I am still a novice caster but routinely have had good success casting pistol boolits 9MM-44MAG, but I am really struggling with 30 caliber rifle boolits. The mold is a newer Lee 2 cavity, 160gr, round point. Alloy is COWW with 2% pewter/tin. I preheat my molds on a hot plate garage and have tried casting from 700-775 degrees from a PID controlled Lee 4/20 bottom pour.
From the get go I have had the inclusions shown in the PIC. At first I was convinced I had some contamination in the mold and have gone back to zero several times recleaning but still have the problem. I barely lube the pivot with 2 cycle oil and then thoroughly rub the sprue plate, top and faces with a #2 pencil. Although the defects are most often along the seam line, it also appears beside and in-between.
I have tried and had better success pressure casting (mold held tightly up against the spout) but seem to get too many pull-outs when cutting the sprue and have difficulty keeping the sprue cutter hot enough. With the generous vent lines cut into these newer molds I just don't think pressure casting should be necessary.
I have tried fast and slow flow rates, but have little success controlling the faster flow rates. The bullets depicted below were cast at 750F with a slower pour rate that allowed me to create and maintain a nice sprue puddle.
My cull rate has to be at least 50% as I cull the obvious bad ones while casting and those below are those I didn't cull while casting. I have NOT been dumping culls or sprues back into the pot while casting. FYI even my keepers in the jar contain some with minor defects.
I have two thoughts as to the cause:
1. The inclusion is caused by the drip hanging off the bottom of the spout bounces up off the bottom of the mold cavity and lands on the side.??? The defects are never on more than one side/location.
2. Temperature. My sprues harden with 2-3 seconds no matter how fast I try to go or how large the puddle. I rarely get any frosting and never have to let things cool down.
3. a combination of 1 and 2.