Lee Moulds

[tacfoley]

Hi,

I was making some round lead balls for my revolver and some patched balls for shotgun this weekend, and was finding the lead balls weren't of a smooth finish, they looked like they were made of lots of layers, and giving a questionable finish.

I expected the 12 gauge balls to be a bit less uniform but the 454's were the same. I was lubing the mould with beeswax as I was doing it, is this a wrong thing to do? The lead was bubbling a little bit as it went into the mould... Any thoughts?

Cheers
-Tom

Your lead is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too hot.

Not sure why you are lubing the mould, either. Some casters 'smoke' it before starting to cast - holding a match under the open mould so as to give it a fine coating of soot - but I've never done that except to see what happens if you do it. Couldn't see any difference, me. I cast 535gr Minié bullets and .457 ball and conical, using Lee moulds, for the last forty-something years without using beeswax as a lube - in any case, liquid lead IS a lubricative metal at that stage.

Get a pyrometer and use it - remember that lead melts at a temperature of 328Celsius/621F - bubbling means boiling - NOT good, unless you have unwelcome visitors trying to climb your castle walls...

tac