Lee Tumblelube Molds

[shepherddogs]

First post here. I have a Lee TumbleLube mold for 148 grain wadcutters. When I cast the first ones they were just a little wrinkly. I also had trouble getting them to fall free even though I had smoked the mold. When I measured the bullets they were all right at .360. So I was figuring I would need to size them. Then I bought some mold release spray from Midway and raised the pot temperature and started getting better bullets that fell from the mold. I still figured I'd need to size them but when I measured the new batch they were right at .358. Is the decrease in diameter due to the higher melt temp, the mold spray or something I haven't thought of? I'm using straight wheel weights. Any advice would be appreciated.

[GrizzLeeBear]

Probably the mold release spray (Frankford Arsenal, right?). You did right by raising the temp. to getter better mold fillout. Wrinkly boolits usually indicates a mold that isn't up to temp. yet. Making the boolits a thousandth or two smaller is usually a complaint about the mold release spray, but in this case it is working for you. Have you slugged the bore of your gun? If you are shooting in any modern .38 special or .357 the .358 dia. should work just fine. Even the .360 might work fine if it will chamber. But you might want to slug the bore of your gun to make sure.

[shepherddogs]

Thats right Frankford Arsenal Spray. No I haven't slugged the bore. I've been buying .358 commercial cast bullets and they work well in my Model 19 so thats the diameter I'm looking for. I was just thinking that an extra hot melt might contract in the mold more than a cooler melt and that could cause the difference. What sort of variance is normal with this type of mold?

[Ricochet]

If you have a .001" thick coating of mould release spray in the cavities, that would reduce the diameter by .002".

[Heavy lead]

Don't use the stuff, except for hollow point pins (works great) and oversize moulds, had a Lee that was.004 oversized, couple good coats of this stuff and it brought it right in line.

[shepherddogs]

So it's definitely not temperature related?

[Heavy lead]

So it's definitely not temperature related?

The way I'm understanding it, is that you had two problems. It does sound that the wrinkley boolits were caused by a low temperature, those Lee moulds need to be run hotter than most iron moulds (at least in my experience) but the low temp didn't have anything to do with the .360 size. Sounds to me like the mould release took care of this problem, just don't put too much on, it will definately make the boolit smaller, and in my experience doesn't come off easy so that coat should last a long time. As far as the wrinkles I suspect you just had the mould hotter the second time, but that's just a guess, I do find my Lee's like to run hot, don't know why as my only other aluminum mould (a NEI) likes it cooler, but run them hot, it sounds like you've got the problem licked.
Welcome Aboard.

[shepherddogs]

Thanks for the replies. I'll just measure a couple out of every 100 I cast.

[mag_01]

shepherddogs - I've had good luck with Lee moulds _ polish the mould before a casting session - I use cotton cloth chucked up in a drill and automotive buffing compound - get the mould good and shinny in the cavity - this process removes surface crud - breaks sharp edges in mold cavity and produces a good boolit with easy release as long as mould is hot and lead mix is good - always preheat ur mould by dipping it in ur mix when starting ur casting session - aluminum moulds have to be (hot) to cast well - no smoking of mould or mould release used.