My casting session tonight had several new items.
1) New alloy - 8lb of 92-6-2, 6lb of SOWW, 6lb of COWW.
2) New casting pot - RCBS Pro Melt 2.
3) I tried casting with two molds.
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Problem: I could not get good bullet fill-out.
I was getting wrinkles and bad driving bands (particularly between the two lube grooves of a NOE-360-160-WFN), even when I was getting frosty bullets. The spruce plate was hot enough to keep the spruce somewhat liquid for a moment after I closed the pot valve. I stopped using the second mold early, to help the one heat up.
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I think the answer is add half a pound of tin to the alloy and try again. Getting familiar with the new pot and casting at a faster pace with only one mold will help too.
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I could be wrong in what I think the answer is, which is why I’m posting this here. I started casting with the lead at 750F and increased it to 810F trying to get better fill-out. After 2 hours I drained the pot and there was quite a bit of lead colored slush/oxides stuck to the walls of the pot. I pushed them into the remaining lead but they did not melt (no surprise), so I scooped them out and fluxed them in my Lee dipper pot. There was a lot of brittle slag from this fluxing. None of my cast bullets have inclusions. I’ve cast with the pure SOWW with no issues. Could the real problem be a significant amount of impurities in my COWW (which was previously fluxed twice)?