Wrinkled bullets... :(

[Maximumbob54]

I have one of the Mihec molds that is giving me endless trouble with casting wrinkled bullets. It worked just fine when it was brand new. I assumed I must have gotten lube from the pins into the cavity so I scrubbed it clean with some dish soap and a tooth brush. I then wiped it down with alcohol to make sure there wasn't any film left from the soap. More wrinkled bullets. So then I hosed it down with non chlorinated brake cleaner. More wrinkled bullets. I bought a casting thermometer to make sure I'm getting the heat needed to cast. More wrinkled bullets. I bought a new to me RCBS Pro Melt and have it cranked to the eight hundred degree setting (my thermometer is frozen in my now dead Lee pot) and guess what... More wrinkled bullets. I used a butane lighter to smoke the mold since I read the soot is supposed to help the lead for that fraction of a second stay hot enough. Wait for it... More wrinkled bullets..... I'm at the end of my rope. What am I missing...?

HELP!!!

[338RemUltraMag]

Cast faster, look at the boolits when you are done.

[44man]

Mold temperature, not the lead.

[BBQJOE]

One thing I figured out, and haven't seen discussed here is this.
When I first start out, I heat the mold like everyone else, on top of the pot. I also dip a corner in the pot like most. But once I start casting, my first number of casts, I make unusually huge sprues and let them sit a second or two longer to get that mold hot.

[Maximumbob54]

Sorry. I forgot to add that I recently purchased a hot plate. I sat the mold on it with a block on it to make sure it sat flat on the bottom for max surface contact and had the dial turned to about 2/3's. I figured the next time I would run it at 3/4's and see if that did anything. And I cast as fast as I can bop the plate open with a wood mallet and drop them into the bucket. I'm not light speed but I don't think I'm that slow either.

[Maximumbob54]

I always cast with as large a sprue as I can make without it spilling over the edge. The heavier sprue seems to pop free easier also helping with maintaining speed.

[jhalcott]

HOW wrinkled are they and what beauty contests are you taking them too? I have a Lee .44 caliber mold that will NOT drop a "perfect" bullet for me. BUT it has helped me take more than one deer and plenty of ground hogs over the years. It even helped me break 25 on the sillywet range! Not pretty ,just sweet!

[jhalcott]

You said this mold DID cast correctly when new right? Well there may have developed some VENTING problems after initial use. Check the vent lines with a sharp pencil and the top of the mold and bottom of the sprue plate.DO NOT scratch the surfaces, just make certain the vents are clear. How many lube grooves are supposed to be on the FN style. They ALMOST appear to be Loverin style grooves. Did you change the alloy? Maybe some added tin MIGHT help!

[MtGun44]

Those boolits are too cold.

Bill

[Maximumbob54]

Brilliant. I just posted the wrong picture. It was supposed to be a .401" HP 180gr bullet. That was part of a before and after I added the hot plate to the bench. I will go delete that post. I will go back and check the vent lines. I know one of my other brass molds has obvious "tinning ?" build up in the vent lines and I need to clean it before I use it again. This one doesn't look like it has anything and I scrubbed it pretty good with the brush and would have thought I would see anything in the vent lines.

[Uncle Grinch]

My Accurate 366285 gave me fits with wrinkled boolits too. And like you I cleaned and cleaned to no avail. Also preheat my mould on a hot plate. Eventually the mould gets hot enough to throw frosted boolits and the wrinkles disappear. Hot moulds may be your answer.

[Maximumbob54]

So how hot should the hot plate be dialed to for getting the mold hot so it's not cooling the lead as it pours? I can see on many of them where the lead is hardening before the bullet is done being poured.

[rintinglen]

Bob, I feel your pain. I have an MP 359-640 HP that was a dream to cast with, Big fat Hollowpoints raining out of the mold, perfectly filled out and looking like a new silver dollar. The third time I got it out though, things went south. Wrinkles, right on the vent lines, especially on the back cavity. What I discovered was that I had two problems.

First, the alloy I was using was contaminated with zinc. I had bought "wheel weight" ingots off Ebay that were problematic. The second problem I had was clogged vent lines. Some lead had gotten into the grooves of the vents and the air was not being released. I loaded the pot with known clean alloy, heated the mold with a propane torch and cleaned the vent lines with a tooth pick. The clouds parted, the birds began to sing, and goodness and righteousness reigned once more--my mold and I were once more working in harmony.

[Maximumbob54]

So it seems more heat was the key. I cranked the Pro Melt to max, the hot plate to max, and cast as fast as I could. That seems to have corrected this issue. I'm not super jazzed about casting so crAzY hot though. I need to get my thermometer free from my dead Lee pot and see how hot this is getting.

[runfiverun]

once you have the mold up to temp and cranking along turn down the heat on the pot.
your dial is probably adjustable.
i'd imagine 800 on the dial and 800 on the real temperature are in different places.

[Daveb6332]

What you are describing is like deja vu for me. I had exactly the same problem with an NOE mold and kept upping the melt and mold temp until my mold began sticking which I understand is a sign of a too hot mold. I was afraid I might ruin it. I cleaned with dish soap, and comet several times and smoked with a butane lighter just like you did to no avail. Finally I tried smoking with a kitchen match and BINGO! no more wrinkles.

[MtGun44]

Don't sweat "casting so hot". If that is what the mold needs, that is what it needs.

Who cares what the thermometer says? I have one but learned long ago that it is almost
irrelevant. The mold will tell you if it needs hotter or cooler, regardless of what the
thermometer says.

Bill

[Maximumbob54]

I may try a wooden stick match next time in that mold and a couple of other problem children molds. The biggest reason I want the thermometer again is to know for sure how hot the lead is getting. I wasn't dropping the sprue back in or anything else that might cool the lead and I was trying to cast as fast as I could. The dial may say 850 on it but for all I know it's really only pouring lead at 750. I know I have a hard time pouring rifle bullets fast enough to not have them looking terrible as well. I up the flow but then I risk hot lead splatter everywhere once the cavity gets full. I will find my happy medium but once again it seems more heat was the key.

[runfiverun]

the brass molds will run pretty good when they are about 400-f.
remember they are giving off heat too.
sometimes the heat loss outpaces the heat gain from the alloy.
just 25-f difference in alloy temp or 1-2 seconds longer with the mold open between pours makes all the difference between too cold and just right.
and some molds are weird.
I have a 2 cavity 375 mold in a lyman block that I have to run at 5 pours a minute to maintain good boolits.
this would be about where a big aluminum mold would want to run.
but once I get it going I can drop the alloy temp down to 675-f and then just make a pile of boolits in no time.

[AABEN]

Try smoking your mold. use a match to smoke it do NOT use a candle. GOOD LUCK

[cbrick]

Try smoking your mold. use a match to smoke it do NOT use a candle. GOOD LUCK

Welcome to CastBoolits AABEN,

Smoking molds is an oldwives tale and suppose to cure all sorts of evils but wrinkled boolits? Really?

Rick

[Maximumbob54]

I have discovered the gremlin on my wing:

http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x333/Maximumbob54/IMG_20130505_124932_517_zps6c87fec4.jpg (http://s1176.photobucket.com/user/Maximumbob54/media/IMG_20130505_124932_517_zps6c87fec4.jpg.html)

That's an hour after the Pro Melt was set to 850 degrees. Looks like it's time to send her home for a rebuild.

[Cane_man]

Brilliant. I just posted the wrong picture. It was supposed to be a .401" HP 180gr bullet. That was part of a before and after I added the hot plate to the bench. I will go delete that post. I will go back and check the vent lines. I know one of my other brass molds has obvious "tinning ?" build up in the vent lines and I need to clean it before I use it again. This one doesn't look like it has anything and I scrubbed it pretty good with the brush and would have thought I would see anything in the vent lines.

for me that is the hardest boolit to cast, that .40SW HP... i found that the melt has to be hot, like 740F (my mold is aluminum), and if you open the mold too soon the lead isn't hard enough and the hollow point tears, if you wait too long then the hollow point cools and shrinks around the hollow point pin and you have to shake to get it out quite often tearing point once again... i found that after the sprue frosted over i wait for a 2 count then pop open the mold and that would give me the best boolits with minimal tears on the point...