$20 toast oven left puddles (old oven)

[rockshooter]

When I had this issue I discovered that when the oven pre-heat cycle is on the top broiler turns on, which gets things too hot. Now I just wait until the broiler burner goes off then stick the bullets (just dumped on a wire tray) in and let it cook for 15-16 minutes. This is with a $8.70 thrift-store toaster oven that has worked fine for years now.
Loren

[justindad]

The problem with the cheap oven is that a heating element is right over and under the bullets, and the radiant heat of these elements causes your bullets to get way hotter than the temperature dial set point. The fix is to make a tin foil hood to go between the upper heating element and your bullets. The pan you set your bullets on may be good enough to prevent radiant heat from the lower element, or you may want to place a second pan in there as a heat shield.
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Like rock shooter said, preheating the oven also keeps down the temperature spikes.