Perhaps the defect was contaminated with bullet metal (lead, tin, antimony from bullet cores or solid lead bullets, copper, tin, nickel from bullet jackets, surely not a complete list) I hadn't really thought about this but in addition to being a possible impediment to welding the vapors from those metals also are an impediment to health.
One should be very careful about ventilation, respirators and so forth in this case.
Bill
Well. I did the job. What a mess! I think your right about rod. I talked to a supplier and was told 70S6 for new stuff. I used Bowman 140 for the job and I guess that was the wrong one. It welded like dirty cast iron. NWaS. I did manage to get the job done but I sure wasnt proud of it. I thought about contmination thats why I used the Boman 140, its made for dirty welds. Oh well the job is done and the customer was happy. Thanks for the hints.