What am I doing wrong?

[walker77]

So I haven't cast in about 6 years. I got a silencer and figured I would try casting subsonic 300 blackout.

The mold I got is the NOE mold 311-247. The mold has been cleaned 3 times now with alcohol, brake cleaner and dish soap (tonight). But I keep getting wrinkled bullets. The picture below is the best looking one.

I'm going to powder coat. So does these imperfections even matter?

Also my lead is 750 degrees and my mold sits on a hot plate on Med for about 20 mins.

[Tripplebeards]

Doesn’t look like your mold is hot enough. I rest my mold on top of my lee pot for a good 20 minutes before casting and I still have to cycle a couple dozen boolits or more to get hot enough.

[toallmy]

Possibly restricted flow of alloy while casting . If you’re casting at 750 with a preheated mold .

[leadhead]

You should heat and cool cycle the mold at least 3 times.
Buy this I mean, heat to operating temperature then let it cool back
to room temperature. Do this 3 different times.
By the way.... isn't shooting cast bullets thru a silencer bad
for it. Heard it will load it up lead. I don't know for sure.
Denny

[walker77]

You should heat and cool cycle the mold at least 3 times.
Buy this I mean, heat to operating temperature then let it cool back
to room temperature. Do this 3 different times.
By the way.... isn't shooting cast bullets thru a silencer bad
for it. Heard it will load it up lead. I don't know for sure.
Denny

I sure hope it doesn't mess up the silencer. I dropped $1,500 on it!

Ive been talking to a guy on another forum that uses the same mold with no problems with his silencer. He also powder coats his.

Ill try heating up the mold a few more times. Anyone know what temp I should shoot for on the hot plate?

I appreciate everyone's help!

[toallmy]

You can heat cycle your mold in a oven , but remove the handles first . Start out room temperature mold and oven Heat to 350-400 for a half hour And let completely cool before doing again NOE makes nice molds you shouldn’t have any trouble casting with your new mold if it’s preheated , and alloy is up to 750 .
Brass or aluminum just asking

[Wayne Smith]

What I've read it is the lube that is the problem with silencers. PC is fine. I'd toss that one back and find out why your mold isn't working as you want. Heat and rapid refill to maintain heat is the issue for most. We want to admire rather than immediately refill the mold. Thus the mold cools and we get wrinkled boolits. Empty the mold, refill, let the color of the sprue change, wait three seconds, cut the sprue and dump, refill, and repeat until you have more boolits than you think you need. Then when they are cool start tossing back the ones that look like the one you posted. I think you will find you keep more than you toss back.

[walker77]

Brass or aluminum just asking

5 cavity aluminum

[ascast]

when all else fails ( IF ) add more tin to improve fluidity. Maybe your mix is just a bit off. Maybe cast at 800.

[dangitgriff]

Wrinkles? Maybe you’re using old lead...

[Texas Gun]

My guess would be he did not clean the mold well enough

[BK7saum]

I have and cast with that mold in solid and hollow point form. It is likely that your mold is still a little cool and your flow into the cavities is probably a little slower than it needs to be.

[Larry Gibson]

Possibly restricted flow of alloy while casting . If you’re casting at 750 with a preheated mold .

^^^^^^^^what he said^^^^^^^^

You're not getting the alloy into the cavity fast enough. Open up the spout on the bottom pour or pour faster if a dipper. With long skinny bullets like that one pour fast enough that the alloy boils back out of the cavity and a good sprue forms even if some runs off the mould. No need for 750 degrees with a 5 cavity aluminum mould. Suggest 710 - 725 as measured with a thermometer.

[Bashby]

How many boolits did you cast and how fast were you casting them? I just started casting for 300 bo also. I got a 31-215E mold from Accurate. My first boolits were wrinkly like that. I tried smoking them, but I think what worked was to get them good and hot. At first my spues were hard to cut (mold too cold). I cast 20-30 pretty fast, a few times I poured a bunch extra hot lead on the sprue plate, let it sit for 3-4 seconds, then cut the sprue. Eventually I got it hot enough to cast mostly keepers.
Here’s my mold.

Here are some boolits with PC.

[megasupermagnum]

I do not think it is a cleanliness problem. If it was, it would be over most of the bullet. Even if it was, it would burn out eventually. No, your problem is either heat or flow. Assuming you are using a thermometer, 750 degrees should be hot enough for the melt. It wouldn't hurt anything to try it a little hotter, but probably not needed. The big concern is your mold temperature. The mold temp is controlled by your casting pace. Sometimes it helps to start with the melt hot, say 780, and then turn it down once your mold temp is where you need it to be. The other way is to cast as quickly as possible, within reason, until it is casting good.

Also very likely is you are getting poor flow into the mold. The most likely culprit is as mentioned above. You are not filling the mold fast enough. You don't want a trickle into the mold. You want to fill it up quick. You want that in rush of metal to force its way in there under gravity, and overcome surface tension of the metal, so it fills the entire mold. I fill as quick as possible, and keep it flowing on the hole until there is a generous puddle on the sprue plate.

[walker77]

The pour out of my Lyman pot looks good. But ill take a look at it this weekend to see if the spout needs cleaned.

This is also the first time I've cast rifle bullets. I've always cast pistol in the past.

[LenH]

When I first started with rifle bullets in an NOE Aluminum mold. It took a couple of times to get good bullets. I found that the small diameter bullets molds like
to be rocket hot and I push the melt to about 725 and cast fast and make sure the stream is directly under the spout. Don't stop to examine the bullets keep casting
and sort later. You can also lay the mold sprue plate down on the hot plate and make sure it is up to temp.

[6622729]

Possibly restricted flow of alloy while casting . If you’re casting at 750 with a preheated mold .

Exactly. Too slow of flow and/or not directly going into the hole.

[6622729]

^^^^^^^^what he said^^^^^^^^

You're not getting the alloy into the cavity fast enough. Open up the spout on the bottom pour or pour faster if a dipper. With long skinny bullets like that one pour fast enough that the alloy boils back out of the cavity and a good sprue forms even if some runs off the mould. No need for 750 degrees with a 5 cavity aluminum mould. Suggest 710 - 725 as measured with a thermometer.

Agree with this as well. I don't see need for anything above 725 for this bullet. I don't see the need to heat cycle the mold or to clean it further. I don't see a need ffor more tin. That defect in the picture is a typical one for not filling the cavity fast enough or directly enough. I can duplicate it in any mold if I just dribble the lead into the cavity or if I fill the cavity but miss the center of the hole and the lead just rolls in. Easy to duplicate, easy to fix.

[BK7saum]

Bullets that are as tall as they are wide are much easier to cast without wrinkles. As stated, long skinny bullets need a much quicker flow rate in order to fill the cavity before the alloy starts to solidify. I battled wrinkles with these molds for a while before I figured that out and cast much quicker and open my Lee pot up to the maximum flow from a full pot