Trouble getting a clean cast. Please help.

[Burnt Fingers]

Lightly smoke the mold cavities with a butane lighter.

Heat it up and start pouring.

[fredj338]

Did you heat cycle the mold like Mr. Nelson and some members here suggest? I have found his molds do much better if you heat cycle several times in a toaster oven before ever casting with it. For me, it helps with my few noe molds.
Ken

This is very true. Some molds take a few cycles to settle in. Then some molds never settle in. I have a Lee 6cav 9mm that just refuses to casr well om all 6. Yeah I've cleaned it, smoked it, cleaned it again. Touched up vent lines it just diesnt want to cast. Yet a recent Lee 40 mold started right up, perfect bullets the first time out.

[Soundguy]

wrinkles? mold and melt not hot enough / add some tin. those 2 ways almost always correct wrinkles. tin helps fill out.. warmer mix/mold stops lead freeze.

[plainsman456]

Looks like a heat issue.

Might need a little tin but i would raise temp an try again after cleaning the mold.

[CoolHandMoss]

So I spent some time experimenting today. I believe one problem may be that my lead pot seems to maybe be wearing out. I had to go much slower than I used to in order to keep the pour temp up. I had gotten used to the pot and stopped watching the thermometer so closely. But once I got the lead up to 750-780 I was able to get good pours. After another thorough cleaning of the mold before starting.

I feel silly for having posted now since I 'thought' I knew my pour temperature was sufficient. Though, thanks all for the helpful responses. I learned how to fix my problem and then some from reading the posts.

[popper]

Doesn't look like any wrinkles I've ever seen. Usually have rounded edges. Cast @ 725-750, make sure the mould is hot, ~400F. Pour straight into the sprue hole. High Zn just gives a bumpy look. Check the vent lines with a Qtip, snags on anything sharp. Clean vent lines with a toothpick.