Good day casting until this...

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exMember

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This happened! Never in all my years of casting, have I ever had anything like this happen. Lyman handles to boot!

Luckily I had other calibers to cast, so I made up a bunch of .437 - .490 and .530 round balls for this coming rendezvous.
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Using saw dust to flux my lead has really been a huge upgrade over wax. It pulls a lot more of the dirty stuff out.
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When this happens you wonder how many balls were cast with that extreme heat working on the main beam of each handle. Lyman handles are pretty heafey when compared to other manufacturers. In all my years of casting this is a first for someone I know (you hear about issues similar but never knew anyone that any of these happened too). I've seen the wood torched but never ever the steel bothered.

What's the mold itself look like Jonathan?

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mold is perfect. The handle just literally fell apart. Its a casting flaw in the handles. Grain is extremely coarse. Didnt make a snap sound or anything, literally I went to close the mold and the handle just came off like it was tape. No noise, no crack, just magic lol.
 
I had the jaw of a set of Lyman handles break once but i always figured it was from me tapping on the side with a hickory handle to get the bullet to drop.
that sucks when it happens. may be tough to replace in the current market.
don't get me wrong but "nice balls!"
 
I guess that you need some TIG OR MIG welding done? no biggie. just disappointing.
 
Thanks for the tip on using sawdust.
Got some ingots of lead (separated by shape into a different pile) that when cast into .38 spl bullets. Darnedest stuff, they would just fragment/break up when they hit the steel plate. Other cast bullets actually splat into lead pancakes. Smells different too when melting.
 
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