Casting mistakes

[minmax]

I learned a lot from reading Ben's post "base fill out" I was wondering if some of you old time casters would be willing to go public with some of your worst mistakes. Or maybe just a few of trips and falls that you have had over the years. It would be a great service to the newbie and the intermediate casters. I know it my be hard to omit mistakes, but I think we all learn more from them.

 

[Brad]

Getting a mould hot was a lesson I learned the hard way. I thought I knew what hot meant but until I got a ladle boy was I wrong. I have an NOE 313640 HP 4 cav mould that was almost impossible to get good nose fill out. I used the ladle and hot plate and got it hot, now I get good noses.

I also learned the hard way to not let a Lee 20 pounder that is full heat up without something under the spout. The top didn't melt fast enough to let the rod keep the spout closed and I emptied 10 plus pounds of lead onto the casting bench.

Biggest thing I have learned is that every mould has specific needs. Find what works for that mould. Don't be afraid to look at things like poor fill out and make small changes to the mould. I like to break the top edge on moulds that suffer from fill out issues on the base.

 

[Ben]

35 years ago, I had a small box sitting on my reloading bench.
If I dropped a cast bullet , or picked up one that had a visual flaw in it, it was tossed into this box so that it could be remelted at a later date.

There is NO WAY UNDER THE SUN that I would have done this , but
? ? ? ? someone ? ? ? ? ? picked up a loaded 38 Spec. Wadcutter round and tossed it into that box. I have no idea how long it has been in the box as I was totally unaware it was in the box.

One day, my little Lee 4 pound pot was running low on alloy and needed to have some alloy added.

On more than one occasion, I had taken that box ( while wearing long leather welding gloves ) and held it up to the edge of the pot and slowly allowed the reject bullets to slide into the molten alloy for remelting.

As I was pouring, I saw the loaded round fall from the box into the alloy.
Things happened so quickly , all I could do was turn my head and face .

YES, it blew ! !

It blew ever bit of the molten alloy out of that pot into a " V - Spray " into the air.
I was pretty much covered in lead splatters.
Fortunately , I had on a hat, safety glasses, and a long sleeve shirt ( this happened in late fall )
Thank the good Lord, I was not seriously burned.

Lesson learned, I never put any alloy from any source into a pot without thorough inspection.

As an accolade to Lee precision, that event did absolutely no harm to the Lee pot.

Ben

 

[RicinYakima]

1: Casting in hot weather, your sweat drops into the pot will make a steam explosion.
2: Never trust wheel weights, as I had 20 pounds of Japanese/Korean WW's in the 1990's. Never heard of zinc contamination, but after talking with Ferguson (the Antimony man) figured out it was zinc. Thought I could dilute it with lead, boy was I wrong. Ended up with 95 pounds of crap that went into a sail boat keel. And that was starting the process with two pounds of base alloy!
3. Tightening up the spruce plate more, makes the base more cockeyed.
4. If you get more tin than antimony in the scrap mix, you will get shrunken spots on the hottest sides of the mould cavity.

 

[Ben]

Here in the south, don't take ingots that have been in an air conditioned area and take them outside in the hot, humid air to add them to your pot of molten alloy.
____________________________________________
Remember your 9 th grade general science ? ?

Warm moist air touching a cool surface causes condensation.
____________________________________________

If you drop those cold ingots ( that have been sitting in the humid air for 10 or more minutes ) into molten lead, you'll be in for a visit from the tinsel fairy.

 

[Brad]

Or take ingots off a cold concrete floor in the winter and add them to the pot. Here in Nebraska that is a bad, bad thing when winter cold sets in.

I always wear glasses when casting. After peeling lead splashes off the lens once I was forever sold on an absolute requirement for them.

 

[62chevy]

Let me ask a question on molten lead, what will make it boil? All the lead had been outside in the heat but after adding a couple of ingots and after they melted the lead boiled for a few minutes.

 

[Brad]

Something was off gassing. Wasn't producing a significant enough gas volume fast enough to cause a vapor explosion.
Most likely not moisture. Could be a combustible substance like oil.

 

[62chevy]

Something was off gassing. Wasn't producing a significant enough gas volume fast enough to cause a vapor explosion.
Most likely not moisture. Could be a combustible substance like oil.

I was kinda thinking along those lines but just not sure. Anyways that was last year and hasn't happened since.

 

[Winelover]

Worst mistake I ever made was using Marvelux bullet casting flux. Stuff will build up on the sides of your pot and create havoc.

 

[smokeywolf]

Haven't made any notable mistakes YET. Haven't even been visited by the tinsel fairy. YET. I don't see this as being smarter than others. I see my lack of mistakes as a sign that I haven't been spending enough time casting.

 

[Brad]

Worst mistake I ever made was using Marvelux bullet casting flux. Stuff will build up on the sides of your pot and create havoc.

Been there, done that. It also attracts moisture like no other. Nothing worse than a moist residue on a fluxing spoon.

Never again will I use that garbage

 

[minmax]

I agree totally with smokeywolf, I haven't been casting enough. Definitely take all kinds of safety precautions. I worry about the sweat dripping off my forehead. And found I should lower scrap in with a spoon instead of dropping it in

 

[Tom]

I used to cut my sprues over the pot. No glasses, and got a blister on an eyelid. Not a good idea!

 

[Ben]

Good safety glasses ( along with other things ) are so very important when casting.

Ben

 

[quicksylver]

+1 On the safety glasses Ben.

For several reasons.
This boy managed to disassemble a 1911 at the range one day my not checking the cases I was using.
Some how one of the American Eagle cases slipped by me, when its turn was up it chambered enough to allow
the gun to go in battery.
However when I pulled the trigger the case ruptured, causing the grips to blow off, the mag ejected and I got 9 new holes in my face.
BUT the good news is that I was wearing the proper type of safety glasses and got nothing in my eyes.
My hand stung a bit.

My brother and I have had the tinsel fairy visit a few times through the years while pouring weights for scallop drags and other sundry items.
The mistake we usually made was working over the melting pot, this allowed sweat to drop in the pot.
It might not be such a problem when casting bullets as the pot is usually high enough to prevent that from happening, but I see a lot of folks smelting with large pots at floor level.
That is where the danger is.

 

[KHornet]

With the exception of Bens having a loaded round go off in the melt, have had all of the stuff listed above happen at one time or another. As I now shoot probably 95+ % cast in both rifle and hand gun, and with a lot of reduced (very reduced in some cases) loads in rifle cases. Ben has got me loading some plain base stuff now, and being cheap, kind of like it. I now weigh all loaded rifle cases with less than 1/2 case capacity (to the mouth of the case) to avoid double charge.

Yes, I blew a nice 06 due (I believe a double charge). No one was hurt fortunately, other than my pride.

If you load lite charges, and you weigh finished loads for consistency, it is important to have cases (preferably from the same lot and mfg that weigh consistently. My standerd is 2-4grains max weight variance on cases of 308/06 and up max, and 2 grain max on cases in the 22-250 vol. For little cases, Hornet to 223, I want the cases to be within on grain of each other. A pain in the butt with a lot of extra effort weighing cases, but it you keep them segregated and marked it can be a one time thing. The little battery operated scales like Hornady sells are gems, and may just possibly save you the embarrassment of a blown rifle, or some serious hurt to yourself. When weighing finished loads if they vary more than 3-4% or the rest of the cases, you may have a double charge and it pays to pull the bullet and check. If you can afford it, you can eliminate much of this if you buy rifle brass new in lots of say 500 or more cases at a time, instead of shooting a whole lot of range pick up and trying to match head stamps.

 

[williamwaco]

Worst mistake I ever made was using Marvelux bullet casting flux. Stuff will build up on the sides of your pot and create havoc.

Amen!

 

[KHornet]

Yep, Marvelux stinks!

 

[Rick]

Yep, Marvelux stinks!

The understatement of the month.