Wrinkled Bullets

[vondelta]

Well, I've tried my hand at casting finally. The issue I'm having is wrinkles in my bullets. I have a lee #4 pot and a lee 200gr mould. I have the pot set at 8, and I have warmed my mould as stated in many posts here. I cast several sacrificial boolits to ensure the mould is up to temp, but the wrinkles never go away. They get less, but never go away.. Any suggestions? Please help.

[41 mag fan]

You need a thermometer to start IMO. Plus the wrinkles could be from several things. The first is make sure your mold is clean of oils. Scrub it with hot water and dawn.
The second is to use a hot plate set on med/low and let your mold heat up while your pot is heating up.
I run my pot by a thermostat. the setting will not give you a good clue at what your lead temp is. My cast temps I stay with the 650-675* range in the spring thru summer. Winter time I run it around 710* due to I cast in my garage door opening.
Also cast fast. Time yourself to 3-4 casts per minute. Dont worry about the wrinkles until your done or reloading your pot. Keep it at a steady pace till your sprue puddles take longer than 6 sec to solidify, then slow down.
Hope this helps a little.

Plus from what I've found Lee molds like to be ran at hotter temps than a mold like from NOE or Miha.

Go and do a search on here, and read the posts from Geargnasher. I followed what he's posted and it works like a charm for me.

[ShooterAZ]

Clean your mold...it probably still has some oils in it. Scrub with a toothbrush and a tiny bit of comet and rinse in hot water.

[utk]

I had similar problems with a new Lee-mold. Problems went away after smoking the mold with a Bic lighter.

[462]

1. Dirty mould.
2. Mould not up to its optimum casting temperature.
3. Combination of 1 and 2.

A properly prepared mould does not require smoking or any type of release agent. Fix the problem, not mask it.

[ku4hx]

Well, I've tried my hand at casting finally. The issue I'm having is wrinkles in my bullets. I have a lee #4 pot and a lee 200gr mould. I have the pot set at 8, and I have warmed my mould as stated in many posts here. I cast several sacrificial boolits to ensure the mould is up to temp, but the wrinkles never go away. They get less, but never go away.. Any suggestions? Please help.

Heat your mold up. If you get the mold too hot the alloy will seem to take too long to solidify and your boolits will be very frosty. At that point start letting the mold cool off some before pouring each successive round. You will eventually get down to the correct mold temp.

You need to be absolutely sure the mold is clear of any type metal preservative.

[GT27]

Mold isn't hot enough!

[snuffy]

Well, I've tried my hand at casting finally. The issue I'm having is wrinkles in my bullets. I have a lee #4 pot and a lee 200gr mould. I have the pot set at 8, and I have warmed my mould as stated in many posts here. I cast several sacrificial boolits to ensure the mould is up to temp, but the wrinkles never go away. They get less, but never go away.. Any suggestions? Please help.

1. Which lee 200 grain, bullet type and how many cavities?

2. 8 means nothing, you need to know the actual temp. I consider a thermometer to be basic equipment need for boolit casting.

3. Several as in how many? 20 casts MIGHT bring a cool mold up to temp IF you cast fast enough.

Suggestions? Yeah, a more complete post about EVERYTHING you're using including what alloy you're using.

As for cleaning the mold, submerge the mold in hot water to at least twice the depth needed to cover it. Then a good long squeeze of dawn or some other dish washing detergent. Now BOIL IT! That means to a rolling boil for at least 10 minutes. Yeah, a lot of suds will come out of the pot. Adding a lot of dawn raises the boiling point of the water, insuring you're getting the mold hot enough to release the coolant used in machining the cavities.

Once clean, keep any kind of wax the he!! away from the mold. Forget lee's instructions completely. No bullet lube anywhere, no smoking. If you have some bullshop bullplate lube, use it once the mold is up to temp. Be careful about getting any in the cavities. I would NOT put bullplate on top of the mold, just underneath the sprue plate and on the sprue plate pivot/hold-down screw. Go LIGHTLY on it, just enough to see it, not dripping off. A light coating on the alignment pins as well.

[geargnasher]

I think everyone pretty much nailed it on all counts!

Gear

[462]

"Forget lee's instructions completely."

Agreed, just don't forget to toss them in the trash can. Prior to reading them is best, but that's usually not the case.

[Jailer]

Clean your mold...it probably still has some oils in it. Scrub with a toothbrush and a tiny bit of comet and rinse in hot water.

Why would you clean an aluminum mold with an abrasive cleanser??????

[rexherring]

"Forget lee's instructions completely."

Agreed, just don't forget to toss them in the trash can. Prior to reading them is best, but that's usually not the case.

I agree to that. I never had a problem with a Lee mold until I followed their instructions on using a lube on a hot mold. Had to scrub out the mold with hot water dishsoap and then acetone. Finally got some good boolits. All I've ever done to a mold was to haze it with a little smoke and cast. I know some say it isn't necessary to smoke them but I seem to have better luck with it.

[utk]

A similar thread:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=139743

[letsmeltlead2693]

I have the same prob;em when I cast egg sinkers. I don't make boolits, but every time I make a 3/8 or 3//4 oz egg, it is wrinkled. It is very small when you have a warm mold, but I can't seem to get them perfect.

[Bret4207]

Why would you clean an aluminum mold with an abrasive cleanser??????

Because whatever the cutting oils Lee uses are, they seem to forma very difficult to remove film on some of the moulds. The very mild abrasive in Comet or Bon Ami combined with the detergents seems to cut through the crud better. It's not like you're ruining a mirror finish.

As with all things, practice moderation when doing this stuff.