Have Time To Cast

L

LAH

New member
One thing I hear much is: I have no time to cast. At times I can relate. Monday evening found a need for 1000 Lyman 429421 bullets to leave here this week, pretty simple stuff. Well my part time boss called Monday evening also. He needed someone to run an air hammer. The place I was going I’d hammered before so I knew it could be several days’ work. This means I’ll have to cast after work.

Soooooooo came home Tuesday, turned the pot on, filled it with sprues & set the moulds on top. Next, let the dogs out, fix the fire & pour a large glass of water.

Once the lead was up to temp it’s only a few rounds with the moulds & they were also hot. For this session we did the three mould rotation, two 429421 moulds & on 358156, all 4 cavity. Two short sessions, one Tuesday evening & one this evening did the trick with 1300ea. 44s & 700ea. 38s.

The moulds
DSC02054.jpg


The pot
DSC02050.jpg


Sprue & dump box
DSC02053.jpg


Results
DSC02056.jpg
 
G

GP100man

New member
Nice set up Creeker !!!

Is that a Waage 40# pot ???& a very nice landing pad ya got built for those 4 bangers !!

Bullets(they don`t likey boolits over here) look nice also !!!clean sharp , can`t tell for sure but maybe a hint of frosting ?? & how do you stand on the 429421 round lube grooves vs. square lube grooves in hand guns ???

Your set up sure looks motivating ;)

PS : don`t post of the air hammer anymore ,my back & elbows hurt frm just reading the post :eek:
 
L

LAH

New member
Nice set up Creeker !!!

Is that a Waage 40# pot ???& a very nice landing pad ya got built for those 4 bangers !!

Bullets(they don`t likey boolits over here) look nice also !!!clean sharp , can`t tell for sure but maybe a hint of frosting ?? & how do you stand on the 429421 round lube grooves vs. square lube grooves in hand guns ???

Your set up sure looks motivating

PS : don`t post of the air hammer anymore ,my back & elbows hurt frm just reading the post
Click to expand...

Thanks neighbor to the south. The pot is a Magma Master Pot #40.

Round vs square lube groove. Probably start a war but I'll say this: The only "for sure" thing I know is I've owned & cast the Lyman 358429 in both the round & square versions. I see no difference in either as to accuracy or leading.

Your set up sure looks motivating
Click to expand...

I can keep my pot set up at all times so it's convenient & that's the trick to having time to cast.

BTW: That hammer was really hydraulic & attached to a 305 Cat.
DSC02040.jpg
 
A

armoredman

New member
Jag, my Lee "wannabes" cast pretty darn good - neener! :p
Very nice setup, sir! I have to say, for me a productive hour in front of the pot is 200, not 1000!:eek::cool:But I'm using two cavity and a single cavity, too.

I feel pretty dumb - I never thought of a sprue box, great idea, gonna do that next time.
 
H

hornetguy

New member
Dang... now I'm ashamed of most of my molds. :(

Guess I'll keep using them, though... can't often justify the cost of "real" molds...:rolleyes:

:D
 
L

LAH

New member
Now guys you don't have to have a big set up to cast. I normally cast at least 50 pounds at a time. But if one is casting for their own use a 2 cavity mould will work fine. I have a couple of the 2 cavity Lee moulds. They cast fine but with those I like to use only one mould cause I don't like to whack the sprue cutter. Still you can turn out several bullets.
 
T

TXGunNut

New member
If you can afford a wife and kids you can afford real molds. If you cannot afford real molds, get rid of the wife and kids.-dahermit

You're a wise man, my friend! Being single isn't so bad with fine rifles, quality moulds and a good dog to keep me entertained.
 
S

south.texas.dead.I

New member
I don't mean to hijack the thread but what would be the point of using several moulds in a rotation. Is there some kind of advantage other than getting different bullet types. Wouldn't it be faster to use one mould at a time. Then switch after x number of bullets?


Tapatalk ya
 
S

snuffy

New member
I don't mean to hijack the thread but what would be the point of using several moulds in a rotation.
Click to expand...

The reason I do that is because I'm using those el-cheapo lee molds, with small 2 cavity blocks and BEEG bullets. This results in the mold blocks getting too hot. By casting with 2-3 molds, it gives the molds a chance to cool off while you're working with the other 1-2 molds. That is the only reason I can think of.
 
L

LAH

New member
The rotation of moulds is to help with cooling. Instead of waiting to dump a mould you simply grab another. I can run 3 or 4 moulds if they are 44s or 45s. In this case I ran two 44 Lyman moulds & one 38 Lyman. Once the 44s became too hot I would dump/fill a 44, dump/fill a 38, dump/fill the other 44, dump/fill the 38, then back to the first 44 & over & over. It's simply a matter of doing what needs done.
 
L

LAH

New member
I do the same. Big boolits heat a mold up quickly.
Click to expand...

I can run two each 4 cavity moulds fairly fast without heat issues if they are 38 caliber. But like you say, those big boys make HEAT.
 
T

TXGunNut

New member
Big boolits heat a mold up quickly. -shootniron

I recently used 2 new Lee 6-bangers in the same session. The 32 mould took forever to get up to production temp with a fast cadence and when I changed over to a big 350 gr 45 mould it was a huge cadence adjustment. It's the mass of the moulds vs the mass of the pour. Small caliber moulds mean less molten lead and more mould to heat up. Obverse is true for bigger moulds.
 
P

Poodleshooter

New member
I run the Lees pretty hot, but cool them off by resting them on a water soaked cotton sock between casts. (Tip from one of Lee's manuals,IIRC)
Periodic cooling in that manner keeps me just at the fringe of frosty bullets, where I get nice fill out, and allows me to cast rather quickly.

I'm doing my casting sessions lately as well.
Did 240gr .430 LSWC-GCs and .309 FP-GCs last night, and new wheelweight smelting/ingot making over the weekend.
Next up are 200gr .430 RNFPs. Handgun and rifle casting with w/w alloy is so much easier than pure lead casting of huge shotgun slugs, buckshot, and muzzleloader minies and ball.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top