Whats wrong with my boolits

[carbon_15]

This is officialy my second week of casting. I started last week with a little lee furnace, lee molds and a table spoon and I was getting great looking boolits at a resonable pace. It was a pain trying to pour lead from a spoon into that tiny hole. I went to the store today to get a real ladel and ended up buying a bottom pour furnace for like $20 more than the ladle. It was way faster and didnt get lead everywhere like my shoestring budget method, but I cant seem to get something going right. I had way more rejects than using the dipper method. Besides that, now I'm having a problem I have never seen before. I'm not sure how to discribe it, but the picture is below. My molds were clean and everything was up to temperature. Ideas? Bad batch of lead? What is the proper bottom pour method? I thought this was supposed to be easier than dipping?!?
Thanks,
Jason

[kooz]

It is hard to tell from the picture, but it looks like you need to flux some more and get some of the impurities out of your melt. Are you smelting your WWs in the same pot that you are casting out of ?

[Heavy lead]

I've only bottom poured. Some guys will tell you ladle is better. I started bottom pouring and will continue. I think Kooz is right, looks like there is "junk" in there.
What kind of pot did you buy?

[725]

Started out with bottom pour, but mostly laddle now. Make sure you smelt in another pot to flux out the impurities. Get as much dross off and then pour into ingots. Take the clean ingots and use them in your bottom pour pot. Didn't any zink in there did you?

[docone31]

Jason, you have a Lee Mold.
It needs to be hotter, and used a bit more. That is all.
The lube land looks ok. The bases show a little too cool. A little rounded.
My technique,
I take my Lee Mold, and just figuire no matter how much I clean it, is is not clean enough. I smoke my mold with a BIC lighter, and cast away.
You are just a little too cool, not bad though. I would shoot them.
If, after a bunch of bad ones, it still shows imperfections like the show now, cast to fill the cavities, through 1/4 nuts. Let it completely cool. Remove the castings and wipe some fine lapping compound on the castings. Closing the mold SLOWLY, and GENTLY, keep turning the castings in the cavities. Of course, the sprue plate is off to the side of the mold while pouring, and turning.
Others disagree with this, but, instead of using brake cleaner, I just start casting again, with the mold REALLY hot. This removes the grit and scale. I do this when the castings will not fall out on their own.
It also looks like your melt is just a little cool also. I did not see any frosting. I like frosting, it helps hold the lube, and I doubt the boolitt cares going downrange.
Oh yeah, I toss the grit laden castings back in the pot. I do not shoot them! The grit floats to the top in the pot.
Do not melt raw wheel weights, or bits and pieces of lead in your casting pot. Make ingots of your alloy, and use those. Once in a while stir the lead with a wooden dowel. I know it might not make sense, but, the organics turn into carbon, which absorbs O2. This helps keep the melt clear of crud. The crud will collect around the spout rod, in the corners, and in random spots. Bits of this crud will block the spigot. Everytime you shut down, turn the spigot rod to clear the spigot and make a seal. It will probably drip when you turn it on.
The spout will also clog from time to time. I use a paper clip, grip it in hemostats, and poke through the spigot with the valve open.
I run my pot on either 8, or 9. I really heat my mold, and slow down the pours to get the right mold temp. In other words, I pour my casting, dump the castings into water, and wait longer than when my mold is up to temp to fill the cavities. I time it by the sprue freezing. You will get a rythym. It will soon be obvious what works for your casting.
I have that happen every time I break in a new Lee Mold.
You doin goo.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

+1 to Docone 31 as he covered the subject very well for you. Lee (aluminum) molds can be run hot...and often have to be; the worst that can happen is that you have to wait a bit longer for the sprue puddles to set and/or you get frosted bullets. The frosting has no effect on accuracy whatsoever. Some folks get upset by the sight of a frosty casting, but if it bothers anyone, it can be shined off with some #0000 steel wool. All molds regardless of brand or what they're made of should be really cleaned, especially of any petroleum based substance-- as even the most minute amound will cause (wrinkles) imperfect (fillout) castings. And Auminum molds have to be smoked (don't use a candle) and the alignment pins also have to be lubed, as per the instructions. Your casts look pretty good....and good enough to shoot with. What I do see is what looks like small voids caused by dirt in the melt that is getting into the mold as it fills. Metal has to be clean and not have any crud, oxides etc. in it. Flux and skim your metal regularly, making sure to scrape the sides of the pot. Periodically clean the pot itself...you'll be amazed at how much garbage you will find at the bottom. In the Lee 10 pounder (I have one that I use for my single cavity molds) whatever accumulates at the bottom usually interferes with the valve and causes it to leak or drip and thats a nuisance that will persist until it all gets cleaned out. Never smelt range lead or wheelweights in your lee pot as it will make a mess crudwise at the bottom and foul up the valve bigtime. Keep up the good work and enjoy your casting. LLS

[454PB]

Those boolits look good to me. There is some surface impurities on them, but once they are loaded, it will wipe off with a cloth if it bothers you, it really hurts nothing.

[runfiverun]

those are oxide inclusions. no biggie flux and let something sit on top of your lead.

[HeavyMetal]

Use a wooden stick to stir your flux and be amazed!

[1Shirt]

Yep, Like Heavy Metal says!
1Shirt!:coffee: