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| DIP-CASTING BULLET WEIGHT EXPERIMENTS By Wayne McLerran |
Updated 3/25/17
If you have arrived at this location due to clicking on an URL posted in a forum
thread, the subject article has been removed due to invalid assumptions I made
based on incorrect data drawn from the experiments. I suggest you go back and
read the rest of the comments in the forum thread. I will state that subsequent
casting experiments confirmed the following:
* It's not clear why, but I found that stirring the alloy with the ladle while casting
significantly reduces the resulting bullet weight variances. By stirring I mean
lowering the ladle to the bottom of the pot a couple of times then filling the
mould, all while maintaining a constant cadence & always filling the ladle to the
same level.
*Lead/tin alloys are a homogeneous solution. Therefore, the tin will not separate
from the lead. The tin will not stratify in the alloy and/or concentrate on top of
the alloy. The lead/tin solution exposed to air on top of the alloy pool may
oxidize at the same or slightly different rates but the lead/tin ratio of the alloy
will not change a significant or measurable amount due to fluxing or removing
the slag/dross.
Click on the title below for an excellent article discussing factors that affect
variations in cast bullet weights. The article is titled, Weight Variation in Cast
Bullets by Kenneth L. Walters.
Wishing you great shooting,
Wayne
If you have arrived at this location due to clicking on an URL posted in a forum
thread, the subject article has been removed due to invalid assumptions I made
based on incorrect data drawn from the experiments. I suggest you go back and
read the rest of the comments in the forum thread. I will state that subsequent
casting experiments confirmed the following:
* It's not clear why, but I found that stirring the alloy with the ladle while casting
significantly reduces the resulting bullet weight variances. By stirring I mean
lowering the ladle to the bottom of the pot a couple of times then filling the
mould, all while maintaining a constant cadence & always filling the ladle to the
same level.
*Lead/tin alloys are a homogeneous solution. Therefore, the tin will not separate
from the lead. The tin will not stratify in the alloy and/or concentrate on top of
the alloy. The lead/tin solution exposed to air on top of the alloy pool may
oxidize at the same or slightly different rates but the lead/tin ratio of the alloy
will not change a significant or measurable amount due to fluxing or removing
the slag/dross.
Click on the title below for an excellent article discussing factors that affect
variations in cast bullet weights. The article is titled, Weight Variation in Cast
Bullets by Kenneth L. Walters.
Wishing you great shooting,
Wayne