Rossi Rifleman

This afternoon I attempted to cast some bullets for the first time ever, that's if you don't consider the round balls I cast back in the 80's for my .38 cal and .45 cal. smoke poles.

Well, it didn't go so well. All my bullets were as wrinkly as Aunt Gertie's face. I'm using the Lee 359-158 RF two cavity mold. I think the problem was my mold was not hot enough. I did lay the mold across the melting pot to warm it. BUT, I was working in my shop with a windows and door open. One window was directly above my work station. The lead wanted to harden as it was running into the spruce plate holes.

Other problem might be the lead wasn't hot enough. I started at 650 degrees and went up to 750. But, I didn't have the Lyman suggest "2 inches of lead" in the pot either.

The other variable is the lead itself. It was left over from the 80's, mostly WW with some lead shot mixed. The chunk I had seemed very hard. I will do a hardness test on it tomorrow.

So what am I doing wrong?

Well could be a bunch of things.

1. Make sure your alloy is fluxed well. The simplest way to do this is to use a wooden paint stick to stir your alloy and scrap the sides of your pot.
2. Make sure the mold cavities are properly smoked. I use a Bic lighter stick.
3. Dip the forward lower corner of the mold into your alloy to heat the blocks. On a two cavity mold, about 30 seconds will do the trick. If the lead sticks to the mold, the alloy isn't hot enough. Heat the alloy and re-dip the mold to melt the alloy off the blocks

Take a look at this on my google account: Casting With A Lee Six Cavity Mold

Thanks for the suggestions and the link. My Lee melting from the 80's (I don't see a model # on it) is small. With the lead only about filling the pot about 1/4 there's no way to dip the corner of the mold in it.

I did smoke the cavities per instructions. I fluxed the lead pretty well a few months ago when I cleaned the pot. I'm not getting the "flaky: look on the bullets like you'd expect with dirty lead. The wrinkled look appeared to be from the lead cooling as it ran out. Since the pot was so empty and the thermometer was so close to the bottom of the pot, I might have been getting a falsely high reading. It was only set on 2 to give me 750 degrees.

Tomorrow, I will break out the turkey fryer, cast iron pot to melt some previously shot lead. I will flux it. While it's hot, I'll try the dipper approach and the Lee pot.

Life is like casting bullets, it's learning from our failures that make it fun.

Finally, got some nice bullets cast. I turned up the heat to 850 degrees. I brought out the coleman cook stove, placed a piece of iron on one burner to heat my mold. I'll alox them tomorrow, then lube 'em up, load 'em and shoot "em up

Lookin good keep us posted to how they shoot.

AK, you know I will.

Love that nose profile on the bullet! Lee 358-125-RF?

Looks like the Lee 358-158 RD. It has a much bigger meplat than the lee 125.

"alox then lube" .......lubing twice? Why?


18.6 of Alliant 300 MP and that bullet should get you 1900FPS. That's what I get out of my 16" rifle with a 170+grn bullet.

RD, Don is correct. It's Lee 358-158 RFN

Don, I might have to Alliant 300 MP a try. Seems like I saw that at my reloader store the other day. I'll pop back in there next week and see if they have it.

donhuff wrote: "alox then lube" .......lubing twice? Why?

Heck, I don't know. haha The bullet has a grease lube ring in it, so I thought I'd fill it up. And it give me the chance to try the grease recipe I have and test out my the cookie kutter tool I made. Can a bullet have too much lube?