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Offline Idaho Ron

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Lloyd Smale!
« on: January 27, 2008, 12:06:54 PM »
Lloyd, I remember you writing about casting some bullets that were half soft and half hard lead. Can you fill me in on this?  Thanks   Ron
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Offline Chris Potts

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Re: Lloyd Smale!
« Reply #1 on: January 27, 2008, 01:53:55 PM »
I think that this is what you are referring to.

http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,120354.0.html

I think that veral smith also makes special molds that allowed you to pour just the nose in one mold and place the soft nose in a second mold to pour the base out of a harder alloy.

Chris
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Offline Lloyd Smale

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Re: Lloyd Smale!
« Reply #2 on: January 28, 2008, 01:50:18 AM »
my routine goes like this. First i only cast either a one cavity mold or one cavity in a two cavity mold. One cavity molds are easier to work with as they are easier to keep hot. You need to first get your mold hot. Your going to want to cast right at the verge of lead smearing. Ive done it mostly for 4570s and what i do is find a case that holds enough lead to fill the nose to the crimp grove. Most times a 32 long or 32 mag case is the closest. I clamp the base of the case with a small pair of channel locks to make a handly but im sure a guy could come up with something better. Melt your lead in two pots. One pure and one with the alloy you want for the base. With the mold real hot use the case for a dipper and pour the nose in the mold. I will then count to about 5 (it varys and takes some experimenting) and then fill the cavity with the hard lead. It takes some practice but perfect bullets can be casted like that. When your bullet is cool look at it. A perfect one will only be able to be told by the pure lead nose being shinier then the body. Im a bit fussy and if the transition is crooked or if theres not perfect fillout i toss them aside but my buddy got mad at me for doing it and told me to give them to him and he claims theres very little differnce in accuracy even with the real ugly ones. One real impressive 4570 bullet is the ballistic cast 540 wfngc with a soft nose. Now that bullet would put a world of hurt on anything!! Even fit it lost its nose after expansion youd have about a 450 grain wadcuttter that would penetrate about anything. Ive got one of verals two part molds and the problem i have with it is when you drop a cold nose into the the mold and pour hot lead on it you allways get a crappy looking bullet. A guy could do it that way though it you put the nose in and put the mold in the pot until the nose remelted but that would be a pretty slow process.
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Offline Idaho Ron

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Re: Lloyd Smale!
« Reply #3 on: January 28, 2008, 02:02:51 PM »
I am using 45-70 bullets for my ML. I am using the Lee 149-405-HB. Do you think a guy could do that with one of these?
 What do you think would happen with a hard nose and a soft base? Ron
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Offline Lloyd Smale

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Re: Lloyd Smale!
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2008, 12:31:28 AM »
personaly i think your going to be fighting it. Its tough enough to get a hb or hp to fill out well and to get it to do it as a two part bullet is pretty tough.
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Offline tn_junk

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Re: Lloyd Smale!
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2008, 06:02:28 AM »
I have done that same thing with the same mould that you have. Poured the base with Linotype and the nose with pure lead. Takes a little messing with temps to get them to bond properly. Used a big table spoon to pour the nose. Since you have to pour the base material in first, and the nose material last (cause it's upside down compared to a regular solid base Lee mould) I had a lot of trouble keeping the length of my hard base and soft nose consistent. I have also done the trick with the 340 grain Lee mould. Easier since the nose pours first.
Haven't tried to shoot any of them yet.

alan
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Offline wgr

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Re: Lloyd Smale!
« Reply #6 on: January 29, 2008, 07:03:18 AM »
 hey guys think i could use a 405plain base and do any good sounds like a winner bill
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Offline jhalcott

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Re: Lloyd Smale!
« Reply #7 on: January 29, 2008, 09:35:02 AM »
  You can try it Bill. I've only tried Gas check designs. You only need a dozen or so for a season of hunting, so the time to make them is not a problem. I use a cartridge case trimmed to make a ladle of the correct size for the base metal. Then just use the lee pot to pour the top metal. BruceB on cast boolits does it with a some what more involved procedure. He REHEATS the mold with the bullet inside so the metals melt and fuse better. I've tried both ways and being LAZY, like the easy way. Accuracy wasn't that much different either way in MY guns. I used molds from 30 caliber to 45 so far. Smaller ones are harder to get good results with
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