Waht did you cast today?

[Rick H]

I fired up the pot and loaded it with pure lead. Since I discovered Flintlocks I purchased a Lyman .440 RB mould, a TC .350 Mould, and a Lee .530 dual mould. Loaded a few of each. When I run out of swaged roundballs I will be good to go with cast. The 36 and 45 caliber moulds are singles. It is a good thing that it takes a while to load and fire flintlocks. I am glad the smaller roundballs are iron moulds. I am thinking it would be hard to keep mould temps up with a single 65gr. bullet in an aluminum mould.
Both of the iron moulds leave a bigger sprue than I would like. I don't think they will be a problem.

 

[Mainiac]

I fired up the pot and loaded it with pure lead. Since I discovered Flintlocks I purchased a Lyman .440 RB mould, a TC .350 Mould, and a Lee .530 dual mould. Loaded a few of each. When I run out of swaged roundballs I will be good to go with cast. The 36 and 45 caliber moulds are singles. It is a good thing that it takes a while to load and fire flintlocks. I am glad the smaller roundballs are iron moulds. I am thinking it would be hard to keep mould temps up with a single 65gr. bullet in an aluminum mould.
Both of the iron moulds leave a bigger sprue than I would like. I don't think they will be a problem.

My small rb molds are aluminum lees.
The .312 46gr rb,,casts perfect.

 

[JonB]

What did I almost cast today? LOL...
...I ran out of time, plan to cast tomorrow...
.
I'm doing some cleaning/organizing. I found about 20 lbs of 45 cal rifle bullets to melt, cast in 2012 with a mix of rifle range scrap, pistol range
scrap and about 2% tin. I always document BHN measurements for these type of random alloys. In my notebook, I commented the BHN measured 9 in one hour. I always try to measure BHN again in a couple weeks, I didn't. I did measure some of these bullets again in 2020, measured 13.4 (Lee's chart). I wonder what happened in the 8 lost years, LOL.
.
Tomorrow, I plan to use that alloy with a mold I found. A couple years ago, I bought two old Lee molds (old block style) at a gunshow. one was a 22 Bator and the other "I thought" was a copy of the H&G 68 (bevel base 45 SWC)...but when I looked closer, it's a 40 cal. I didn't know Lee made that?
...after a google search, I see that is a current production mold, the 401-145-SWC. I wonder what my Hi-Point will think of that?
I also have a MP 359-125 (from wiresguy) and will cast a bunch of those with the random alloy.

 

[L Ross]

5/16, 3/8, 7/16 and 1/2 oz. Powder coated 'em too.

 

[Rally]

L Ross,
Me too! Another of my bad habits. It’s fun to fish Northerns in weeds, big bait big fish, especially when you can see them coming.

 

[fiver]

how you guys gettin your hooks in the mold without umm well you know dropping them everywhere or the mold going cold?
i'm pretty good with fiddly stuff, but about 3 pours in and i'm ready to throw the mold through the window and go get some beer.

 

[462]

The two-cavity Lee 452-252 SWC arrived and I cast up 20 to see what their base bands measure. Excepting the possibility of them being other than my desired .454", the mould passes my inspection so Shirley must have been on break. They weight in the 257-grains range, so that is good.

Did the Lee-meeting stuff, but missed a spot on the sprue cutter and it left a mark on the mould top -- grrr -- and I need a shorter 10/32 sprue cutter hold down bolt set screw.

If the base bands don't measure at least a very fat .453", I'll probably take the easy way out and go the beagling route.

 

[L Ross]

how you guys gettin your hooks in the mold without umm well you know dropping them everywhere or the mold going cold?
i'm pretty good with fiddly stuff, but about 3 pours in and i'm ready to throw the mold through the window and go get some beer.

Putting the correct hooks in position isn't too bad. Some times when I am trying to fit a hook that is a larger or smaller size than DO-IT recommends, and cuts the mould for, can be tedious and some times impossible.
The real annoying thing are these jig moulds that have bait keeper wires moulded in alongside the hook. Those are fiddly! Then just about the time you get most of the hooks and keepers arranged perfectly in three or four cavities, you twitch on the fifth one and dislodge a couple of the previous ones. Bad words follow. Recently all I have been making are bait keeper jigs. Those little wires cost more than gas checks. I recently found a "deal" at 6¢ each with free shipping, typically they are 8.5¢ each. On the other hand, they are so useful in retaining bait that they quickly pay for themselves.
A 6' piece of a wooden kabob skewer with the pointed end helps, a lot! Non magnetic, doesn't transmit heat, a real boon.

 

[fiver]

i got ton's of skewers [maybe not ton's but thousands of them] guess i need to open my eyes a little more at my options?
i been considering tweezers and the hot plate to pre-heat them [the hooks] rather than the edge of the pot.
probably have to lay the mold down on it too.... siiigh i hate running the hot plate.

 

[dannyd]

Casting while it Cool in Florida Lee RF 158.

 

[L Ross]

i got ton's of skewers [maybe not ton's but thousands of them] guess i need to open my eyes a little more at my options?
i been considering tweezers and the hot plate to pre-heat them [the hooks] rather than the edge of the pot.
probably have to lay the mold down on it too.... siiigh i hate running the hot plate.

I don't pre-heat the hooks. I pre-heat the moulds on a hot plate and after that I set them on top of the pot as I alternate from mould to mould . The length of the blocks spans the top of my pots.

 

[fiver]

the molds i run have that little nib of lead right below the head that's supposed to act like a keeper.

i usually take that piece off when i tie up the little curly tail grub knock-offs, but it seems like i end up with 90% of them without the little keeper if i don't heat the hooks up.
nobody needs that many plain heads.

 

[Rally]

how you guys gettin your hooks in the mold without umm well you know dropping them everywhere or the mold going cold?
i'm pretty good with fiddly stuff, but about 3 pours in and i'm ready to throw the mold through the window and go get some beer.

A small pair of needle nosed pliers, because I’m wearing tight deer skin gloves. Open the mould flat, hold the hook in the pliers, wood dowel on eye of hook, let go with pliers. A towel under mould seems to help with “jiggle” and insulates mould some. I run them quite hot. I figure on trimming some flashing.

 

[L Ross]

A small pair of needle nosed pliers, because I’m wearing tight deer skin gloves. Open the mould flat, hold the hook in the pliers, wood dowel on eye of hook, let go with pliers. A towel under mould seems to help with “jiggle” and insulates mould some. I run them quite hot. I figure on trimming some flashing.

I manage with bare hands. Yeah I get burnt a little once in a while, a little. My right index finger has toughened up some. I position the hook with my finger and the bait keeper with the skewer.
I probably suffer more pain from hook sticks than burns. Oh, and I slip 1.5 m/m shrink tube pieces over the eye when I powder paint. I pluck the still molten paint and the little piece of shrink tube off with my right thumb and index finger. The molten paint often sticks to my finger and thumb, it gets a little warm too.

 

[fiver]

i wear a glove on the mold hand, and take whatever i deserve on the tool hand.

 

[Cadillac Jeff]

I have a mold for inline spiners, man the pos is a hoot to use....ya gotta insert 4 stainless wires to form the holes in the bodies, & no way I can wear gloves & handle then @#!$% wires .

Anybody want to give it a try I will send it to ya!

 

[Rally]

Jeff,
Could you post a picture of that mould?

 

[Rick H]

Anybody want to give it a try I will send it to ya!

No thanks, I have more than enough trouble with the Do-it Walleye jig molds. I seem to need another fireproof hand to get the job done. The mould cools off too much by the time I get all the hooks in and aligned. The jigs are ugly and half the lead barbs meant to help hold plastic baits are missing. Funny the fish don't seem to mind at all.
I used to paint them and or put eyes on them with a Sharpie but honestly the fish don't seem to know the difference. The lower river/Western basin of Lake Erie is full of snags broken concrete and trash that eats jigs. If you aren't getting hung up you aren't catching Walleyes.

 

[L Ross]

No thanks, I have more than enough trouble with the Do-it Walleye jig molds. I seem to need another fireproof hand to get the job done. The mould cools off too much by the time I get all the hooks in and aligned. The jigs are ugly and half the lead barbs meant to help hold plastic baits are missing. Funny the fish don't seem to mind at all.
I used to paint them and or put eyes on them with a Sharpie but honestly the fish don't seem to know the difference. The lower river/Western basin of Lake Erie is full of snags broken concrete and trash that eats jigs. If you aren't getting hung up you aren't catching Walleyes.

The eyes and nice paint jobs are mostly for me. I can take pride in the workmanship, kill time, and still feel like I'm doing something.
When I was studying up on hand lining I heard about the snag infested Detroit River. Must be a mess.

 

[Rick H]

I heard about the snag infested Detroit River. Must be a mess.

It is, particularly so when you first encounter it. There is a learning curve. I run 10lb braided line with about a 10' 6# mono leader. Easier to break off a snag without taking a lot of line, and the 10' leader lets you replace a few before needing to tie a on a new one. I'm not a handliner. Their rigs don't get hung up as often but, when they do they have anchored their boat and it is an expensive pain to clear it.

You need a rod with good feel and learn to make only the gentlest contact with the bottom. Even then you are going to get hung up frequently. The current is very strong.

Why put up with it? It is one of the most spectacular walleye fisheries in the world.