I'm New and very green, Need help with Lee Molds

[joelsteinbach]

I am about to cast my first with Lee molds, Instruction state to smoke molds, can I use a product called drop out instead, It seemed to work well with my Lee Ingot mold, I just melted down 5000 250 grain 451, I purchased I error from National Bullet Co in 1998 .

[big bore 99]

I used a product from Midway and it worked very well. It's a graphite spray that drys fast and lasts for hundreds of pours. Especially good for molds with cores like hollow points and bases. I've used smoked molds too and they work good.

[jmort]

Look at stickies and threads on Lee Molds. Me, toothbrush and comet/cleanser. Get it real clean. Look for burrs which can often be cleaned up with a stick or nylon pick. No smoke/additives necessary.

[JASON4X4]

I have 6 Lee molds and have never had to use anything. I cleaned them real good made sure there were no burrs and they all drop great.

[jonp]

Clean my new ones with dawn and water then scrub a little with comet and a toothbrush. No problems. When I am done casting I let it cool then spray down with Ballistol to store and wash with soap and water before next casting.

[Bent Ramrod]

I've used Midway Drop Out on my Lee moulds with good effect. A light spray on the top of the mould and the sprue plate keeps down galling and lead from sticking. A light spray in the cavities and block faces seems to keep the heat in and I notice that good boolits start coming out sooner.

Clean it off (or down) between castings with solvent and a toothbrush, then lightly reapply a fresh coat of Drop Out when ready to cast again. Letting the stuff build up worsens all the problems that the original application was supposed to prevent.

[500MAG]

Never needed to purchase anything special with any of my moulds. Just like the others said, a good cleaning with some dish soap or comet and good to go. If you start having drop issues then you can take it further. I don't smoke my moulds, could never keep them lit.

[littlejack]

Welcome to the CastBoolits.
As has been said, clean with soap and water. De-burr if necessary. If you preheat the mold, it will make life much easier. A lot of casters (myself included) use a single burner hot plate to preheat our molds. If all is well, you can drop perfect boolits with the first cast.
Regards
Jack

[petroid]

Everyone has said clean, clean, clean which is a must. Comet, toothpaste, dish soap are all good options. Once clean, try and cast some boolits. You may not need any release agent. If the boolits stick, look for burrs. Polishing with a cast boolit and some comet/toothpaste can really help the mold drop easy and is not difficult

[JohnH]

One thing about Drop Out, it will generally make the mold drop bullets that are between .001 and .002 smaller. A good product if you have a mold dropping oversize boolits, but if it is dropping boolits of correct size for your barrel, some degree of leading may occur. I have a couple of Lee molds that continue to need smoking for a good fillout, no idea why. Use wood matches, I find the long ones made for lighting wood fires in a stove or fireplace to be ideal for the task. You will have to hold the mold cavity over the flame and rotate it some to get an even coat, but the results are quite pleasing.

[sundog]

If you use graphite spray and your boolits are undersized, you are using WAY too much. On the few occasions I use it, I spray a q-tip and then swab the cavity - but NOT with aluminium moulds.

Once clean, an aluminium mould is better off clean, or smoked with a wood stick [match]. Pay attention to loob requirements, too, for sprue pivots.

A light layer of swabbed graphite or a light smoke cannot be measured with the tools we normally use.

[UBER7MM]

Joel,

Welcome to the forum.

I followed Lee's directions: Cleaned the mold with a solvent. Let it dry. Lubricated the moving parts and pivots with a silicone lube. Then smoked the mold cavities with candle soot. The boolits drop out. Get the mold up to temperature, to keep from getting wrinkly casts.

[357shooter]

Cleaning with dawn is quick and cheap. I don't smoke or use products like drop out anymore. I'm trying to get the max diameter out of my molds and it's easy to overdo it. It's really not needed, however when I started I read the literature and directions and tried several products. I learned they aren't needed.

[wallenba]

Cleaning the mold, getting it up to temp, and keeping it there, is more important than smoking the mold. I have not smoked a mold in years, not even a new one.

[joelsteinbach]

You guys are just Great, what a plethora of experience, you are willing to share, thank much you all verrrry , Wish me luck!!

[wallenba]

Another thing, I took me awhile to catch on to the fact that my tap water had a lot of minerals in it. Looking at some washed dishes in the rack, I supposed that those water spots were in my mold also after rinsing. Now, I wipe dry with paper towel and then rinse with a little 91% rubbing alcohol, and wipe out with q-tips.