Quality Control?

[Good time Charlie]

I am new at this so I am not sure what to expect. I am much disappointed in my round ball casting! I am casting .530,225 grains for my . 54 cal. I have weighted my balls and have a range exceeding three grains. I also cast some REAL 380 grain bullets. There I have more than five grain spread and I have only weighted a few of these.
Anyone have any suggestions on getting more uniformity? Any help will be appreciated.
                                    Charlie

[waksupi]

For round ball, and the velocities we deal with shooting BP, don't worry about three grains. If you are under 1% of bullet weight of any bullet, you're most likely ok. Maybe would show up on bench rest, but not in real life shooting. I imagine the variation comes from the sprue cut off. You might let them set up a bit more before cutting the sprue, but I wouldn't sweat it.

[Don in PA]

Charlie
Keeping the pot and mold at a constant temp. will improve your bullets. Try to keep the pot temp +/- 5 (best) or 10 (good) degrees (I cast at 750 to 760 deg.).  Once you get the mold up to temp. and start casting good bullets try to mantain a constant pace. I count apx. 28 sec from the time I start to pore the lead to cutting off the spruce, and then try to get the bullet out of the mold as quickly as possible. If things are working good I can keep bullet weight  +/- .5 grains, during the casting session (250 bullets) it's not uncommon to get 10 or 15 bullets at a time that are +/- .01 grains.
Don