The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - 1851 Navy .36, pine cones, sticks and stumps

Wayner · January 4, 2006, 08:50 AM

I've cast a lot of bullets and found that the Lee pots have holes too small for bullets but work wonders with balls. See the angled channel in the Lee spout(liability-talked to Lee about it) holds the "weight" off the lead and that is imperative to getting consistantly well filled out bullets like the hollow bases.Weight. That is why a caster should use an open top lead melter and a laddle for casting that has the spout on it. The full laddle adds the weight to push the lead into the grooves and such to form well filled out bullets.Lyman sells the laddles with the spouts. You turn the mould sideways and put the spout against the hole and then turn the mould right side up and then it fills and you take the laddle away in such a way as to leave enough spue on top to keep the cooling lead from shrinking and sinking in and making a hole in the bullet base. The weight in the laddle with the spout will really help avoid air pockets in the bullet. Smoking......smoking is bad. Or not real good. Real GOOD is the RAPINE bullet mould prep that is micro fine graphit and alcohol, Want those balls and bullets to fall out of that mould real sweet? Get the RAPINE bullet mould prep. There is no better way to prep a mould. None. Mould -lead too cold= wrinkles. Mould-lead too hot=frost on the balls. Well,anywhoooo.....hope this can help with some of the problems. Side note.......I drilled the spout channel in my Lee pot for making balls(all I use it for) and straighened it out and the lead flows a lot better. It flowed out at an angle towards me.... sos I peened the front edge of the spout over and the angle of the lead coming out went back to going "down". The bigger straighter hole really makes the job of casting balls go as fast as a person can move if the lead is hot and the mould hot.(No breezes or cold air currents going past the mould or lead pot.) One other thing about the Lee pots. The spout can get dross in it from impurities in the lead. The hole needs to be cleaned out to get a good flow once the stream gets skinny. A dental pick bent the right way and worked up into the hole until it raises the stopper gets the hole cleaned out. Wear heavy leather gloves though when cleaning the hole. The dental pick only works after the hole has been drilled out and straighened. With the spout channel the way it comes from the factory I wouldn't know what to clean it with. See yas Buds.

January 4, 2006, 08:50 AM	#20
Wayner Senior Member Join Date: December 8, 2005 Posts: 116	casting I've cast a lot of bullets and found that the Lee pots have holes too small for bullets but work wonders with balls. See the angled channel in the Lee spout(liability-talked to Lee about it) holds the "weight" off the lead and that is imperative to getting consistantly well filled out bullets like the hollow bases.Weight. That is why a caster should use an open top lead melter and a laddle for casting that has the spout on it. The full laddle adds the weight to push the lead into the grooves and such to form well filled out bullets.Lyman sells the laddles with the spouts. You turn the mould sideways and put the spout against the hole and then turn the mould right side up and then it fills and you take the laddle away in such a way as to leave enough spue on top to keep the cooling lead from shrinking and sinking in and making a hole in the bullet base. The weight in the laddle with the spout will really help avoid air pockets in the bullet. Smoking......smoking is bad. Or not real good. Real GOOD is the RAPINE bullet mould prep that is micro fine graphit and alcohol, Want those balls and bullets to fall out of that mould real sweet? Get the RAPINE bullet mould prep. There is no better way to prep a mould. None. Mould -lead too cold= wrinkles. Mould-lead too hot=frost on the balls. Well,anywhoooo.....hope this can help with some of the problems. Side note.......I drilled the spout channel in my Lee pot for making balls(all I use it for) and straighened it out and the lead flows a lot better. It flowed out at an angle towards me.... sos I peened the front edge of the spout over and the angle of the lead coming out went back to going "down". The bigger straighter hole really makes the job of casting balls go as fast as a person can move if the lead is hot and the mould hot.(No breezes or cold air currents going past the mould or lead pot.) One other thing about the Lee pots. The spout can get dross in it from impurities in the lead. The hole needs to be cleaned out to get a good flow once the stream gets skinny. A dental pick bent the right way and worked up into the hole until it raises the stopper gets the hole cleaned out. Wear heavy leather gloves though when cleaning the hole. The dental pick only works after the hole has been drilled out and straighened. With the spout channel the way it comes from the factory I wouldn't know what to clean it with. See yas Buds.