I love all the fun of casting cowboy bullets

[Cheyenne Ranger]

I've been casting for a number of years (over 20) and finally ran into a bullet that I had trouble filling the lube groove.  It's the Lee 200 gr RNFP cowboy mold.

I has a very small lube groove and I was having a TIME getting it to fill.  Usually had to run it up and down twice before it would fully fill.

Turns out the temp was too hot (using hard lube) and we're getting a might warm down here on the Gulf Coast.   When I turned the temp down it filled first time.  Guess more is not always better.  

Also was able to ruin a 6-gang mold when I was trying to polish the individual chambers.  Got one bullet, which was covered with pumice, caught and the screw in the back of it ran down into the mold block.  Now I get 5 good ones--decided to order a new one as the present one would drive me crazy every time I would have to cull the bad one out.  

At least I didn't hurt myself this time.   That's got to be progress :grin:

ÇR

[leverfan]

I just got in from doing some cowboy action casting.  Fired up the pot, got out my brand spanking new Lee Mav Dutchman 6 holer, and promptly snapped off the opening handle after the first cast.  I knew I had to heat it up, and run the lead hot, but I guess resting the mould on the pot while it heated to 830 degrees wasn't quite enough.

Well, where there's a will, there's a way, so I still cast up a bunch of bullets with it, sans sprue plate handle.  That mould prefers to be run so hot that the bullets darn near stick together when I drop them out.  Frostiest bunch of bullets I ever cast in my life, but they're keepers, and so's the mould.  I'm planning on turning about 70 pounds of wheel weights into Mav Dutchman big lube bullets over the next couple of evenings.  After that, I'll cast for my 40-65, just in case the local clubs host any good Plainsman or long range single shot side matches.

I also escaped from the casting session unharmed, but in true CR fashion, I did give myself a giant blood blister the other day with the lever on my '74 Sharps.  Tried to improve my reloading speed, and my fat little hand got in the way.  Departing from the CR tradition, I failed to snap a picture of the wound.  I think the last owee I actually got a picture of was when I busted my thumb in a sawmill accident.  I've got inside and outside pictures of that little compound beauty.