I'm making crappy bullets with these new molds...

[mdi]

Have you cleaned your 6 cavity molds with soap and water and mineral spirits?

I think this is a good start. Really clean! Also, turn up the heat a bit, those wrinkles look like a cold melt and/or mold.

[fryboy]

+ about 10 on the clean and heat parts ..

that being stated plz keep in mind that aluminum is a very pourous material ( as far as metal goes that is ) when cut or etched clean it oxidizes very very rapidly , as they cut the cavities they should be using a lube of some sort ( i've seen some with so much chatter i wonder sometimes but i digress ) as soon as the fresh pores are opened up they are covered in cutting fluid , usually a oil based product of some sort , this fills the pores and can be a bear to get out , and yes oil in the pores will act like a cold mold with incomplete fillout , too high of a heat will aslo round off some sharper edges and the like but from your foto this isnt the case , either the mold/melt temp was too low or that oil thing and possibly a combo of all the above but even if you do get up to the proper heat having oil in the pores will end up with poorly formed castings

[geargnasher]

Shiloh-
No, I haven't cleaned them at all. I'll have to try soap and water tomorrow. Didn't really think that'd be an issue with a new mold.

That assumption is the root of your problems. All new moulds come with cutting oil embedded in the pores of the metal and must be cleaned completely or you will have lots wrinkles.

The other thing is that Lee two-cavity moulds get hot really fast and are easy to keep hot so they cast well with good fillout. A 20-second dip of the edge of the mould in your melt and they should be ready to cast. The six-cavity moulds are an entirely different animal. I've found that preheating for 10 minutes with a hot plate on medium-high is usually what it takes to get mine hot enough.

Gear

[Doby45]

Wal store, hot plate mold oven..

http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/...&postcount=110

[zxcvbob]

I sit my mold on top of the furnace and let it heat up while the lead is melting.

One thing you *really* don't want to do with a Lee 6-cavity is ever cast with the mold actually cold -- thinking the hot lead will heat it up after a couple of drops. You will break off the sprue handle trying to get it open. Don't ask me how I know this.

I just bought a Lee 148 grain TL wadcutter mold. The mold still needs a little work to get them to drop out easily, but man those boolits shoot straight! (even the slightly wrinkled ones.) I'm gonna screw a sheet metal screw into the center of one of my prettiest boolits and use it with a little toothpaste to lap the mold cavities. I've never done this with a mold before, but I'm shooting a lot of these and I don't like having to bang on the handle bolt with a hammer handle all the time to get them to drop out.

I use a little high-temperature EP grease on a Q-tip to lube the alignment pins on my 2-holers and the sprue plate latch on my 6-holers. Don't even think of using candle wax or boolit lube on your molds or it will migrate into the cavities and give you wrinkled turd-bullets again.

[Recluse]

Wal store, hot plate mold oven..

http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/...&postcount=110

Yep, I had to give you all the credit for this one--pure genius in its simplicity and resourcefulness.

Gonna duplicate it myself this weekend.

[Doby45]

Shoot I got everything I know about casting here, and thanks to people like yourself and Gearnasher (the coffee can lid was his idea). Glad to be able to give back..

[ReloaderEd]

DON'T PRESSURE CAST USING THE BOTTOM POUR FURNACE. Melt the lead/alloy or wheel weights and flux the molten lead using beeswax or bullet lube Alox/Beeswas. Use some flux on the bottom pour sprue to clear the bottom pour nipple.
Set the pour to a slow pour. Hold the mold about half and inch below the pour nipple. Pour slowing filling all cavities in the mold. You should get clean nice formed bullets at that point if the mold is cean (I use acetone to clean the mold cavity when the mold is cold) and the mold is hot enough. If the bullets get a frosty appearance turn down the heat, if the sprue solidifys to fast turn up the heat. Be safe wear safety glasses and good leather gloves.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Clean the mold very well, then spray it out with brake cleaner followed by compressed air. Heat the mold and the lead hotter. Even if you are using straight wheel weights add a 6" piece of leadless solder or some other source of tin for better fill out of the pouring. Never assume a mold is ready to use just because you just bought it, how do you think the mold cavities were made?

Another good pre-heater is the plans Whitetailhunter had on the site about a month ago. He used a 4x4x3 electrical box with a blank cover and a BBQ temp gauge. Cut a door in one side and bend the cut part down to act as a shelf for the handles. I put a scrap piece of metal under this oven on my hotplate. When the BBQ gauge says 400 I start casting with it. I used every type mold I`ve got from single cavity up thru 6 cavity in this little gem.Robert

[Jimmy]

People on this forum are pretty damn helpful.. Jeez.
I'm going to do just about everything you guys posted and I'm sure I'll be back to casting good boolits in no time.

[SCIBUL]

Hello.
Since I've read this on this forum, I always boil my new molds and don't have this problem anymore.