Trouble with Lee 309-113-F

I have a lot of molds but have not been casting for awhile due to a lot of business travel. Anyway I broke out a new mold the other day which is the Lee 309-113-F that I want to use for some light small game loads in my H&R 158 Topper 30-30. I couldn't make a decent bullet even though I did all the "assumed correct" preconditioning, etc. The sprue cutter seems tight some I am assuming the reason I was getting incomplete fill out is due to the overly tight cutter which keeps the air from flowing. Is that a good assumption?????

It's possible. I just read where another member takes a mini file and ever so slightly breaks the inside edge on the mold blocks. Not much! Just enough that the sharp edge is a bit duller. This is to encourage air escape from the boolit bases. Along with this you may have to take a bit of tension off the sprue plate as well. I haven't done this myself but am merely passing on the tidbit.
Todd

Edited / corrected location to use file.

My two pennies worth: Sounds like the mold is not up to temperature. Are you pre heating the mold? Have you cleaned it very thoroughly? A faster pace during casting may also help you out as the mold stays hotter.
IMHO the sprue plate should be loose enough to almost swing shut on it's own when hot. Are your troubles only on the bases?

It took mine three tries before I got 50% good boolits . What did you use for sprue plate lube? Two cycle oil worked on mine. Small molds seem harder to use.

I have good luck lubing my moulds with dielectric silicon grease available at auto parts stores. It doesn't migrate as some lubes do. Lee moulds are hit and miss, I'm lucky with my 113 as it drops 95% keepers, one of my favorite lite boolit moulds Gp

Make sure the mold is clean of all oil, lube it and smoke the cavities with a wooden match or 2. The carbon helps absorb any oil coming out of the mold as it heats up.
If the sprue plate is too tight remove the screw when the mold is hot and make sure there is no lead under the plate by the screw. Lube the pivot with 2 stroke oil and when hot the bottom of the plate.
If the above does not work move the sprue plate to the side and run hot alloy in the cavities, letting it overflow into a pan. Immediately knock off the lead on the outside when you stop pouring and open the blocks. You may get lead on the mold faces this way so make sure to clean them off. This is the method I use when a mold proves to be stubborn and only casts wrinkled boolits.

Bear in mind that if this a newer mould the sprue plate screw is left hand threads. I have indeed seen poor base fill with a too tight sprue plate.

You said " new mould " if it is brand spanking new it might need a soak in acetone to leach out the cutting oils Lee uses now....it gets into the pores, even after a scrub with Dawn , when heated oils comes out and contaminates. I soak them overnight in acetone and then scrub...that gets the deep oil out.
Run it hot , just below frosty bullet temperature. The smaller blocks don't hold heat as well , but you can cast at a faster pace.
For lubing the mould try Liquid Wrench DRY lube...it doesn't contaminate and even works as a mould release !
Gary

vacek, pm headed your way.
swamp

Believe it or not, you should carefully examine everybody's new molds for burs, dings, alignment, sprue plate function, plate scars on the top of the mould blocks, and similar. Fix problems carefully.

If you have some experience what you find is that correcting little items will give you better results. I am sure that if you get a good 82 degree countersink, for example and slightly open the sprue plate holes on some molds(typically small pour hole Lee's with heavy rifle bullet cavities, and then deburr and lap the plate, and reassemble, fill out problems go away, and your casting problems lessen.

BvT