To smash or not to smash (22 Bator mold). That is the question...

[Land Owner]

Two days in a row, the 2nd day with a whole lot closer care, I have experienced 60% rejection on a Lee two cavity 22 Bator aluminum mold - most rejects are almost perfect but with slight deformations, some w/wrinkles on heels, some w/gaps in the driving bands, some w/deformed domes, some w/finning.

I checked the mold faces for imperfections, removing any small lead particles a time or two w/1600 grit sandpaper, reheated and recast the first day. Last Sunday I cast about 150 very good well filled out and complete bullets within a slot limit of 50.5 grains to 51.1 grains out of 500 cast made with ww/pb/sn-49/49/2. There were some, ~50, outside the slot limit that were well cast and saved for another day.

Yesterday afternoon, same mold, clean faces, careful about keeping mold temp up, RCBS Pro-Melt, increased melt temp by 50* (to 775*), and again 40% good or ~150 additional plus ~50 extras outside the slot limit.

These little pills are tough to make well. Any recommendations for correcting my proceedures?

Maybe I will just take it to the Dentist to have those cavities filled...

[JSnover]

You say the faces are clean, how about the cavity? Are you oiling it between sessions? Some do and it's not a good idea.
Also, your 2% tin should ​work but you might try adding a little. 3-4% might work better.

[Casting_40S&W]

"slight deformations, some w/wrinkles on heels, some w/gaps in the driving bands, some w/deformed domes"

Symptoms of Zinc contamination

[country gent]

Could be zinc but maybe not. Mould temp with these little bullets is critical and you have to cast fast to hold temps up. Are the vent lines clear and clean? How tight is the sprue plate? Getting the mould and sprue plate hot is a real issue with these bullets at times. Pour big sprues maybe even over filling the plate to point of run off. Im betting its an issue with the temp of the blocks and sprure plate. Clean the blocks good faces cavities and sprue plate with soap and water using a tooth brush. with an awl or sharp scribe ( point on an exacto knife will also work) clean the vent lines carefully to insure air can get out.

[ascast]

my 2 cents - all above is good - try to push the heat and speed untill you get hairs on the boolit from lead coming out the vent lines. If that don't fix, add more tin.
Is your melt really clean? the pot? dipper?

[dkf]

Your alloy temp seems good but you could try slightly higher heat in the mold, in the alloy or maybe both. Maybe loosen up the sprue plate more and see if that makes a difference. The reject rate on my .22 cal bullets are higher than any other caliber I cast for because I am very picky with them. Any little imperfection and they get remelted.

[bangerjim]

Use PRESSURE CASTING! Hold the sprue right up to the spigot and fill that way. The head pressure of the lead in your pot forces the lead into the mold.... 100% fill every time.

Watch out for any tiny jets of hot lead squirting out if you have dirt on the sprue indent or the spigot. Just wipe off with leather glove finger to clean off.

Be sure you preheat your mold to casting temp on a hotplate.

I have the Lee 6 cav Bator mold and it yields perfect boolits all the time!

Send it to me B4 destroying it!

banger-j

This works for me evertime I have a tricky mold.

[Garyshome]

I've got one used it for the first time Friday, After goofing around getting the temp correct, they started to Roll, I cast quite a few over the weekend. Today I moved on to 7.62 x 39's with an old lee 1 cavity, what a pita!

[VintageRifle]

Did you smoke the mold well? I have a couple Lee molds that require a heavy smoke to fill out well.

[Jack Stanley]

When casting the small ones I try to keep the tin level near four percent , the temperature eight hundred or above and cast fast . When the bottom of the sprue plate starts to get lead sticking to it I give that a spritz of mold release .

Casting with mostly lino does make better bullets easier in the small ones but doing it like I do I usually keep ninety percent .

Jack

[ShooterAZ]

Casting tiny boolits in my experience requires a very fast cadence. The tiny pills don't hold much heat, so you have to go fast in order to keep the mold the proper temperature.

[johnnyastro22]

I cast with the Bator mold and it's definitely the most finicky mold I use.

Cast fast, keep the pot a touch hotter & make sure you don't have zinc in your melt, it's all very good advice!
Even with all that said I don't cast much in that caliber but it's nice to know that I can. I range tested my pet load and it's accurate out to 100 yards, not hard hitting though. Are you working on a .223 load?

[MT Gianni]

Keep pouring over the sprue until your ladle is empty. If you have a bottom pour get a ladle.

[khmer6]

I don't have the lee bator mold but lots of lee.molds an Noe 22 and a mihec 22. My lee mols I had to clean verrrrry good and smoke the cavities. I would heat cycle a couple of times let cool cast a bunch and melt. Let cool. The tiny cavities of the 22 I had to cast faassssst and hot. No dilly dally. Pour break sprue and go go go. No time to check boolits. Just keep going.

[ph4570]

More tin should do it. I use straight lino for the 22s -- wonderful results.

[Land Owner]

Zinc? I hope not! I thought that I had been cautious when picking through the wheel weights. I am confident that IF there is any zinc in that pot, it would be a very tiny persentage.

I have been very picky in keeping only wrinkle free, completely filled, and smooth straight based boolits. What I can control, I thought I would. I could relax a bit, shoot some of the wrinkles, and notch across a driving band for pleasure or comparative purposes. The rejects are not really "that bad".

I am told that tiny imperfections can have rotational effects and will degrade accuracy, comparatively speaking. I have a pair of 223 Handi-rifles, the bull barrel is 1:12 for these boolits, but with a move and relocation of my bench, I have not yet returned to reloading or shooting.

I will try increasing the melt heat, recleaning the mold, resmoking the mold, clearing vent lines, adding more tin, pressure pouring and keeping copious notes. The spru plate is tight - within reason. I "worked it over" after the spru plate screw stripped (another thread). I don't oil the aluminum molds - just the steel parts, and assure that the oil is cleaned before casting heat is applied. I can't go much faster. I am almost topped out plus I get tired pouring 500+ of the little pills in one session.

Thank you for all of your replies.

[HATCH]

I cast 44 grain rcbs 22 tcm boolits with my master caster.
I have found that you really need to heat the mold up and it is critical on timing of the sprue cutting.
I had tons of issues with deformed boolits until I got my timing down packed.
On two cavity steel mold 44 grain you need to do about a 6 second cycle time.
That's lead pour to dump is 6 seconds tops

[Finster101]

I have several Lee molds and have never "smoked" any of them or needed to. Keep working with it, you'll learn what that mold likes.

[cold1]

I am a beginner so take it for what its worth.

The bator was the first mold I bought. The sprue plate can get too tight and not the bottom corners form sharp. Its trapping air so lossen the plate. The mold likes it hot! So I turn up the heat. 800+ and frequent fluxing. I was casting pure lead to begin with, the bases were getting distorted when I opened the sprue plate. I sharpened the sprue and the problem went away. WW gives me a better fill out.

I do some culls, but I am not very picky. Most culls come from when I am heating the mold up or I did not have the melt temp hig enough.

[s mac]

Keep pouring over the sprue until your ladle is empty. If you have a bottom pour get a ladle.

I'll second that.