Casting help for newbies by a newbie (long) part 3

[sharps452.875]

Here is a list of problems I encountered, and my methods of solving them.
• Marvelux promotes rust and other crud on the sides of the pot. I use beeswax, it smokes a lot (you can light the smoke on fire) but I like it better.
• Mould prep of any kind.
o I find that mould prep would contaminate the surface of my bullets (adding to my reject rate). The surface defects may have be cosmetic, but I don’t like it.
• Rounded bands on one side of the bullets
o This used to drive me CRAZY!!!! One side of the bullets would have rounded bands and I couldn’t figure out why. I was always the same side too. A poster on another board mentioned the answer, and it was so obvious!!!!
 Remember when I said my bullets ALWAYS stick in one side of the mould? Well, when I was tapping the mould handles at the pivot point like everybody says to do, one side was COOLING OFF! This is why I tap behind the mound on the arm itself, to drop that bullet fast.
• Contamination on the bullets
o I skim the pot after EVERY bullet to get rid of the oxide
o I tap the dipper after EVERY bullet to get rid of oxide
o I pour a steady stream of lead out of the dipper as I mate it with the mould to prevent oxide inclusions
Using these methods, my reject rate is about 5% now, and my weights are plus/minus 0.3 grain. My 5% rejects are almost always weight related.



I hope this helps somebody, boy I sure needed it about a year ago!

Best of luck,
Lee Wolff
Shiloh Sharps Long Range Express in 45-110