wrinkles on 44 cal balls

[mrappe]

I just cast my first shootable lead balls. I found some lead that was soft enought out of the scrap I bought last week and they came out ok except for some superfical wrinkles in the surface. Any ideas on what would make that happen? They are very shallow.

[Gun Nut]

Sounds like your alloy was a little cool

[mrappe]

I had the Lee pot set on 5-6 which is about 3/4 of the way around I think.

[lwknight]

The molds probably need to be hotter.
Your alloy might need to be hotter.
More experienced pure lead casters will show up soon with more info.

[Rangefinder]

Yup--you need to warm the mold and the pour a bit more. The wrinkles are from the pour solidifying too quickly before the mold is filled out. Just do it the same as you would for any other bullet. Also, make sure the mold is clean--no oil residue or anything other than maybe a graphite dust or smoke. Probably temp though--residue will usually give you orange peel rather than wrinkles.

[cbrick]

Yep, the mold is too cool, possibly oily if not cleaned properly. Pot temp might be ok with pure, pre-heat the mold well and cast faster. You'll be surprised how purdy they turn out once the mold is up to a temp that it likes.

Rick