Bullet Casting Woes

[jmoore]

Mine came out crisper when I started adding a dash of tin.

Had done that during the "fight" stage. I dunno. Just one of those things that happens when using metal without a pedigree, I guess. Wishing for a bigger bottom pour pot, but it just another one of those items in short supply right now. If there was another outlet on another circuit outside, it would be interesting to try the two old 10 lb pots in tandem. One for casting and the other to remelt the sprues and bad bullets.

The birds overseeing the operation finally feel comfortable enough to feed their young whilst I'm casting. Last week I had to go inside regularly to let them do their thing. THey do help keep the bugs in check. Watched them pick insects out of the bean patch quite often! Good thing, too. It's a "no insecticide" garden. Mostly 'cuz we'll often eat whilst picking!

[jmoore]

One of the "overseers" of this operation, but it's only a couple of weeks old at this point. It's either hungry or it's complaining about it's "fru-fru" domicile...
Attachment 43883
Weighed last weekend's two batches of what should have been fairly uniform metal. Beats all I ever saw. The lighter bullets cast at higher temperature had fill out problems more than the heavier second batch which should have less alloying metal in the lead.

Attachment 43884
Batch #1: Probably as many rejected, but they ended up in the second batch after remelting!

Attachment 43882
Batch#2: Including those rejected for visual defects at the bottom of the frame according to weight. Weight of this lot was about 2gr heavier on average than the first. Had the two lots been joined, the "stack" would be very "W" shaped.
The lower mess (minus rejects) ended up weighing ~9 lb. 10oz. so there should be about 265+ bullets here.

[jmoore]

Found an ingot of hard lead and got carried away! Was going to do a few 358429 bullets for testing purposes, since there is mysteriously no 0.357" sizing die in the kit and 0.358" bullets just won't fit in most of my revolvers. But...That lead cast so well it ended up being consumed just about altogether! 8 or so pounds later:

Attachment 44111

Can you tell it was a two cavity mould? The gap between the two stacks is actually only one bullet wide in the "1/10 grain incremental" sorting system, but it took so long to narrow the gap that I just didn't feel like moving the piles closer. Just about no rejects for visual dramas either. But they certainly cast on the large side! About 0.361" average.

Also found that developing loads can be very individualistic even with firearms of the same make, model, caliber, etc. In this case:

Attachment 44112

Two very non-milsurp S&Ws in .44Mag that are only a few years apart in age and ~5" in barrel length. One loves the range lead 429421 bullets with a Unique load that falls between published data for .44 Spl and .44 Mag . The other wants "store bought" hard 240gr LSWCBB bullets and a maximum charge of Trail Boss.

Attachment 44113

What's not to like with that 50 yard group shot standing? (Granted it's a 25yd timed and rapid target.) Which was repeated over two shooting sessions with varying degrees of shooter error! But change loads and it prints in a different spot, often with a L-R bias in addition to the vertical changes. And not nearly as tight "patterns".

I can't help but think of villiers' fight for consistency with his carbine. He may be but one variable away from groups that will please him! (I may be joining the BP milsurp carbine club- IF I can work out a swap for an unfortunate looking 11mm Spanish chambered Remington RB.)

[villiers]

Am still just inches from success. Hensel `phoned to check on the size of the Minié base recess (I sent him the original Bavarian bullet drawings). Even if it doesn´t turn out to be benchrest accurate, I´m keeping the Werder, just for it´s looks. Took the .308 LE No. 5 to the 300 metre range yesterday .... and got almost all of 50 rounds in the black, so was chuffed. Think my years of indecision whether to keep the LE No. 5 in .303 or the .308 are now over. I like the .303 ... BUT the .308 is definitely more accurate and easier to re-load, and even though .308 cases are no longer to be found, ankle deep on the range, I can still get hold of ample supplies free. The .308 caused a spot of bovver from the starts with spent cases jamming in the breech. But now is as smooth as butter.

That 50 yard group is outstanding! I couldn´t do that lying down with the gun in a vise.

[Patrick Chadwick]

One of the "overseers" of this operation, but it's only a couple of weeks old at this point. It's either hungry or it's complaining about it's "fru-fru" domicile...

If it's like the redstarts in our garden, it's trying to tell you to stop playing around and get digging!

[jmoore]

If it's like the redstarts in our garden, it's trying to tell you to stop playing around and get digging!

The little brown bird family has vacated the premises. Looked mostly like wrens, but had a odd call that I've not heard before.

The 200gr 7,65/.303 mould showed up Saturday along with the 0.357" sizer. Now just need 0.30 cal gas checks...

Oh, and bought a small cement mixer to clean the range lead. Works quite well and easily handles 50-60 lb. loads. It was on sale at the same price as a heavy duty vibratory cleaner, but the tub capacity of the latter is way less. And it's not much good for mixing cement, which I have some call for in the near future. Some folk use the cement mixers for cleaning brass, as well, but aside from .45 ACP I tend to sort my brass, and have very few large lots of any one type.

[jmoore]

Some developments:

1: Cast bullets make their debut against the clock and steel.


A very non-milsurp S&W 29-5 6" AFS .44 Mag was one entry this day. Targets at 25, 50, 75 and 100 yards.

In actual fact, it was a last second decision, as I had intended to set a baseline with storebought cast bullets. But instead, a load that won't be used again as it's a little lighter than I want was chosen, just to get a feel for the home cast bullets' performance past 50 yards. Probably not the best approach, but enthusiasm won over logic about ten minutes before shooting the match. Only shot an 18 out of 40, but the misses were consistant, and not unexpected, given that the gun was zeroed for the other load and no shooting had been done with this revolver past 50 yards in roughly ten years! Actually did rather better than anticipated. Will likely switch to the 10 3/8" revolver next time over the 6", and will be starting basically from scratch again, but the leading problems are far less severe than in the past, and prelimenary testing is promising.

Here's a shot after the second run at 25yds. 4 out of five isn't horrible. The rain came and went, often downpours! The warm moist air kept my case of "shingles" at a low ebb (diagnosed officially the following monday), so it was a good thing.


2: May have found some gas checks for the 7,65 1891 Argentine Mauser project.

3: Also had delivered to a friend some HI TEK bullet coating, both regular and high build formulas. They may prove quite useful in getting near military velocity out of the cast ~200gr projectiles. Probably not much help with BPCR loads, though.

[jmoore]

Found some (500) hard cast 250gr. .45 Colt bullets today for not much more than the cost of the raw materials. Will probably melt them down for use in the 7,65 Argentine. Seems a shame, somehow, but it's probably the fastest way to move the project along. Possibly cheaper than ordering raw linotype after shipping is figured in. Anybody else ever recycle perfectly good bullets this way?

[jmoore]

.44 and .30 caliber gas checks arrived yesterday. And the new motorized base portion of the vibratory tumbler. Haven't done anything with the HI TEK coating, yet.
The 1891 Argentine bore slugs out to .0312" and is very smooth and uniform feeling! The coating would be probably best sized with a push through Lee die, but they jump from 0.311" to 0.314". May bore out a 7/8-14 die to accept a Lyman H die, but there may be not enogh wall thickness if the sizing effort gets heavy. Only about 0.040" thick!

Too tired after work to shoot this morning. Several days of thunderstorms made sleep problematic. Figured it would be a waste of resources to go. But too jittery to sleep now!