Thermometer talk

[reloader4410]

I have been a caster for years mostly handgun bullets 300 grains or less, in a bottom pour pot. Never used a thermometer. Now getting into shooting sharps rifles & the 500 + grain bullets. I can't get bullets to cast any better than 1 grain variation. Purchased a Waage pot & will be turning to the dipper side of casting. Now the question, Do you dipper folks out there, leave the thermometer in the mix with a bracket or just check temperature & take it out? Any other thoughts on this dipper side of casting would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[powderburner]

I would say with the Waage and a dipper just set the thermostat and develope a real consistant rythem ,I cast yesterday and tried a couple different things tried one mould and had to wait occasionally for it to cool than went to two moulds and the consistancy went way up I put the bullets in order cast to see what was the most consistant as I have only cast with this pot a couple times, than after the session I weighted all bullets and spearated them outI cast up two pots of lead about 350 bulletsand when weighing them found the following
1 when using one mould (I )cast to fast ,operator error,
2 when using two moulds my casting became very consistant (same count til the spru hardened,same time for bullet in the mould )
3 the mould temperature is critical to consistant casting good bullets .
not what temp exactly but the same temp all the time.

the results were upon weighing
the whole session went 1.5 gn varience
when using one mould the bullets showed a wider spread 1.5 gn. when the two moulds got to temp and the sprus were hardening by a six count the weight variation went down to 1 or 2 thenths ,when the mould got hotter 8 to 12 count for the spru to harden the bullet wt went up as the temp went up and the bullets were still very good
when the sprus cooled with a three count the bullets were lighter .
the six count bullets ran about 78 % and the weights showed this to be true

I had three boxes of bullets when I got done about 40 weighing in the top 1/2 gh wt about 230 weighing in the middle 1/2 gn mostly within 1-2 tenths and about 55 that were in the light 1/2 gn wt four of which were with wrinkles and not filled out and they actually were 3 or 4 gns light and didnt count in the session because the mould wasnt up to temp

[BuckeyeShooter]

I cast about 400 bullets this weekend also. I usually just check the temp on the Wagge pot once at the beginning and never worry about it again. There's enough stuff going on at the top of your pot without worrying about a thermometer getting in the way. I'm using a Lyman side pour ladel and found that the most important thing is to get good solid connection with the ladel and sprue plate before rotating the mould up, then keep it there long enough to let most of the excess lead flow over the top of the mould leaving a good puddle on top of your mould when your done. I'm seeing 1 grain or less variation once the first 5 or so bullets are taken out in the warm up of the mould. I haven't cast in years and this has been relearning for me but has been pretty easy with a good consistent rythem.

[Lee Stone]

According to Lyman and Bill Ferguson (Antimony Man), neither the Lyman, nor the thermometer Bill sells is rated for long time continuous emersion in the melt.

[Ray Newman]

Go to the following link & click on.:

viewtopic.php?t=2370

If it doesn’t work, go to the Shiloh “Shooter to Shooter” form, scroll down & click on @ the “More casting experiences” thread started late last month (about 2/25 or 26/04). It has information ‘bout thermometers, inc.hand-held infra-red units that read up to 1000 degrees.

[Lee Stone]

Reloader 4410

Thanks to Ray Newman's kind help, this is the IR thermometer I currently have on order.


http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product. ... 0981067000

I think it will be a great asset in casting.

[arnie]

You could use this thing to keep track of your barrel temp also .Arnie