Kroil in the mould - I did it, it works!

[Vly]

There was a thread here about 2 months ago about using Kroil in the mould cavities to improve the "castability" of a mould. Here is a link to the original thread.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=55260

I will admit I had my doubts about it. Commonly accepted cast boolit wisdom is that any oil in a mould is bad and will cause wrinkled boolits. I do know from experience the preservative oil in a new mould needs to be removed or you get wrinkles. So from that many casters infer that all oil is bad and to apply oil on purpose just makes no sense at all.

I have a new Lyman 311359 that I acquired to feed a National Postal Meter 30 Carbine. The boolit does well in the carbine, but the mould is a real chore to use. The front cavity hangs up badly, and requires many forceful blows to release. I cleaned and cleaned and looked for burrs, but still the production rate was low and the fatigue and frustration level high.

So today I used Kroil in the cavities. The Kroil I have is liquid, not spray, so I soaked a Q-tip and throughly wet both cavities, waited a bit, then swabbed the excess out. Once the mould got up to temperature, it was like a different mould. The front cavity still needed an occasional tap, but the improvement was astonishing. My production rate shot up, and the frustration was way down. I quickly got into that "groove" where boolits are falling perfect with every cast and you want no interruptions. It was a beautiful thing.

So if you have a balky mould, ignore past "wisdom" and try Kroil in the cavities.

[45nut]

Amazing isn't it? I too have transformed a balky stubborn mold into something quite resembling that is a joy to use with Kroil.
I use it frequently now,, and smoking a mold here is a relic of the past.

[fastgun]

I guess after 35 years of bullet casting you can still learn something new. I have a mold that I will try it on. It will sure beat having to beat the *#@%& out of it to get the bullets to fall out. I sure hope it works.

[Shiloh]

Although not really a betting man, you could have taken some money from me. Whenever I have had bad, wrinkled, or incomplete fillout it is because of the incomplete removal of oil.

What does Kroil have in it that doesn't act like and oil contaminant??

Shiloh

[jim4065]

Does it only work with steel and iron, or has it worked with aluminum also?

[45nut]

Works great with aluminum molds, steel,,whatever.

I have no idea why,, or what it has in it,, no chemical engineer degree here,, but it flat works.

Now when I get a new mold,, I spray it with carb cleaner or boil it out first,, then try casting a few times when I get the mold hot,, gives me the opportunity to apply bull plate anyway,, then if the mold does not want to cooperate it gets the Kroil treatment.

Between Bullplate and Kroil,, we achieve happiness and get the boolits without beating up the molds.

[Vly]

You guys ask excellent questions. This is the first time I tried this, so am far from an expert on the subject. I would refer you to the thread linked in the OP for a more thorough discussion. The linked thread is 3 pages that touch on your questions.

[Blammer]

kroil huh? hmmm I got a bad dog mould that I'll have to try it on....

[RP]

Its majic dude I sometimes wear a chicken feet lucky charm if iam haveing a bad casting day.

[Bret4207]

Someone do us a favor- measure the castings before and after the Kroil goes in. I'm thinking it's leaving a coating of some kind. If it works that's great, but how think is the coating and does it affect boolit diameter?

[45nut]

Bret,, it's wiped on,, then wiped off ..
Dip a q-tip in the Kroil,, like Brycreem, a little dab will do ya,, then wipe the cavities and spin the q-tip and wipe it out with the clean end.

Really,, its also a great way to find any burrs in a cavity as well, but it literally isn't meant to be a layer,, if anything its a micro-thin one that would be impossible to measure.

Its similar to Bullplate in it's application,, less is more. And a little bit goes a long , long way.

[NuJudge]

Kroil is magic stuff, as far as I'm concerned. I have a number of rifles with non-stainless barrels I shoot regularly, and they shoot to a different POI if the bore is clean or oiled, but if I Kroil them I get no change in POI and no rust. YMMV.

The stuff creeps everywhere, so I store them muzzle down.

[Marlin Hunter]

Is it just standard Kroil? [they have so many different products at their website.]

Do you have to pay a HazMat fee for shipping????

Is there a local chain store place that sells it, like ACE hardware etc?

[mdi]

I bought Aero Kroil on line (they had a special) 2 cans for $12.00. No hazmat fees

[mdi]

https://secure.cnchost.com/kanolabs.com/index.shtml

[462]

Yep, the stuff is truly magic. Don't know the how or the why, but it works.

I hope all the posters who said they'd try it would let us know their results.

Perhaps a Kroil sticky?

[Old Ironsights]

OK, OK... I have plenty of Kroil, but now I'm going to have to try this... and I ordered some BullPlate too...

Jeez, you guys are worse than Perfume sales girls...

[45nut]

this will be a sticky after a while,, don't want to copy it too soon.

[725]

I never would have thought. Will try it soon.

[Vly]

Someone do us a favor- measure the castings before and after the Kroil goes in. I'm thinking it's leaving a coating of some kind. If it works that's great, but how think is the coating and does it affect boolit diameter?

Bret - I just measured some I cast 2 weeks ago and compared them to the ones cast today. Any difference is undetectable by my micrometer.