Lee 312-155 Mold not quite right

[jklein_1968]

Ok -- I had my second casting session yesterday and used both a brand new Lee 358-158 SWC and the Lee 312-155. I prepped the mold by scrubbing with a degresser/tooth brush, lots of hot water rinse and a spray down with wally world brake cleaner. Then smoked with lighter.

The brand new Lee 358-158 SWC mold was dropping nicely and would come out most of the time with a light shake or love tap. The bullets produced had good definition and measure out at .359 to .360 with a weight in the range of 164 to 165 grains. Towards the end of the casting session I was getting fins on some of the bullets. not sure what the problem was with that.

The Lee 312-155 was giving me fits from the very first. You have to beat it like a red headed step child for it to drop the bullet. My first casting experience was with this mold and I thank everyone for the help from this thread. http://http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=26204&page=2

I'm not giving up on the Lee 312-155 yet as I really want it for shooting from my Mosin Nagants. I guess I will give it another good cleaning before resulting to leementing.

[Leftoverdj]

Why did you clean it, then contaminate it back?

That brake cleaner is about as bad as the stuff you were trying to take off. Smoking with a lighter is OK if you used a butane lighter, but the liquid fuel lighters deposit oily soot.

I get pretty good results making sticky moulds release by scrubbing the edges with an eraser. They have enough abrasive in them to take off small burrs, but you would have to scrub forever to remove enough metal to matter. The stick type typewriter erasers work a little better, but an ordinary pencil eraser will do.

[rvpilot76]

Sorry for the semi-hijack; so Ronsonol lighter fluid from a Zippo is a no go?

[WyrTwister]

Sorry for the semi-hijack; so Ronsonol lighter fluid from a Zippo is a no go?


I quit smoking my molds and they do pretty good ( Lee ) .

I do not know if they are just " broken in " or what ?

I use an old tooth brush and tooth past ( cleaner and abrasive ) to clean my molds .

God bless
Wyr

[Leftoverdj]

Sorry for the semi-hijack; so Ronsonol lighter fluid from a Zippo is a no go?

It ain't something I would do. Haven't tested all the lighter fluids out there, but they are basically kerosene. If you've ever used oil lamps, you'll know how greasy that smoke is and how hard it is to get the glass perfectly clean. Trace contamination might still give usable bullets, but I want the sharp edges sharp. Rounded edges that should be sharp tell me I'm not getting complete fillout, and contamination or lack of tin are the usual culprit.

[Marlin Junky]

Liquid Comet diluted with water to twice its volume and a soft tooth brush is how I clean Lee molds.

You can very easily screw up a casting session by applying too much soot... even from a butane lighter. Just barely coat the cavity surface with a light coat if your boolits aren't coming out perfect with 750F metal. If the coating is solid black, you've over done it and need to remove the excess. Don't touch a hot mold with a tooth brush though... use a Q-tip and make sure there's no soot in the vent lines.

MJ

[dragonrider]

If you do not Leement you molds before you cast with them again you are wasting your time. Clean your molds with dish soap, preferably Dawn, and very hot water. rinse thouroughly. Do not use brake cleaner or anything else, they leave a film that hinders boolit production. Do not smoke your cavities, putting any kind of release agent in your mold only results in ugly undersized boolits. Do not cast again with that mold or molds until you Leement it. It (they) are Lee mold, THEY HAVE BURRS ON THEM. Remove the burrs and lap the cavities. Get back to us when you have done the above.

[NHlever]

I have also put a little 0000 steel wool on a small square stick, and closed the mold while rotating the stick / steel wool in each cavity. Done with reasonable care, that takes the burrs from either steel, or aluminum molds, and doesn't seem to hurt the mold at all, and it sure lets the boolits drop easier.

[462]

Fins are caused by the mould not closing completely. Look for a burr or a spot of lead on the mould faces. A burr(s) will cause boolits to not drop easily.

If you've prepared a mould properly, there is not any reason to smoke it or use a release agent.