Lyman 314299 help

[Lead melter]

Picked up one of the above molds the other day after reading some of the glowing reports on how well it does in a variety of rifles.

Brand new from Lyman, I cleaned the mold completely and used electrical contact cleaner to remove any residue. I then beagled the mold with .002" thick aluminum duct tape.

Started casting today with the mold in Lyman 4 cavity handles, and noticed that the cavity nearest the handles had a pronounced fin on the nose. Looking at the mold, I could see light through that cavity which was not there when the mold was off the handles. I'll put this down to the design of the handles. Boolits cast out at .314" to .316", which will size down just about right for the .314" or .315" size I wish to try in my M-N.

Removed the beagling tape and cast more, which then cast out about .311-.313, which will work out fine sized down for a 30 caliber.

I do have two problems, though. The first is that the sprue will not release from the sprue plate. It must be tapped out from the bottom each time. There may be some roughness in the sprue bevel which holds the sprue in the hole. I can't feel any burr on the bottom side of the plate, so I'm thinking some 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper with some polishing compound might be in order. Keep in mind I have very little experience with Lyman molds. Just wondering if this is the way to address the issue, or is there another trick I need to know?

Second problem has to do with the boolits themselves. I run an alloy of 5 parts pure to 2 parts lino for most of my gas checked slugs. Works well so far at max 1600 fps. I had to make up another batch of alloy the other day, so this is a new mix. The problem is that the boolits have a metallic "tink" when they are jostled around. It is almost like the sound of washers being knocked together, not the dull "thunk" a usual boolit sounds like. There is no problem with fillout, edges are nice and sharp, radius is nice and smooth. Weight of the 'beagled' boolit is right about 203 grains, and the plain boolit is about 201 grains...about right on tartget for the size difference. I have never cast a long skinny boolit like this before, and don't know if this is normal, but it sure doesn't seem right.

I cast several other boolits yesterday in 6 different molds of the same alloy. Their weights are right on track, but they "thunk" when knocked around. They were a 150 grain 30 cal, a 175 grain 40 cal, a 50 cal minie boolit, a 250 grain 38-55, and 2 45 colt mold, 250 and 255 grains.

Think maybe I'm losing what little mind I have left?

Do you think the alloy is contaminated? Zinc? Some other problem? I have not yet had a chance to shoot them, but they are nice, pretty, and shiny, so I can't see why they would not work.

Any advice or suggestions are welcome.

[Calamity Jake]

If that 314299 is a 4 cav on your 4 cav handles then there is a fit up problem between mould and handles and you should be able to modify the handles a little to fix it. If it is a 2 cav mould put it on 2 cav handles. that should fix it.

"I run an alloy of 5 parts pure to 2 parts lino for most of my gas checked slugs. Works well so far at max 1600 fps. I had to make up another batch of alloy the other day, so this is a new mix. The problem is that the boolits have a metallic "tink" when they are jostled around. It is almost like the sound of washers being knocked together, not the dull "thunk" a usual boolit sounds like. "

Are you sure it was 5 parts pure? or something else? Your mix shouldn't more than about 11-12 BHN. I use a mix of 75WW/25lino (about 15-16 BHN) and get that good metalic tink and I like it. Really nothing wrong with the tink sound, just means there hard.

[Lead melter]

Purity is the same from this batch of "pure" as it was when I first started casting. It all came from a stained glass studio as scrap. I bought about a ton of the stuff over a couple months and rendered it down.

The "tink" thing is what confused me, especially when the same alloy batch made the usual "thunk" when other boolits were cast.

Maybe it's just me.:veryconfu

Does the sprue plate remedy sound workable?

[Bent Ramrod]

Lead Melter,

On some of my Lyman mould sprue cutters I have that same stickiness problem, generally coming and going as I cast. An occasional touch of the wick of a wax candle (which I use to flux) on the sprue plate close to the gate is generally enough to overcome this problem. I leave a large enough puddle of lead to cover the a fair portion of the plate. The combination of lubricant and the weight of the sprue generally serves to make the sprue fall off as the plate is tapped aside.

[Boomer Mikey]

There probably is a burr in the hole holding onto the cut sprue.

If you own a drill press and a countersink remove the sprue plate from the mold and use the countersink to deepen the holes slightly. Any method you use to remove the rough edge should cure the problem. some guys run the next larger drill size through the holes. after that place a piece of fine abrasive paper on a smooth flat surface (like a piece of glass)and slide the bottom of the sprue plate across it to remove any wire edges. Don't chamfer the edges of the holes on the bottom... you want to leave them sharp to cut the sprue. This is part of a new mold prep procedure, which includes stoning the sharp edges around the perimeter of the mold and sprue plate to remove any wire edges and then clean with a non-petrolium solvent like odorless mineral spirits. Some will use naphtha , break cleaner, lacquer thinner, or acetone; they will work too.. just will take a little longer to break in the mold. Then coat the sliding surfaces with bullplate lube, graphite, molly, or whatever you usually use; some run the mold dry.

The "tink" sound is the sound of a hard bullet; pure linotype bullets will also exhibit this characteristic.

Boomer :Fire:

[Brownie]

the last two lyman molds I bought have a thick sprue cutter and the tapered sprue hole is not tapered all the way thru the sprue cutter. the bottom of the hole goes straight down to the bottom of the cutter. this makes it hard to cut the sprue off and makes the sprue stick in the hole. I drilled the hole so it is tapered almost all the way thru, then roll up some emery paper and put in the drill and polish the hole, then blue it with some cold blue. after this treatment your mold will work and look the way Lyman should have made it.
:castmine: