First time with a iorn molds

[GregLaROCHE]

I think that mold just needs to get broken in. I don’t think you should be pouring slower, but faster! Keep things on the hot side and keep casting. You’re getting there and so is the mold.

[Rapier]

Everyone figures out what works for them. I never put water in contact with raw iron moulds. I use solvents to clean the interior of my moulds. I use premium starter fluid, which is ether. Spray till running off, scrub with Q-tip, spray until running off, again done. If spraying ether , spray outside only and no flame at all. I use the same process for dissolving carbon on gas guns.

[JSnover]

The only time hot water and soap are a good idea is if you don't have any other options, IMO.
They work... but as the OP and others have found, there's a risk of flash rusting.

[barrabruce]

I ladle,pour with various dubious alloys.
Once my melt is hot and I have fluxed it and shiny hot I dunk the corner and sprue plate in till the lead just washes off.
I use Ed’s red for a preserver on the steel moulds and bits.
I clean with methylated spirits/alcohol.
I keep pouring lead into the cavity and run off till it is well hot.
If I still get wrinkled bullets I’ll put some metho in the cavity and let it bubble and evaporate out.
Then tip it over.
It tends to get the gook out.
Sometimes I’ve had to do this several times.
Do it away from flames etc thou.

Some molds just need more and more heat to get hot enough before they will cast.
In one mold with no vent grooves it has to just about have the handles smoking to get it to work ,but boy the 100 yr old mold will just drop then as fast as you can pour them.

I recently bought a new brass mold but it is long.
I had to keep heating it and starting over till it finally got hot enough to cast without being on the loosing end.

Strange but new molds tend to take a bit more heating to get going.

[Dusty Bannister]

Interesting that many mold users talk about a surface developing a patina which then allows the casting to drop easily from the mold cavity. All that is a form of controlled oxide on the surface of a mold. How much different is that from a light "flash rusting"?
Not trying to start a water fight, but just saying that terms and processes can be very contradictory,

[barrabruce]

I had a steel mold flash rust by boiling in dishwasher water as well.
Maybe I should have just boiled some fresh water and turned it into bluing.
It turns the red oxide into ferric oxide or something like that at 100 deg c with no oxygen or sumpin like that.

I know I cleaned a mold dobbing bees wax in the hot cavity. then casting till it got clean.
Or did I just make a mess ? Hmmm.
If you got to wait 5 minutes for the sprue to set then I’d say it could be a little on the hot side.
Don’t ask.

[405grain]

Wolfdog: I just thought of something that should have been asked back on page #1. Does the alloy that you're using give you fill out in your other molds? If this alloy works in other molds, then we're still stumped. If you try this alloy in, say, an aluminum mold, and you still get wrinkles; that may indicate an alloy problem instead of a mold problem. You said that you were running your pot really hot. Could that be hot enough to melt in a zinc tire weight that somehow slipped by you? This probably isn't the answer, I'm just trying to hit all the bases. Cast a few bullets in a mold that you know that works just to see what happens.

[Dom]

I have this exact same mold for 30 + years. I have never had the problem with mine you have with yours. I bring everything up to temp, & fill with a bottom dump pot. Perfect, never a problem. I can't begin to understand what is causing your problem. I used scrap WW, with a BRN of 10.5. No extra alloys. Always simple. I use this in a 30-06 & 308. A superb bullet for me. I use no thermometer.

[GregLaROCHE]

Just something to add on the subject. I once bought a Pedersoli round ball mold(iron). I cleaned off the oil and when I cast the first one it was perfect, as well as those following. I never expected that. With most of my broken in molds, I still need to cast a dozen before I get what I’m looking for in quality.