casting Question

[huntin dentist]

Hi I am sure this isn't on the correct forum but this one is the one I read. I'm new to casting . How much variation is acceptable in bullet weight? ie for a 250gn .44 is 5gn one way or the other OK without effecting bullet accuracy? Thankyou so much. A new lister Brent













hi

 

[Sagebrush Burns]

You will find as you do more casting and refine your technique through practice that your weight variation will be less. When I first started, weights were all over the place. Now (after a few years of practice) most of the bullets in a batch will go within a couple of grains. Often there are few outside of that but they go back in the pot for the next batch. When I visually check and weigh my bullets I batch them. Usually +/- .5 grain, sometimes (smaller batches) +/- 1 grain. This winter I've been casting RNFP 45 bullets - I have 2000 at 259 grains, 500 at 258 grains, and 1000 at 260 grains.

 

[contender]

Good info above. Work a bit more with your pot & metal. And as noted, with practice, you'll get a lot less variation.
Now, you can use bullets with varying weights, as long as you seperate them accordingly, and load properly. The ones that turn out the best, that weigh about the projected weight, can be set aside for serious shooting. Then, shoot the others for general practice & fun!

 

[GP100man]

WELCOME to Ruger Forum.com !!!!!

Brent I`ve cast for over 1/2 my life now & helped many start (not a hobby for the faint hearted) & some find it takes too much time , which it does ,but I like doing anything in the shooting sports !!!

I find most new to the silver stream start casting with too cool of an alloy (ya need a thermometer) & thus the mold is cold & boolits don`t fill out completely thus giving your weight difference.

I use the +/- 1 1/2% of total weight rule for handgun boolits (I`ll need to improve my marksmanship if I need em closer & with that 44 boolit your close) for rifle I weigh em & usually keep em +/- .5% (I can still shoot a scoped rifle fairly decent) & can tell the difference in lite to heavy in a given caliber. More than weight differences (to a point) I look for filled out boolit & a good clean square bottom driving band !!

I usually flux when the pot hits 700f & let it hit 750 if any blending of metal is to take place .

Preheat my mold to 400f on a peice of steel on a coiled burner hot plate , bring em up to full casting temp then adjust down as the mold "talks" to me .

Frosty is OK but too hot & the tin will cause voids such as in this pic , both were cast seconds from each other but 1 cavity was hotter than the other , ya can see which 1 .

If ya really want to do some reading & research look here >>
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/

 

[GP100man]

By the way

where`s the PICs !!!

Did`nt happen without em !!!!

 

[GP100man]

Brent

Did`nt mean to scare ya off ???

I`m sorry ! ya been here since Dec 2010 ,I looked at post count , My Bad .

 

[Iron Mike Golf]

Brent,

Welcome to the Ruger forum!

I'vew only been casting for about a year and I've done a lot of casting of 255 gr bullets for my .44. I never found it hard to hit within a grain, starting with my first batch. Mine drop 254-255, with an occasional as low as 253.5 and as high as 255.5 gr.

You develop a rhythm and a pace and that controls mold temp. A consistent pot temp and consistent mold temp gives you consistent bullet weight and size. You do those and then make sure your alloy is the same from batch to batch, then you get bullets that shoot the same for each batch you pour.

A hot plate with an old circular saw blade to pre-heat your mold is a big help, as is a thermometer (one salvaged from a gas BBQ grill is just fine).

There's too many variables to make a hard line as to where does a diff in bullet weight affect accuracy. It's more about tolerance and is also greatly determined by what range you are shooting. Punching paper for score at 25 yds is different from hunting at 100 yds.

It's probably better to think in terms of percent anyways. 5 gr out of 240 is a 2% variance. That's not a whole lot and is probably more variance than you could force out of a mold that size if you tried. You'd have to drastically change your alloy, I think.

 

[Cherokee]

Brent, you are doing OK. Follow the advice above and keep at it, you will develop a feel for things. One thing, preheating the mould is important - if your mould is up to casting temp, things will go a lot better.

 

[DHB]

Like they said. A LOTTA LOTTA help here :wink:

 

[JohnM]

After about 50 years of reloading I'm thinking seriously about starting to cast too.
Price of bullets is killing me
Started looking around for some used equipment, hard to find just what you want, so I'm pricing out all new.
Most likely Lyman, they have a good start up kit with a pot and a lubrisizer; big cost item there; plus a few other odds and ends.Adding a mold, handles, sizer, etc, I figure it'll run me up towards $300.
Then I need to check some sources around here for lead. That stuff keeps going up and up.

 

[Iron Mike Golf]

JohnM,

If you get bit by the bug, and bit bad, you'll spend more on molds than your pot and sizer. I went the used route on my furnace and sizer, opting for older (pre-Redding) SAECO gear. Most of my used molds are Lyman and SAECO. One RCBS. My new ones are from MP Molds via group buys on the Cast Boolits forum.

Read up over on the Cast Boolits forum before you start spending.

 

[JohnM]

Dang, made a post last night but must have pushed the wrong button.
Anyway, I belong to the Cast Boolits forum, those guys generally get way to far above me.
Be a while before I make any moves, need to check around some more and see if some of the guys around here might have some equipment they aren't using. Just ran into a friend yesterday who said he used to cast a lot.

 

[GP100man]

Yep , got 3 furnaces(4 counting the smelting set up) `bout 3doz. molds , 2 sizers ,bucket full of sizers/top punches !

Loobes out the wazoo & still saving money !!!

At least that`s what SWMBO believes !!!

 

[huntin dentist]

Thanks to everone for your suggestions. Sixshot has been working with me for a year and half but starting with absolutely no knowledge of pistols and casting I forget a lot of the basics. I really think my biggest problem is not keeping the alloy formula constant. I am using a 10 pound melting pot filled with WWs and one bar of lineotype which gives me a BIN of 11. However when I refill the pot os only 2/3 empty so the ratio of WW to linotype changes each pot full. I guess I need to empty it each time so when I refill it's the same ratio each pot full. The other problem is that I'm having trouble keeping the temp steady.It seems to get to hot and flows to fast out the spout.I don't have a thermometer to see where I'm at so just try to guess the right temp to work with. the thermometer will come next pay check. Thanks so much for the help.I'm real afraid of asking a stupid question. Brent

 

[huntin dentist]

Thanks to everone for your suggestions. Sixshot has been working with me for a year and half but starting with absolutely no knowledge of pistols and casting I forget a lot of the basics. I really think my biggest problem is not keeping the alloy formula constant. I am using a 10 pound melting pot filled with WWs and one bar of lineotype which gives me a BIN of 11. However when I refill the pot os only 2/3 empty so the ratio of WW to linotype changes each pot full. I guess I need to empty it each time so when I refill it's the same ratio each pot full. The other problem is that I'm having trouble keeping the temp steady.It seems to get to hot and flows to fast out the spout.I don't have a thermometer to see where I'm at so just try to guess the right temp to work with. the thermometer will come next pay check. Thanks so much for the help.I'm real afraid of asking a stupid question. Brent

 

[GP100man]

Brent , there`s no stupid questions just repetitive ones !
& most answers are a little different such as your alloy problem .

If ya have a big pot caculate the the weight ratios of the alloy desired then blend it in the big pot & pour into ingots.

I have a 10#Lee & it usually has straight Lino in it for rifle boolits , a 20# Lee that has WW & Lino alloy that is around 14bhn, A 20# Lyman that has isotope alloy 10.5 bhn & this is what I use mainly for handgun casting.

The trick to using a bottom pour is to have clean alloy , flux throughly (I leave the dross on top as a barrier) then cast until empty, I don`t add anything until empty or finsh the session.

I have less trouble with the spouts clogging or temp swings .

 

[ChuckS1]

FWIW, I use straight wheelweights, sometimes a little tin to help fillout. I shoot a lot of bullseye matches and I really haven't found that alloy makes a lot of difference for my loads at 25 and 50 yards. Then again, I'm not shooting hot loads either. I do take pains to have sharp edges on the bullet base, though.