I have been casting for many years but have just started casting heavy bullets. I am using a Lyman 457671 mold thrownig a 477 gr. bullet consisting of wheelweight with a litle Linotype to make it fill out better. My problem is that the bullet frosts about midway on the bullet, the driving bands fill out just perfect and the nose of the bullets are nice and shiney but between about 5/16 from the nose tip and the top driving band the bullets frost up. I have tried casting from just where the bullets fill out(low temp) to where I know they are too hot and they still frost up in that area. Lets hear from some of you experts on what I'm doing wrong. Metal is fluxed on a regular basis. Bullets seem to cast better around 725* but still have the frosting. Now come on guys what am I doing wrong?

Steve E........

Forgot to add that I am using a bottom pour Lee pot.

crank up the heat to make the whole bullet frosty and be happy.

In your frosty section, is the bullet filled out completley? If so, then the frosty appearance doesn't effect anything.

If it's not filled out, then maybe check to see if it is venting properly in that area.

Go by diameter, not whether it is frosty or shiny.

However, chances are the diameter is shrunken in that frosty spot.

Wheelweight/lino blends are notorious for frosty, shrunken spots. The answer is to use straight wheelweight.

Lar45
It's filled out like it should be, I thought about trying to make it frosty all over, it would be prettier that way,LOL.

Popenmann
It seems to be filled out good, the area that frost up is on the long tapered ogive part of the bullet. I have a Lee 45/70 bullet mold in 405 gr. and it does it also. It shows up on the bullets from both molds with straight WW or if I use the alloy with a small percentage of Lino.
The bullets shoot great, it is mainly a cosmetic thing, guess I just need to shut up and shoot them.

Steve E........

I've never been able to get good fillout from wheelweights unless I cast hot enough to get the entire bullet frosty. Crank up the heat, and crank out the bullets.

The one thing I have noted with heavy bullets from ww's is that they will suck in alloy from the sprue as they cool, so you need to cast hot enough to keep the inside of the sprue molten so it will flow in to fill out the mold. Unfortunately lyman sprue plates are thin and as such tough to build up a nice sprue to fill in the big bullets.

Paul H
I have just about came to the conclusion that the frosing is always going to be there. I've lived with it for about 10 years now, I never had asked the question before so I thought I would give it a shot. When I cast straight WW for the 477 gr bullets they fill out good and give crisp edges on the lube grooves and base. Like I said above they shoot good so I guess it is shut up and shoot. Thanks.

Steve E........

quote:

Originally posted by Paul H:
I've never been able to get good fillout from wheelweights unless I cast hot enough to get the entire bullet frosty.

I've never been able to teach anyone how to cast from 2000 miles away, but the difficulty some people have with wheelweights boggles my mind. True, there is the occasional mold that is stubborn, but mostly I have very good luck with wheelweight -- since I learned to use a ladle -- without high temperatures, and without adding tin or linotype.

Yeah ain't it a bitch when you can't slap'em in the side of the head and say "Don't do that shit". Your arms are too short. As stated before the bullets are fine and shoot great it was just a cosmetic thing, wheel weight cast just fine even if I add some Lino to some weights for certain reasons. Thanks for trying to diagnose the problem.

Steve E.........

We cast bullets to save money but like any aspect of shooting we can overanalyze it. I usually have to have several bullet moulds for each caliber and sometimes need to work to get things to work. Shoot a lot of WW's and have some moulds that work better with a ladle. Most of the time I just cast them and shoot them.

I just recall the troubles I had when I first started casting, and they all revolved around not getting the melt hot enough, and not getting the mold hot enough. After casting a 1000 or so bullets I got the hang of it, after casting 1000# or so of ww's I know what to expect from them.

The only issue with ww's is that if you want nice shiny bullets, it is not the alloy to use, though one could add some tin for that. Asside from that, it makes a great bullet alloy, is (or sadly was, I haven't looked lately) easy to come by.

I also agree that some folks choose to put alot of effort into casting their bullets, and that's good and fine if they enjoy that. But, if you want to get max results from minimal effort, that can be achieved as well.

Paul H
Yeah that was the way it was when I first started casting about 30 years ago, I think most everybody misunderstood my post, I was just wondering about something that has been going on for many years of casting that has affected nothing but cosmetics, since it didn't hurt the accuracy I just never thought about it. I cast mostly from WW cause that is the easiest to come by over here and most everywhere. Over the years I have found what temps. most of my molds like to be at to turn out good bullets. As a matter of fact I have a list of molds and the temps with a couple of different alloys. Thanks for your concern and advice.

Steve E...........

Put your mould on a hot plate let it heat up while your pot is getting hot. This way they will both be hot about the same time. When the mold gets to hot it will smear instead of cutting off clean. If this happens let the lead cool a little longer in the mould at least untill it is not runny in the sprue. I have cast more bullets than I care to count with this meathod. Steel molds take longer to heat up than aluminum but the steel molds last longer in my experience.

If this dosent help ignore everything I said.

Good luck and cheap shooting I mean happy shooting.

BTW you are supppose to put frosting on a cake not your bullets.

Well damn, Swede that frosting on my bullets explains why I'm having to go in for more dental work. LOL

Steve E.......