Newby on the block... well, to casting anyways.

[avator]

Got the heat on in the shop this morning. Once it warms up in there I'll put a pan of water on the mold oven hot plate and add some Dawn. It's mold scrubbing day.

[EdinGa]

Ambient temps in the garage are just too low here at this time.
Once it warms up I will try my .22 mold casting again.
The .457 is a walk in the park compared to the .22 with the pins giving me the major headache.
 

Molds with smaller cavities struggle to maintain a consistent temperature even with warmer weather. A hotplate really helps. Pouring larger sprues will help too. I also keep a small butane torch handy to keep the pins hot on my pellet molds. If I start seeking wrinkles in my skirts I put some heat on the pins.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Thanks Ed
 That is exactly what I have been struggling with. Also tried turning my Lee pot temp up a bit, better but then winter set in.

[avator]

Just finished doing a complete clean on my 217 .20 RF brass mold.
Hot water, Dawn and a nylon brush. I put the pins in my cordless drill and spun them in steel wool to polish them up. I made sure they fit snug but spun with my fingers in the pin holes. Then I set the depth of the pins.
I cleaned up the top of the mold and sprue cutter plate with a fine die polishing stone.
Got the pot and mold oven coming up to temp now and will make a sample run.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Bill that is my exact mold.
You may have been influential in my choice, if I recall.
 Of the 3 pin sizes provided, which are you using?

[avator]

Bill that is my exact mold.
You may have been influential in my choice, if I recall.
 Of the 3 pin sizes provided, which are you using?

I use the longest pins in this one. I want my pellets to drop as close to 20gr as I can get. My sample this morning dropped between 19.90 and 20.10. I need to bump the lead temp up a bit for the brass mold. I run around 650 for the aluminum molds and that is was I was pouring last. Next run I'll bump to 700-720.
I also plugged the bottom pour and dip from the top. The probe is in the bottom of the pot so it's possible I'm not getting quite as high temps from the top. I preheat the mold to 325ish.
One thing I did notice this morning.. The pellets were dropping when I opened the mold. I was tapping them out before I cleaned it.
I need to make a good 100 - 150 drop run to really see how it's running. That's my typical run between reloads on the pot.

[triggertreat]

Ambient temps in the garage are just too low here at this time.
Once it warms up I will try my .22 mold casting again.
The .457 is a walk in the park compared to the .22 with the pins giving me the major headache.
 

Molds with smaller cavities struggle to maintain a consistent temperature even with warmer weather. A hotplate really helps. Pouring larger sprues will help too. I also keep a small butane torch handy to keep the pins hot on my pellet molds. If I start seeking wrinkles in my skirts I put some heat on the pins.

Good tip.  I keep a torch handy myself and use it periodically during my casts when things start going south with the pins.

[2A Georgia]

Tracking.
I have the .217 RF20 and .217 17gr WC 4 cavity
Once I get my skill up on the NOE68 30 cal I was going to try and cast some 17gr WC for the backyard

[avator]

I was fortunate enough to have another member send me several of his molds on loan so I could cast and sample pellets in my arsenal to help me decide what to purchase. Wadcutters didn't shoot well enough in my guns to make that purchase. They may work out better for others.
If I had the money to invest I would get into swaging.

[Back_Roads]

 Longest pins are the hardest to cast, but makes the most accurate pellets, slugs I like the cup point for ease of casting.

[2A Georgia]

Wadcutters didn't shoot well enough in my guns to make that purchase. They may work out better for others.

Someone told me that .22 pellet molding would frustrate me and not be worth the effort...at 2-4 cents for production .22s I'll experiment but probably keep buying tins of 250.  The 30cal NOE seamed reasonable and learnable.

[avator]

Yeah.. we can still find affordable .22 pellets.

[Back_Roads]

 Main reason I got into casting, was to have affordable slugs, and big bore pellets, now even slugs are not all that expensive. But next time a shortage happens I will be set.

[avator]

The hot plate mold oven wouldn't heat up yesterday. I plugged a light into the PID and it works fine so the issue is in the hot plate itself. I'll open it up and see if it's just a wire or if it's toast...  lol.. he said "toast".
These hot plates are like $11 at the local discount store.

The PID toaster oven is still working great so at least I'm not dead in the water.

[EdinGa]

I have 2 .22 molds. The 20 grain hunter is a joy to cast with and produces an accurate pellet. The wadcutter, not so much. I'll keep them both in case they decide lead pellets are too dangerous for us mortals to use and ban production.


My .25 27 grain hunter mold has definitely saved me a lot of money. It allows and me to plink with and enjoy my quarter bores more than I would be able to if I had to buy commercial.

[avator]

I have 2 .22 molds. The 20 grain hunter is a joy to cast with and produces an accurate pellet. The wadcutter, not so much. I'll keep them both in case they decide lead pellets are too dangerous for us mortals to use and ban production.


My .25 27 grain hunter mold has definitely saved me a lot of money. It allows and me to plink with and enjoy my quarter bores more than I would be able to if I had to buy commercial.

Ed, is the 20 gr hunter mold brass or aluminum?

[avator]

After coffee and a shower I headed out to the Red Shed with every intention of cleaning and organizing. My choice of starting points led me smack dab in the middle of Casting Corner where the nonfunctioning hot plate mold oven lives. Well, I just can't have a nonfunctioning hot plate mold oven. 
So I opened it up to find a burnt wire. I should have eliminated these smaller insulated wires to begin with but I just wire nutted them in when I bypassed rheostat switch. So I cut all that out and wired directly from the power cord to the element terminals.
Back in bidness..     The oven came up to 325f and the PID controlled it plus and minus 10 degrees.

Now maybe I can get to that cleaning and organizing..  until....   

Yeah, probably until the mail lady drops off the new Maple mag for the NoDoze.

[EdinGa]

I have 2 .22 molds. The 20 grain hunter is a joy to cast with and produces an accurate pellet. The wadcutter, not so much. I'll keep them both in case they decide lead pellets are too dangerous for us mortals to use and ban production.


My .25 27 grain hunter mold has definitely saved me a lot of money. It allows and me to plink with and enjoy my quarter bores more than I would be able to if I had to buy commercial.

Ed, is the 20 gr hunter mold brass or aluminum?

Aluminum. I only have one brass mold and I don't like it.

[avator]

Yeah, brass is a bit finicky. I have way better results with the .22 magnum and .25 hunter molds... both aluminum.
From what I've read and watched on video, brass molds like to pour at higher temps than aluminum. I watch one guy that pours his bullets in a brass mold at 800 degrees. IIRC he pre heated his mold to 380.

[EdinGa]

Yeah, brass is a bit finicky. I have way better results with the .22 magnum and .25 hunter molds... both aluminum.
From what I've read and watched on video, brass molds like to pour at higher temps than aluminum. I watch one guy that pours his bullets in a brass mold at 800 degrees. IIRC he pre heated his mold to 380.

They're heavy too. The weight gets old in hurry on long casting sessions.