Do you use something like Frankford Arsenols Drop out spray? Yay? Nay? Opinions?

[blasternank]

I smoked my molds and a guy I know said I was doing it old school. He said he uses Frankford Arsenols Drop Out spray on his molds. What is your opinions on that? I've heard many say never use anything that you spray into a mold. Pro's? Cons? Opinions?

Thanks!

[RickinTN]

If you get the mold hot enough and the melt hot enough you shouldn't have to use anything. Bullets should just drop out.
Good Luck,
Rick

[DAFzipper]

Shouldn't be necessary. Will reduce the diameter. Better off polishing if it's sticking. Check edges of cavities for any burrs. To polish leave sprew plate open. Set a nut on top and fill cavity. Use fine lapping compound on bullet. Gently close the mould and turn bullet with wrench on the nut.

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[Finster101]

Like the others I have never had to smoke a mold or use a release agent. Adjusting the temp. and finding what the mold likes is a big factor. I jot down the temp I get the best result at in a log book and it has been a big help. I tend to cast a lot of boolits of the same type at one time rather than small batches.

[Mk42gunner]

What the others have said.

I don't even like smoking a mold, except as a last resort.

Robert

[44Blam]

I smoke my molds but I did use that stuff once and I would recommend against it. It's unnecessary and it is hard to remove.

[Beagle333]

Use a mold oven. Learn the temp each one likes and you'll never need anything to help them drop out. I've never used smoke or anything else.

[Bazoo]

I don't use none of that stuff. If a mould won't drop easy, it needs to be lapped or otherwise have a burr removed.

[Bent Ramrod]

I’ve used a couple of cans. It works OK, properly applied, but no better than the smoke from the candles I use for fluxing the melt.

It does seem to be harder to remove from the mould than candle soot. Whether this is good or bad depends on whether you want to have it stay on the mould through several casting sessions or whether you want to clean everything off and start over (or not).

I suppose that you could “reduce the diameter of your boolit” if you held the nozzle an inch away from the mould face and sprayed for a minute or so, but properly applied, I’ve never seen any diameter reduction.

I’ve bought most of my oversized accumulation of moulds used at gun shows, and “cranky” doesn’t begin to describe some of them. Some are truly the dregs of mould society. “They need our Help!”

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I don't use anything now. Used to smoke the cavities but I stopped doing that too. I have aluminum, brass and 1 steel mold and they all drop the boolits nicely. When the mold gets too hot is when the boolits won't fall out. I run my pot at 700 deg. and will take a break when I need to let the molds cool. I use plenty of tin in my alloys and I think that helps too.

[Burnt Fingers]

I have used a light coating on a couple of stubborn sinker/lure molds.

I would never use it on a bullet mold.

I have smoked a few molds. It's amazing what a difference a light smoke on the mold can make.

I know people say get the mold hot and get the melt hot.....yeah, when the boolits still are filling out or are covered in wrinkles a light smoke stops ALL that.

I've rarely had to smoke a iron mold, once in a while a brass mold, but aluminum? I've smoked almost every one. I haven't cast as many boolits as many people here, only around 35k last year, all for personal use, but I've found that the smoke from a butane lighter can make a BIG difference on a aluminum mold.

[mdi]

Like many others I tried a bunch of different "release agents" in my molds early in my casting. Today, nothing goes in my molds except lead...

[flyingmonkey35]

The frankford arsenal release spray is just arosaled powderd graphite.

You can clean it right off with break clean.

Apply to a cold mold.

I use it on my lee molds.




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[ShooterAZ]

It can potentially reduce your boolit diameter. I will sometimes use it on sticky ingot molds, but not on boolit molds. I still have a half a can of it from when I first started casting years ago. It's best to learn how to regulate your alloy and mold temperatures so that it won't be needed.

[Idz]

Its supposed to be applied as a thin atomic layer like careful smoking not used as spray paint. If properly applied I doubt there is anybody on this forum who could measure the difference in bullet diameter. New clean aluminum molds sometimes have sticky spots that the release agent cures.

[ShooterAZ]

Good point, and I'll also add that more is NOT better in this instance! I will occasionally smoke a pesky mold, but after trying the spray I won't use it on any of my molds again.

[mdi]

Dunno about bullet diameter, but the spray is actually a contaminate and leaves a dull finish on the bullets...

I guess if one feels the need, it's OK, but I have about 12 Lee molds, and 3 or 4 Lyman molds and don't use anything in the cavities. Perhaps my "seasoning" has something to do with no need. I clean a new mold thoroughly, heat it on my hot plate to very hot, and allow to cool. I repeat this 3 or 4 times, then preheat the mold and start casting...

[Rcmaveric]

I have personally never used. I do occasionally smoke a mold while breaking in a new mold. You would think 900*F lead would cook the oils out of a mold block. But sometimes the oil is stubborn and the bullets are sticky. I swear smoking a mold is magical, speeds up burning off any oils and helps those pesky bullets to drop till the mold is "seasoned" well enough to drop bullets easily.

I dont know how many bullets it takes to seasoned a Lee mold but a rough guess is 40 pounds. After that bullets seam to leap from all my molds.

After that I just store the molds properly.

This actually comes often and the sage advice is always to never spray anything on the mold.

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[heebs]

The only use I have for it is on the lip of my shotmaker. Works great for that.

[John Boy]

All my molds cast with naked cavities except pins are lubed with paraffin