Just a note. You don't hit the mold with a mold whacker. You hit the hinge bolt of the handle. Might try flipping mold upside down, then tap rapidly but not overly hard on that handle bolt. It was first described to me as being like tapping a table with a pencil. Fast tap,tap,tap but not overly hard. For some reason sprue plate down & bottom up seemed to release easier.
The Q-tip to check for snags is good suggestion. NOE molds have an allen set screw that is used to lock the sprue plate pivot bolt at a specific tightness. Comes in from the side of the mold and is inset into a hole. Have to loosen it to adjust. Lee doesn't have that and it would be easy to miss. It is a nice feature. Not backing that locking set screw off when adjusting might explain too loose or jammed tight sprue hinge screw.
Worth checking that holes in the mold block that alignment pins go into are undamaged.
Last resort is to cast bullets. Then center punch through sprue plate to mark center of bullet. Remove sprue plate and bullet, put screw into bullet at marked center, coat bullet with polishing compound, turn or spin bullet in the mold chamber with screwdriver to polish and open up the mold a bit. I have done that to one Lee mold and it helped but never heard of having to do it to an NOE I would look for damage first. Try casting hotter, and upside down mold tap on handle bolt. Or casting cooler. Alloys tend to shrink when they cool.
Just because this worked for me well I'll mention it. I hold the mold using my left hand and tuck the mold mallet under my left armpit so I can reach up and grab the mallet quickly and tuck it back quickly after the bullets drop so my right hand is free to close mold and pour the next one. Helped my flow and speed to not set the mallet down or fumble around with it in my hand.
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Originally Posted by waksupi
