2 issues with Lee 356-120-TC

[hawkenhunter50]

Looking for some help with 2 issues I'm having. 1st issue is bullets are sticking to the left half of the mold. I smoked it several times with no success then I lapped it with Flitz 2 times and resmoked. Still the bullets stick bad to the left half. Really takes a bunch of hard smacks on the handle hinge to get them to drop. I cant see any burrs or any other reason they'd be sticking like this other than maybe the beveled section at the base.

2nd issue is with the size/lube step of the bullets I have got to drop!! Im using a RCBS sizer with a RCBS .358 size die. Bullets are dropping right at .358ish. Issue is I cant seem to get the proper adjustment on the luber. To get lube into the groove, I have to set it to push the bullet deep and I get lube all over the nose of the bullet, it makes a real mess. If I go any shallower I get absolutely no lube at all on the bullet. Using homemade Bens Red lube.

[Dusty Bannister]

Not sure if two or 6 cav mold but I find that the mold can get "sticky" when alloy is too hot and not enough cooling time. Secondly, I would lightly lap with a 0000 steel wool wad on a small dowel. Rotate the piece in both directions to knock off the wire edges that might not respond to a polish pad. Try no smoke but heat cycle the mold without casting a few times to get that light oxide coating on the mold surfaces.

Remove the lube size die from the press and be sure to clean all the lube ports especially the ones you need to fill the single lube groove. If you still have old lube in there, it might not want to flow as easy as you need. If you are in a cooler area, it might help to warm the lube sizer so the lube will flow easier and be sure to bump the pressure feed handle from time to time to keep pressure on the lube to feed through the ports. I do not use Bens Red so do not know if it is a hard or soft lube which might make a difference. Dusty

[hawkenhunter50]

Not sure if two or 6 cav mold but I find that the mold can get "sticky" when alloy is too hot and not enough cooling time. Secondly, I would lightly lap with a 0000 steel wool wad on a small dowel. Rotate the piece in both directions to knock off the wire edges that might not respond to a polish pad. Try no smoke but heat cycle the mold without casting a few times to get that light oxide coating on the mold surfaces.

Remove the lube size die from the press and be sure to clean all the lube ports especially the ones you need to fill the single lube groove. If you still have old lube in there, it might not want to flow as easy as you need. If you are in a cooler area, it might help to warm the lube sizer so the lube will flow easier and be sure to bump the pressure feed handle from time to time to keep pressure on the lube to feed through the ports. I do not use Bens Red so do not know if it is a hard or soft lube which might make a difference. Dusty

It is a 2 cavity mold, the sticking seems to start right about the time the mold is at right temp. In the beginning they drop free, but they arent all filled out, usually the base is a little rounded. Just about the time I am getting nice bullets the sticking begins. Bens Red lube is a soft lube, I am in cold location but the lube still flows ok on other bullets. It flows ok on this one too, just goes where I dont want it. I will try the recommendations you mention with steel wool and the heat cycles. Also will pull the sizer and check for something jammed up in the holes. Thx for the recommendations.

[djgoings]

My Lee 2 cavity 356-120-TC drops .357" boolits using 94-3-3 mix. I have no problems with them dropping out of the mold. What is your lead mix?

[hawkenhunter50]

My Lee 2 cavity 356-120-TC drops .357" boolits using 94-3-3 mix. I have no problems with them dropping out of the mold. What is your lead mix?

Using 1:1 Pure: Lino

[JBinMN]

I was gonna post here a while back & then deleted my post.

I will try with a short one.

I had the same trouble with a mold. I contacted them. They said send it to them & they would have a look. I got a new mold the next week. No charge.

The issue was that there was a bit of a sharp "lip" at the base of the boolits on one side of the mold. I could have taken it off myself, but they said just send it & they would replace.

Here is their number, and maybe give them a call on Monday when they re-open for business. Might be your best bet.. :
phone (262) 673-3075 | fax (262) 673-9273

The gal on the other end is/was a kind, polite & helpful as all get out person... At least she was for me..

[hawkenhunter50]

I was gonna post here a while back & then deleted my post.

I will try with a short one.

I had the same trouble with a mold. I contacted them. They said send it to them & they would have a look. I got a new mold the next week. No charge.

The issue was that there was a bit of a sharp "lip" at the base of the boolits on one side of the mold. I could have taken it off myself, but they said just send it & they would replace.

Here is their number, and maybe give them a call on Monday when they re-open for business. Might be your best bet.. :
phone (262) 673-3075 | fax (262) 673-9273

The gal on the other end is/was a kind, polite & helpful as all get out person... At least she was for me..

Thanks for the info. I see a lip on mine as well and partially suspect this is the issue, but it looks like its supposed to be there to create a small bevel on the base. Perhaps not and this could be the issue then. Did your new one come without this lip then? The base seems to me to be the area where the bullets are hanging up, and its doing it in both cavities, something definitely not normal.

[JBinMN]

Thanks for the info. I see a lip on mine as well and partially suspect this is the issue, but it looks like its supposed to be there to create a small bevel on the base. Perhaps not and this could be the issue then. Did your new one come without this lip then? The base seems to me to be the area where the bullets are hanging up, and its doing it in both cavities, something definitely not normal.

Yes. It was the trouble. The bases were hanging up, trapping the boolits in the one side of the mold.
It was like they were being "pinched"( for lack of a better word), maybe "held" to the one side by the bottom( tip end) & the base end with the "burr/lip" at the same time.

I actually was casting other boolits when the postal gal came to deliver the replacement. I looked it over, lubed the sprue pivot & the alignment pins with some beeswax, smoked the mold cavities & faces with a candle, then set it on the hotplate to pre- warm it. About a half hour later or so, I began to throw boolits with it & it worked like a charm.

Give them a call. I would bet you will end up happy. At least, "I" did, last year.


G'Luck!

[Dusty Bannister]

Perhaps you are seeing the part of the mold that creates the bevel based bullet. I preferred to just remove that and end up with square based bullets. If you do that, there is no sending it back to the factory.

[JBinMN]

Perhaps you are seeing the part of the mold that creates the bevel based bullet. I preferred to just remove that and end up with square based bullets. If you do that, there is no sending it back to the factory.

That is, of course, another option.

[hawkenhunter50]

well it seems that dusty had the solution, i started casting with 3 molds and the sticking issue went away, seems things may have been too hot causing the sticking like he suggested. thanks again for the input guys

[Jniedbalski]

I know on one of my one lee molds they would stick bad to one side. I took a small wood dowle and ran it over the outside edges next to the block face. This helped some. Then I re cleaned it-good and got all the candle soot off I used to smoke it. I then heat cycled it in my oven three times. That mold now dropes bullets with out being smoked. They just fall out great. One other lee mold I had would stick . I was casting hot. any cooler and I would have bad spots and not filled out. They came out frosted from the mold. I would cast let the spur harden open the spur cutter and set the mold down on my metal casting table to cool a little twelve to fifteen seconds or so. Then I opened the mold and then they would fall right out . After I used this mold 4 times or so it started casting good with less heat .

[JBinMN]

Glad everyone has found a solution.