Problem mould...

As I am new to casting rifle boolits, I have had to buy some new moulds. I have two that cast 3 different boolits. A bonus for me. My latest is a Lee, in 8mm. A few days ago, I was altering some WW's, and decided to cast a few with the new mould. As it was a very cool say outside, I actually set the base of the mould in the top of the pot to get it warm. My others don't cast very well until they are hot, so I decided to do this. It is a 2 cavity mould, and out of fifty attempts, I might have gotten 10 complete boolits. It appeared that the alloy was solidifing on the sprue plate. (this computer keeps telling me I'm spelling lots of words wrong. If so, sorry 'bout that!) I stuck the sprue plate into the lead to get it hot, but, it made no difference. I've never had any problem like this with my other rifle moulds, or any of my pistol moulds, so I am at a loss. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks for any replies.

I sound to me like you need more heat. Increase the pot temperature . I usually start HOT until I get everything working right and then back off the temperature to a more reasonable level. Every mold has a personality of its own.

Carl

You answered your own question, mould too cold. I preheat my moulds by setting on a hot plate. I have also dipped the front corner of the mould into the melt to bring the mould up to temp. When the lead releases from the mould it is warm enough. You can also dip just the sprue plate if it is too cool.

I always pour a large sprue on top until it gets to a temp that I can easily open the plate with my thumb.

Thanks, guys. I actually did all of those, but, it still didn't work. I'll have to give it another try, now that the weather has warmed, a little. I was actually trying to get a few made so I could lap the mould. All my Lee moulds do not like to release the boolits. I read about lapping, and tried it on one mould, and it worked. Boolits drop free very easily. I didn't have a temp guage that day, but have gotten one since. But, the alloy seemed hot enough. (so did the mould when I accidently touched it. No, no gloves.) Could the holes in the sprue plate be too small? They don't look very big.....

aluminum molds like to be run at 400-435-f
a slight breeze will cool down an aluminum mold real quick.
I have a 2 cavity lee 45/70 mold and in the garage with no breeze I have to keep the mold moving along to get well filled out boolits that drop easily.
I run it on the edge of frosting.
actually through the frosting stage back to silver again then maintain that speed.
my count is 4 as in fill, count to 4, and open.
I run my 4 cavity noe mold the same way, but with less count time, it is on the verge of smearing the lead across the mold.

it's all an educated guess,,,, till the trigger is pulled.

the more i find out about shootin boolits, the more it contradicts everything i ever learned about shooting jaxketed.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading
Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt"

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