Here I am again. I received my mould that I knocked the sprue plate off back from Lyman. It looked like a new one. Lyman didn't charge me a dime. I cleaned it and went to the shop to try it out. First I whipped up some plumbers lead. Got it good and hot and started pouring. Couldn't start to whack the sprue off-and I didn't push the issue this time. I figured, oh well, let's try some wheel weights and see what happens. No luck again. I got some old .45 cal lead balls and melted them. It had a blue cast or color on top of the lead when melted. Don't know why but it looked pretty. Anyhow, I turned the heat up and tried casting....then I turned the heat down and tried casting....then back up again, and still higher but as soon as the sprue frosted it was really too hard to be cutting no matter what temperature setting I was using. Could I have over cooked it? I know it's a silly question but I'm dumfounded as to why this stuff won't cut off easily. By the way, the same lead cut off quite easily in my .458 Winchester Magnum mould the last time I was casting (after finding out I wasn't getting the lead hot enough by the way). And I used it today with no luck. Am I missing the fine line here on temperature control? Push comes to shove, I'll break down and buy a thermometer if need be. All help again appreciated. Thanks, Mike

How long are you waiting between pouring and cutting off the sprue?
I wait until the lead on top of the sprue crystalizes, maybe 5 or 10 seconds. As the mold heats up the cooling takes longer. It's a matter of experience too cool and it's tough to cut the sprue and too short and the base tears out.
Jim

Howdy FourTails-

You sure do have an interesting problem gonig on with that mould.

Without being there myself - I'll just ask a couple of questions & offer some comments - things you may want to check if you haven't already.

1) How many cavities is the mould? More cavites = more material to cut through - harder to do.

2) When you take a good look at the sprue plate... does the 'cone' for the dipper or spout go clear to the other side - the side that'll form the base? (or at least very close) Most of my moulds do and the somewhat sharp edge serves to cut the sprue well. I have an old 10 cavity H&G mould where this is not the case. The cone stops and leaves about 1/8" of straight bore to connect to the cavity - and it's a booger to cut off even when I only fill 1 or 2 cavities!

3) How quickly are you casting? Is the mould body getting warmed up well so that you're getting good fill? When my moulds are up to temp and I'm in the rythm, I cut the sprue off just a few seconds after the puddle cools using just a gloved hand. No mallet, etc. Most of my moulds (most - double cavity) are warm enough to do this easily after they have had 4 to 6 quick cycles of bullets through them.

4) Does the sprue plate move freely before you fill with alloy? Not that I'd expect it - but is there any possibility that it is hanging up on any kind of burr on the blocks themselves? That could make it feel very difficult but the force may not be just working on cutting the alloy?

5) Do you by any chance have any experienced buddies nearby that can give a look and watch what's going on nearby? For me anyhow - I find that sometimes I can look at something for hours or days that should be quite obvious but not 'see' it. Have wasted MANY hours/days on such things from time to time. Sometimes another set of eyes can really help!

Good luck with getting the mould working. I'll be interested hear what you find out.

Best regards-

Sky C.

Sky C pretty well covered the possibilities. My money is on the cone not going down far enough to give you a fairly sharp edge. I've sharpened a few with a cone point stone in a dremel.

I'm also betting that you are casting into a cold mould. Setting the mould on the top of the pot while the batch is melting helps a lot. Some folks resort to some gentle warming with a propane torch, but I avoid that when I can.

You might also try doing about three pours of intentionally incomplete bullets. That'll get the mould temp up without you having to cut completely hardened sprues.

I'm back. On how I warm the mould; I pour four or five dummy rounds to get it up to temp. But in this case I poured probably 30 dummy rounds and a few I got whacked off. However, the sprue didn't come off as easily as I think it should. I've found out that if the lead is too hot the sprue almost drops off and in addition to that I end up with a shattered and unfilled bullet base some times. Then if the lead is too cold-forget it, I couldn't cut the sprue off with a jack hammer. How hot do I need to have wheel weights or pure lead to cast without the problems I'm encountering? Thanks again for the help. Mike

try casting your ww at about 700 degress and cut the spruce as soon as you notice it starting to set up. Alot of people dont recomend sticking your mold in the pot to heat it up but Ive been doing it for years and its never hurt any of my molds.

quote:

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Originally posted by FourTails:
I'm back. On how I warm the mould; I pour four or five dummy rounds to get it up to temp. But in this case I poured probably 30 dummy rounds and a few I got whacked off. However, the sprue didn't come off as easily as I think it should. I've found out that if the lead is too hot the sprue almost drops off and in addition to that I end up with a shattered and unfilled bullet base some times. Then if the lead is too cold-forget it, I couldn't cut the sprue off with a jack hammer. How hot do I need to have wheel weights or pure lead to cast without the problems I'm encountering? Thanks again for the help. Mike

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I'll try the 700 degrees as soon as the thermometer arrives. And again, thanks. Mike

Get a heavier sprue cutter! I had some gang moulds that were buggers, hollowed out the end of my sprue whacker with a 1/2 inch drill and poured it full of lead. Problem is now gone. I know you have some other issues with your previous mould, but try a harder hit.

regards,
Graycg

There is NO lead alloy you can use to make bullets that has sufficient hardness that the sprue cutter won't cut it off. You have something else wrong! It could be that you've got the sprue cutter screw set too tight. When it and the mould blocks heat up and expands, it freezes against the mould blocks and won't move. It isn't the sprue that's doing this! You can't "cook" the lead too much. Set the cutter plate a little looser, and lube between the block and the cutter with some finely powdered graphite! (Rub the parts with a No. 2 lead pencil) Then try again. You might have to loosen the screw a little more after the rig is at casting temperature. Use no more tension on this screw than is required to keep the plate flat against the blocks.

I replied on the above post that all is now going well with the helpful input from you guys here on AR. I'll ask the moderator to delete this to make room for others and will post on the one above. Again thanks for all the help. Good shooting! Mike

I don't delete posts, or threads. There very well may be another guy out there that your thread helped.

Due to our gracious host Saeed, there is plenty of space to host these forums.