What am I doing wrong?

[Jpholla]

If you look closely, you can see what happened is that the small incoming stream of lead touched the side of the mold and solidified. As the lead filled the mold, it formed around the solidified part rather than incorporating it wholly into the mass. In my experience, a little more heat can fix this, as can a faster fill rate, a faster casting cadence, smoking the mold, pressure casting, changing distance of drop from pot to sprue-plate, angle of mold, or where the stream hits the sprue-plate. There's more than one way to skin a cat. The edges of the driving bands are kind of rounded and frosty, which will likely clear up when you solve the other problem, but the suggestion of more tin to balance out the antimony may not hurt. I've noticed some molds simply like to do this. I have a Lee .45 truncated cone 230gr mold that has always wanted to do this in all six cavities. I don't know why, it just does. I just experiment to find a mold's particular personality, until I find out what works best.

[Tripplebeards]

I always end up pouring to hot. But when I do I slowly rotate my handle from side to side “ agitating in little circles some times like a beaker” while the lead is still completely melted to make sure I worked our any air pockets in my boolits.

[Four-Sixty]

My opinion is that there is a contamination problem. From the picture, the grain structure is well defined, so I think the mold and melt temperature were adequate. From the appearance of the driving bands, it appears they are even a bit too frosty making them less sharp than they could be. It could be you were even a bit too hot.

I'd try casting over a longer period to work the oils out of the pores of the cavities. Don't clean with the brake cleaner anymore, and experiment with smoking the cavities when the mold is hot, after you've tried running it awhile and find the wrinkles have not quite gone away.

[bakerjw]

I am new, but when I see that, I think cold mold.
My last batch of 45s took a few seconds for the sprue to completely harden on the sprue cutting plate. After that, all of my bullets started coming out real good.
I'd recommend running a dozen or so through the mold and let some mold sit on the sprue cutter to heat it as well. After all, you can just melt them again.

[walker77]

I believe the problem is heat or pour rate. How hot should I have the mold?

[Tripplebeards]

I don’t measure the heat of the mold. I just keep pouring some test boolits till get complete fill out. Some times it takes a good 20 plus frustrating minutes to starting getting good fill outs. Do you add any pewter or tin to your mix? I do as I’ve been told it aids in complete fill outs. Some times I pour lead into the mold abs let it sit and heat up before dumping boolits. Hot lead sitting in the cavities for a few minutes heats my molds up pretty fast. A couple times of letting bullets sit in the mold a few times in row speeds the heating process up for me.

[JoeJames]

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

I have not been doing it long, but I really noticed the stream was weak when I gave up and drained the pot into an ingot mold. Instead of nice solid ingots, I was ending up with what looked like the result of a lava flow. Then I bit the boolit (figuratively speaking) and cleaned the fire out of the pot and the spout. When casting again, I first increased the amount of alloy to about 6 pounds in my 10# pot, got the pot temperature up enough that the excess was kind of frosty on top of the sprue plate, and then I'd wait a few seconds after that. Finally I started getting boolits that looked like they were supposed to look. Also used a small allen wrench in a pair of needle nose vice grips to keep the spout cleaned out while casting. I know this is old hat to most of y'all but it is still mighty fresh in my mind.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Long skinny boolits are the most troublesome to cast.
You have been given many good tips. Hot mold and strong stream from Pot should get you in the right direction. Keep trying, practice makes perfect...you'll soon learn what that particular mold wants...be sure to keep good notes, so you'll have that info next time.

[JoeJames]

I may be wrong on this, but it also appears to me that you don't need to be miserly on the amount of alloy in the pot. Seems to me the more in the pot the stronger the stream. I already stated that above but it sure worked better for me when I had 6 pounds or more in there than just a couple of pounds.

[Conditor22]

Anytime I get wrinkles in a new mold I wait until it cools, them scrub it out with dawn dish soap and a denture brush/tooth brush.

IF you didn't heat cycle the mold that is another good place to start.

were getting to the nitty gritty now.
what alloy are you using?
"sits on a hot plate on Med for about 20 mins." I pre warm my molds to 400°
are the wrinkles/inclusions always in the same place?
To help limit inclusions and incomplete fill-outs pour a little lead into the catch container under the spout (to clear the spout so you don't get the cooler drip into the cavity) every time just before you start filling the mold

How cold is the area your casting in? the colder the surrounding temperature the faster the spout cools/plugs up

I found that the spouts on my lee pots cooled off faster than on my RCBS. not sure about Lyman

I love that NOE 311-247 mold

"I'm going to powder coat. So does these imperfections even matter?" for close-range handgun boolits --- not so much, for rifle longer-range higher velocity YES!!

As Larry mentioned, I also do all my casting between 680° and 720° ( except pure where I go 750°)

make sure the alloy is clean fluxed several times with both sawdust and wax before putting it in you pot

You could try pressure casting (hold the sprue hole up to the spout, pour lead for a few seconds then lower the mold to get a puddle on top of the sprue). this way guarantees the best fill out I only do this with new to me molds and just a few times.

make sure the flow of lead is going directly into the center of the hole.

back to the alloy, you can toss .5 oz of pewter/tin in the pot to help get a better fill

Go back to the beginning:
clean pot and spout
clean alloy
clean mold cavities
heat cycle the mold 3 times (read NOE instructions)
heat clean alloy to 720° use thermometer or PID
heat mold to 400° use IR thermometer to check
see where the mold lines up centered directly under the spout (adjust guides if your pot has them)
Flux the alloy in your pot 1 time with sawdust (burn it off and stir it in) and once with wax (stir it in)

**I leave this on top of the alloy in the pot to act as a vapor barrier **


bring the preheated mold to the pot, clear the nozzle and start your first pour.

Let us know how it turns out with answers to any questions. You will get this!!!!!

I threw this together to clean the spout on my pot


often you can clear/open up the flow through the spout bu just heating the spout with a lighter or small tourch

[megasupermagnum]

One extra tidbit I should have mentioned. I like to pour as close as possible to the sprue plate. Ideal is about a 3/8" gap. Any closer, and the puddle hits the spout. Farther, and it seems to produce worse results.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

JoeJames,
Be sure to read and re-read everything that Conditor22 posted for you.
There are many gems in that Hints, Tips, Tricks list he posted.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

SNIP...

That might very well be the ugliest DIY tool I ever saw

...but I have no doubt it is effective
and likely safer than the extra long allen wrench I use.

[JoeJames]

JoeJames,
Be sure to read and re-read everything that Conditor22 posted for you.
There are many gems in that Hints, Tips, Tricks list he posted.

I cut and pasted his comments and printed them out for my notebook. Made a heck of a difference. One thing I don't think he mentioned probably because it should have been evident was my thought on not being miserly with alloy in the pot. I was doing that and in combination with everything else the results were not very good. Let me clear though, I sure ain't posing as an expert. Just that many of my mistakes are still fresh in my memory. I learned ages ago that whenever I got cocky, I'd usually get my head handed back to me.

[GregLaROCHE]

My vote is the flow rate is set too slow or possible partial blockage.
PCing the boolits should prevent lead buildup in the silencer, certainly better than naked lead. I’ve shot Lee’s 320 grain boolits PCed through an M1A with a silencer without any problems. Only a hundred or so trying to get it sub sonic and cycling. Couldn’t do it with different powder loads and didn’t want to modify the gun, so abandoned the project. If you will be shooting thousands of hot rounds, your results may be different.

[Conditor22]

That might very well be the ugliest DIY tool I ever saw

...but I have no doubt it is effective
and likely safer than the extra long allen wrench I use.

It was made in hurry with what I had at hand. It worked well so I felt no need to make it pretty (IF you saw me you'd understand )

when you PC your boolits make sure you follow manufacturers bake instructions
they all read (somewhere on the site) bake for XX minutes in an oven preheated to XXX° after one of 2 conditions is met
(1) the PC flows out on the boolit (2) the boolit reaches XXX°

Test your oven with a thermometer to confirm it is actually reaching XXX°, if not adjust the setting until you do.
I recommend a convection type oven because you get even heat distribution but toaster ovens will work, just don't do too many at one time.

[Larry Gibson]

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.

If you have a Lyman you can adjust the flow rate by screwing the spout lift stop up or down. I've been using a mag20 for some years but it was the same on my old Lyman 10 lb bottom pour. I leave the lock nut loose as i adjust the flow as the alloy goes down in the pot.

[walker77]

So it was a pour issue. I didn't realize how stopped up it was.

But now I have a new problem. The spout is dripping....... a lot!

I just drained the pot. Ill take another look at it this weekend to see what the problem is now.

Any ideas in the mean time?

[megasupermagnum]

So it was a pour issue. I didn't realize how stopped up it was.

But now I have a new problem. The spout is dripping....... a lot!

I just drained the pot. Ill take another look at it this weekend to see what the problem is now.

Any ideas in the mean time?

I'm not familiar with Lyman pots, but a quick fix on a Lee, you adjust the flow by threading in or out the rod. First would be to make sure it is threaded such that it can seat. If it is, it likely got some crud in the seat. Often you can take a screwdriver, and while pushing down, turn side to side to break up and clear the junk.

[walker77]

I'm not even sure which Lyman pot I have. All the markings are gone. Id say its 15 - 20 years old (bought it used).

The Lyman has a screw at the top too but it didn't seem to do much except increase or decrease the flow.