Bullet Casting Woes

[Patrick Chadwick]

Patrick if you are still reading this mess, I noticed your heavy duty sprue plate. What's it's main purpose? A couple or three possibilities spring to mind.

It's a custom mould made by a friend. He just happens to have a stock of rather thick plate. It looks a bit rustic, but performs well. And I can tap the plate hard with a brass bar to cut the sprue without bending the plate!

---------- Post added at 07:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:23 PM ----------

Also, beginning to wonder if keeping the pot at 750°F is a little cool for good fill with softer bullets

I keep the thermostat pretty much at maximum, backing off a little as the level of the melt goes down. And I rest the mould on the top of the pot from time to time to warm up over the melt. With pure lead bullets I have never yet managed to cast any that were too hot in the mould, giving them the "frosted" look, but plenty that had poor filling from being too cold.