Sprue plate "texture" on bullet bases

[Patrick L]

Has anyone here noticed the base of the sprue plate having a bit of a texture to it on some of the most recent Lee molds? Two of my GB molds do, and that texture is therefore cast onto the base of the bullets. It happens with my .45x200 SWC (the one that was miscut and Lee is in the process or replacing) and the 311041 PB.

This texture does not seem to affect the bullets' performance or castability at all, its just that I've never seen a bullet base that wasn't perfectly mirror shiney.

I'll try to snap a picture and post it, but I don't know if my camera has that kind of resolution to show that much detail.

[pjh421]

That helps to let the air out of the cavities as they fill with the last bit of lead. I think the relief could easily become smeared with lead and not function as well. Mine seem to work fine. The sprue plate always gets a very light film of Bullshop plate lube though.

Paul

[Linstrum]

I have cut "X"-configured vent lines on the undersides of the sprue cutters on several of my moulds to get rid of the rounded edge on boolit bases. The width, depth, and getting the "X" centered are quite important since the "X" gets cast onto the boolit base. It has no effect on getting gas checks seated. I do it mainly to get more uniform boolit weights since the weight of metal displaced by a rounded edge is significant.


rl500

[Patrick L]

What I'm talking about is a clearly rough finish on the underside of the sprueplate that is getting molded onto the base of my bullets.

[Bill*]

I expect you could remove the plate, and run it over some wet-dri sandpaper on a piece of glass to remove them if they bother you. If pjh421 is correct and it's intentional, I would try them first before removing an "improvement" though.

[NHlever]

I was using two old molds that I salvaged last night. A Lyman 311316U, and an old Ideal 311 8. I had surface ground the sprue plates to get them flat, but found that I had to lightly score that surface with a fine checkering file to get the bases to fill out easily.

[Patrick L]

Here's a picture I snapped of one of the 45x200 SWC bullets. I don't know if the resolution is good enough for you to see the wavy lines running across the base

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/patrickl_01/Bullets/GunStuff078.jpg

These bullets shoot like a house afire, so obviously the lines don't seem to be a problem. I just thought it was funny that I never saw that in 20 years of casting, and my last two Lee molds do it. That's all.

[jim4065]

That makes me wonder if one of these roller mills would be capable of embossing a pattern on a sprue plate - or is the pattern the wrong way around? Also - I measure the Lee sprue plate at 4.67 mm - too big, but I'm talking principle here.............

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250337422649&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=015

[Linstrum]

Yep, I see the wavy lines in the photo quite well. It could be from fly-cutting the surface in a milling machine or more likely from deliberately roll-engraving the pattern into the sprue cutter plate on purpose. Apparently somebody at Lee Precision reads what we write about their moulds, I and some others have posted many times over the last eight or nine years about venting the underside of the sprue cutter plate to get better mould fill-out and it would now seem to appear that Lee is making their sprue cutter plates with venting.


rl503

[Patrick L]

Sounds good to me.

Like I said, there is absolutely no detrimental effect on the bullets. I just thought it curious that the last two molds I got exhibited this, and I've been using Lee molds for 20+ years now and never saw that.

It would be great if in fact it was a deliberate response to complaints about venting. In all honesty though, I've never had fillout problems with my "smooth base" molds either. But that could be just me.

Thanks for all the responses.

[Alchemist]

For what it's worth, the NEI moulds I used from the "Get rich slow" thread in the site benefit forum have the same vent lines on the sprue plate.

I wouldn't give it too much thought. My 2 cents worth.....

[Superfly]

It is no biggie it is just that the government now has that bullet in there list it is registered to you through the manufacture. you know micro stamping for the blind like fingerprinting


I KEED I KEED


It is the same on my lee mould to.

[Dean D.]

Superfly - Makes you wonder, don't it? With movements like www.ammunitionaccountability.org out there I would not be surprised if they forced mould manufacturers to do just that (micro stamping sprue plates). Then again, it might just be paranoid ole me....LOL

Anyone have a microscope to take a peek?

[smlekid]

my GB 38/200 mold has these lines it cast really well I purchased a 158RN TL mold that is smooth I had a heap of trouble with it filling out the bases tried different alloys and even getting the mold super hot but it would still only give me 3-4 good bullets per pour in desperation I swapped to the course plate from the 38/200 mold and it started to work perfectly I am thinking of ordering another sprue plate from lee that is course so I get 2 molds working