Help, wrinkles.

[The Dar]

How far is too far? I've been holding the mold about 1" to 1 1/2" below the spout.

I have my mold about 1/4" from the spout, your alloy may be cooling on the way to the mold. I'm not saying I don't get wrinkled bullets, it's usually from using too much beeswax to lube my mold.

I would also suggest a hotplate such as this one to preheat your molds, I can't believe the difference a hot plate makes.


Good people here, welcome to the group.

[runfiverun]

I'm sure by now everyone has covered the distance from the hole to the spout, the mold temp/alloy temp thing, and that grey boolits are good boolits.


so I'm just gonna say welcome to the forum.

[MyFlatline]

Half to 3/4 is my tops

[Casull]

Sounds like a lot of little things that add up. Thanks for the schooling.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Welcome to the forum.

Keep practicing, there is both science and craft to this hobby. Besides the many of these little things that have been previously mentioned, it just takes time to develop your skill. One big thing to master, is the rhythm of the pour and drop. You need to develop a technique where your mold maintains a certain temperature range ...too hot and you get heavily frosty boolits, too cold and you get wrinkles...you want to be in the middle, with dull grey boolits...don't try to make them shiney.

[dogdoc]

Just got a hot plate just like the one pictured. What a difference! Get one


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Bama]

New member here. I've been lurking and learning here for awhile, but this is my first post. With all the knowledge I've seen expressed here, I'm sure someone can a help a new fellow caster. I've been shooting and reloading for about 35 years, but recently decided to pursue the cast boolit. Problem is that I'm getting wrinkled boolits. I know that is usually an indicator of not enough tin or too cold a mold, but I don't think that is the problem. Here is my setup: Lee 10lb bottom pour furnace running at about "7"; Lee six cavity 310 grain round flat nose mold that I "beagled" to get the diameter up to about .434; alloy of about 4 parts pure lead to 1 part foundry type (which should put my alloy at about 3% tin, 4.5% antimony and 92.5% lead). The boolits are coming out wrinkled even as they get hot enough to "sizzle" when dropped in water. The wrinkles aren't what I would call excessive, but I've been remelting them because I just want better looking bullets. The kicker is that when the mold gets hot enough that the bullets come out lightly frosted, they are filling the cavities very well and producing beautifully formed "keepers". Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I had almost the same problem with a long bore rider bullet.In one thread it was suggested to use a hot plate to heat the mold. I had thought my mold was hot enough but figured it would not hurt to try. First bullets out were almost perfect. I will never cast another without heating on hot plate. There is a lot of really good advise on this forum.

[Silverseas]

I recently went thru the same wrinkle problem with a Lee six cavity 358-150 RN. Two days earlier it dropped good boolits, then next time nothing but wrinkles. Reading tips here I tried solvent degreasing, including CRC brake cleaner, the chlorinated type but with no success. So next i boiled the mold for 30 minutes in Dawn soapy water. That fixed it, perfect boolits.

[Rcmaveric]

Welcome. Everyone has covered the basics. Though I will add once you get it dropping good bullets be careful how you lube the molds. Nothing worse than spending 30 minutes cleaning and burning it out, then lube the guide pins and accidently get some inside the mold as the lube heats and migrates. I recommend using 2 cycle engine oil and q-tips. There are plenty of guides of how to lube a mold I just thought I would add something to your awareness. Also use a sponge in a tray of water to cool the mold. Once you notice the signs of the mold over heating (IE sprue taking longer to cool and cratering the bullet base, that happens to me before the bullets frost) just tap the mold on the sponge, it will his for a second then keep casting. Others rotate molds instead or use a fans. The sponge just helps me with my tempo.