I didn't lube anything.
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Campfire Ranger
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Don't forget, he's using a Lee mold. Sometimes everything can be "right" with one of them and stuff like occasional unexplained fins happen. As stated, check all the fittings and lube them if necessary. Sometimes you get a good Lee mold, and sometimes you don't...
Are those wrinkles common on your bullets? If so, crank the heat up.
Are you dropping them into water to speed the cooling time or are you hoping to harden them? With a simple tin-lead alloy hardening of that nature won't occur. You need to have antimony present also, and a trace of arsenic doesn't hurt either I'm told. Wheel weights have antimony in their alloy and that's why WW bullets respond to hardening techniques. If it's just a means of catching hot bullets, well, that's a discussion we've had here before.
If hardening is your goal, you may wish to re-think that as discussed on this forum before also. A properly sized bullet (what's a "boolit"?) softer in nature will likely lead less than a hard one. I know it sounds counter-intuitive and I refused to believe it too way back when, but after scrubbing lead out of my .45 for the umpteenth time I finally wised up.
Looks like you're off and running! I wish I had a crowd of old experienced casters looking over my shoulder when I was starting out. I wouldn't have had to learn so much basic stuff the hard way.
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
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Look good to me, you'll get an ocassional one that fins if the sprue is not on right.
Yes let them dry over night.
then size, then you may want to put a THIN second coat on them before you load.
make sure you bell the mouth of the case enough.
Whatever you are willing to put up with, is exactly what you will have.
When your ship comes in. ... make sure you are willing to unload it.
PAYPAL, sucks and I will never use them again. I recommend you do the same.
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I've not seen finning that bad, Lee mold or other. Possibly the lead is still molten at the base when you cut the sprue.
An unrelated issue... I size to .452, so if your bullets are dropping at .451 either your mold is small in diameter, or the extra tin is causing shrinking.
Either way, that's a lot of tin. If you have some handy, I would add wheelweights to that alloy in a 50/50 mix and see what that change does.
If I start out with wheel weights, I can add about 15% lead and 2% tin, (or just the tin), water dropped for anything up to about 1600fps.
For 45acp, straight wheel weights, water dropped or not, are fine.
It ain't all burritos and strippers my friends...
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Thanks guys. It sure is nice having a resource like this. I'm going to buy a thermometer before I cast any more so I know where my temperature really is. What brand of mold do you guys recommend ? Is a 6 cavity mold going to be harder to use? I'm hoping to load a few to take with me to tonight's shoot and test .
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Campfire 'Bwana
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I've used Lee molds for years and have been satisfied with them.
Not a real member - just an ordinary guy who appreciates being able to hang around and say something once in awhile.
Happily Trapped In the Past (Thanks, Joe)
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.
Either way, that's a lot of tin. If you have some handy, I would add wheelweights to that alloy in a 50/50 mix and see what that change does. . I got the 16 to 1 out of the Lyman cast bullet handbook. Too much tin? I don't have any wheelweights. All my lead is 100%pure lead! I ordered the tin and can probably order some antimony.
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Jamie - a few of us here are also active members over at www.castboolits.gunloads.com If you think we've been helpful, that site is a gold mine for anyone interested in the art of casting. Look into Rotometals for your casting alloys if you don't have access to wheelweights or wheelweight ingots. You're casting awfully spendy projectiles with a 16:1 alloy. And gnoahh - Boolits= as God laid it into the soil,,grand old Galena, The Silver Stream graciously hand poured into molds for our consumption. . . Bullets= Machine made utilizing Full Length Gas Checks as to provide projectiles for the masses.
Selmer "Daddy, can you sometime maybe please go shoot a water buffalo so we can have that for supper? Please? And can I come along? Does it taste like deer?" - my 3-year old daughter
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Campfire Ranger
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Fins are caused by too much gap betwixt the sprue plate and mould facing, too much alloy forced into the mould that overcomes venting and too much heat; Judging by the slight wrinkles, it isn't the latter.
1-16 ought to make beautiful photogenic jewels.
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And gnoahh - Boolits= as God laid it into the soil,,grand old Galena, The Silver Stream graciously hand poured into molds for our consumption. . . Bullets= Machine made utilizing Full Length Gas Checks as to provide projectiles for the masses. "Boolit"= twisted wordplay, not so very different from ebonics when you stop and think about it. Spelling phonetically, and with regional phonetics to boot, is a great way to further dilute the English language. They adopted that word over there on the Cast Boolits site name so folks could access the website without tripping censors on their workplace computers. Doesn't mean one has to use it everywhere one goes though. Newbies might actually think it's a legitimate word! I frequent that website a lot, and have made some wonderful friends there, but I still cringe every time I see that word in print. Another site that harbors a lot of folks willing to share their knowledge regarding cast bullets is The Cast Bullet Association website. I first joined the Association in 1980, just missing being a charter member. They have more of a focus on precision match shooting, and I suspect a fair number of them have read and understood Dr. Mann's "The Bullet's Flight", but still stop to patiently explain newbies questions such as "Can I shoot cast bullets in my Microgroove Marlin?" It's all good. Personally I think we have a pretty good bunch of guys here too. Lots of knowledge to be had and to be shared. In the end that's all that matters, even if one doesn't know how to spell!
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
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.
Either way, that's a lot of tin. If you have some handy, I would add wheelweights to that alloy in a 50/50 mix and see what that change does. . I got the 16 to 1 out of the Lyman cast bullet handbook. Too much tin? I don't have any wheelweights. All my lead is 100%pure lead! I ordered the tin and can probably order some antimony. No, 1/16 is not too much tin in the alloy formula you are using. Your alloy is the correct ratio, and your bullets are fine. I used to use that alloy years ago, but I use less tin now as it's more expensive these days. My only concern would be that your bullets might be slightly undersized to shoot well...maybe, maybe not...you'll have to shoot them to find out. If they are somewhat small for your bore, that could cause accuracy or leading issues, and that could mean that the mold is slightly undersized for your uses, but Lee tumble lube moulds tend to run smaller, because they are designed to be shot as dropped without having to be sized. That can be a good thing, so you might be 100% good to go with your bullets just as they are. The Lee 6cavity molds are very good moulds for the money. I use the 225 TC 45 mold #90289. The TC design feeds well and is generally more accurate than round nose designs. They have a TL design as well that would work better with liquid Alox. When using the Alox, I just use two fingers to apply it to the grooves in the bullet shank to keep the noses clean. But the bottom line here is that if your bullets feed reliably, shoot accurately and don't cause leading, none of these concerns are issues at all. I wouldn't recommend trying to add pure antimony that is not already mixed with lead, as it's hard to get antimony to mix. It's better to start with antimony already alloyed in the metal. For the 45 acp, antimony isn't necessary, it's just another way to harden lead that is cheaper than buying tin, and antimony bearing alloy can be hardened by water dropping. For 45 acp that's not important. So there is nothing wrong with your alloy, your alloy is fine as it is, and I would try shooting your bullets as they are now and see how they shoot. If they are terrible, just melt them down and try again...:)
It ain't all burritos and strippers my friends...
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Gnoahh - thanks for the history lesson on "boolit" - I hadn't considered the work place implication.
Selmer "Daddy, can you sometime maybe please go shoot a water buffalo so we can have that for supper? Please? And can I come along? Does it taste like deer?" - my 3-year old daughter
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