Inspecting Cast Bullets - Common causes for defects

[@johnshandloading7907]

Good video. Thanks for putting this together. New casters will find this very helpful.

[@Namerifrats]

That's my hope! So many new gun owners, reloaders, and casters. Hoping to help.

[@lukemelia7772]

Great video. I'm new to casting and this was extremely helpful.

[@mikecup212]

It’s odd Lee Precision actually has in there instructions to use a beeswax candle to smoke there molds, I did that and ended up with wax residue in my cavities, bullets came out very wrinkled, hopefully a good cleaning with correct the issue. I will get some denatured alcohol for sure. I’m new at casting and this video helped a lot, thanks

[@michaelflynn3970]

Just started to get into this, thank you for sharing! It really helped to see what was going on!

[@Namerifrats]

Thanks! I had a 50 min long video that went into the entire casting process. KZbin decided it was against their guidelines and removed it sadly.

[@michaelflynn3970]

@@Namerifrats oh thats a shame they took it down. I found this one super helpful. I got a lot of wrinkles and it left me head scratching. Thanks to this though I realized that I just needed to heat the mold more! It also helped me see that some of the good ones I cast were a little out of round. Super helpful stuff!

[@donaldslayton2769]

I appreciate the visual demonstration with the explanation

[@wemcal]

Great video and great information… bullets look great

[@rforrester4131]

This video is great, thank you!

[@Flash_Airguns]

Once again, thank you sir!

[@TheReloaderDude]

Excellent Video!!

[@russhayes4882]

Thanks for your input !

[@freedom-vc9wi]

Bullets with fins can be fixed when you size them

[@tims6212]

Good Info. 👍 Thank you for sharing.

[@bradhovey4434]

Great info and tips

[@dumpsterfire6351]

That bullet has feeling gdamnit Ain’t no rejects boy…never no reject

[@hstetser5376]

Very informative vid.

[@sahmadi1000]

Good info. Thanks

[@benbox7329]

Thanks just starting into this

[@SniperCristian]

interesting video. thanks for share. wich tolerance do you keep good for weight and diameter?

[@johnnygavita]

If want you want to smoke your molds could you use a Acetylene torch before you add the Oxygen?

[@Namerifrats]

That should work fine. Anything that produces soot, it's the carbon coating that helps. I wouldn't recommend things like candles though. You risk getting waxy residue in the cavities and end up having to clean them again.

[@johnnygavita]

@@Namerifrats Thanks for the lightning response. I'll try the trusty Victor wrench. God bless.

[@danhunik7949]

I have had very little luck smoking and lubing molds. I find I get the best results from a Lyman mold meticulusly cleaned with acetone. All so I find that my Lyman molds cast bullets with considerably less defects than the aluminium Lee molds.

[@danhunik7949]

I found that the best way to prevent casting defects in a bullet is to NOT USE a Lee aluminum mold. My Saeco and Lyman molds cast way fewer defective bullets with the lead pot set at a much cooler temp. Second I found that cleaning the mold with acetone works wonders.

[@Namerifrats]

95% of my molds are Lee molds. Never had a bad one, and I have 23 of them. Just gotta know how to use them properly. I get keepers within the first 3 drops.

[@danhunik7949]

@@Namerifrats How do you clean your Lee molds?

[@Namerifrats]

@@danhunik7949 Toothbrush and dawn with hot water. Sometimes mineral spirits on a qtip. I smoke the mold cavities with a Bic lighter. Not always necessary but helps sometimes.

[@elonmust7470]

​​@@danhunik7949 I take them out of the box, knock the burrs off, spray them with brake cleaner, & hit em with soot. I have never once scrubbed a bullet mold with a freaking q-tip. I mean c'mon people, guys thst were casting bullets 200 years ago weren't using dish soap & hygene products to prep their molds... They were using fire......

[@bodyno3158]

Aluminum is the third best heat-conducting metal, this factor must be taken into account.

[@JackGorton1960s]

...but how do you seperate the tin from other metals in pewter?

[@Namerifrats]

Why would you wanna separate it? Melt it as is, and add small amounts to main pot you're casting from. Pewter is typically 85-99% tin. Any additional metals are small. Those are usually copper or Antimony, which acts to harden lead, so that's an added benefit. No need to separate it.

[@asherdog9248]

I am currious how you keep dross from building up on the walls of your casting pot and then contaminating your bullets? That is the problem I am dealing with.

[@Namerifrats]

You flux the hot lead. I use sawdust. Stir it in really well and skim off the dross on top. Then I place more sawdust on top to form a carbon layer to slow oxidation of the surface on my lead.

[@tacbuddysales8356]

SoS. my 240 gr 44 bullet mold results in 250-255 weighted bullets. bullets mostly look vg. even after sizing. is the mold marked incorrectly? thnx. pete

[@Namerifrats]

That's most likely an issue with alloy. Your lead content is higher than your Antimony/tin. Makes the bullet heavier. Mood weights as based on whatever alloy they used when designing it. Usually something like Lyman #2 in most cases.

[@chuckmcgillis8160]

What movies were they cast for

[@benrathbun5916]

Will these defects even effect the accuracy of a 12 ga slug cast cause I’m not shooting further than 100 yards

[@Namerifrats]

I don't cast shotgun slugs, so not experience with them. I'd say it could though. Improperly filled out bullets are off balance in flight. Could affect accuracy.

[@elonmust7470]

no.....

[@derrickmitchell39dm]

At the range my .357 88 grains HP were all over the place. 😢

[@dumpsterfire6351]

I got stuff that wrinkles too Ain’t gunna melt me sun

[@squawk3120]

I bought some 69 cal Minie’ balls. On roughly half of the bullets on the inside of the convex cone, there is a hole that goes up inside of the bullet. Is that bad to shoot?

[@Namerifrats]

Like a void or cavity? Sounds like the mold or alloy wasn't hot enough. It would effect bullet weight and balance.

[@squawk3120]

@@Namerifrats yes, its a small hollow cavity going in at the center of the cone indent. Quite a few were like that and I assumed it was normal since they were bought from Track of the Wolf. Hopefully they’ll be okay means I rolled 40 of them up into paper cartridges.

[@King66nb766]

one question . while i shake my bullets for powder coating . powder does not stick to the bullets completely . what could be the reason ?

[@Namerifrats]

Not enough static charge to make the powder adhere. Could be an inferior quality powder as well. Try some Eastwood powder. Ford light blue is popular and works great. I use Clear with great results.

[@King66nb766]

@@Namerifrats i used ford light blue from powder by the pound . and i shake alot

[@justacentrist4147]

I has a bunch of minnirs balls and abou half of them came out over sized any ideas?

[@348loadedlever3]

I hear if a guy adds over 15 percent pewter (tin) to the lead mix to get harder bullet it will cause air bubbles when cooling. Have you tried any mixes at over 15 percent pewter? I have a lot of pure lead and a lot of pure modern pewter and was thinking of trying to get 18 or 20 brinell, something like 75%lead, 23%tin, 2%antinomy

[@Namerifrats]

Anything over 3-4% tin is a waste of tin. Tin only slightly hardens. Antimony is what you want for hardening. Tin is to improve flow and mold fill out.

[@michaelburrows9042]

These are not stabilizing fins. 🤣

[@j.morrison73]

Sorry, my ears are getting old. Say again, or spell it out, a good source of tin is ''............'' what?

[@ammoiscurrency5706]

Pewter