doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT: Casting some decoy weights.

Just pour nice soft lead into an old crescent wrench handle.

Do you have a Littleton?

SRH

Preheat your mold on a hot plate.

Ditch the talcum powder too.

Inspect a casting and determine if the sticking is due to a mechanical lock. If so, the only solution is to modify the mould.

Talcum powder suggestion came from the guys on the castboolits site. They usually know what they're doing.

I have never heard of anyone using talc for casting, and I hang with a lot of very good casters. But anyway, if it did not solve anything, there's your answer. Can you carefully photo the mould seam lines? That will tell you whether the mould was cut slightly off center.

does it stick on the same side most of the time?

Yes, it seems to stick on the same side every time. Brand new mold. I did not smoke it first so I may try that.

Look at the seam lines.

I use smoke on my bullet molds but have recently started using a spray release agent, I may switch over to that. I never used talcum either. My BPCR shooting friends have problems with completely filling the molds of heavy bullets. They have to run the pot at a higher temp., heat the blocks on a hot plate to start( one started to use heat gun) and forego the bottom pour spout for a dipper.
Mike

Had a aluminum decoy weight mold that had a slight gap along one seam. A little lead would leak out and quickly cool. The defect acted like a heat sink. In a narrow area it would let a little lead leak out, would cool down so fast it caused a dam effect and the area below did not fill. My mold had been cast and the defect area was under cast. Have the mold to a machinist who built it up and machined it back.

Don�t know if modern molds are cast aluminum are some mix like what we use to calll pot metal.