what's wrong here

[Phat Man Mike]

noob on this forum but having trouble! I'm casting .365 bullets for my MAK and the first round went like poop! the bullet's are dropping with seams on them ..I'm using W/W for my casting. and the molds are new ..any help ?

[rwt101]

Did you go over the mold and check it for any metal left from manufacturing? Did you follow the directions about preparing the mold? It has to be cleaned and the sprue plate hinge lubed. Just a few thoughts. I am new to casting so I am no expert. Here is a pic of some .365 cast boolits from a new lee mold.

[Phat Man Mike]

man you just made me sick! those are nice! and yes I did the normal stuff of cleaning and prepping my molds! it just made me sick so I quit for the day.. they all had seams around the bullets. I was thinking I was pouring to fast. but I'm at a loss for words.

[Ken O]

If your mold isn't up to temp (by other means than pouring lead in them) it will take quite a few pours to bring it up.

Did you clean the mold real well using carb cleaner or some good oil solvent?

If the above has been done, than more heat! Take the temp up until the bullits frost, then back it down just under. The wrinkles should go away.

[mooman76]

A little better discription or even pictures would help allot. All I know is you have seams. You will have small seams no matter what but more info is need for us to help.

[rwt101]

If there were seams around them the die was not closing all the way. Either there is something in the alignment pins or maybe you were not sqeezing them hard enough. Also mold temperature and lead temperature. I find I have to have mine pretty hot to get it to flow right. The only other thing that I can think of is the lead content. I am also using wheel weights.
Bob T

[stubshaft]

Check also for debris between the mould halves and make sure the alignment pins are seating properly.

[Phat Man Mike]

ok Ill take a few pic's and post them in a few! this is making me want to go find a drink

[Ken O]

We will hang with you... by seams I thought you meant wrinkles, other took it to mean leaking between the molds or flashing. We need pics.

[wallenba]

Don't fret too much about it Mike, you're going through the learning curve. All of us have been there. The reason we are here is to make yours a little shorter. Also, some molds if not used before seem to need 'seasoning'. That is, they get better with time, like leftover reheated Chile.

[WHITETAIL]

Welcom to the forum!
We have all had a mould or two that gave us the fitz.
Just go over the mould again slowly.
You will find the problem with a little help
from these pros.

[TAWILDCATT]

could be the melt is to hot.but small seams dont mean much.if he is sizing the seam will go.small error dont mean much in a pocket pistol.

[Jim]

ok Ill take a few pic's and post them in a few! this is making me want to go find a drink

I suggest George Dickel or Jack Daniels. They are the only two GENUINE Tennessee sour mashes on the market.

[Phat Man Mike]

well gang no pic's!!! I can't get a clear pic of the bullet! if the bullet was setting on the base it looks like melting snow caps on the center of the bullet .. like it was melting and running down the bullet.

[rwt101]

I would say Ken was right. If it is wringled then I would think the mold or the lead was too cold or it wasn't a continuious pore. But again I am not an expert.
Bob T

[Phat Man Mike]

I'm thinking it wasn't a continuous pore. it looks like snow was melting on a peak! I've been casting for a few months and it was just sad when that happened but the weather is holding out this week and I'll try tomorrow! and hope to get some pic's.

[bgokk]

I suggest George Dickel or Jack Daniels. They are the only two GENUINE Tennessee sour mashes on the market.

+1 for George.

[Bret4207]

Never turn to strong drink to solve a problem. That's why AA has so many patrons. Instead, save the drink for a toast to success!

What you're describing is a what we call "wrinkles". This can be caused by a couple things, but 90% of the time the MOULD is too cool. Here's one prescription for fixing it-

1- Get the mould nice and clean. Carb cleaner, brake cleaner, acetone, good hot soap and water- anything to remove the oils from the mould. Then let it dry or warm it to dry.

2- Lube the mould as per manufactures directions. DO NOT get lube in the mould cavity!

3- Preheat the mould on the pot edge while the melt comes up to pourable temp.

4- Prior to starting to cast, dip the corner of the mould in the melt till the alloy will drop off when you raise it.

5- Start pouring. Pour fast. Get the cavity(s) filled and empty it. The more often the mould has hot lead in the cavity the faster it come up to temp. Eventually you'll get a tempo going- don;t spend time standing there looking at the boolits with the mould empty. That lets it cool. Soon the boolits will lose the wrinkles. Keep going. After some time the boolits will have a slight frost to them and the sprue will be taking a long time to cool, at least it will if everything is going along fast enough. Then you slow down a bit and just concentrate of making GOOD boolits. You may never get to the frosty stage, but when the mould is dropping good boolits that well enough.

It some times takes a couple 3 sessions to get the mould working right. At this point your only worries are getting lead smears on the top- if you see any of that STOP and scrape the lead off with a wooden stick, some 4/0 steel wool or coarse cloth and rub a common pencil over the spot to lube it. That helps.

As long as the metal is pouring smoothly it probably hot enough, but better to run the pot 50 degrees hotter than you need than cool. A good steady heavy syrup type appearance to the flowing alloy is what you want. If it's lumpy at all you need more heat.

[kbstenberg]

Another sugestion. When you put the corner of the mould into the melt to warm it. Allso turn the mould over an do the same to the sprue plate. for me it wams the plate up an makes the first few boolits easier to cut.

[Phat Man Mike]

As long as the metal is pouring smoothly it probably hot enough, but better to run the pot 50 degrees hotter than you need than cool. A good steady heavy syrup type appearance to the flowing alloy is what you want. If it's lumpy at all you need more heat.I've been doing all my normal stuff! they were just dropping with seams like lil snow caps! I cast some more yesterday and only had a few bad ones.. the only thing I changed was the amount that was coming out the spout! but ,I'll try and post some pic's soon.