So, doing a "trial run" to pour some boolits yesterday, I realized I know jack squat about actually pouring the lead.
I found that if I was careful with the lever I could make a nice smooth stream that gently filled the cavity and made a little puddle on top, but I ALWAYS got wrinkles or voids.
If I put the mold up to the spout (spout into the recess in the sprue plate) and carefully opened the valve, I got great fill out and no wrinkles, with a rare small void in the base. The problem was, about 1 time in 5, some lead would squirt out a couple drops from the sides (traveled maybe 2" from the mold, but would make enough of a mess that it was super annoying, and was glad for the long fireplace gloves I had on, that's for sure!).
Not sure what I learned from that, other than I'm not doing it right, lol.