cast finish is not good

[RodP]

I have been casting my .380 and .38 boolits in Lee molds for about 6 months now, and they are very nice looking. I just bought a .223 Lee mold. I "carboned" it up and started casting with the same batch of WW lead that I use for my .380 and .38 I cast over 50 of them and they look terrible! I put them all back in the pot. I didn't do anything different except use the new mold. I kept casting more thinking that maybe the mold needed to "break-in" but #50 looked just like the first one the finish is "wrinkled" looking and I think its not flowing well

[claude]

Just a wild guess, the mold is to cold, those itsy bitsy bullets don't heat up the mold much.

[BUCKEYE BANDIT]

+1 crank up the heat !!
Just a wild guess, the mold is to cold, those itsy bitsy bullets don't heat up the mold much.

[Wolfer]

That would be my wild guess also. What's not a wild guess is if you get wrinkled boolits either your mold is too cold, your lead is too cold or you have a smidgen of oil in your cavities.

Just the fumes from oil/lube smoke will wrinkle your boolits.

[mozeppa]

iron molds don't heat as well as aluminum....so really what to do is buy a $15 hot plate at wallmart and turn it on full heat.

when you are not casting...your mold should be sitting on it.

about the carbon thing....don't , it's not needed and really don't help much.

clean your mold with acetone and a tooth brush , then heat it on the hot plate and start.

all my molds are iron and usually i can make great looking bullets from the first cast....if it's up to temp.

and my alloy is around 690 degrees ....any hotter and they come out frosty.

[richhodg66]

Because those .22 bullet cavities are so small, the heating qualities will be different from your others.

The hot plate helps a lot, but I always worry about aluminum getting too hot, so I usually put it on the hot plate sprue cutter down so steel is in contact with the burner. Turn the heat a little higher and cast fast.

[John Boy]

...but #50 looked just like the first one the finish is "wrinkled" looking and I think its not flowing well I've found casting small bullets that the melt has to have a good gravity flow to fill out the mold. Heat the melt up to 750 for starters with the mold at the same temperature. Then with a 5 second ladle pour with the spout not in the sprue hole - pour the melt in so that the gravity force allows the melt to 'bubble' up that creates a good sprue puddle and the puddle frosts in 5 seconds. The bullets will be completely filled out the and when the sprue plate is cut - the bullet base will be flat and the edges of the base will be sharp.
I experimented doing this with 40gr 22LR bullets and for every one over 200 in the casting session - they were perfect

[mozeppa]

i missed the part about "22" caliber .....in that case, when i cast 25 acp (bigger, but not by much) i have to run my alloy temp up to 750 and cast fast ....no time to admire your work ....gotta keep hoppin'

[John Boy]

750 is the melt & pot temperature that I would start with. The key is a 5 second pour and the sprue puddle frosts in 5 to 8 seconds. If the bullets are coming out frosted at this temp - back it down

[robg]

I use that mold run it hotter and hold it close to the spout of the pot to pressure fill .I just cleaned mine with white sport and smoked with a gas( butain lighter)

[runfiverun]

molds break in through casting cycles.
heating and cooling forms an oxide layer in the cavity's and most aluminum molds need 3-4 or more runs from cold to hot and back again to start forming the patina.
brass is the same way [turns brown]
and steel gets a blue hue in the cavity's.